[jchiu]

Scoring: XIMP

1♥ 1♠
4♣ 4♦
4♥ 5♠
6♣ 6♦
7♠

---

Assign the blame between East and West, and name the single worst call.

Also specify what agreements you and your regular partner have in this sequence.

[jdonn]

I blame east and consider the worst call 6♦. Why try for a grand? If west has AKQ of spades, AK of hearts, and a club void, he is obviously bidding the grand on his own.

I should mention west doesn't get off scott free. Why 7♠ instead of 6♥, which would certainly leave nothing to spare. But I still blame east more. West could have shown his hand more accurately, but was just bidding what he could make as far as he was concerned. East clearly played his partner for a hand he couldn't have (unless it would make no difference anyway.)

[mike777]

50-50 or very close.

Everyone bid as if they had a zillion hcp and/or solid trumps.

Instead west was bidding on shape based playing tricks but missing alot and east on a wing and a prayer.

If west pulls back one notch and east 1.5 notches...np.

another 23 hcp grandslam i miss because i counted hcp.

[neilkaz]

jdonn, on Dec 31 2007, 09:16 PM, said:

I blame east and consider the worst call 6♦. Why try for a grand? If west has AKQ of spades, AK of hearts, and a club void, he is obviously bidding the grand on his own.

I blame mostly east also but really don't care for his 5♠ call taking up too much bidding room.

The 7♠ bid is also a bit optimistic, but east did bid as though he held the world's fair. I'd bid 6♥ as west passing the buck to east concerning the grand as I really don't have anything extra for my bidding so far and my GF splinter to 4♣ was based on distribution. Perhaps after 6♥ east will get the message that the ace of trumps may not be in the west hand.

.. neilkaz ..

[655321]

I assign more blame to East.
I don't much like 5♠ (my choice for worst bid), 6♦ or 7♠.

If East just bids 4♠ instead of 5♠, the auction might continue:

...
4♥ 4♠
5♣ 5♦
5NT

and West could learn about the missing ♠A.

I don't like 5♠ because it is unclear - presumably it asks for good trumps - but what are good trumps in context? East knows that AKQ are needed for a grand, and West will be able to see those cards without being asked about them. Effectively, 5♠ gives up on 7, and asks West to choose between 5♠ and 6♠.

[Fluffy]

I don't understand 5♠ without knowing what happens with clubs or trumps, what does it mean?

[lexlogan]

5S is the worst call. Without a good hand, East could've bid 4S directly over 4C; I don't think 4D is automatic, it shows definite slam interest. Having voluntarily cue-bid 4D, East should next pause at 4S. West, looking at 2 or 3 top trumps, will know what the problem is.

[han]

If you have an agreement about 5S in such an auction then you should tell us about it. If not then I would consider it a foolish bid.

[awm]

I don't like the 6♣ or 7♠ calls much. East's 5♠ was not forcing. It should be an ask about trump quality. While west does have good trumps, his hand is pretty minimal for what he's shown, and it seems like a stretch to go looking for a grand slam opposite a non-forcing 5♠ slam try.

East shouldn't bid 4♠ over 4♥. This is what east would bid without the ♥Q, which is a huge card on the bidding. On the other hand, east could've taken it slower and bid (say) keycard over 4♥. But I think this is a choice of which is the best way to continue looking for slam, whereas west's bids of 6♣ and 7♠ seem very "out there" to me.

I'd put 75% of the blame on west.

[inquiry]

Standard meaning of 5♠ here is looking for good trumps. West has bid very agressively with his 4♣ bid based upon his distribution, fit and good side suit. Still, bidding 6♣ was an overbid, and 7♠ was suicidal. Not sure which one of those is the worse bid, but if he correctly bids 6♠ instead of 6♣, none of this would have happened, so i go with 6♣ being worse.

[SoTired]

It is hard to assign the "worst" call. Some where very bad. Some were good.

1. 4C - Splinter bids should be made on HCP strength rather than unusual distributional strength. Otherwise, partner cannot properly evaluate his hand. Opener has only 13 HCP. I will admit the bid worked well, for without it, East is unlikely to push for slam with only 10 HCP.

2. 5S was an OK bid. With all side suits bid, this bid asks about trump strength. A proper concern when looking at Jxxx of trump. An alternative is RKC.

3. 6C - this is a grand slam try. I don't see how you can make this bid without the ♠A and without 3 trump honors. Partner's 5S generally shows only 1 trump honor.

4. 6D - A further grand slam try. I don't see how you can make this bid with Jxxx of trump. Grand needs partner to have ♠AKQx of trump. Just settle for 6S.

5. 7S. The final bad push. Opener stretched this 13 HCP hand on EVERY round of bidding. It requires responder to hold ♠Axxxx or ♠AJxx, neither of which is likely on the bidding.

