June 2022 - 42

IT'S
YOUR
CALL
1. Cash grab
IMPs. None vulnerable.
Q 5 kA J 8 6 2 lA K J 9 'A J
West North East
4' Dbl
Call
Pass
5'
6l
5NT
4NT
5l
6NT
4l
Pass
Votes
6
4
4
2
South
1k
?
Award
100
80
80
60
40
40
30
20
Grossack passes. " Take the money,
baby. I guess I could try a natural
4NT, but I'm expecting plus 300-800
in 4' doubled with no slam in the
picture (or fit, for that matter). "
" Let's just take our hundreds, " says
Cohen with the pass card, " instead
of guessing and possibly ending up
minus, especially with the likely bad
splits. "
" Pass. Matchpoint bid for sure, "
Molson winks. " Second choice: 6l,
and perhaps that should be my first
choice, but there you go. "
Lawrence plays defense. " Pass.
Fairly easy to imagine getting six
tricks against clubs. West could have
'K Q 10 x x x x x (eight of them), leaving
us with the problem of cashing
our tricks while not giving declarer
one in the process. Less easy to see
our best game. Slam: possible, but
where and how? "
Guest panelist McConnell passes.
" What does partner have to double?
It appears pard does not have three
42 | Bridge Bulletin | June 2022
DIRECTOR: SUE MUNDAY
SCORES: KAREN WALKER
5' in these auctions because you
know here, it will beget 5l, and then
what? 6'? The double cuebid torture?
Count me out. "
Robinson calls his leap to 6l a
blind guess. " But I have 20 high-card
points where I could have had 11. "
Sanborn says, " It's hard to conhearts
and can't have many clubs. Six
or seven diamonds could be cold. That
said, at IMPs I would rather take what
should be a reasonable plus. "
Pass by Korbel. " I have no idea what
to do. I suspect pass is good when we
have no slam, and occasionally plus
800 is good even when we do. "
Ten panelists venture forward into
slam territory.
Meyers chooses 5', planning to
correct 5 to 6l. " I hope that paints
the picture that I have only four diamonds,
or I might have jumped to 6l
directly, as I was obviously forcing to
slam. "
5' by Rigal. " Converting a
five-level cuebid to 6l might show
this hand ... or it might not. We will
see. "
Weinstein bids 5'. " I'm driving to
slam with visions of seven, and I can't
risk partner even thinking about
passing 4l. I'll bid 6l next. 5NT
could get me six of a major, which I
don't want. "
Boehm, 5': " If pard bids 6, I can
correct to notrump. "
" What a difficult problem, " Meckstroth
prefaces his leap to 6l. " I
could maybe bid 5' or 5NT, but I
think I should have better playability
in the majors for those bids. "
Colchamiro skips the niceties. " 6l.
I don't think partner has as many as
six spades or three hearts. So it's a
lock partner has at least five diamonds
and maybe six. Opposite:
A K x x kK x lQ x x x x 'x x,
even I can take at least 12 tricks and
Lord knows partner could have more.
Second choice: 5'. Third choice:
4NT, to play. I hate making bids like
struct a hand where we don't have a
play for 6l. " So that's her call. " Anyone
else consider opening 2NT? Lots
of tenaces ... "
Donn uses 5NT " to try to get us to
a slam somewhere reasonable. Note
that I would have opened 2NT, which
though not traditional, protects my
holdings and makes the auction a lot
simpler. "
Lee: " 5NT, pick-a-slam, bringing
diamonds into the picture without
overstating my holding there. "
2. Going green
Matchpoints. North-South vulnerable.
K
10 5 kA 9 7 3 lJ 9 8 7 5 4 '-
West North East
Pass
Call
Pass
2
1NT
2l
all.
A delighted pass by Meckstroth.
" Very happy it is pairs here! "
A poetic pass by Rigal, " trying to
land on a pinhead.
Wait, was
that what partner
said, or did
he simply call
me a pinhead?
My hearing is
so weak these
days. "
Matchpoint
1' Pass
1 Pass
Votes
11
4
1
South
1k
?
Award
100
80
60
20
Sometimes the best bid is no bid at
Jeff Meckstroth
June 2022

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