Where did we go wrong?
This month’s deal was sent in by Danny Hamilton and comes from an online game. Digressing slightly, I cannot recommend strongly enough that you get used to playing online. While it can never replace over-the-table bridge, as you get older and less mobile, it can give you a lifeline of something to do without leaving your home. There are several playing sites, but the one I use is BBO (bridgebase.com) because I am a cheapskate and it’s free.
Bidding:
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | 1♥️ | Pass | 2♣️ |
| Pass | 2NT | Pass | 3♦️ |
| Pass | 3NT | All Pass |
This was a fairly normal auction and one I would expect to be reproduced around the room at a local duplicate. However, I think South has overlooked one thing: North would not bother introducing diamonds on a hand with no slam interest. With a weaker hand he would simply raise 2NT to 3NT.
So, North’s bid of 3♦️is, in itself, a mild slam try. South has a tremendous hand: three top winners in the majors, probably covering all North’s outside losers, and the most magnificent support for clubs. I think South should bid 4♣️over 3♦️. North will continue with a 4♥️cue-bid and over South’s 4♠️can jump to the slam.
The slam is cold with a 2-2 club break. Declarer should win the lead, a trump say, and take a diamond finesse. If it holds, draw trumps and take a second diamond finesse. If clubs do not break, declarer should run all his black-suit winners, then try for a 3-3 diamond break and, in the end, take a heart finesse. The problem opening lead is if East tries the ♥️J (or switches to it after the diamond finesse loses) – quite a good shot with the suit bid on his left.
After this lead (or switch), I am sure declarer will go up with the ace, take a diamond finesse, if necessary, and play off a couple of trumps. It would not be wrong to play diamonds now, hoping that, if the suit is not 3-3, the hand with the short diamonds is out of trumps. That line will fail. If, however, declarer instead plays off all his trumps, he can succeed via a double squeeze – I will leave the reader to play it through to see how it works – please email me if you can’t manage it.
Slam of the Month
We British are a modest nation, I believe, preferring to tell of our errors than to boast of our successes. Consequently, while I get plenty of hands from readers asking where they went wrong, I receive very few telling of a triumph and those that do have often arrived at the top spot by some sort of guess or fluke. This month, the Slam of the Month was bid against me at the Young Chelsea.
| West | North | East | South |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♠️ | Pass | 2♥️ | Pass |
| 2♠️ | Pass | 3♥️ | Pass |
| 4♣️¹ | Pass | 4♦️¹ | Pass |
| 4♠️¹ | Pass | 5♣️¹ | Pass |
| 5NT | Pass | 6♥️ | All Pass |
¹ Cue bid
A good natural two-over-one sequence to the top spot (5NT was meant as ‘pick-a-slam’, trying to suggest spades as an alternative trump suit). I managed to find the best lead – a diamond. Declarer won in hand and played the ♠️A and ruffed a spade. When my ♠️K dropped, he knew I had only two spades compared with partner’s four and so played me to have the longer trumps (and therefore more likely to have the queen). He ran the ♥️J and when it held was soon claiming thirteen tricks for a complete top.
Well done to John Cox (declarer) and Peter Taylor.
