CONTRACT BRIDGE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20483, 8 December 1934, Page 35 (Supplement)

CONTRACT BRIDGE.

A Well-bid Grand Slam. (By ELY CULBERTSON.) In the pair event of the recent Grand National championship, played at the Hotel Pierre in New York City, a laydown grand slam hand was dealt which was bid to seven-odd at only one table. 1 was not able to ascertain how the grand slam was reached at this particular table, but a close inspection of the two hands shows that the path of North and South should be made fairly smooth by the various I conventions which the approach-forc-ing system provides. South dealer. North and South vulnerable. : S—A KQJ S 4 ll—9 5 4 D—Q 8 C—9 8 N W E S S—lo 9 2 lI—A D—A KJ 4 3 C—A 65 4 (Figures after bids refer to numbered explanatory paragraphs.) South. North. ID 1 S (1) 3 C (2) 4 S (3) 5 N.T. (4) 7 S (5) Pass (1) No need to crowd the bidding with a call of three or four Spades. The danger of a pass to one Spade is negligible. (2) A forcing take-out in a second suit which is not. strictly speaking, biddable. This call enables South to start painting an accurate picture of his hand. (3) The jump trump rebid, showing a solid or near-solid suit of at least six cards in length. If the suit is not absolutely solid, something additional should be held to justify making the bid. (4) The conventional five-no-trump bid, showing three Aces and the King of a bid suit. South, with his very fine distribution and his possession of the valuable key cards, is justified in forcing at least a small slam contract after his partner’s four-Spade bid. At the same time he paints a reasonably clear picture of his hand. (5) South’s previous bids have clarified the situation for North and enable him to bid a grand slam after but a moment’s hesitation. He knows his partner has the remaining three Aces and the King of Diamonds. Moreover, to justify the earlier forcing bid in Clubs and the subsequent five-no-trump bid. South must have some sort of Spade fit, and also some intermediates in one of his own suits to enable North to get discards if necessary. In other words, the dummy hand, if the hand is played at Spades, must contain either ruffing power or additional honours in Diamonds or Clubs. North, therefore, with the Queen of the suit his partner bid first, and a solid rather than near-solid suit, knows that he can contract for the grand slam with a reasonable degree of certainty that it will be fulfilled. Tt looks to him as - though he will make either six Spade tricks, five Diamond tricks and two Aces. or. instead of five Diamond tricks, an extra trick or two in Clubs or a possible ruff in dummy. A glance at the two hands will show that the hand is a lay-down for about sixteen tricks if they could be used. Yet. strangely enough, only one pair bid the grand slam.