[uday]

We failed to get to a nearly laydown slam. What went wrong?


Kxx
x
KQJTx
ATxx


AQ9xxx
QJxx
A
xx


The long spade hand opened, and the auction went

1S 2D
2H 2S
3D 4C X
4S (all pass)


2D was a virtual game force
2S showed 3+ spades and a full game force
Notice the X of the 4C cuebid


Opener claimed he'd shown all he had to show.
Responder claimed opener could have passed the X to show slam interest.

[Walddk]

I voted 4♠ because opener did not give partner the opportunity to show 1st round control in clubs (redouble). Some play that his 4♠ shows 2nd round control, but I doubt that you have that agreement when he actually signed off.

After responder's redouble opener can safely bid 4♦ to show the next control in diamonds. Could be the king, could be the singleton ace. It can't be a void because opener had the opportunity to splinter over 2♠.

Now responder is in a position to count lots of diamond tricks and his only concern is number of keycards and the trump queen. RKCB can take care of that (followed by trump queen ask).

Roland

[rogerclee]

I am thinking that it is difficult to say anything but 4S was the worst call.

[Echognome]

Seems there was some confusion on agreements.

Did 2♠ absolutely set trumps? If not, should responder consider 3♠?

Was 3♦ a cuebid with spades agreed?

Why did responder bid 4♣ instead of 3♥, 3♠, or 3NT?

Were you playing serious or frivolous 3NT or none of the above?

Regardless of all that, opener should pass the double of 4♣. He needs to know if partner has first or second round control and leave room for exploration. If responder redoubles, then he can bid 4♠ highlighting the problem in hearts. Note that opener will have already denied a club control, a second diamond control, and a heart control. In light of all that, his hand is excellent for slam! He's got a sixth trump and two of the three top honors.

[EricK]

What was 3♦? if it is a cue (and not shortage in responder's first suit) then responder's hand becomes even huger. I can't imagine his not looking for slam now - especially when partner doesn't make a ♥ cue after the double. If you take all the bids at face value, opener has shown ♦A, he's denied anything in ♣ (because a. he didn't redouble, and b. East has shown ♣ strength) and denied the ♥AK. He must have good trumps for his opening bid followed by ♦ cue and responder can count 11 top tricks plus at least two obvious chances for a twelfth (♥ ruff or extra trump length).

[Walddk]

Echognome, on Jan 5 2008, 01:11 AM, said:

Note that opener will have already denied a club control, a second diamond control ...

But opener has a second diamond control and he should not deny that by skipping 4♦ over responder's redouble. That could be vital in other instances when responder is looking at say xx or xxx in diamonds.

Even your seven seasick sailors who are nursed by seven beautiful nurses will agree (I am referring to echognome's Swedish signature which is almost impossible to pronounce for foreigners).

Roland

[Echognome]

Walddk, on Jan 4 2008, 03:18 PM, said:

Echognome, on Jan 5 2008, 01:11 AM, said:

Note that opener will have already denied a club control, a second diamond control ...

But opener has a second diamond control and he should not deny that by skipping 4♦ over responder's redouble. That could be vital in other instances when responder is looking at say xx or xxx in diamonds.

Even your seven seasick sailors who are nursed by seven beautiful nurses will agree (I am referring to echognome's Swedish signature which is almost impossible to pronounce for foreigners).

Roland

I would be fine with this analysis, if diamonds wasn't responder's 2/1 suit.

I'm still searching for those nurses by the way.

[655321]

I follow the crowd and vote 4♠ (instead of Pass) as the worst bid.

Would 3♠ (instead of 2♠) be a serious slam try? If so, then South's 3♦ (does it confirm the ♦A?), opposite a hand not good enough to rebid 3♠ must show a good hand. It would not be crazy for North to keycard at this point, instead of bidding 4♣.

Do you cuebid first and seconds? Perhaps South bid 4♠ thinking he was off the first 2 heart tricks.

Anyway, I must confess that I have seen (and perpetrated) much worse auctions than this one!

[kenrexford]

Some strange comments so far.

3♦ has to be a cue. You don't cue shortness in Responder's suit, ergo the Ace. North can count five diamond tricks, knows that he has the club Ace, and knows that he has the heart stiff.

It would be nice, as mentioned earlier, to know what kind of cuebidding agreements were in place. It is hard to decipher otherwise.

For me, FYI:

1♠ (same)
2♦ (same, but not promising long diamonds if a spade fit)
2♥ (same)
2♠ (same, I think -- sets trumps)
3♦ (no club control, two of the top three honors because bypassed 2NT, and a diamond card -- may be same may not)

At this point, two options:

1. 4♥ (the missing spade honor, three of the top four diamonds, a heart stiff not void, and club control) This works nicely, in showing nearly the exact hand. However, the club control for this bid should usually be the King not the Ace. So, if flexible here, OK. Partner can always bid RKCB and get the full story. Not my option, though, although it works here (if flexible in the approach).

