“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” — Lewis Carroll
“How many times have you bid to the best contract,” a club player asked me, “while having no idea what you were doing?”
He showed me today’s deal.
“In a penny game, my partner and I got to 6NT. I opened two clubs and jumped to 3NT to show 25 to 27 points, balanced. He next bid four clubs. He thought that was Stayman; I thought it was the Gerber ace-asking convention, so I replied four diamonds, showing, I thought, all four aces. We still landed on our feet; he bid 6NT.”
“I believe many pairs would treat a bid of four clubs as Gerber,” I said, “and four diamonds as Stayman. It’s a matter of partnership agreement. Did you make your slam?”
“We ran out of luck in the play,” my friend said ruefully. “West led the queen of diamonds. I won with the ace, unblocked my A-Q of spades, led a club to dummy’s king and cashed the K-J of spades, pitching a low diamond and a low heart.
“Next I took the A-Q of clubs. When West discarded, I conceded the fourth club to East. I set up my fifth club, but spades had split 5-2, and East had a spade to cash. It was mighty unlucky that he happened to hold five spades as well as four clubs.”
I had to tell my friend that 6NT was makeable. After he takes the A-Q of spades, he can take out insurance by playing a low club from both hands. He wins East’s heart shift, leads a club to the king, takes the A-Q of spades and wins the rest without difficulty.
South dealer
N-S vulnerable
NORTH
S K J 6 3
H 6 4 3
D 7 4 3 2
C K 4
WEST
S 5 4
H Q J 10 7
D Q J 10 9 8
C 7 3
EAST
S 10 9 8 7 2
H 9 8 2
D 5
C J 10 9 8
SOUTH
S A Q
H A K 5
D A K 6
C A Q 6 5 2
South West North East
2 C Pass 2 D Pass
3 NT Pass 4 C Pass
4 D Pass 6 NT All Pass
Opening lead — D Q
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