Saturday, November 25, 2006 5:25 AM

Hand Evaluation - Serious 3NT ( Clubs )

PITBULLS:

The more practice I get with the “serious 3NT” , the more I think the bid meshes with the club suit. Why ? The serious 3NT demands that partner Q bids . Q bids are done via rank order with the lowest ranking control bid first i.e. clubs . Therefore , when you have a club suit or a club void , the serious 3NT is a good way of getting the information you need. when you have a club suit , partner will show the club control you want to hear about. When you have a club void & partner bypasses a club control , happiness.

Perry held this hand ♠AQ10xxx ♥x ♦x ♣AQ109x , he opened 1♠ . I responded with 2NT so the obvious bid by Perry is to bid 4♣ which shows a two suiter. This relinquishes control to my side as he is describing his hand to me. I hold ♠KJxx ♥AJ10xx ♦Ax ♣Kx so I indeed take control of the auction. However, when Perry is 5-5 with a doubleton heart , I cannot bid a grand slam without a heart asking bid later in the auction. The solution is for Perry to take control via the serious 3NT as he holds the club suit & a 6-5 . I must bid 4♣ as that is my lowest ranking control. Armed with the information that I fill his club suit, Perry bids KCB so bidding 7♠ is a simple bid from his side. The serious 3NT keeps control of the auction to your side. When I deny a club control , Perry keeps a lid on the auction so only tries for a small slam.

Here is another auction from the Bermuda Bowl. You have ♠AQ10x ♥AKJ10x ♦J10xx ♣void , you open 1♥. Partner bids 2NT so you have a choice of bids. You can bid 3♦ which shows a strong hand with shortness in a minor but you relinquish control to partner. Serious 3NT & 4NT KCB are two bids that allow you to control the auction ( Kiz will love that ) . I contend that you should take control by bidding a “serious 3NT” with this hand as you have a club void. Partner has ♠Kx ♥Qxxx ♦AKQx ♣Qxx so bids 4♦. This means that partner does not have either the Ace or King of clubs ! The bulk of her HCP’s must be in the other suits , so we start investigating a grand slam.

I would bid KCB followed by a series of suit asking bids. Over my 4NT bid , partner bids 5♣ so I bid the queen ask. Partner bids 5♠ saying she has the spade king as the lowest ranking king at the 5 level along with the trump queen. I now bid 6♦ asking in diamonds so partner bids the grand slam with her KQ of diamonds. Very simple KCB auction once you start with the “serious 3NT” . The serious 3NT along with being a Q bid itself is a mini KCB under game in that partner must Q bid her controls. It is a nice device in that you are making a serious slam try under game. KCB gets you too high in a lot of auctions.

Another hand came up tonight which again shows the relationship between “serious 3NT” & a club void. ♠AKJxxx ♥Qxx ♦AJxx ♣ void. . You open 1♠ & partner bids 2NT . As usual with a slam hand with a club void , I bid 3NT . Partner bids 4♦ bypassing both the A&K of clubs ! You bid KCB & eventually find out you missing the ♥K . +1430 is very easy though. The serious 3NT is helpful with both club voids & spade voids. Spade voids will be discussed in a future article.