Monday, April
14, 2003 6:11 PM
Hand
Evaluation – Tactics ( Slam Bidding)
PITBULLS:
In Match Points , partnership
slam bidding skills are not very important
. Only two or three slam hands come up per session and a +480 or +690 when you
should be in slam usually results in 4 or 5 match points instead of the average
6 . You have a lot of company with those pairs who are
equally inept in slam bidding as
you are , so you do not get punished .
In
IMPS though , a partnership that is weak in slam
bidding sticks out like a sore thumb . -17 , -14 , -
12 are very punishing in a session where
the opponents have good slam bidding methods . These results will sink a team . Good established partnerships emphasize slam bidding in their system . They have bidding tools to assist them , good partnerships understandings & treatments to
get them into good slams or keep them out of the bad slams . The basic bidding structure that shows that
you are near 33 HCP’s or 37 HCP
get you to the average good slams . Splinters that
show you duplication or value or not ,
result in closer slams as does good hand evaluation of promoting controls over queens & jacks
.
Q
bidding & the “serious 3NT”
are superb slam bidding tools . The notion of Q bidding
opposite unlimited hands in case partner has slam interests keeps your slam tries under game . Unless one of the
partners shows “serious” slam interest by bidding 3NT , you stay at the game
level instead of the precarious 5 level as in the “ good old days “ . Your 2/1
bidding becomes nicely structured with Q bids
just being “noises” for the most part. The famous Italian Blue team always beat the Americans in slam bidding . They used Italian
style Q bidding which means you can are not restricted to Q bidding
1st round controls in the first instance . The partnership is free
to show 2Nd round controls
when you feel it is appropriate. Superior Q bidding lead to superior slams.
KCB
has been vastly improved over the years as have minor suit slam understandings.
Specific King ask , queen asks , suit asking bids
& exclusion Blackwood assist established
partnerships to get to slams that most partnerships would not reach
. Slam bidding is a thing of beauty
with good established partnerships as they must relay information back and forth . They make joint decisions rather than just one
partner deciding single handedly there
is slam in the hand . If she keeps dragging her heels when you make slam tries , there is a reason so it’s best to give up when
partner does not want to
cooperate.
Kokish game tries can
double as slam tries .
Partner initially does not know your true intentions so the fact that she is
dragging her feet to get to game should discourage your slam aspirations
. Both Tom & Kiz held this hand in Calgary .
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x |
A |
v |
K |
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x |
K |
o |
J |
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x |
i |
10 |
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d |
9 |
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8 |
Tom opened 1♣
, I bid a heart . Both Tom & Kiz thought that
splintering to 4 or 3 diamonds was a little much on 11 HCP so they settled with 2 hearts .
My hand ( below ) is a flat 18 HCP so I need input from partner to
determine where the final resting point
should be . If partner has a flat 12 , I might want to be in 4♥ or if Tom had the
right distributional 13 HCP there may be
a grand slam .
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A |
Q |
Q |
A |
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K |
9 |
J |
Q |
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10 |
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I bid 2♠ which is a Kokish game try . Tom bid 3♣ which says he would
accept a game try in clubs . I bid 3♠ and Tom bid 4♦ which got doubled .
I made a further slam try so with the opponents doubling his void ,
Tom leapt to our slam . 7♥ is 68 % with 4♥
, 2♠ , 5♣ &
2 diamond ruffs !
There are certain parts of a
bidding system that needs to be “souped up
“ to get
to good slams . Your 2♣ structure , your 2NT
rebids , your 2NT openers , your 1NT openers & 1 NT rebids . 2 way NMF over
1NT , 4 suit transfers over 1NT assist in slam bidding
. My partners & I
have introduced relays
to our 2♣ structure & elsewhere which won us 13 IMPs in Calgary in
one hand . Tom held
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J |
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K |
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10 |
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, heard me
open 2♣ . Tom bid 2♦ as he had a control
so I bid 2♥ . In our system that demands a
relay to 2 spades. Tom bid 2 spades as requested & I bid 3♣ . This indicated to Tom that I had a two suiter in hearts & clubs . He
made the excellent bid of 5♣ which described his hand perfectly
. He should have no outside controls but as he bid 2♦ initially be must
have a club control .
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A |
A |
A |
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K |
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Q |
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Q |
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10 |
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I bid 6♣
and we were +1370 for 13 IMPs . Nick G & Klimo were +230 in a heart partial when they played the hand !!
Another hand that show the risk element of bidding slams in IMPS . The IMP scale rewards you for bidding 50 % slams . You either win 12 IMPS or lose 12 IMPs so if is at least 50 % you should bid it . Tom and I had a hand that illustrates that point . I held
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A |
J |
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K |
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10 |
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9 |
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, heard Tom
open 1 club . I responded a diamond & Tom bid 3♣ . In these auctions the first inclination should
be to “grope” to 3NT . I bid 3♥ so Tom bid 3NT . Tom can not bid 3♠ on this auction as
that actually asks for a spade stopper ! . From my
perspective Tom can have the spade Ace or King or QJx
of spades . One losing spade holding out of 3 so the odds are in my favour . This should be no worse then
a 50-50 proposition . I pulled 3NT to 4♣ which
Tom interpreted as KCB . He bid 4NT which showed the
queen of trump with two controls. I leap to 6♣ so that ended the auction . As it turned out , Tom
held the KJx of spades but it was a 100 % slam as Tom
established the 5th diamond for his 12th trick . +920 was reached at both tables so we pushed the board.
In a
recent CNTC zone final , our partners were wrong in
slam decisions 8 times out of 9 .
They missed a 6♥ slam which was bid & made at our table , they bid a vul slam 6♠
that went down. They missed many more easy to bid
slams but otherwise played well
throughout the tournament. They are very experienced diamond Life masters who
are very skilled at the match point game.
Here are three more vul slams they missed just in the
final match ! ♠xxx ♥void ♦J109x ♣AQ1098x opposite ♠void ♥xxx ♦AKQxxxx ♣KJx cold for 7♦ vul & nv opponents played in 5♥ for –50 .Neither of
the partnership were aware of their two suited fit or their voids in the
opponents suits. ♠AJ8765 ♥KQJx ♦10xx ♣void opposite ♠109 ♥Axx ♦AQJxx ♣AKx 6♠ bid
& made by the opponents , 3NT by them. ♠AKx ♥J10xx ♦Axx ♣Q10x
opposite ♠J10x ♥AQ987x ♦x ♣AKx
. One of two finesses to make so a 75% vul slam missed. Conservative slam bidding is for matchpoints not IMPS.
An X rated slam bidder & partner are a good example of how not to bid slams . The Pitbulls tell me this notorious slam bidder gracefully bid about 5 slams in their match against them but did not make any of them so got blitzed . Against our team , he bid a 7 spades that depended on a transfer ruffing finesse ! When they came to Tom afterwards to brag about their result , Tom just said anybody that bids 7 on that hand won’t be on our team ! That ended this conversation J .