You are playing at the local bridge club with a partner you just met and anxiously take your hand out of the first board. Ah, an easy one! Looking at these miserable cards, all you have to do is pass. Oops! Fasten your seat belt. You’re in for a ride.
Partner opens the bidding with 2 (strong and artificial) and the opponents will pass throughout. What is your response?
This is the required bid with a weak hand; you cannot pass a 2 opening. Partner continues by bidding 3 which shows his real suit. What do you do now?
It is tempting to pass, but that is poor partnership bridge. A new-suit bid by the 2 opener is forcing. Partner next bids 3 showing a second suit. What next?
If you passed now, your partner might never play with you again. You surely like his first suit better than his second, so it is your duty to show a preference. Partner won’t be silenced and continues with 4 NT. Now what?
Partner’s 4 NT is Blackwood, so you must tell him you have no aces. Undaunted, partner jumps to 6 . You are all ready to put down the dummy, but West surprises you by leading the J. Of course! You will have to play this because your 2 response made you declarer in diamonds. Oh, my!
Quit
Partner lays down a magnificent dummy, and this is what you see:
Of course you win the J lead with dummy’s queen (East follows with the two). How many top tricks do you count?
How many additional tricks do you need for your contract?
Would you gain a trick by ruffing a heart in dummy?
Which suit do you hope will provide two additional tricks?
Which suit do you hope will provide one additional trick?
Which card do you lead at trick two?
It would be a big mistake to draw trumps because you need to ruff in the short trump hand. Which card do you lead at trick three?
It would be a mistake to cash the other top spade as it increases the risk of an overruff. You ruff in hand as both follow with low spades.
You’re doing great so far. This is what remains:
The lead is in your hand. Which suit do you lead next?
West plays the nine. Which card do you play from dummy?
It wins! You had to hope West had the king. What next?
East plays the queen and you ruff in your hand as West follows suit. Whew! Almost home! Which suit do you lead next?
It would be a mistake to lead a heart — an opponent might be able to ruff dummy’s good spade. You win this trick in dummy. What do you lead next?
Of course! You can claim (except for the losing heart) as soon as you draw the enemy trumps. Congratulations! You just bid and made a slam with no points! The East-West hands are shown below:
© 1998 Richard Pavlicek
by Richard Pavlicek by Richard Pavlicek