UK Edition • 24th August 2026
UK Edition • 24th August 2026
Hi Bernard, Besides playing at Bakewell BC online, we also play F2F at Belper BC (Derbys) where we played this hand on Friday. We made 12 tricks in 5C so i wondered if it might be of use for your upcoming month on minor slams? I have two questions. 1. Is slam biddable? After the hand, my partner Lucy (N) wondered whether slam might be on and whether a splinter bid was possible? She suggested 3S – a jump bid but it’s not a double jump. (I’m hoping I’m correct in thinking that 2S would be asking for a stopper for NT.) 2. Our bidding was P 1D 1S 2C P 5C. Was I ‘right’ to respond 2C or ‘wrong’ for not responding 3NT on the 1st round? I thought game in 3NT was the most likely outcome looking at my hand (S) but I didn’t want to shut down the bidding on the 1st round. This was my reason for responding 2C with the intention of rebidding 3NT on the next round. There were 9 tables and slam wasn’t bid. 3NT (x3), 5C (x2), 4C (x1), 4S (x3). We scored 56%. Thank you again for your advice and I hope it’s a hand you can use.
This is similar to one of the hands that came up in the teams: I think 4S works best – this has to be a void – to bypass 3NT confidently. On the Teams the responder had one more ace and could bid the slam confidently, whereas here it is a bit closer and is a difficult judgement call, particularly with just 4 clubs. I would play 3S as a splinter, but since this would only suggest a singleton, I would probably gamble on 3NT with the South hand. 3NT is the second best score – with 10 tricks when the HA is favourable, but since 3NT depends on the HA being right too, I think 6C is better.