[cherdano]

jdonn, on Dec 31 2007, 09:16 PM, said:

I blame east and consider the worst call 6♦. Why try for a grand? If west has AKQ of spades, AK of hearts, and a club void, he is obviously bidding the grand on his own.

I diisagree. 6♣ shows a club void, which means East has to reevaluate his hand, and 6♦ just says his points are still working and that he has ♦AK. How can West bid the grand with the hand you cite when East could still have T9xx xx KQJx AKx?

I think 5♠ is very silly, since East can find out exactly what he needs to know with keycards. It would make more sense with a holding of Q9xx. 6♣ is an overbid, and 7♠ too.

[P_Marlowe]

West did overbid.

I take it, that 5S was just an invite for 6S,
what ever 5S did ask for?
And West is clearly min for his bidding,
he can certainly accept the invitation,
but after accepting to play 6S he surely
has shown his hand?

If West bids 6C, than 6D from East is clear
cut, after all East has limited his hand,
East has no idea, what West is looking for,
so he shows his first round control, the bid
is more or less forced.

Take your pick, if you think 6C or 7S
is more ..., I dont care, but I would say, they
are both of equal quality.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[dburn]

I confess, I would have made every bid West did until his final one (I would prefer 6♥). And I would have made every bid East did until his final one (I would prefer 6♠). But the worst call in any grand slam auction missing the ace of trumps is always the final call, so 7♠ narrowly beats 6♦.

[SoTired]

I think there is an unwritten rule-of-thumb that says, "In a q-bidding auction, only the one with the ace of trumps can bid grand."

[mcphee]

Sigh, this idiot feels 4C is an overbid a tad, although it is not horrible. I think many playeres might choose 4C however. My feelings are with 3 fast D losers and a possible trump hole the GF is too much. Lets keep in mind that responder can be rather weak, say 10 4th of S and the A of C, or ever allow a greater waste of values with the AKxxxx in C and even 3S could fail with 2 trump losers along with the 3D that are bound to go at the start. Therefore to bid 7S having already done a lot was silly.

Consider if rather than splinter the raise was softer to just 3S. Slam will easily be reached after 4D. The first overbid of 4C was poor, 6C is being caught in the momentum of the auction. I do not mind 5S at all, responder has a montain after the splinter.

[foo]

Both 5S and 7S were down right silly calls on this board. 5S is the =really= bad bid.

E should bid 4S, sign off, instead of 5S, looking for exceptional trumps
(BTW, the proper way of responding to 5S would have been 6S, very likely ending the auction before disaster.)

I'm neutral about E showing they have both the DA and the DK.

7S is very pushy. Especially given that E has stated they have bad trumps with their 5S bid.


BTW, The 4C cue bid is actually fairly typical in a 5 loser hand with a void and 4 card trump support. The thing I don't like about it is the use of a splinter when you have a gaping hole in a side suit. However, most pairs do not have the requirement that their splinters guarantee values in all the side suits.

[hrothgar]

I think that this one boils down to a stylistic question rather than a single worst call:

You ended up in a Grand off the Ace of trump. East and West (apparently) had very different expectations about the suit quality requirements shown by 6♣/6♦

I think that the auction is entirely reasonable. You just need some additional agreement about the maximum/minimum strength of 5♠.

I will note in passing that unless the 4♣ explicitly promises a void, then Blackwood doesn't do much good in this auction.

If I had to point a single bid that I really disliked, it would have to be either 6♣ or 6♦.

I think that West's trumps are too weak for 6♣. Would East bid 5♠ with Axxx or would he prefer a slower route to 6? Equivalently, I think that the 6♦ bid should (probably) promise the Q of trumps. Perhaps you hold Q432 and are hoping to find a Grand opposite AKxx

[jdonn]

cherdano, on Jan 1 2008, 04:50 AM, said:

jdonn, on Dec 31 2007, 09:16 PM, said:

I blame east and consider the worst call 6♦. Why try for a grand? If west has AKQ of spades, AK of hearts, and a club void, he is obviously bidding the grand on his own.

I diisagree. 6♣ shows a club void, which means East has to reevaluate his hand, and 6♦ just says his points are still working and that he has ♦AK. How can West bid the grand with the hand you cite when East could still have T9xx xx KQJx AKx?

Because west foolishly assumed that East would not bid your example hand wrongly?

[Winstonm]

I think everything is O.K. (except the splinter) until the cuebidding started. I suggest this:

1H-1S
4C-4D
4H-5D
5H-5S
6S


The crux of the matter to me is that the holder of the small hand appears not to trust his partner's bidding - in the example shown, 5S is passable - as it should be if partner holds AKxx, AKJxx, QJx, x - when you have shown your hand, it is time to leave the final decision to partner.

The rot here started with an understrength splinter bid, IMO. After the splinter, the small hand has plenty of justification for driving to 5S, as in the given auction.