Monday, April 14, 2003 6:11 PM

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 thump . -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 and good partnerships understandings and treatments to get them into good slams and 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 get you to closer slams as does good hand evaluation of promoting controls over queens & jacks .

Q bidding and 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 1^st round controls in the first instance and are free to show 2^Nd 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 and 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 and make joint decisions rather than just one partner deciding single handedly that there is slam in the hand . If she keeps dragging her heels when you make slam tries there is a reason so its best to give up quite often 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 and Kiz held this hand in Calgary .

x	A	v	K
x	K	o	J
x	x	i	10
x	x	d	9
			8

Tom opened 1♣ and I bid a heart . Both Tom and 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 their may be a grand slam .

A	Q	Q	A
K	9	J	Q
10	x	x	x
	x

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 and with the opponents doubling his void , Tom leapt to our slam . 7♥ is 68 % with 4H , 2S , 5C and 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 and your 1NT openers and 1 NT rebids . 2 way NMF over 1NT and 4 suit transfers over 1NT assist in slam bidding . Tom and I have introduced relays to our 2♣ structure and elsewhere which won us 13 IMPs in Calgary in one hand . Tom held

x	J	x	K
x	10	x	x
x		x	x
x			x

and heard me open 2♣ . Tom bid 2♦ as he had a control and I bid 2♥ . In our system that demands a relay to 2 spades. Tom bid 2 spades as requested and I bid 3♣ . This indicated to Tom that I had a two suiter in hearts and clubs . He made the excellent bid of 5♣ which described his hand perfectly . He should have no outside controls and as he bid 2♦ initially be must have a club control .

x	A	A	A
	K		Q
	Q		10
	x		x
	x		x
	x

I bid 6♣ and we were +1370 for 13 IMPs . Nick G and Klimo were +230 in a heart partial when they played the hand !!

With NT structures , 4-4-4-1 are hard to bid . With 2-way NMF , relays over 2C and 2NT openers and rebids you solve that problem . Tom and I won 12 IMPS against the Gartaganis team with one of our bidding tools over a 1NT opener . Tom opened 1NT and I held a 4-4-4-1

K	x	K	A
J		10	K
x		9	9
x		x	X

This fit one of our toys so I bid 3♣ . This shows any 4-4-4-1 . Tom bid 3♦ which asks for singleton so I 3♥ . Tom bid 5♦ and as we were down12 IMPS at the half I thought this was a reasonable gamble to get it back . I bid 6 and Tom brought it home for a 12 IMP pickup ! Anyway finding a 4-4 minor fit after a 1NT opener and making a slam is worth gold. Tom had Axx of hearts and no 9 tricks in 3NT . Judy and Gordon were in 3NT which is very lucky to make as RHO ran out of hearts and you only have 7 top tricks in 3NT !!

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

x	A	A	J
x	K	J	x
x	x	10
		9
		8

And heard Tom open 1 club . I responded a diamond and Tom bid 3♣ . In these auctions the first inclination should be to “grope” to 3NT . I bid 3♥ and 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 and two controls. I leap to 6♣ and that ended the auction . As it turned out , Tom held the KJx of spades but it was a 100 % slam as Tom established the 5^th diamond for his 12^th trick . +920 was reached at both tables so we pushed the board.

An X –rated slam bidder and partner are a good example of how not to bid slams . The Pitbulls tell me they bid about 5 slams in their match against them and did not make any of them and 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 the conversation J .