April 2024 - 37

Partnership building with bid72,
the addictive app on bridge bidding
By Jan van Cleeff - info@bid72.com
T
he bid72 bridge-bidding app
provides tools to improve
bidding systems and facilitate
partnerships. It aims to connect real
players for practicing bidding strategies
and enhancing their bidding
skills.
This deal is a perfect example. With
North as dealer, and N-S vulnerable,
you hold this hand as East:
sA K Q J 10 4 2 h10 5 dA J 9 c6.
North, your right-hand opponent,
passes. With eight playing tricks,
you consider opening 2c showing a
strong hand. In view of your minimal
number of high-card points, however,
you prefer to open 1s.
The opponents remain silent, and
partner responds 2h, natural and
forcing to game. Because you want to
play in spades regardless of any spade
support, you bid 3s. This " unnecessary "
jump shows a self-supporting
suit in 2/1 and sets spades as the
trump suit, rendering all subsequent
bids in different suits cuebids.
Partner bids 4d, showing a diamond
control and denying a control in
clubs, as controls are bid up the line.
Partner's control in diamonds -
void, singleton or king - is good news,
and it is all but certain that partner
has one or more controls in hearts
as well. Obviously, slam is looming,
but how to go from here? Asking for
aces won't cut the mustard, as much
depends on the quality of partner's
hearts. Alternatively a signoff in 4s
is way too conservative.
To solve this dilemma you bid 4h,
the so-called " last train " treatment.
4h is a slam-try asking partner to
proceed with extras. It implies a club
control, which partner denied. It does
not guarantee support nor a control
in hearts.
Partner next bids 4NT, Roman key
card Blackwood. 5d by you shows
zero or three key cards. Partner then
asks for the trump queen, and your
5NT confirms it. Partner bids 6s.
The hands were:
West
s 9 5
h A K Q 9 7
d K 3 2
c Q 10 4
East
s A K Q J 10 4 2
h 10 5
d A J 9
c 6
Any time there is only one call that
indicates slam interest or further
slam interest without raising the
partnership's level of commitment,
it is a last-train slam-try, unrelated
to the strain named (unless followed
by an uninvited further action).
The convention was devised by Jeff
Meckstroth and named by him after
The Monkees' song " Last Train to
Clarksville. "
The hand comes from the Dutch
National Bidding Contest. 6s scored
10 on the 0-10 scale.
Tip: The single last suit bid below
the trump suit is a slam try, unrelated
to the suit.
Check bid72.com for over a hundred
practical bidding tips.
What does bid72 do for the ACBL?
The app supplies hands for The
Bidding Box and features " Pros and
Cons, " a monthly series in the ACBL's
" Speakeasy " emails where stars like
David Gold, Adam Grossack, Jason
Hackett, Ralph Katz, Zia Mahmood
and Mike Passell walk you through
challenging bidding sequences.
What can bid72 do for you? The app
offers a wealth of challenging hands
Sign-up for the
ACBL Bidding Contest
waiting to be bid by you and your
partner(s). You are invited to join the
ACBL Bidding Contest, a free service
for each ACBL member to practice bidding
with your favorite partner. Each
Monday, a new set of five hands shows
up in your phone or tablet. And the
next Monday, you receive ratings and
rankings plus a new set of five hands.
Alternatively, you may download
the premium version of the app - App
Store or Google Play - which gives you
access to an unlimited number of exciting
and rated hands you can bid with
several partners. This version also
allows you and your partner to enjoy
The Bidding Box archives, as well as to
practice topics (sets of boards dedicated
to specific conventions).
100+
Bidding Tips
April 2024 | Bridge Bulletin |
37
http://www.bid72.com
April 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2024
