July 2008 - 35

It's Your Call

not clear if it's in spades or notrump,"
says Cohen, "so I'll go for plus 200
or 500 to beat all pairs not bidding or
making game. Plus 800 is even better!
This auction calls for a trump lead
and West will have a hard time taking
many tricks."
"If I bid, I have to jump or cuebid
and I have no guaranteed plus," says
Falk. "I might as well go for the
throat. We should bury declarer for
more than value of our questionable
game."
"If we get less than 800, it's not
clear then that we have a game or
can find the right game," agree the
Stansbys.
The experts realize that a takeout
double is meant to be taken out.
It's not clear what to take it out to,
however, and so the majority pass and
hope for the best. Freeman sums it
up: Take your profit; it's not clear you
have a game.
5. Matchpoints. East-West vulnerable.
A 5 K 10 4 A 4 A Q J 9 7 4
West
North
East
South
2
2
?
Call
2NT
4NT
3
5NT
3
4
4

Votes
5
5
3
1
0
3
1

Award
100
100
60
50
50
40
40

1430 anyone?
If partner has a good heart suit,
you likely have a slam, perhaps even
a grand slam. If his heart suit is not
strong, game may be the limit. To try
and get more information, five experts
start with 2NT.
"I want to hear my partner's response over 2NT," says Meyers. "I am
willing to assume the K is onside,
but I don't want to be in slam if partner doesn't have the A."
"If partner shows a minimum over
2NT, I can cuebid 3 and give him
a chance to show a good minimum,
which is what I need for slam," says
Robinson. "If the opponents raise to
3 and partner bids 4, I can go
slamming. We're playing bad methods
July 2008

for this hand. I would like to be able to
bid something besides 4NT as Roman
Keycard Blackwood. After a 5 response (showing one key card), I can't
ask for the Q."
Some experts bid 4NT.
"I can find out if North has the
A Q and the K," says Lawrence.
As Robinson points out, if playing
standard Roman Key Card, you can't
ask about the Q without committing
to slam. If you play 1430, then 5
would show one key card and 5
could be used to ask for the trump
queen.
"In the old days, I'd just bid 6,"
says Falk. "but now I have to worry
that partner has opened on a ridiculous suit. Over 4NT, if partner shows
the A, I'll bid 7 on the grounds
that partner can figure out hearts for
no loser and the club finesse will win
if needed."
"If partner shows the A Q, this is
a five or seven hand," says Baze who
bids 4NT. "To bid 6 if he have the
A Q is silly. You should bid seven."
What Falk and Baze mean is that
East has bid and so is more likely to
hold the K.
The experts are used to playing
1430, so 4NT makes sense in that
case. If playing 0314, you can't find
out about the trump queen after a oneace response, and that makes 4NT less
desirable.
Three experts probe by cuebiding
3. They are in no rush to bid 4NT.
"Let's establish ownership of the
hand, and that we have heart support,"
say the Sutherlins. "We will follow
with RKC, but the situation is complicated because the response (to RKC)
may leave us poorly placed on this
almost certain five or seven hand."
Cohen agrees with 3. "If partner
signs off in 4, I'll leave him there,"
he says. "Because he was dealer at
favorable vulnerability, he could be
quite light. If he makes any noise
other than 4, I'll use RKC."
Three panelists give up on slam and
bid 4.
"4," say the Colchamiros. "Let
them save red on white. If they do,
we'll have to decide what to do."
"We expect to make 4 most of
the time," say the Coopers. "If they

bid 4, we will double. If 4 were
fit-showing, as it is for us, we would
prefer that bid which prevents a disaster when both sides are making (when
partner has a club fit)."
Rigal agrees with 4. "4 is
fit-showing with clubs and hearts,"
he says. "If partner passes 4 to me,
I'll double, which must simply show
extras."
Fit-showing jumps are valuable
bids, but they are not part of Bridge
Bulletin standard.
Walker bid 5NT as the grand slam
force asking for two of the top three
heart honors. "This is somewhat of a
gamble because even the small slam
could go down if partner doesn't have
the heart ace and East finds the right
lead," she says. "If partner has the A
Q, though, the grand is a good bet, requiring little more than setting up the
club suit (the K rates to be onside)."
Comments on the scoring by
Walker: "The slam searchers chose
five different ways to start, but all
roads seem to lead to Blackwood. 4
was demoted because everyone else
appears to be moving toward at least a
small slam. I'd normally promote 5NT
in the scoring, as it's a shortcut to the
same contract the other slam-goers are
investigating. But because it happened
to be my choice, I gave it a 50."
In most auctions, using Roman Key
Card with 1430 responses renders no
advantage to 0314 responses. This
deal offers an example, however, of
r
why 1430 can be superior.

You can participate in It's Your Call.
Go to www.acbl.org and click on
My ACBL. You can submit answers
for a given month until the 21st,
at which time the next month's
problems will be available. The top
scores for May are:
Peter Tinkess, Quesnel BC
Bob Rehbock, Islip NY
Don Green, Torrance CA
Barry Bragin, Silver Spring MD
Samuel Culley, Ritzville WA
Jianrong Lin, Arlington Hts IL
Mark Caplan, Toronto ON
Aaron Silverstein, New York NY
Diane Day, Marco Island FL
Christopher Marlow, Wilmington DE

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35
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2008
