Friday, November 29, 2002 1:22 AM
Monster Hands
PITBULLS:
Two
monster hands that came up Thurs day nite have some intrinsic learning value .
Strong two suiters are the toughest hands to describe in cramped quarters and when the opponents interfere at a
high level it does not help matters . Golden
rule in these kind of hands is assume
a Q bid by partner to be a two
suiter first at high levels & bid
accordingly. Over a takeout double at the one level , a Q bid can mean a one suited hand , two suited
hand or anything. You have lots of bidding room to clarify later. At the 4
level & above you are cramped , so a Q bid should be reserved for a two suiter after
partner doubles or
you double. If you have a huge one suiter and partner doubles forcing the
auction at the 4 level or higher just bid your suit at some
appropriate level. Bidding what you think you can make is far superior to a Q
bid as you will probably confuse partner anyway. Do not Q bid as you will have no room to clarify and partner will assume a two suiter !!
At my table
, RHO opened 3NT and I held AKJxx AK x AKxxx so I doubled . They retreated to 4♦ so I bid 5♦ and partner bid the expected 5♥ . There are two possible bids now to show your two
suiter 5♠ and 6♣ .
6 clubs should be a grand slam try as you are in effect reversing at the 6 level so you should have
1st round control in diamonds and all the suits. Partner will bid 7♣
or 7♠ on Qxx QJxx xx QJxx and be expecting to claim
on the auction . I bid 5♠
and Maurice held Qxx QJxx x J109xx
and obeying the “golden rule” of a two suiter in the Q bidders hand , a 6♣ bid
should be made and that makes .
For
comic relief I will mention the auction at the Barton’s table with the same
hand . Lee opened 1♦ instead
of 3NT with 9 solid diamonds and
my hand overcalled 2♠
which got passed around to Lee . He though Lucille had a spade trap penalty
double so he leaped to 5♦ ! . LHO
now came alive & bid 6♣ and around to Lee . Lee vul against not bid 6♦ . This got doubled and they pulled to 6♠ and Lucille doubled . This was –1210 to the Bartons
as that was cold !! Lucille asked Lee , you do not like –230 ??
The
next monster hand I thought Maurice bid very well so lets discuss it . I opened
2♣ with AKxx AQ9 AQxx AQ
25 HCP and one point for all for Aces a flat 26 . Maurice bid 2♦ waiting
and I bid 3NT . Maurice bid 4♦ and I
transferred to 4♥ . Maurice now bid Blackwood and I showed my 4 Aces .
Maurice now bid 5♦ asking for the Q of trump . I bid 5♠ saying I had the trump queen & spade king and not denying the minor suit kings.
Maurice can now bid one of the minors at the 6 level and that asks me to bid 7♥ with that king . However Maurice bid 5NT – what does
that mean ? He obviously is still
trying for 7 but a specific king is not what he is after . If I had a 5 card
suit somewhere I would have bid 7♥ but I made
one last try myself by bidding 6NT which
ended the auction . Maurice meant the 5NT bid to pick a slam as hearts
have not been really established as the trump suit. In addition he is asking
for “something extra” . A 5 card suit , or something that might produce a 13th trick .
Maurice had x KJ10xx J109x KJ10 and 7♥/NT is a bad contract needing the K of diamonds on
side. If I had 5 clubs to the AQ then 7♥/NT would have been a lay down . A very well bid hand by Maurice as knowing
that I had the spade
king opposite his singleton slowed him down a bit .