December 2010 - 42

Bridge Player's
Survival Kit
Leslie Shafer
slamhand@verizon.net

One downgrade is enough
Dlr: South  K 7 3 2
Vul: Both  A K
KQ942
 K 10
 A 10 9 6 5
J
N
8643
 J 10 9 2
W E
-
 10 8 6 3
S
9653
J842
Q84
Q75
AJ75
AQ7
North
1 (2)
4NT (3)

South
1 (1)
1NT
Pass (4)

Leslie Shafer is the editor of
"Bridge Students 'R Us," a national bridge newsletter specifically for
Intermediate and Novice players.
You may subscribe by sending your
name, address, phone number and
payment of $25 for a six-issue subscription to Leslie Shafer, 331 Market
Street East, #154, Gaithersburg, MD
20878. Visit her web site at www.
bridgeteacher.com.

42 Bridge Bulletin December 2010

(1) Playing 15-17 1NT opening bids,
South thought about opening 1NT
with his balanced 15 high‑card points,
but he knew about hand evaluation
tools and utilized them properly: (a)
Downgrade for flat distribution (4-3-
3-3); (b) Downgrade for queens that
are not offset by an ace in the hand
(South had three queens and only two
aces). I agree with the 1 opening
bid. After the adjustments, South is
too weak for a 15-17 1NT opening -
it's worth closer to 14 points.
(2) North evaluated his hand as a 19
count (adding 1 point for the fifth dia‑
mond). He thought slam was possible,
but did not have enough information
to decide where to play. He made a
forcing 1 bid, in order to find out
more information from his partner.
(3) After the 1NT rebid by South
(showing 12-14), North thought his
19‑count might still be enough for
slam if his partner's minimum was
around 14, the higher end of his
range. The 4NT bid was a quantitative raise which said, "Partner, I
know you showed me a minimum
opener of 12-14 points, but if you're
at the higher end of that range, please
take us to 6NT."

(4) South was still in a downgrading
mood and passed. With a downgraded
15 count, he should have thought: "I'm
at the top of my promised 12-14!" and
accepted the invitation to slam.
South might try to visualize where
partner's points are located. He can't
have too many queens, so it should be
aces and king which would fit beauti‑
fully opposite South's soft values.
North should have about 18-19
points for his invitation to slam be‑
cause he knew South was showing
12-14. He asked a specific question:
"Are you closer to 12 or to 14?" South
must answer the question. Opener
was so caught up in his initial evalu‑
ation, however, that he missed the
bigger picture entirely.
There are 12 tricks in notrump on
this deal by promoting a spade honor.
The 12 winners are: one spade, three
hearts, five diamonds and three clubs.
Notice that a 6 contract might be
set with a defensive spade ruff.
In bridge, you need a two‑way
radio, one that transmits and one
that receives. This South was only
transmitting. Even worse, he was
transmitting the same information he
had already sent.
r

Once you're already downgraded
appropriately, there's no need to
do it again.
http://www.bridgeteacher.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2010
