[BruceZhu]

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I was sitting south in a Swiss Team match in sectional tournament and opened 2 clubs. The auction was the following: 2♣, 2♦, 2♠, 3♥, 4♣, 5♣, 5♦, 5NT, 6♣. I received the 7 of spades lead and I won in dummy. I crossed to the Ace of diamonds and led the Jack of spades, letting it run, which it won. I then led a low spade, and my L.H.O. dropped the King of spades. I crossed to my hand and drew the trump wich were 3-2. I ended up losing 1 trick to the ace of hearts. Our opponents were very unhappy because their side was in 3NT+1 for a 22 IMPs gain for our side. They thought it was lucky and same with one of my team members. What do you think? Thank you.

[Antrax]

It looks like a decent contract. I'd play a heart at trick 2, either getting rid of my immediate loser or setting up spade pitches.
I wouldn't have opened this hand 2♣, but would have no issue if my partner did.

What was 5NT in your auction?

[helene_t]

I am of course not familiar with your methods so I might interpret the auction wrongly. But it looks to me as if you overbid and p underbid. Partner had a good hand -did he show that? I suppose the 3h bid shows some values but couldn't he have a lot less? In that case you should pass 5c I think.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

the way you played, you needed the ruffing finesse, hence you make at most 50% of the time.

It looks as if you can try to ruff spades twice + discarding spades on hearts you have a higher
chance of success, ..., I am not sure, once in a while I ttempt to analyze play.

But I have been in worse slams, if you dont bid it, that is ok, and so is bidding it, so
all in all, it is lucky, that it makes.
I dont care a lot for bidding, but I may not understand it.
Espescially the 5NT bid, 5C was basically a sign of / should show min in the given context,
depending what was shown going on is, ok, but ... 5NT, a Grand Slam try?

With kind regards
Marlowe

[akwoo]

Question: What did partner's bidding up through 5♣ promise in terms of strength? (At the very least, were you playing either some 2nd negative or an immediate double negative so that partner's bidding promised at least a control?)

I would have opened 1♠, because 2-suiters are hard to deal with after a 2♣ opening. But I won't argue about this. I'm not sure you're in that much better shape looking for slam after 1♠-1N(forcing)-3♣ or even 1♠-2♥(not 2/1)-3♣ anyway.

LHO certainly should have covered the Q of spades. That would make your life considerably harder.

I also don't think your line was the best possible. I think it's better to try to ruff 2 low spades and drop the other 2 on the hearts. This makes on spades breaking 4-3 and either hearts 4-3 or K♠ with the short hand. I think that's better than K♠ onside and hearts 5-2. But it's close, and there might be other possibilities of things going wrong that I haven't considered.

[Cyberyeti]

akwoo, on 2014-August-21, 02:12, said:

Question: What did partner's bidding up through 5♣ promise in terms of strength? (At the very least, were you playing either some 2nd negative or an immediate double negative so that partner's bidding promised at least a control?)

I would have opened 1♠, because 2-suiters are hard to deal with after a 2♣ opening. But I won't argue about this. I'm not sure you're in that much better shape looking for slam after 1♠-1N(forcing)-3♣ or even 1♠-2♥(not 2/1)-3♣ anyway.

LHO certainly should have covered the Q of spades. That would make your life considerably harder.

I also don't think your line was the best possible. I think it's better to try to ruff 2 low spades and drop the other 2 on the hearts. This makes on spades breaking 4-3 and either hearts 4-3 or K♠ with the short hand. I think that's better than K♠ onside and hearts 5-2. But it's close, and there might be other possibilities of things going wrong that I haven't considered.

You don't need spades 4-3 or the K onside, hearts 4-3 or 10x, will do, play the K♥ at trick 2. Ruff 1 spade and 1 heart now draw trumps and hope the 9♥ will allow you to discard the last spade.

[Antrax]

akwoo, on 2014-August-21, 02:12, said:

LHO certainly should have covered the Q of spades.

He ran the J, which makes covering slightly less attractive. Of course, looking at Kx left, I suspect most would have covered the J, not expecting declarer to have settled in clubs with 7 spades.

[mcphee]

No vote from me as imo it was not played so great and just not worth opening 2C. Looks like partner was kind enough to supply much needed values to required to make game. How good was this hand going to be in game minus the Ace of spades and Q of H? Bear in mind having opened 2C you were going to be forced to the game level without those tickets, how good would it be then?

[kgr]

Cyberyeti, on 2014-August-21, 02:22, said:

You don't need spades 4-3 or the K onside, hearts 4-3 or 10x, will do, play the K♥ at trick 2. Ruff 1 spade and 1 heart now draw trumps and hope the 9♥ will allow you to discard the last spade.

Agree with this.
(I would actually be surprised if LHO started from ♠Kxx after this auction)

[billw55]

So you bid a close slam and made it. Who cares if they think it was lucky? Play the game and make your choices.

Personally I think their attitude stinks. I would give a "well done" to ops, and a high five for teammates when they say "plus ten".

[diana_eva]

billw55, on 2014-August-21, 06:11, said:

So you bid a close slam and made it. Who cares if they think it was lucky? Play the game and make your choices.

Personally I think their attitude stinks. I would give a "well done" to ops, and a high five for teammates when they say "plus ten".

I disagree. If the argument was "this was good bidding judgement and good play" "nah, you just got lucky" it's better for the team's future to discuss and come to an agreement, else the same mistakes will be made, and might not work out that well next time.

[monikrazy]

Bidding at both tables seemed poor, but 6♣ is a respectable contract.

I think 2C open is a mistake but reaching 6C after a more pedestrian 1S open is still reasonable.

Stopping in 3N at the other table seems very conservative, probably moreso than is prudent for this scoring.

[Zelandakh]

It certainly was not well bid. For many (most?) this is not a 2♣ opener and moving again over 5♣ was just wrong. There was no certainty of reaching a contract with any play at all. As others have pointed out the play was also not optimal and nor was the defence, so all round I think just marking it as lucky is the best of the available options.

[BruceZhu]

Antrax, on 2014-August-21, 01:02, said:

It looks like a decent contract. I'd play a heart at trick 2, either getting rid of my immediate loser or setting up spade pitches.
I wouldn't have opened this hand 2♣, but would have no issue if my partner did.

What was 5NT in your auction?

probably signoff

[jgillispie]

helene_t, on 2014-August-21, 01:13, said:

I am of course not familiar with your methods so I might interpret the auction wrongly. But it looks to me as if you overbid and p underbid. Partner had a good hand -did he show that? I suppose the 3h bid shows some values but couldn't he have a lot less? In that case you should pass 5c I think.

I agree that without the system, I cannot comment on the bidding. The fact that it played well seems lucky, though...