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 4and 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 .