Bidding Question

Question

My partner and I were North-South for this hand recently in a club duplicate (pairs). There wasn’t much for us to do except pass in the bidding, score our club trick, and watch the opponents make the other 12 tricks. However, the east-west pair had stopped in 3NT (by east), as had most of the other tables (apart from a couple of pairs who ended up in 3S and 4S respectively). After the hand, I asked the east player if she thought they could have bid a slam. She said she thought they couldn’t. So I’m wondering if there could have been a way to do it? The actual bidding went 1S (by west), 2C, 3H, 3NT. I guess west had a choice to make with his re-bid between rebidding his spades to show the extra length, or (what he chose) the jump-shift to hearts to show his strength. But could one or even both of those routes have led to slam rather than 3NT?

Bernard's Answer

West’s hand is worth 20+ particularly after the 2C response – and with partner holding 15pts they really should reach slam. If East bids 3NT, then West should at least be trying for slam with 4NT – quantitative. 1S-2C-3H-3NT-4NT-6NT is one sequence – although East does not have a diamond stopper! Perhaps better is to rebid 2H, then catch up later: 1S – 2C – 2H -3D – 3S – 4S – 4NT – 5H – 5NT – 6H – 6S. CHange of suit after a 2-level response is forcing and leaves more room – East can then bid FSF and West can suggest longer spades – when partner raises to 4S it is reasonable to bid Blackwood and try for the Grand – the 6H response shows the HK but denies the CK.