Saturday, August 24, 2002 5:03 AM

Slams - Q Bidding

PITBULLS:

Some more thoughts on Q bidding . Some from the net …

	West	East
ª KQ2	1NT	4NT	ª A103
© K76	5¨	6¨	© A7
¨ K10953	P		¨ A874
§ A2			§ K1093

After West’s obvious 1NT opening, East evaluated well by up-grading his 15 HCP. He loved his prime cards and two tens and correctly invited slam with 4NT. The bridge term for this bid is “quantitative.”

Some players sitting West would have declined the invitation with only 15 HCP, but this West was made of sterner stuff. He appreciated that his nice five-card suit increased the value of this hand. A second look at his prime cards encouraged him to bid on.

However, West did not just close his eyes and accept the invitation by bidding 6NT. He bid 5¨ to show his suit (note that 5¨ was not meant to show his one ace) and awaited developments.

The rest was easy. With his nice diamond support, East was delighted to raise to 6¨. Although a trump trick had to be lost, 6¨ made easily by ruffing a heart. 6NT was a reasonable contract, but it was doomed. Three spades, two hearts, four diamonds and two club tricks just do not add to 12.

Some players advocate bidding Aces if you accept the slam invitation . This is a waste of time as you are at the 33 HCP range it is better to find a minor fit that plays better than NT. I advocate bidding 4 card suits up the line .

	West	East
ª KQ7432	1ª	2§	ª AJ10
© KJ106	2©	2ª	© AQ5
¨ Q6	3§	3©	¨ 93
§ A	4ª	P	§ KJ854

The first three bids are quite logical, West applying the “six-four-six” principle. West was very interested in slam, but concerned about his diamonds. He cuebid 3§, hoping to hear a 3¨ bid from East. East’s 3© bid said a mouthful. Because controls are cuebid up the line, East’s 3© bid not only promised a heart control, but it denied a diamond control.

West was disappointed, but nothing plus nothing equals nothing. No diamond control, no slam. Notice that by embarking on a cue bidding sequence, both players were involved in the decision-making process.

	West	East
ª AQ7432	1ª	2©	ª Kx
© KJ106	3©	4©	© AQ5432
¨ A6	5¨	5ª	¨ 93
§ A	5NT	7©	§ QJx

This is a well bid hand that outlines another Q bidding principle . Since you must Q bid up the line what does it mean if you miss a step ? Obviously it means that you do not have that control . What if partner has not Q bid and you miss 2 steps ? This means that you have both controls in the suits that you bypassed. In effect you are making 3 Q bids at the same time ! West skipped spades and clubs to Q bid diamonds . East knowing that partner has made an implied Q bid of the A of spades , can now Q bid the K of spades . Grand slam force and its all over .

Note that the serious 3NT types might get an immediate spade Q bid out of East and then 5NT is the next bid by West

I will end with I hand I played with Tom on a Thurs nite .

xx Ax AKx AJxxxx . Tom opened 1NT and I bid 2♠ which shows a number of club hands . Tom bid 2NT which says he

has a super acceptance in clubs. I bid 3♦ and Tom bid 3NT which I alerted as a minimum . Since he had a minimum my interest in 7♣ was all over so I decided to protect Toms spade king and I leapt to 6NT . Wrong , we had 33 HCP missing the AK of spades and Tom made only 11 tricks . My opponents were the Vinnies who immediately went into attack mode and asked why I did not Q bid 4♥ and that puts Tom in the picture that we need a spade control for slam . He would bid 6 with it and 5 clubs without it . Damn , I hate it when they are right !