Friday, March 31, 2006 3:55 AM

4NT & Minors

 

PITBULLS:

 

          Playing minor suit KCB frees up a very handy bid . 4NT is used as either a quantitative slam try or a place to play the contract after aborting a slam try. 4NT is never Blackwood when a minor suit KCB bid is available.  BJ Trelford had a hand that shows that advantage tonight AQ9x Ax K10x  KQ98 . Hand evaluation determines what tool you use during the auction . I opened 1♦ and BJ bid 1♠ and I rebid 2♦. What do you bid ? A jump to 4♦ is minor suit KCB and a jump to 4NT is quantitative suggesting a 6NT slam. This hand is all controls rather than soft values suitable for NT so I would bid 4♦ KCB and an easy 6♦ is made. If you want to right side the NT by protecting your spade tenace from the opening lead , you can bid 4NT. However , this  hides your diamond fit and 4NT might be passed when 6♦ is cold.

 

          BJ and I play a special 4th suit forcing where 2NT is a one round force. BJ has the best of both worlds by simply bidding 2NT. I use a relay to attempt to play the hand in a 3♦ partial but BJ will over rule the relay and drive the hand to 6♦. What if BJ’s hand had more soft values ?  AQxx AQx Kx KQ98 he can still bid 2NT and we can explore a grand slam more intelligently if I show any sign of life after 2NT. After any 2NT bid we play 3♣ as a relay to escape. Unless partner is too strong and breaks the relay we can bail out to a 3♦ partial. This is the option I would choose with my 11 HCP and we stay out of a very bad grand slam. Add a king to my hand and I would bid 3♦ after 2NT and we would be in a cold grand slam. Keeping the bidding low allows a partnership to exchange valuable information.

 

          The play of the hand was trivial but it does show some declarer techniques .

 

10

J

A

A

x

9

Q

x

 

x

9

 

 

 

8

 

 

 

7

 

 

 

x

 

    BJ was in 6NT and a low club was led . He won the club in his hand and tested the diamonds and they broke OK . You have 11 top tricks & since you have nice spade spots this is now a 75% slam . One of two spade finesses and you are home. The spade 10 is led and covered with the jack and you win the queen. You go back and hook the spade and make 7NT as the cards lay.

 

 

 

A

A

K

K

Q

x

10

Q

9

 

x

9

x

 

 

8

   On the Bridge assumption that LHO has long clubs and RHO the spade length with the king you have a double squeeze for 7. RHO must hold the spades , LHO the clubs so nobody can hold the B suit which is hearts. What if you are horribly unlucky and both spades are behind you ? You must lose a spade early as you have 11 top tricks and need the count rectified. It turns out the person with the long clubs held both the KQ of hearts and gets squeezed for 6. It is usually best to rectify the count before you run your long suit even if your squeeze is pseudo due to bad discarding. Pseudo squeezes need the count rectified also. 

 

          I was told that at one table , Chris Buchanan overcalled 1♠ to BJ’s right with his KJxxx of spades. This made the play very trivial J .