Looking at the 2 hands, slam is quite reasonable but surely more by luck than judgement. North’s DQ is a huge card but South had no right to expect it while North’s splinter (admittedly after passing) is on an Aceless and King less hand with soft values. Something like Q10xx AJxx x Q9xx would seem to me to be far closer to a typical hand for the bid.
North-South’s dodgy judgement in the bidding paid off but I can’t help feeling there was a level of poetic justice in the result. As there are less than 2 months to Christmas, perhaps I’m just going into “Bah Humbug” mode early.
regards,
Iain
Bobby WolffOctober 29th, 2022 at 7:20 pm
Hi Iain,
Possibly one reason to not bid a slam might convince them not to, but then two reasons to not bid it, merely changes their mind and away we go. Nothing odd about that, especially the number two.
If anyone understood what I am saying, please explain it to me. However. when the singleton diamond, namely the qieen, becomes the deciding factor, it reminds me of a movie, The Manchurian Candidate, long ago, when that card stole the show and became the leading attraction.
SIGNIFYING NOT MCUH!
Jeff SerandosOctober 29th, 2022 at 9:27 pm
Hi Bobby,
I don’t really understand why South didn’t first test diamonds on column hand as there does not seem to be any downside to doing so. Maybe a run of bad luck explains the slam bid and also led to a fatalistic attitude that the JD was surely not going to drop and the finesse was surely going to fail so just get it over with?
On BWTA, am I correct that if partner cue bids 3H over 3D, we should just bid 4S? I can construct a few possible slam hands for partner that don’t make his 2S bid a lie, but they seem to be pretty few and far between.
Bobby WolffOctober 29th, 2022 at 10:07 pm
Hi Jeff,
Yes, if partner bids 3 hearts, I suggest a simple 4 spades tp close the bidding, but if
he bids 4 clubs, 4 diamonds or a jump to 4 spades, I would, continue on with a club que bid. If he merely returns to 3 spades (to me, the weakest bid) I would then raise to game and be done with it.
Nothing magical, but just judgment, when critical experience with and against very
good players should always and consistently improve one’s overall game.
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Bridge-related
Hi Bobby,
Looking at the 2 hands, slam is quite reasonable but surely more by luck than judgement. North’s DQ is a huge card but South had no right to expect it while North’s splinter (admittedly after passing) is on an Aceless and King less hand with soft values. Something like Q10xx AJxx x Q9xx would seem to me to be far closer to a typical hand for the bid.
North-South’s dodgy judgement in the bidding paid off but I can’t help feeling there was a level of poetic justice in the result. As there are less than 2 months to Christmas, perhaps I’m just going into “Bah Humbug” mode early.
regards,
Iain
Hi Iain,
Possibly one reason to not bid a slam might convince them not to, but then two reasons to not bid it, merely changes their mind and away we go. Nothing odd about that, especially the number two.
If anyone understood what I am saying, please explain it to me. However. when the singleton diamond, namely the qieen, becomes the deciding factor, it reminds me of a movie, The Manchurian Candidate, long ago, when that card stole the show and became the leading attraction.
SIGNIFYING NOT MCUH!
Hi Bobby,
I don’t really understand why South didn’t first test diamonds on column hand as there does not seem to be any downside to doing so. Maybe a run of bad luck explains the slam bid and also led to a fatalistic attitude that the JD was surely not going to drop and the finesse was surely going to fail so just get it over with?
On BWTA, am I correct that if partner cue bids 3H over 3D, we should just bid 4S? I can construct a few possible slam hands for partner that don’t make his 2S bid a lie, but they seem to be pretty few and far between.
Hi Jeff,
Yes, if partner bids 3 hearts, I suggest a simple 4 spades tp close the bidding, but if
he bids 4 clubs, 4 diamonds or a jump to 4 spades, I would, continue on with a club que bid. If he merely returns to 3 spades (to me, the weakest bid) I would then raise to game and be done with it.
Nothing magical, but just judgment, when critical experience with and against very
good players should always and consistently improve one’s overall game.