Get your ownFree Home PageS 62 W N E S H AT7 D KJ85 - - - 1H(a) C AT93 P 2H(b) P 3NT(c) P 4H(d) P 4NT(e) S J985 S Q743 P 5D(f) P 6H H J654 H 9 P P P D 3 D Q642 C K742 C J865 opening lead: SJ(g) S AKT obvious shift: clubs(h) H KQ832 D AT97 C Q(a) [18 pts., 5 losers]
(b) ALERT! "Constructive raise, forcing one round" (Responder can have an invitational hand with 4-card support, or a forcing hand with three-card support, no strong side suit, and unable to bid notrump.) [14 support pts., 8 losers]
(c) [ALERT! "RKC ace-asking, hearts is agreed suit."] (note; Ace-asking bids are usually not announced until the auction is over.) (note 2; This is a retropoet added wrinkle, not a standard part of Picture Bidding. DISCUSS WITH YOUR PARTNER BEFORE USING!)
(d) [ALERT! "Two key-cards, without the queen of the agreed trump suit."] (note; Ace-asking bids are usually not announced until the auction is over.)
(e) [ALERT! "Artificial and forcing, announcing that all of the top 5 key-cards are held by the partnership, with the queen, or with sufficient extra length that the queen is not needed."] (note; Ace-asking bids are usually not announced until the auction is over.)
(f) [ALERT! "Shows the diamond king, denies the club king."] (note; Ace-asking bids are usually not announced until the auction is over.)
(g) An honor lead versus a slam promises the next higher honor, or two lower touching or nearly touching cards.
(h) The obvious shift is clubs because dummy has equal length and equal number of honors in the two minors, and clubs is arbitrarily designated the obvious shift by virtue of the fact that it is the lower ranking of the suits being considered. East must not discourage, having neither K, nor Q of clubs, but does not desire to encourage heartily in spades lacking a high honor there, so east mildly encourages spades by playing the 4. This is another hand from the Vanderbilt, discussed in the May 1998 issue of the "Bridge Bulletin", page 45. Look there to see how Larry Cohen made the slam.
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