10.24.09
Surprises Abound
My partner and I were playing in a team game today and I picked up the following hand:
AKxx K AQxx Axxx
A nice 20 HCP with a 4-4-4-1 shape and singleton K. I was in fourth seat and was trying to decide whether to open the hand 2NT when my partner opens the auction 1H!!! Surprise #1. Okay, so I bid 1S, waiting for the expected 2H rebid. Well, partner’s next bid is 4D – a splinter in support of spades!! Surprises #2 & #3 – partner has a fit and a good enough hand to splinter when I have promised only 5-6 HCP. So I ask for key cards by bidding 4NT and partner shows me 1 or 4 key cards by bidding 5C. Okay, no surprise here. So I asked for the Q of spades by bidding 5D. Partner now bids 6C, showing the Q of spades and the K of clubs. So I bid 7S (if this were matchpoints, I might have bid 7NT, but 7S is clearly a safer contract). Now the surprise was on my partner’s face.
My partner’s hand was:
QJTx AJ9xxx — Kxx
Obviously, her splinter was based on shape, not high cards, but it was a good call – even with a minimum hand, there would be a reasonable play for game, depending on my shape.
If felt it was a very elegant auction to find a cold grand slam. The opponents led a trump at trick 1. I took it in dummy, cashed the K of hearts in my hand, led a club to the king and trumped a heart high. The Q and T of hearts fell on my left on the first two heart tricks so now the hearts were set up. I pulled the trump, ending on dummy (they broke 3-2, but I could handle a 4-1 split at this point – if the split were 5-0 I am never making this contract). If the spades split, I can make the contract even the hearts break with the QTxx in one hand.
At the other table, the opponents, through an odd auction landed in 7NT!! This works because the hearts break the way they did. At IMPs, this would be a pushed board; however, our teammates doubled, so we lost 7 imps even though we were in a vulnerable grand slam, making. That was the worst suprise.
