Blackwood is for Sissies?
It takes a He-man to bid slam without Blackwood?
|
|
 Q 2 |
|
 A K 5 |
|
 J 10 9 7 6 4 |
|
 K 3 |
|
|
| K 10 9 8 2 |
|
J 6 5 |
|
| Q 6 4 3 | |
J 9 8 7 |
| 2 |
|
A |
| 8 7 4 | |
A 9 6 5 2 |
|
|
|
| A 4 3 |
|
10 2 |
|
K Q 8 5 3 |
|
Q J 10 | | Vul: N-S |
|
| East | South | West | North |
| Pass |
1 |
Pass |
1 |
| Pass |
1 NT |
Pass |
3 |
| Pass |
4 |
Pass |
4 |
| Pass |
6 |
All |
pass |
I picked up this hand for the reason indicated above, that South would leap to slam where there wasn't the slightest impediment to giving Blackwood a try and finding his side is missing two aces. Actually, North-South can't even make 5 diamonds on a diamond opening lead and shift to spades by East. Still, I had just finished an entry where I stated that I commonly saw two "violations" of Blackwood, one being to shun it when there isn't the slightest reason not to give it a try on the way to slam, and the other is to use it when it simply won't tell you what you need to know where a count of hcp's would. Still, under this category, the main point is another illustration of the value of no trump over a minor suit, even on a super fit, i.e., particularly when there are no singletons or voids. With a singleton or void in each hand on a super fit, I would suspect that if you've got no trump game, you might well have slam in your minor.
A spade lead from West, though it gives up a trick to the Q is the defense's best attack. Declarer knocks out the A of diamonds, ducks a spade shift and wins round 3 with the Ace. He now has 9 certain tricks and game, which he couldn't have had against best defense in diamonds. And we can see that he could pick up one more (no, not two more) on knocking out the A of clubs. But declarer can't know that that's safe. The defense has one spade and one ace in the bag. Two more spades and another Ace would spell defeat. Should declarer chance it? That's for you to decide. But I might point out that just one careless spade discard on a run of the diamonds would mean that knocking out the A of clubs would be safe, since now at worst you'd lose two spades and two aces.
But East, holding the A of clubs and no more spades, would have to return the lead to declarer, who would then have an overtrick, which in matchpoints would doubtless mean a lot.
I don't cotton to North's heart bids, especially the second one which could have been passed, but I've given what transpired. For my money, the bidding should go one diamond, 2 no and on to 3 no. Failing that, South should bid the 3 no game over three diamonds with his fairly balanced hand and his partner's bid in South's weakest suit. The three-diamond bid doesn't promise a slambound hand. It only shows opening-bid strength and a desire to get to game, and South with a minimum opener should have respected that information.