Hand 14 from
1st March 2004 more
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Dealer E love all |
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J 9 7 5 2
J 9 2
7 3
Q 9 8 7 5 3One pair was in 6D, 12 pairs were in
6S, and 6 pairs were in 7S. Nobody was in NT. But
surely if you are going to be in 7, then NT is a safer contract than
Spades. How do you get there?
As is often the case, you get better clarity with 5 card majors.
It goes
| 1C | no 5 card major, too strong for a NT | ||
| 1D | never jump with a 2 suited hand | ||
| 2NT | 17 to 18 balanced | ||
| 3S | natural 4 card, forcing | ||
| 4S | to play, having described the hand | ||
| 4NT | Ace asking with spades as trumps (Green Aces) | ||
| 5D | 2 Aces (the King of trumps counts as a fifth ace) | ||
| 5H | Have you got the queen of trumps? | ||
| 6D | Yes I have, and this is my cheapest King | ||
| 7NT | What more could anyone want ? |
Playing 4 card majors, it is even simpler, if not so precise, especially if you open a spade with the East hand. The bidding goes 1S 4NT and there you are. If your style is to open a heart on this sort of hand, it makes life more complicated, because now partner has to be careful not to miss out the spade suit. He has to bid the shorter suit first, and the bidding goes 1H 1S stop 3S stop 4NT and the bidding continues as before.
The point is - why did nobody bid it NT ? If you are not yet playing Green Aces and do not know about the all important King of diamonds, then if you are in 6 it makes sense to bid spades. Now on a club lead and the loss of a diamond finesse you can trump the club return. But if you are in 7 anyway then you get a bottom if the diamond finesse is wrong, so you may as well be in NT.
I would be interested to hear from anyone who bid 7S. Ray Green ( lefromagevert@yahoo.co.uk )