Slam Tries

 

Here we look at a few hands where an indirect slam try is made, soliciting Partner's opinion.

 

 

21st February, 2007         Board 23      Dealer South       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       Dealer South        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      Dealer West      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       Dealer West        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      Dealer South        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      Dealer South       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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