| Greetings!
Here is the Deal of the Week from Bridge Ace.
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Deal of the Week |
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Monday, June 16
Board: 2
Dealer: E
Vul: N-S
This was a most interesting deal indeed. The final contracts, all by East-West, were:
- 2
 - making 5 for 200
- 4NT - making 7 for 520
- 6
 - making 7 for 940
- 6
 - making 7 for 1010
Nobody bid the cold grand slam in clubs, hearts or notrump.
I have to believe every East opened 2 . It is a book bid. From there, the bidding obviously diverged.
How did someone end up in 2 ? It is easy to imagine West responded 2 , believing a new suit was forcing, and East passed, thinking it was not. This is a common misconception. East had been told many times that a preempter never bids again. As a rule, this is good advice but it leaves out one very important word. It should be: preempter never voluntarily bids again. New suits by partner are forcing after a preempt.
What about 4NT? Sounds to me like someone passed what was intended as Blackwood.
6 is also easy to imagine.
The 2 response was forcing and natural. 6 said "I have slam in my own hand, please choose between my two suits." Not a bad auction, but it pretty much gives up on a grand slam.
How about the pair that bid 6 ? I can only conjecture that East was an unequivocal hand hog.
Here is a possible auction to reach the grand slam:
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East |
West |
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2 |
2 |
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3 |
4 |
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5 |
5 |
| 5 |
7 |
| Pass |
| After East raises clubs (remember, new suits are forcing; East cannot pass 4 any more than he could pass 2 ), West can cue bid his diamond control. If East shows the heart ace, West can bid 7 . There are no red suit losers, his partner must be short in spades and he will be able to ruff out the suit. |
| Bridge Ace Tip of the Week |
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After you preempt, new suits by partner are forcing, just as if you had opened at the one-level. |
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