Grand Slam Force

 

The Grand Slam Force (GSF) is a trump-asking bid of 5NT, as in this example:

 

            West                                        East

            ♠ AKT542                               ♠ QJ76

            ♥ 743                                      ♥ --

            ♦ 82                                         ♦ AKQ654

            ♣ 92                                        ♣ A65

 

West opens 2♠, and East can see that a grand slam will be an excellent proposition if only Partner has the AK♠.  5NT here is the Grand Slam Force and it says “Bid 7 if you have 2 of the top 3 trumps”.

 

As Roman Key Card Blackwood has become more popular, so has GSF become less useful.  RKCB provides methods for finding out about the King and Queen of trumps as part of the Ace-asking process, so in most situations GSF adds little or no value.  In the example above, it’s the Heart void that renders RKCB ineffective, and gives us a chance to wheel out GSF.

 

Actually, even in the above example, it was possible to find out about the trumps via another method, namely Exclusion Key Card (using 3014 responses).  So, all in all, you won’t find the GSF coming up very often at all.

 

Responses

 

After Partner’s 5NT, with two of the top three, we bid 7♣ (regardless of what is the agreed suit), and let Partner place the final contract.

 

With none of the top three, we bid 6 of the agreed trump suit.

 

With one of the top three:

            If Clubs are agreed, then just bid 6♣, as per the above.

            If Diamonds are agreed:

                        Bid 6♣ with the Ace or King

                        Bid 6♦ with the Queen or less

            If Hearts or Spades are agreed:

                        Bid 6♣ with the Ace or King (now 6♦ asks for extra trump length)

                        Bid 6♦ with the Queen

 

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