July 2023 - 42

completely justified upgrade with
the exciting distributional compensation.
4c by Rocca was showing
a control in support of hearts. The
jump to 5d by Pellegrini was " exclusion "
key card Blackwood, asking for
key cards in support of hearts but instructing
partner to ignore the dA if
they hold it. The 5s response for this
pair showed one key card and denied
the hQ. This gave Pellegrini an easy
decision to sign off in 6h.
Lavee
1s
3h
5d
5s
Pass
The auction of Lavee and Freeman
followed the same track as our other
pair, with Freeman making the same
excellent judgment to show the club
control and a stronger heart raise,
and Lavee also using exclusion key
card Blackwood in diamonds. 5h for
them showed one key card outside
of diamonds. 5s asked for the queen
of trumps. Although Freeman didn't
have it, his sK was a clearly useful
card that partner didn't know about,
and he had an extra trump, so he took
the chance of bidding 7h. This contract
is an underdog, but just slightly.
Bridge Bulletin auction: 1s-1NT;
3h-4c; 5d-5s; 5NT-6h; Pass. Both
pairs did so well with this start to the
auction, that we are sold. Exclusion
Blackwood is probably not a part of
the Bridge Bulletin bidding system,
but 5d still intuitively shows a void,
so responder could show the spade
control on the way to 6h.
Scores: 6h 11; 6s 9; 7h 6; 5h 5; 5s 3
Pellegrini-Rocca 45,
Lavee-Freeman 20
Lavee
1h
Pass
Lavee and Freeman had the expected
auction if playing a strong
notrump system. Lavee made the
same correct decision as Pellegrini to
go quietly with a featureless 11-point
hand opposite a maximum of 14.
Bridge Bulletin auction: 1d-1h; 2h-
Pass. Opener has an option to raise a
major-suit response with three-card
support. Holding a low doubleton
spade, that option is reasonable on
this hand.
Scores: 2h 10; 1NT 7; 3h 6; 2NT 4
Pellegrini-Rocca 52,
Lavee-Freeman 27
Problem 6
East deals. E-W vulnerable.
West
s K Q 6 5
h A 10 8
d A Q 2
c Q J 7
42 | Bridge Bulletin | July 2023
East
s A
h Q J 7 5 3
d J 9 7
c A K 8 4
Freeman
1d
1NT
Freeman
1NT
4c
5h
7h
Problem 5
North deals. N-S vulnerable.
West
Pellegrini
East
s J 9 3
h A K 6 4
d K 9 4
c 8 5 2
Pellegrini
Pass
The 1NT opening led to the simplest
of auctions. They play 1NT as
showing 11-14 HCP in this situation.
Although responder might miss a
reasonable 25-point game by passing,
that is less likely than getting
too high if responder chose to invite.
s
10 2
h Q J 8
d Q J 7 6
c A Q 9 4
Rocca
1NT
2c
3h
4NT
5s
Pass
The 1h opening was normal. 2c
was forcing to game, and could potentially
be a suit as short as a doubleton.
This is played to save bidding room
and to ensure that all the other suit
bids can promise at least five cards.
Opener raised clubs, which, after all,
might have been a true suit. Responder
then showed the heart support.
3NT by opener was artificial, showing
a spade control and some slam
interest. Responder was happy to ask
for key cards over that. 5d showed
zero or three key cards. It seems
they had a misunderstanding where
responder thought he was asking for
key cards with hearts as trumps, but
opener thought the ask was for clubs
as a trump suit. That makes the rest
of the auction a little difficult to understand,
but they managed to land in
a reasonable 6h contract.
Lavee
2c
3h
3NT
4s
6NT
Freeman
1h
3c
3s
4c
5h
Pass
Lavee and Freeman had the same
start of opening 1h, a " flaky " 2c
response, raising the clubs, and
responder supporting the hearts. 3s
over that showed a spade control.
3NT by responder was artificial and
showed strong slam interest. This
prompted opener to show the club
control, just what responder needed
to hear. Responder bid 4s to ask
about key cards for hearts. Opener's
5h showed two plus the queen.
Rocca
1h
3c
3NT
5d
6h
July 2023

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