Playing with a friend on BBO, you have this hand in 1st seat, Vulnerable vs Not Vulnerable. You are South:
Do you open? Rule of 20 says Yes. If your hand was:
It would be clear to open, when you have all your points in your long suits.
You should disregard rule of 20 if your hand was:
So you open.
For the moment, you have not faced any problem. You hope partner will bid 3NT to end this, but…
Is this Quantitative, Keycards or Blackwood? Partner could have bid 4♣ to set trumps. But you don’t have an established partnership with this lady, and she might have feared you could pass, which you can’t after she bid 2♠, game forcing.
So you treat this as KCB for ♣, the last bid suit.
5NT is asking for Kings, right? Specific kings, that is, not number. You respond with your cheapest King, if you have one. Yes, but 5NT also says: partner, we have all 6 keycards. You cannot ask for Kings if 1 key is missing. 5NT is a green light for opener to bid 7 if he has the right stuff.
Problem here: no more space for opener Can opener really bid 6♠ to show the king? I decided against it and bid 6♣.
Lets hope she has the ♦K.
Lead is a trump, suggesting LHO has maybe some cards in ♦.
Oups, no ♦K. Partner cannot be criticized, I think, for bidding 7. I have no points in ♥, I have the ♣K of clubs, the ♦A, that makes 7, and I have opened. Even if I have the ♠K, that’s only 10 points. So anyway, the play’s the thing, they say.
You pull 3 rounds of ♣, ending in your hand, LHO pitching a ♦ on the 3rd trump.
You have to get rid of 4 diamonds!
Desperate times, desperate measures. You play your singleton ♥, small on your left, you shut your eyes and play the ♥10. When you open your eyes, RHO hasn’t played yet. GRRRRRR ! Is he the last descendant of the Marquis de Sade?? After 10 seconds, you see a small ♥ appear. Wow!
You play the 3 other top ♥, discarding 3 diamond losers, both opponents following 4 times.
You still have 1 diamond loser. No choice. You need some luck again.
Remembering the trump lead which told you LHO maybe had diamond honours, you see you can squeeze him if he has also the ♠Q. So ♣8. LHO discards the ♦J. Hum‼ Very interesting.
You play your last trump. LHO discards the ♦Q!
Well, things look promising. Play ♦A, the K falls, your 10 is good, you don’t need the spade finesse, which was working anyway. +2140.
The whole hand:
You can say you had a good day.
Comments
13 responses to “La vita è bella”
Take that fine Lady to the most expensive restaurant in town!
Never expect to have the cards as you wish more so when op keeps mum during bidding any way lucky lady you have
Looking forward to next one, maybe Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie (don’t waste your time searching on Netflix).
https://g.co/kgs/LiFu7R 😉
Great suggestion 😉
These are always enjoyable to read, Bernard’s witty and wise writing give the game an extra dimension..
“…but 5NT also says: partner, we have all 6 keycards…”
6?, Bernard…
6 yes, 4 A, K and Q of trump 🙂
Great article and hand, Bernard. But, I wondered, if LHO really has all those cards, couldn’t you have cashed the top three hearts, all the trumps and triple-squeezed them? Then I realized that line can be defeated. LHO can keep a diamond and you’ll only get one extra trick, not two. Very well played.
Thank you, Beo 🙂
as always, u r witty, Bernard. Lou
As always, u r witty . Lou
and your lady, also