[inquiry]

This hand is from an recent tournament with 91 tables, in which ony 10 out of the 91 pairs reached the reasonable 6S contract (or is it reasonable?). I give below some o the very populuar auctions that failed to hit the right spot.

Feel free to offer the auction you think is best and/or critique the actions below.

1D-1S-3D-3S-5D pass

2N-3H-3S-4S-Pass (presumably mild slam invite)

2N-4H-4S-Pass

1D-1S-3D-3S-4S-Pass

1D-1S-3D-3S-4H-Pass

1D-1S-3D-3S-3N

---

[mike777]

very tough hand maybe:


1d=1s
2h?=3s(6s, 9+ hcp)
4nt?=5s
5nt(specific k ask, grand try)=6s


very tough

[jdonn]

I would duplicate your second auction except not pass 4♠!

[kayin801]

Looks like a really easy hand to hit slam on using big club... any clue how many of the tables who bid it/didn't get there were using a form of precision?

How I would bid it:
1♣ (16+)-1♥ (GF w/ spades)
1NT (waiting)-2♥ (6+ spades)
2♠ (accepts spades)-3♣ (3 controls)
3♠ (asking)-4♦ (2 of the top 3 spade honors)
6♠ (maybe after searching for a grand by asking in clubs, idk)


In 2/1 I agree with jdonn.

[Siegmund]

I like mike's 1d-1s-2h-3s. (Well, I don't like it, but I know I dislike any sequence starting with 2nt on West's hand.) After that start slam seems more or less inevitable - though there are just enough choices of how to play it that I will no doubt pick the wrong one.

[whereagles]

I have a gadget that might help here: opener 2NT rebid as strong 2. It's easy after that.

[Cyberyeti]

1♦-1♠
2N-3♠ artificial GF unbalanced, normally one puppets 3♣ so this is 6+♠, no other 4 card suit and no better than xx in ♦
4♥-4N agreeing ♠ cue, no club control, good hand (4♦ would be a huge 1 suiter), RKCB
5♣-5♦ 0/3, Q?
5♠-5N no, well I knew that, but am still interested in a grand, but nothing sensible to say
6♠ unlucky, I don't have Ax, Axx, AKQJ10x, xx

Even as it is, it's not the worst grand in the world, needs trumps 3-2, diamonds 4-2, 3-3 or stiff Q and the hand sitting behind the spade suit not to have two small diamonds and 3 spades if they find the heart lead. You also have chances if the hand sitting behind the spades has a singleton 9♦, particularly on a non heart lead.

Edit, was composing this while whereagles posted

[inquiry]

kayin801, on Jul 8 2010, 12:50 AM, said:

Looks like a really easy hand to hit slam on using big club... any clue how many of the tables who bid it/didn't get there were using a form of precision?

How I would bid it:
1♣ (16+)-1♥ (GF w/ spades)
1NT (waiting)-2♥ (6+ spades)
2♠ (accepts spades)-3♣ (3 controls)
3♠ (asking)-4♦ (2 of the top 3 spade honors)
6♠ (maybe after searching for a grand by asking in clubs, idk)


In 2/1 I agree with jdonn.

None of the slam auctions used a big club

[hanp]

Agree with jdonn.

[matmat]

this:

1D-1S-3D-3S-4H-Pass

is my personal favorite.

[Bbradley62]

Ma and Pa Kettle get there on:
2N-3♥-3♠-4N-5♣-6♠

[aguahombre]

I think I would need one more small spade to use the toy:

2N-3♥
3♠ 5♠, where 5S is an answer to not-asked RKC.

So, the mild slam try and the control-rich acceptance --ala Josh --- seems ok.

[inquiry]

Bbradley62, on Jul 8 2010, 12:23 PM, said:

Ma and Pa Kettle get there on:
2N-3♥-3♠-4N-5♣-6♠

That was a very common auction that got to 6♠, not one I like.