Hi all
This deal is from the Santa Cruz sectional last weekend. I was playing with Greg, with Andrew and Hansa as teammates. It was a nice day with reasonable play.
1
3
- 16+
- 5-7 hcp takeout-ish, or any GF hand without a describing bid
- Too strong for an immediate jump to 3NT
The interference was minimal, but very effective as our relay auction had been disrupted. I had powerful trumps sitting over East, but with the unfavourable vulnerability I didn’t want to try to deconstruct 1. In the rest of the auction Greg was able to show his 4-4-0-5 (with extras because he passed 3NT) the natural way. I considered a powerlift to 6, but because of my huge wastage in and no significant support for any of Greg’s suits I decided against it.
Because the trump King was onside thirteen tricks were easy on the Ace lead. Greg had every spot card in to make 6 yawningly boring. I don’t feel too bad for missing out on slam here, as our opponents stopped in game as well.
Surely Greg could have raised to 6 as you have to have at least 2 clubs and 2 entries for your bidding. The worst that could happen is that your shape is 3-3-5-2 and clubs split 5-1.