2. 3♥, showing a heart control, may be stiff, void, Ace, or King. This leaves Opener a problem. 3NT is a tad too rich, and 4♥ is wrong. The best alternative seems to be to show the tertiary club control -- 4♣; non-serious but helpful. This has a benefit of allowing Responder to cue 4♦ if he has good diamonds. However, Responder needs nothing more, really. He will know that the combined assets in the pointeds is at least 10 tricks. His club Ace is an easy 11th. The 12th seems to come from a ruff, if we have control. Opener might well not introduce a tertiary club control without just cause, opting instead to simply bid 4♠ with nothing more of interest.

Responder might use RKCB for S&G, but 6♠ directly seems the most practical.

That being said, this is not the greatest slam. After a club lead, you win the club, diamond Ace, spade to dummy, diamond King ditching a club, and then a heart out, say. A spade back leaves you in hand to ruff one of the three remaining hearts. One more might fit under the next diamond, if they are split 4-3, but then the fourth diamond must catch the third spade with the fourth diamond. I dislike that tremendously.

[655321]

kenrexford, on Jan 4 2008, 06:41 PM, said:

That being said, this is not the greatest slam.  After a club lead, you win the club, diamond Ace, spade to dummy, diamond King ditching a club, and then a heart out, say.  A spade back leaves you in hand to ruff one of the three remaining hearts.  One more might fit under the next diamond, if they are split 4-3, but then the fourth diamond must catch the third spade with the fourth diamond.  I dislike that tremendously.

It is a better slam if you win, cash the ♦A, draw trumps ending in dummy, and claim.

[Walddk]

Your analysis is flawed, Ken. You have 12 top tricks provided that spades don't break 4-0 and diamonds 7-0. 6 spades tricks, 5 diamonds and one club. I call that a great slam.

Roland

[ArcLight]

Why not bid 4NT (RKCBW) instead of 4♣ as responder?
At that point you know you have 5♦ tricks, a club stop, and a heart stop.
You have a reasonable slam opposite not much more than:

AQxxx
xxx
Ax
xxx
(and another useful honor)

Maybe the defense leads hearts, and the above hand alone is good.

[mikeh]

Jlall, on Jan 4 2008, 07:09 PM, said:

Hi Uday,

I agree with north that south should pass 4C, his 6th trump is a big card that he has never shown.

I will note that I prefer "shape showing" over this auction after 2S, if south could have bid 3S on his third turn and later cuebid 4D north would realize how good his hand is (much better opposite a SIXTH trump).

I agree

I find these auctions relatively easy:

1♠  2♦
2♥  2♠
3♠  4♣
4♦  4N

My rule for cuebidding shortness is that I don't do it in partner's suit below game. A below game cuebid initially carries the message: I am interested/not disinterested in slam.. what do you think about it? And how on earth is partner going to know how he feels about it if he can't tell whether his AQxxxx is opposite the K or a stiff.... the King may be worth 3 or 4 tricks! Equally, with the A rather than a void.

Cuebids beyond game are more about controlling losers, while cue bids in the other partner's suit below game are about counting tricks as well, if not primarily... .with avoiding losers to be worried about once we know we probably have enough winners.

[jdonn]

ArcLight, on Jan 4 2008, 08:02 PM, said:

Why not bid 4NT (RKCBW) instead of 4♣ as responder?
At that point you know you have 5♦ tricks, a club stop, and a heart stop.
You have a reasonable slam opposite not much more than:

AQxxx
xxx
Ax
xxx
(and another useful honor)

Maybe the defense leads hearts, and the above hand alone is good.

South rebid 2♥.

One problem with keycard right away is you can be screwed if south doesn't have the aces of the majors.

QJxxx
KQJx
Ax
xx

needs 3-3 diamonds to even make 5 (presuming the obvious club lead). And if south's small diamond were another club...

Also as they are saying about how important it is that north knows south has 6 trumps, what if south has something like Qxxxx of spades? Yuck. Notice the auction suggested by Justin and Mike has shown essentially the exact same thing as the actual auction, except also the sixth spade, and that is what makes it much easier for north to bid keycard. If south had the above hand with the small diamond moved to spades I would feel truly unlucky!

[mike777]

KISS

I would just rkc over 3d.

[whereagles]

The North hand shouldn't stop short of slam after 3♦. It can see..

5 spades
5 diamonds
1 club
1 heart ruff
---
12 tricks

soooo... just bid 4NT over 3♦ to confirm keys.

[whereagles]

Just read some comments. I can't believe people are blaming 4♠. That bid is a PERFECT natural bid.

- It denies heart control (diamond control is redundant - it was already shown)
- It tends to deny club control (else rdbl or pass)
- It shows a not-so-hot hand in context (which is true)
- It tends to show a 6th spade (which is there)

It seems a masterbid to me...

[nick_s]

I vote for pass as the worst bid. North is easily worth another move.

[cherdano]

whereagles, on Jan 4 2008, 08:18 PM, said:

Just read some comments. I can't believe people are blaming 4♠. That bid is a PERFECT natural bid.

- It denies heart control (diamond control is redundant - it was already shown)
- It tends to deny club control (else rdbl or pass)
- It shows a not-so-hot hand in context (which is true)
- It tends to show a 6th spade (which is there)

It seems a masterbid to me...

To me it does not show a 6th spade at all, it is rather saying "oh boy I am REALLY minimum for all the slam tries i made earlier".