On the actual deal, North might well have opened 1♣ or 1♦.  How does that affect your bid as South?  If North opens 1♦, in that case we’d say that the East hand is just about good enough for a Takeout Double.  Sure, it’s minimum, and the ♦Q is a dubious value, but the shape is right and it may be a case of “now or never”.  However, when North opens 1♣, the shape becomes less perfect, and that in combination with the minimum values suggests a Pass.

After Partner raises to 2♥, do you make another move?  Playing matchpoints, the hand does not like it is quite good enough, the main defect being those rotten trumps.  But it’s pretty close, that ♣K in Partner’s (so-called) suit looks useful.  However, playing IMPs, where the premium for bidding games (especially vulnerable games) is higher, we’d invite.

4, 12, 21

Hand 4 (North)                    Hand 12 (West)                    Hand 21 (East)

♠ T73                                    ♠ AKQ6                                ♠ 972

♥ KJ96                                 ♥ K53                                    ♥ AT65

Having passed originally, are your 10 HCP and 4-4 in the unbid suits good enough for a Takeout Double?  In general, the answer is “Yes!” but on this hand we really wouldn’t bother.  The vulnerability is most discouraging, the values are soft, and the ♥Q is more likely to be useful on defense than on offense.  Now, suppose that the auction proceeds as follows:

             South  West    North   East 

            Pass    1♣       Pass    1♥

            Pass    2♥        Pass    Pass

            ??

Would you now make a balancing Double?  This one is more tempting!  The opponents have a fit, so we presumably do also … and the opponents have limited their hands and Partner is marked with some values.  Tempting?  Yes.  Guaranteed to succeed?  No!

After Partner responds 1♥ are you a 2♥ or a 3♥ bidder?  We’d consider it close, not quite the prescribed 15-17 for the 3♥ bid, but it is a lovely 13-count with a singleton and a nice 5-card suit.  Take your pick, but speaking for ourselves we’d bid 2♥ … give us the ♣T, though, and that would push us over the edge into 3♥ territory.

What is your choice?

-         2♦? This cue-bid shows 10+ HCP and Heart support (at least in the style used by most tournament players), and that’s exactly what West has.  But, really, what a massive overbid!  The hand is square, and the ♦KJ9 is a nice holding, except for the unfortunate detail it is sitting under the Diamond bidder.  Scratch this one off your list.

-         2♥? Well, the books do say “support with support” and E-W do have an 8-card major fit.  If the hand is not good enough to invite game in Hearts then how about a simple raise to 2♥?  That’s certainly an improvement, but is it the right bid?

-         1NT? This would be our choice.  Opposite an overcall this shows around 8-11, and this one looks just right … suitable holding in the enemy suit … it puts North on lead which (from the E-W point of view) is a good place for her to be … and the values are slow and No Trumpish.

What are North’s choices here?

-         Double? This would be primarily for take-out, and could be made on a weaker hand with, say, 3=1=5=4 distribution.  That doubleton Spade is a negative, although one possibility (if Partner is on the same wave-length) is to double and then, when Partner bids Spades, to bid 3♣.  But that sounds like a dangerous route to take, one littered with potential booby traps.

-         2♥? The cue-bid is another possibility, but we are not sure where it will lead us.  If Partner can bid No Trump, we’ll be happy, but otherwise we’ll find ourselves in another nebulous auction, and one where we may not know whether or not we belong in game.

-         3♣? North has a hand that, opposite a non-silent Partner, would have jump-shifted, forcing to game.  Do the rules change when Partner failed to take a call?  We think so!  We believe that North should be allowed to bid 3♣ anyway, showing a good hand but for it to be non-forcing.  With a really good hand, North must double or cue-bid, or perhaps open 2♣ initially.

So, our suggestion here is 3♣, which works out well on the actual deal, as Partner will pass and 10 tricks will be made.

Some Wests, perhaps not noticing the vulnerability, will overcall 2♣.  North passes, and now there are two ways by which dreadful things can befall E-W.  The most likely one is that South will reopen with a Double, North will pass, and West will go for -200 or -500 on a part-score hand.  Even worse, East might take a shine to his hand (he shouldn’t) and presume that West actually has some values.  If that happens then the final E-W result will be too hideous even to contemplate.

Other Wests, we’ll call them the enlightened ones, will overcall 1♦ with 1♥.  Yes, you will no doubt have noticed that there is a small deficit in the length of the Heart suit, but at least it is a bid which does not overstate the robustness of the Club suit, and one that tells East which suit West would like to be led.

