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Slam Tries
Here we look at a few hands where an indirect slam try is made, soliciting Partner's opinion.
3rd February, 2010 Both Vul
East’s 2♠ was Michaels (showing Hearts and a minor). Now, what would you do as South? You’ll notice that the choices are somewhat similar to those confronting South back on Board 17. - 4♠? No, that’s generally played as preemptive. - 3♣? This might work, but you would surely be feeling that you had not done enough if West next bid 4♥, and you then bid 4♠. - 4♥? A splinter, showing Spades and Heart shortness. Back on Board 17, after Partner opened 1♥ and RHO overcalled 1♠, we wondered whether or not ♠KQ, ♥JT873, ♦T, ♣AQ975 was too good for a splinter. We thought the splinter was OK (some will disagree), but South’s hand on this Board 20 surely is too good for a splinter. That 6th Club looks useful, the hand has great controls, and there are no wasted values. - 3♥? A simple cue-bid might elicit some useful information from Partner. - 4NT? Yes, good old Roman Key Card would be our choice! Slam doesn’t need much from Partner, good trumps alone could be enough.
3rd February, 2010 E-W Vul
At her first turn, North finds herself in a similar situation to West back on Board 8. Again it is 5-6 distribution with 12 HCP, again it is a four-loser hand, and again the choice is either to show reverse values (by opening the 6-card suit), or to treat the hand as a 5-5. Our own choice is to open 1♣, others will prefer 1♦. Having opened 1♣, and seen South show some values with 2♥, what is your choice over West’s 4♠? - 5♦? Not a good idea, South will no doubt interpret this as a slam-try in support of Hearts. - Double? The vulnerability certainly suggests collecting a penalty, but E-W presumably have noticed the vulnerability too, and obviously have a huge fit and some distribution. Doubling with such an offensive hand would be somewhat bizarre. - Pass? Is this a Forcing Pass situation? Opinions may vary, but according to our own rules it is not. Nonetheless, there is something to be said for passing here and letting Partner decide the next move. - 5♣? This would be our choice. Unless Partner has some surprise wastage in the Spade suit, 5♣ is likely to make, and additionally bidding 5♣ may allow N-S to reach a good slam.
It turns out that South does have a slam-suitable hand and will try 6♣ (which is cold).
2nd December, 2009 E-W Vul
After Partner’s 2♦, you suspect that you belong in 4♥, but it would be precipitous to leap to 4♥, the hand is a little too good don’t you think? So you bid 3♣ first, just in case Partner has some extras of his own. What does Partner’s 3♥ tell us? Not very much! Partner did not bid 3♦ so is unlikely to be 5-5 … he didn’t bid 3NT, which could be for lack of a stopper or for some other reason … and he doesn’t have 3 Spades by the looks of things. That’s what Partner doesn’t have, what he does have remains unclear.
Should you bid 4♥ now? Having gone the slow route to 4♥ (via 4th Suit Forcing) will you have done your duty of showing extras and Heart support? Actually, no! Partner will not know whether you have gone to 4♥ because 3NT is unplayable, or whether you have a good hand with 3-card Heart support. What’s the solution? Bid 4♣ here. It’s not natural, we don’t go looking for fits by bidding new suits at the 4-level (that 3♣ bid doesn’t count it was artificial). 4♣ is a slam try in Hearts. Does it guarantee a Club control? Actually, no! This was the only way in which you could create a forcing Heart auction, and as such does not guarantee a control. This type of slam try rejoices in the name of Last Train to Clarksville (the Clarksville bit is optional unless you live in Tennessee).
2nd December, 2009 Both Vul
West has extras, and 6 Clubs, so slam is a definite possibility. That 3♥ was forcing, typically showing a 6th Heart. What does West’s 3♠ mean? He presumably has something in Spades, and is unsure where the hand belongs. Or maybe his hand is at the top of the range and he is reluctant to bid 3NT immediately, for fear of missing slam. East is also unsure (a) whether to play in Hearts or No Trump or Clubs, (b) whether to play in game or slam. This is a difficult hand and our suggestion would be 4NT here. As a suit has not been agreed, East’s 4NT is not Ace-asking, nor can it be Roman Key Card. E-W are in a non-fit auction and 4NT is natural and slam-invitational.
4th November, 2009 Both Vul
2NT is reasonable enough, but certainly not ideal with that good 5-card major and the unstopped Club suit. South transfers to Spades and West chimes in with a 4♣ bid. Now, what do you bid as North? With West having shown extreme Club length this hand has improved enormously! There’s a big Spade fit and it appears that South might be short in the enemy suit. So, North is clearly too good for a mere 4♠. What are the alternatives? The obvious slam try would be a cue-bid of 4♦, but we suggest that there is a better bid available, namely 5♠! When the opponents have bid and we are in a strong auction, a jump to 5 of our trump suit is generally used to show two (or more) losers in the enemy suit. Perfect! Is there any danger that 5 Spades will be down one when South also has three small Clubs? Actually, no, that surely means that East is void in Clubs and cannot lead one!
