Slam Bidding Gadgetry

This deal is from the Swiss team event at the recent Fort Lauderdale Sectional. My son Rich Pavlicek was North and I was South, and we reached a good slam that was missed at the other table. The bidding made use of three effective slam gadgets: a splinter bid, key-card Blackwood, and a follow-up to ask for the queen of trumps.

North deals	A Q J 3		West	North	East	South
None vul	A K 8 7 2		(opp)	Rich	(opp)	Richard
	3			1	Pass	1
	A 10 3		Pass	4	Pass	4 NT
9 6 5		K	Pass	5	Pass	5
J 9 3		Q 6 5 4	Pass	5 NT	Pass	6
Q 8 6 5 4		K 9 7 2	All Pass
8 2		Q 9 6 5
	10 8 7 4 2
	10
	A J 10
6 South	K J 7 4

Rich’s unusual jump to 4 showed a singleton or void in diamonds and four-card spade support. Despite my topless spade suit, I sensed the good fit and bid 4 NT (key-card Blackwood); Rich answered 5 showing zero or three key cards (obviously three). Still concerned about the weak trumps, I next bid 5 to ask for the spade queen; 5 NT confirmed this card and also showed the K in our methods, so we reached the slam. (Without the spade queen Rich would bid 5 and I would pass.)

West led the 5 to the king, ace; then a spade was led to the jack and king. The diamond return ruffed out the queen; then the A was cashed to reveal it would have been better (though illogical) to cash it first. Next came the A; heart ruff (with 10); spade to jack, then hearts were continued to establish the long heart. This provided 12 tricks without needing to guess clubs.

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© 1991 Richard Pavlicek