This was a hand played in the most recent March
2009 STAC event on Monday afternoon, March 30, 2009. Hand 10. The
dealer was actually East who passed.
When you pick up your North hand you begin to sniff the air around
you. No, there isn't a noxious odor out there. You are sniffing a
SLAM. And when your Southern partner opens 1
that SLAM odor becomes more and more apparent. You make your move
and bid 1
and partner bids 2.
South |
West |
North |
East |
1 |
Pass |
1 |
Pass |
2 |
|
|
|
Before we go any further....................
When I reviewed this hand with several other players
at my club, here were some of the bidding sequences.
South |
West |
North |
East |
1 |
Pass |
4 |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
|
|
South |
West |
North |
East |
1 |
Pass |
6 |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
|
|
South |
West |
North |
East |
1 |
Pass |
1 |
Pass |
2 |
Pass |
4 |
|
South |
West |
North |
East |
1 |
Pass |
1 |
Pass |
2 |
Pass |
6 |
|
Let me go through my thought processes prior to my bidding
the North hand.
Before partner opens when I first peek at this
hand
My thoughts
WOW, these are the hands that we wait months for!
GAME is imminent! SLAM is possible!
After partner opens 1
My thoughts
POW, now there is a possible and probable GRAND SLAM with this hand.
Partner opened 1
and rebid 2's
showing a probable 6 card suit. Where are partner's points? I'm missing
the following values: A
;K;Q;J;
K
;Q;A;Q;J
My heart suit can stand
alone opposite a void or singleton and all I need to do is find a
place for my 2 losing spades and 1 losing diamond. If partner has
the A
and Q
I have a spot for my losing
and one of my losing
's. If partner also
happens to have the A
I have found 13 tricks.
My thoughts afer partner bids 2
I love my partner's 2
bid as that probably secures the A
and possibly the Q.
Now if I can find my partner with the A
I can find 1,
8,
1,
and 3 tricks for my
total of 13 Grand tricks.
The key to this GRAND
SLAM then is the Q
along with the 2 missing A's. So how
do we find out if partner has the Q
and the A's?
Simple
!!! We key in on the
club suit.
South |
West |
North |
East |
1 |
Pass |
1 |
Pass |
2 |
Pass |
4NT* |
Pass |
5 |
Pass |
7 |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
|
|
*This is keycard blackwood keying in on the
club suit. 5
shows 2 keycards and the Q.
My partner and I use Minorwood,
so rather then 4NT, my bid was 4
and partner responded 4NT.
Since I already have the
K, the 2 keycards that
partner shows have to be the A
and the A
along with the
Q.
The only way that this
GRAND fails is with a bad heart break or a spade lead without a second
entry to dummy other then the A
and the probability of that happening is very, very, very small. Another
possible defeat would come with a lead from the east hand into a west
hand that is void in clubs, diamonds, or spades and that has a very,
very, very small probability.
Of course, 7NT also makes,
but when bidding a grand I want to play the best probability and just
getting to this GRAND SLAM garnered us a TOP.
