Slams a plenty …

Ton of slams at today’s club game, some more interesting than others.  In order of play ….

2.

Dealer: E Vul: NS	North ♠ KQJ92 ♥ 63 ♦ AJ742 ♣ 6
West ♠ T64 ♥ KT ♦ 965 ♣ A8754		East ♠ 85 ♥ 9 ♦ KT83 ♣ KQJ932
	South ♠ A73 ♥ AQJ87542 ♦ Q ♣ T

East chose to pass and South, my partner, opened 1♥.  I bid 1♠ and now East came to life with all of 2♣!  Partner jumped to 4♥ and West offered 5♣.  My 6♥ call closed the bidding.  ♣A lead and down one when heart finesse lost, 1.14 out of 11 mps.

6.

Dealer: E Vul: EW	North ♠ J6 ♥ T3 ♦ A5 ♣ Q876542
West ♠ A9875 ♥ A6 ♦ QJ96 ♣ K3		East ♠ KQT42 ♥ K982 ♦ K2 ♣ AJ
	South ♠ 3 ♥ QJ754 ♦ T8743 ♣ T9

West	North	East	South
—	—	1♠	P
2NT (Jacoby)	3♣!	4♠!	P
4NT!!	P	5♠	P
6♠	All pass

I can’t explain the auction chosen by West, in light of East’s underbidding and West’s apparently poorly placed ♣K.  East’s bids were pretty much in tempo, I thought.  Call me a conspiracy nut, if you wish, for intimating that maybe something was overheard, but I do wish that pairs would enter the scores into the Bridgemates with less conversation.  2.77 mps on this one for -1430.

9.  Auction was quick: P-(3♣)-Dbl-(6♣).

West ♠ AQJT73 ♥ J ♦ AK ♣ A942

East ♠ 9 ♥ K8 ♦ 953 ♣ KQT8763

Pretty routine, seems to me.  Partner did well to lead the ♥A and my only complaint is that declarer could have just claimed and not forced us to play this hand.  4.5 mps on this one.

So far these slam hands are putting a hurt on our score.  Might something better happen?

15.

Dealer: S Vul: NS	North ♠ AJ765 ♥ A5 ♦ J ♣ AK752
West ♠ 4 ♥ QT9 ♦ QT98432 ♣ T6		East ♠ T983 ♥ J76 ♦ K6 ♣ QJ98
	South ♠ KQ2 ♥ K8432 ♦ A75 ♣ 43

West	North	East	South
—	—	—	1♥
3♦	3♠	P	4♠
P	4NT	P	5♠
P	6♠	All pass

I won the ♦K lead with ♦A in dummy, lead a club to my hand, then played two high spades in dummy, and then a second club to my hand, ruffed a club in dummy, led a heart to my A, drew trump and claimed, conceding a club.  9.86 mps.  This is more to my liking!

There’s a potentially interesting issue about tempo on this hand.  Partner’s 4♠ call was easy on this hand, but sometimes the South hand might be forced to raise spades on an Hx holding.  If South is up to making the 4♠ call on each hand, fine … but if South is the sort of player who can bid in tempo only on the easier-to-bid three card holding, then North comes under ethical pressure.

16.

Dealer: W Vul: EW	North ♠ — ♥ T765 ♦ A74 ♣ AKQT82
West ♠ AJ643 ♥ Q932 ♦ 6 ♣ J97		East ♠ QT985 ♥ J ♦ T9832 ♣ 64
	South ♠ K72 ♥ AK84 ♦ KQJ5 ♣ 53

West	North	East	South
P	1♣	P	1♦
Dbl	2♣	P	3NT
All pass

I do not condone West’s double, plus it was out of tempo.  But having heard the double, I chose not to introduce my heart suit but instead rebid 2♣ directly.  My auction sounds weak, and so I do not at all blame partner for jumping to 3NT even though we missed slam (but then, we also missed hearts, which is a good thing).  +490 was 7.68 mps.

17.

North ♠ AJ85 ♥ T85 ♦ AK8 ♣ AQ2

South ♠ KQ9 ♥ KJ32 ♦ QT92 ♣ KJ

The auction of 1♣-1♦-2NT-6NT seems pretty routine, but how do you propose to play 6NT from North upon lead of ♠3?

Can’t hurt to delay play plan until a second spade is played.  I played ♠K followed by the ♠Q as West discards a club.  What now?

I have ten top tricks and so need two more out of the red suits, at least one of which must be in hearts.  Should I play diamonds from the top, in case I have four tricks there and thus know I need only one heart trick?  Or should I play hearts first, retaining flexibility in the play of the diamond suit, where I can play either opponent for the ♦J, or play for the ♦J to drop?  It can’t be right to play on more than two rounds of diamonds, because if you are off a diamond trick after three rounds, you could lose that trick and ♥A.

At the table, I led a diamond to my king, seeing only small cards, and then a small heart up.  East rose with the ♥A and continued a third spade, his partner playing a second club.

I am not sure if rising with the ♥A is the best play without regard to East’s heart holding, but it surely makes more sense if East holds both ♥A and ♥Q.  One’s assessment of East’s skill seems relevant here, because the more middling is East the more likely I would think he would rise with the ♥A only from ♥AQ.  And if East is really poor then he might rise with the ♥A from any heart holding “before it gets away”.

My East was a Grand Life Master, thus a player much better than me, but still not at level of contending in the big national events, I think.  So, might he have risen with ♥A from a holding that does not include the ♥Q?

I don’t know, but I finally decided to play for a squeeze.

I won the spade in hand, cashed dummy’s ♥K (Vienna coup), and began to cash my other black suit winners, with the club distribution having been disclosed as 2-6, pitching hearts and arriving at this position, with the last spade being played from my hand:

North ♠ J ♥ T ♦ A8 ♣ —

South ♠ ♥ J ♦ QT9 ♣ —

I pitched the ♥J on the ♠J.  Noone pitched the ♥Q and so I played diamonds from top, finding East with ♦Jx and making the same twelve tricks as everyone else in the room for 7.68 mps.

Dealer: N Vul: None	North ♠ AJ85 ♥ T85 ♦ AK8 ♣ AQ2
West ♠ 6 ♥ 64 ♦ 7543 ♣ T98764		East ♠ T7432 ♥ AQ97 ♦ J6 ♣ 53
	South ♠ KQ9 ♥ KJ32 ♦ QT92 ♣ KJ

That was really the last slam decision, although one time our opponents thought there might be one and so ended in 5♠.  For perhaps the second time in my bridge life, 5♠ actually went down one trick.

In spite of the tough beginning on slam hands, we were not terribly unlucky in the end.