Grand Slam Force

 

The Grand Slam Force is an unusual jump to 5NT which asks Partner about his holding in the trump suit, and, needless to say, is an attempt to reach 7.  This convention has been somewhat overtaken by modern bidding technology, and devices such as Roman Key Card and Exclusion are often serviceable substitutes for the Grand Slam Force.
 

                                           9th August, 2006               Board 21      N-S Vul

 

 

Thanks to Lebensohl, North's 3♣ was natural and invitational, showing something in the 9-11 range, or thereabouts.  As South, you have a monstrous hand, and need just the AK♣ to make a grand slam.  If you are afraid that 4NT might be misinterpreted, you can always try 5NT here ...yes, the Grand Slam Force, asking Partner to bid 7♣ if she has 2 of the top 3 trumps.

 

That Grand Slam Force is a most useful tool once every couple of years.  But we don’t mean to be sarcastic, it’s simply that the advent of Roman Key Card Blackwood and Exclusion Blackwood have greatly reduced the convention’s frequency of use.  In fact, you could have achieved the same result with a bid of 5♠ (over 3♣) ... for those that play Exclusion, this bid would ask Partner to make her normal Roman Key Card response, but excluding the A♠.  Normally, you would be void in the exclusion suit (Spades here), but you don't have to be.

 

                                           18th October, 2006           Board 8       None Vul

 

 

When we pick up this collection, our original plan would be to describe it as a strong balanced hand, on the grounds that opening 2♣ and then rebidding 3♦ is to be avoided where possible, it’s a most inefficient start to the auction.  And, although we have 21 HCP’s we’d upgrade it into the 22-24 category, based on the Diamond length.  So we open 2♣ and Partner disrupts our planning by responding 3♣.  Now there is no reason to be bidding 3NT, we can bid the Diamonds after all, it’s descriptive and the cheapest bid available, what could be wrong with that?  Partner persists with Clubs, cue-bids are exchanged, now what?

 

As often happens in minor suit auctions after a 2♣ opening, the auction has got rather crowded.  We would just bid 5NT here, the so-called Grand Slam Force, asking Partner to bid 7♣ if he has two of the top 3 honors.  Obviously we have plenty of tricks, and if we can rely on Partner having the A♠, then all that remains is the trump suit.  Assuming that Partner does have the missing trump honors, the worst case would be three small Diamonds in Partner’s hand, but even that is not necessarily fatal.

 

                                            31st October, 2007            Board 29     Both Vul

 

 

Partner’s 2NT was the Jacoby 2NT, we showed Club shortness with 3♣, and that was followed by three cue-bids.  What next?

 

Partner took charge of this hand when he bid 2NT, but now it looks as if we should be making the decisions.  Partner’s A♦ and K♥ cue-bids tell us almost all that we need to know, it now comes down to the trump suit.  Roman Key Card Blackwood does a good job of resolving the trump honors, but that won’t work here, we have a void.  Nor can we make a leap to 5♣ to invoke Exclusion Key Card, the auction is too high for that.  What is left is 5NT, the Grand Slam Force, after which (on the actual hand) Partner will leap to 7♠, showing two of the top three trumps.  Bingo!

 

                                             19th March, 2008                 Board 27  None Vul

 

 

That 2♥ response was a pleasant surprise!  Surely Partner has at least one of the missing high Hearts so this one is a question of 6♥ or 7♥.  How do we find out about those cards?

-         Roman Key Card?  No, we have a void, if we bid 4NT and Partner shows 2 Key Cards, we won’t know if that includes the useless A♣.

-         Exclusion Key Card?  That’s a way of excluding the A♣ from the Key Card responses.  Would 5♣ here be Exclusion?  Maybe, but it looks awfully risky to us, we wouldn’t want to take the chance of playing in our void suit!

-         Grand Slam Force?  Yes, 5NT is the answer, asking about Partner’s trump holding.

 

Here is a common set of responses to 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 (or extra length)

 

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