West is obviously thinking slam here, and, thanks to that running Spade suit, there are likely to be enough tricks to make 6NT.  Of course, with the combined point-count in the 30-32 range, it is quite possible for E-W to be missing two Aces.  Is 4♣ Gerber here?  Yes, even though Clubs have been bid naturally, 4♣ here follows the “first-or-last No Trump” rule.  Here’s a variation on the standard Gerber responses which you might agree are an improvement on the original:

            4♦        1 or 4 Aces

            4♥        0 or 3 Aces

            4♠        2 Aces and a bad hand

            4NT     2 Aces and a good hand

As can be seen, these responses are analogous to the Roman Key Card 1430 responses, with the role of the Queen of trumps being usurped by the strength of the hand.

On the actual deal, East shows all three missing Aces.  Now, how many tricks can West count?  6 Spades, 2 Hearts and a Club brings the total to 9.  How many Diamonds?  Should be 3, unless East tragically has only two cards in the suit (perhaps his distribution is 2=4=2=5).  Despite that (fairly remote) risk West bids 6NT, where, as it happens, he has the expected 12 tricks with no chance for any more.

Would you double back into the auction?  With that singleton Heart and with no Heart raise from East, there is a good chance that Partner might be able to make a Penalty Pass.  And, failing that, there was the likelihood of a minor suit fit.  And, even if 3♣ or 3♦ do not make, at least N-S are not vulnerable.  On the actual deal, North does indeed make a Penalty Pass, and that turns out to be +300!

South’s Redouble showed some values, what next for West?  The first reaction here might be to bid Hearts, but there is no rush to pick the trump suit.  Passing does not say “I want to defend 2♠ redoubled!”, it says “I have no particular preference, Partner, you pick the suit”.  If East were then to bid 3♣, West would bid 3♦ saying “I have Diamonds and Hearts, choose between those”.  Well done, West!  If he had bid 3♥ over the Redouble, North would have doubled, and that would be -500 for E-W and a bottom board.

First of all, let us say that West made a good choice when he supported Hearts immediately with a Jacoby 2NT response.  There was no point in confusing matters by bidding those impressive Spades first, West knew where he was headed and had the kind of hand that should be taking charge of the auction.  East’s 3♦ showed a singleton Diamond.  Now what?

Bidding 4NT (Roman Key Card) will be no help whatsoever.  If Partner shows 3 Key Cards, West will not know whether that includes the useless ♣A, or whether Partner has the perfect cards (♠A, ♥AK) for a grand slam.

Yes, it’s time for Exclusion Key Card!  Yes, a spectacular leap to 5♣ says “Tell me your Key Cards, but leave out the (useless) ♣A from your response”.  Following instructions, East will bid 5NT “two with” and West must satisfy himself with just 6♥.  Of course, if the ♣A were changed to the ♥A, E-W would have coasted into the cold grand slam, even though they would be missing an Ace.

West did well to take charge of the auction, look at the mess he might have gotten into if he had wasted time showing his Spades:

            West    East

                        1♥

            1♠        2♣

            2♦        2♠

            3♥        4♣

            Etc.

In this auction, West got himself embroiled in a Fourth Suit Forcing auction, and was unable to agree Hearts at a low enough level.  Consequently, there would be no chance of reaching the grand slam if East had the right Key Cards.

Is there any reason at all not to bid 1♦?  This may be a controversial suggestion, but consider simply bidding 3NT directly (showing 13-15).  Sure, it’s not perfect, for all North knows the defense might rattle off 5 Hearts, for example.  But usually they won’t and East will be operating in the dark on his opening lead.  Here’s what happens on the actual deal:

-         If North bids 1♦, and N-S embark on a revealing auction, they will end up in 3NT played by North.  The auction will tip off East to a Spade lead, and 3NT will be down one.

-         If North bids 3NT directly, East has a natural Heart lead, and turns out to be 10 tricks for Declarer!

Science is wonderful sometimes (for example on the previous Board!), but on other hands it pays to get where you are going quickly, without giving the opponents any information.

3♠ here would show around 15-17 with 4-card support, and although East has only 13 HCP, this hand clearly qualifies, given the fine controls and good Diamond suit.  So, you bid 3♠, and Partner launches into Roman Key Card with a bid of 4NT.  What would be your response?  The two options are:

-         Bid 5♥: Showing two Key Cards and denying the ♠Q.

-         Bid 5NT: Showing two Key Cards and a void, and saying nothing about the ♠Q, neither one way nor the other.

The trouble with bidding 5NT is that Partner won’t know whether the void is in Hearts or in Clubs, and there is no guarantee that the void will even be useful.  However, denying the ♠Q might well be useful, so our choice would be to respond 5♥.

East has shown 4-card Spade support, some extras, and two Key Cards without the ♠Q.  Do you bid Spades or No Trump?  Small slam or grand slam?  We certainly don’t want to be in 7♠, with an 8-card fit and no ♠Q.  We could bid 6♠, of course, but surely 6NT is likely to make, and that’s a better matchpoint score, of course.  Is it worth trying 7NT?  No, surely just playing in No Trump instead of Spades will be enough for an above average board, why take the risk of getting a zero by being overly-ambitious.