Hi Bobby,could you please help us get to 3NT or six of a minor on this board (cost us first place pairs).N Q AQ2 J652 AK754-E A9872 J10965 3 Q10-S K105 74 AKQ97 J63-W J643 K83 1084 982.NS vul D-N 1C(natural) E 2C(majors) S 2D(9+) W 2S~N 3D(I downgrade the hand?!) E 3S S 4C(choice of contract) W pass~N 5C passout.(+1 near bottom).Pard said he might have bid 2S showing but I might have took it as asking..he was worried about the lack of heart stop hence not 3NT over 3S..could I perhaps have found a better bid than 3D?3H showing perhaps? Regards~Patrick.

Hi Patrick,

First, let’s narrow down our priorities, the largest one is arriving at 6 diamonds or much worse 6 clubs which at the very least required the queen of clubs to drop doubleton (preferably) or with diamonds as trump singleton).

Your first rebid of only 3 diamonds does not begin to describe the value of your hand. Both your fit and your controls are enormous so that a jump to 4 diamonds or even a 3 or 4 spade bid showing (in turn) a cue bid (not two immediate losers) or (shortness) with it also GF (5 diamonds or higher) definitely included.

Note a spade cue bid, although with no 1st round control is preferred (at least by me over 4 hearts) since the opponents are bidding that suit. Partner would (should) then value the queen of clubs (not held) over his king of spades, and although that isn’t rocket science, but for those inexperienced readers is now worth mentioning.

Finally a final contract of 5 diamonds is the goal and would be achieved since partner would fear his wasted king of spades, and although his great diamonds are held, his three clubs held instead to a more manageable one or two would raise a warning sign for slam purposes.

I could embellish this discussion with other comments, but they would pale in importance to the generalizations above mentioned.

Good luck. Onward and upward to better bridge and these discussions will lead to thoughts which will help the serious bridge thinker to what is important and the way to get there from here.

Hi Bobby, though it’s pairs you would not contemplate 3N here with the South hand and if one does not reach 6D,5D being the main objective here,that’s the gist of it right?If over 2S(West),I was to bid 3H,is that showing heart feature probing for 3N or same as 3S- a cue shortage?Your other comments might be?

Another possibility might have been for North to bid three hearts over two spades.

It seems hard to imagine how that could be anything other than a request for South to bid three notrump with a spade stopper.

Hi Jim2,I should have bid 3H,but is 3NT the contract we want to be in?Guess over 3N by South,North can make a slam try with 4C or 4D RKCB asking perhaps?Await our host’s reply. Regards~Patrick.

Hi Jim2,suffice to say a few pairs were in 3N making lots!

Patrick –

At that point in the auction, your partner had showed 9+ and not 13 with that strong a diamond suit. Also, is a minor suit slam really all that great a contract? Assuming they cash the AS on opening lead and exit safely, doesn’t it require the QC to drop precisely doubleton?

At 3N by South, declarer starts with 7 minor tricks and the AH. If the opening lead is a major, then that’s 9 tricks. If the defense starts with a minor, declarer has time to get at least 4 club tricks.

Hi Patrick & Jim2,

There are usually two distinct and separate discussions to be made when both matchpoints and IMPs (or, of course, rubber bridge) are in the mix.

While I understand I should be responsible for giving good advice about both (of the above) I choose to, at the very least, issue a disclaimer on matchpoints, because, although exciting and having some of the same challenges as real bridge, are basically shots in the dark and not much different than throwing darts (of course, some skill required, but on the whole, just throw and hope).

Let me count the ways: Today, while playing matchpoints at my local bridge club, I picked up: s. 10, h. Kx, d. KQxxx, c. 10xxxx and heard Judy, my partner, open 2NT (19+-21). I raised to 3NT and Judy held: s. xx, h. AQx, d. AJ10x, c. AKQJ. Six spade tricks later we were minus 200 with both minor suit slams colder than Siberia.

Of course, at real bridge I would have chosen 3 spades (both minors and a GF) which would easily have propelled us to the right contract. However, in matchpoints 3 NT would probably, with an unbiased simulation, prove to be the right contract, especially taking into consideration other matchpoint elements which even with a spade lead possible, sometimes matchpoint wary partnerships do not want to lose a trick on opening lead and lead something else, not having any idea of what to expect.

None of the above is an excuse for any action, but obviously the beauty of bridge is often seriously compromised by playing such an experiment. Therefore all I can offer is that 3 spades is definitely the right bridge bid, with getting to the right game or slam the only goal, but catering to the false god is what it usually takes to shine brightly.

Of course, others reading this admission will then show many different ways we can have both our matchpoint cake and eat it too, but, while I do not know how, I suggest that others also would have to be sitting on the same bench in order to navigate successful solutions.

Changing the subject to Patrick’s hand I can only echo what I originally wrote, not knowing whether I covered the bases or not, but at least suggested that only raising diamonds was not enough to do at his first rebid opportunity.

Sorry for the rant, but discussing matchpoints is not my idea of being productive since so many choices are usually available, many of which will advocate deceptive bidding tactics which only inflame others, and remind them of many hands from the past, where the opponents seemed to be alert to what partner may do, and basically throw away bidding hands to the right contract, in the hope of playing a high scoring contract while giving their worthy opponents the wrong evidence.

Hi Bobby,thanks for your comment,which is much appreciated here,onward and forward to the next hand,your bridge experience has too given us hope. 😉