BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

LooKinG at both these hands, you can see that there are 12 top tricks and that your optimum contract is 6nT. But how would you get there using an honest auction?

THIS would not be as easy as it looks, after West obviously should open 1 ♣ . I suspect that most of the less scientific bidders with the big East hand will leap direct to Blackwood, discovering two aces and a king, then just bid the slam. This method works well here, but it is not a sensible approach because, inter alia there might well be a Grand Slam available.

East should simply respond 1 ♦ , which is forcing, and therefore there is no need to waste bidding space by jumping to 2 ♦ . West then bids 1 ♥ , and East does now have a small problem; if he bids 1 ♠ , is this Fourth Suit forcing, or could it be passed? Something important to check on with your regular partner. To be on the safe side, you can bid 2 ♠ , and West would then bid 2NT.

Going to Blackwood after the 1 ♥ rebid is more understandable, but the problem with this is that West might instead hold ♠ QJxx, ♥ Axxx, ♦x, ♣ AKJx, and 7 ♠ would depend only on a 3-2 trump break.