Just looking at NS, the 6
on my hand is a better bet than the one on yours since the latter needs reasonable luck in
. On yours, it's easy if the
are 2-2 and maybe manageable if the Q drops stiff but requires some luck. On mine, it's easy of the
are 2-2 but chances are still decent when they are not, thanks to the
K. They cashed the
A and shifted to a small
won with the Q in hand, I cashed the
K and led a trump to the board, Lho showing out. If the
are 3-2 it's still fine as I will ruff a
draw trump and claim. Well, the
are 4-1 but fortunately the four
are with the three
so I ruff a
, back to the board with a
ruff, ruff another
, back to the board with a
ruff, cash the last two high
, then the
A, then claim.
So when declarer has the
K the hand looks pretty good. Of course in the auction I held the hand with the four
so I did not know about the
K, just lucky. But it would not be a completely hopeless contract even if the
K were a
spot. I make it if
split 2-2 and
3-2. Not great, but possible. It's a strange hand. 28 highs, the
AK are worthless, the
K is worthless, so really it is a decent slam on 18 highs. Seven-five come alive or some such.
On the hand you give, whether I respond 1
or 1
depends a bit on who my partner is, but 1
- 1
- 2
- 3
seems like a good start, with 3
being a game force since a lesser hand begins with either a 2NT relay to 3
or (my preference) a 2
relay to 3
(the 2
relay allows opener to, instead, show his three card
holding which, on a different hand, could be useful). Given that 3
sets trump and is a game force, then I imagine many have either kickback or minorwood available. I don't play either in any partnership, it requires discussion and we just don't get around to it. Once we find we are missing an A and missing the trump Q we might well sign off, it's one of those optimist versus pessimist things.
I am looking forward to the talks on minor suit slams. Sample: I think 1
- 1M - 1NT - 2
- 2NT - 3
is a slam try in
, or at least a game forcing call with a serious interest in playing in
rather than NT. Certainly that is the case if playing 2 way nmf but I think it should be so if playing simple nmf as well. Perhaps such things will be discussed.