21st February, 2007 Board 23 Both Vul
OK, what’s happened so far? Let’s recap the events to date: - West showed a minor two-suiter, usually a weak hand - Partner’s 3♦ was conventional, a cue-bid of one their suits, in this case showing Spade support and at least invitational values - That pesky East has further preempted our auction with his 4♣ bid - Over 4♣, our side was not obliged to bid again, Partner’s 3♦ promised no more than invitational values, though she could also be considerably stronger. Needless to say, with our extra shape and values (even though those minor suit Kings look suspect) we bid the Spade game. - Then North invited slam with 5♠.
Does that 5♠ bid have any particular meaning, other than it is trying for slam? No such special meaning makes much sense to us, but what does make sense is that we should consider a slam try that Partner did not make. She did not cue-bid 5 of a minor, and that suggests that she does not have two fast losers in either one of the minors. After all, suppose that she had two Club losers, would she not have cue-bid 5♦, pinpointing the Club concern? Yes, we think so, in which case we should assume that Partner has both minor suit Aces, or else an Ace in one minor and a singleton in the other. So at least one of our minor suit Kings is working, and we think that is enough for us to take a shot at slam.
Partner’s actual hand was: ♠ KQT832 ♥ 2 ♦ A95 ♣ A93 Yes, indeed, cue-bidding or Roman Key Card would not have helped Partner very much. She had a little bit of everything, with no obvious weakness, she was just interested in our opinion. Nice 5♠ bid, Partner!
10th May, 2006 Board 7 Both Vul
Regardless of whether East’s Double is Negative, or merely value-showing, West can surely not pass here, the potential for slam is just too great. A bid of 4♠ would be altogether too feeble, and the choice seems to be between 5♥ and 5♠. No doubt, 5♥ would get a lot of votes, but it won’t help the partnership find a Spade contract … East’s Spades will be too weak for him to suggest Spades. The only way to get to a 4-4 Spade fit (if one exists) is for West to bid 5♠. Yes, 5♠ is our choice here, just bidding what you’ve got is often a good thing. The 5♠ bid gets E-W to 6♠, whereas the more nebulous 5♥ will no doubt land E-W in the lower-scoring 6♦.
Does 5♠ have any special meaning, other than showing Spades and a very good hand? We don’t think that it should be anything other than a natural bid … it’s the only way that West can show Spades and also consult with Partner, so it’s simply not practical to give the bid a meaning such as “Bid 6 with good trumps”, or “Bid 6 if you don’t have 2 Heart losers”.
24th May, 2006 Board 20 Both Vul
Yes, here’s another slam decision. Partner is typically 18-19 and balanced for that 4♠ bid, which gives us a combined 29-30 and a 9-card fit. We would make a slam try, and suggest a 5♣ bid here, showing a Club card and asking Partner’s general opinion about slam. We don’t like using Roman Key Card Blackwood here, we suspect that we have enough Key Cards between us, and would prefer to know whether Partner likes his hand.
7th June, 2006 Board 4 Both Vul
North's sequence typically shows 18-19 with a balanced hand (with an unbalanced hand and Heart support, North might well splinter). South has 13 HCP's so we would want to make a slam try here ... but what slam try? Blackwood is generally not a good idea when you have two top losers in an unbid suit. For example, North might hold: ♠ JT, ♥ AT54, ♦ AQ3, ♣ AKJ2. In that case, if we use Blackwood, Partner will show sufficient controls for slam, but the combined hands will have 2 Spade losers.
A better approach here is to try a cue-bid of 5♦, showing something in Diamonds, and denying a control in Spades and Clubs, both being cheaper cue-bids that were by-passed. On the actual hand, with Spades and Clubs both covered, and a hand loaded with controls, North can leap to slam. With the hypothetical hand given above, North will see the problem in Spades, and will sign off at the 5-level.
7th June, 2006 Board 19 E-W Vul
Clearly this hand belongs in Spades. Game or slam? South's hand is really good ... loads of tricks, and 3-card support. Anyone for Roman Key Card Blackwood? A bit precipitous, perhaps, there's no real safety at the 5-level ... Partner might have something like: ♠ QJT972 ♥ 9 ♦ J75 ♣ K98. No, not Blackwood, our suggestion is a bid of 4♣. Hopefully, Partner will take this as a really good raise to 4♠ ... could it be natural? ... we don't think so, bidding a new suit at the 4-level does not sound like a fit-seeking move to us.
20th June, 2007 Board 11 None Vul
Partner’s 2♥ was game-forcing, then Partner confirmed at least 6 cards in her suit. What next? It looks like we belong in a Heart slam, maybe even a grand. How do we head slamwards in Hearts? Not by bidding 3♠ or 4♣, Partner will think we are showing extra length in our own suits. The options are: - 4NT: No, we don’t think so, not with two losers in the unbid Diamond suit. - 5♥: Perhaps this will be interpreted as saying “I have two Diamond losers …”, but if so it should also be saying “… and the rest of the hand is solid”. This is far from the case here. - 6♥: A wild stab in the dark, giving up on 7 and still with two potential Diamond losers. - 4♦: This would be our choice, but only if Partner is on the same wavelength. This particular wavelength comes with the exotic name of “Last Train to Clarksville”. It’s usually abbreviated to Last Train, and can be used whenever there is just one below-game cue-bid available. Here, 4♦ can hardly be a new suit. Sure, it could be a cue-bid in support of Hearts, and that would be a common treatment. But consider also the Last Train treatment, a neat way of making a below-game slam try while at the same time setting the trump suit.
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