Series - The Mistakes I make at Bridge


This is hopeless. I don't know the precise point where I misled Lia into thinking a grand slam could be a good idea. After getting stuck on King level, I decided to switch to "Gavin Wolpert's Master Series Full". I only watched a few of his videos for the basics, however. But let's analyze the bidding above.

  • 2♣ is 2/1 Game Forcing showing 5 cards. Unfortunately, this meets exactly something I did not watch. But there are always explanations.
  • 3♦ is natural with extra length and 15+ points. So, we have a diamond fit. Moste likely, it is meant to set diamonds for trumps. 
  • Now I would think 3♥ would show a stopper in hearts with the aim to reach 3NT. But it doesn't. It shows a 4-card suit. Am I supposed to bid 3NT with no stopper in spades? That is exactly what the other table did in a system labelled "2/1 Game Forcing", reaching 6♦ in the end. So, I made an understandable slam try with 4♦.
  • 4♥ is ace asking for diamonds. This seems to be a nice convention, although I'd have preferred to hear 4♠ to learn about the missing heart control. But admittedly, we are already very high and missed a good 3NT contract along the way. Stopping in 4NT is now a good idea.
  • 5♣ answers the question with two key cards. 
  • At that point, North imagines no Ace missing and some Queens and Kings to make a slam. So he goes ahead with 5♥ confirming all key cards.
  • 5♠ sounds reasonable because I have an extra King there. But it is probably too much. One should be contempt to play 6♦.
At first sight, 6♦ is a nearly hopeless hand, especially after you learn about the 5-0 brake in trumps. But in fact, it can be made when played by North. On the other table, the play was made easy by a lead of the singleton club followed by the ♣Q of West. North cashed the ♦A, then claimed 12 tricks. 

It gets more interesting if East leads ♠Q and the West ducks the club finesse twice, and East refused to ruff the ♣K. North will then run out of communication with the table. However, he can now eliminate the spades and throw East in with the trump, forcing to play towards the heart fork. 

Surprisingly, North and South could make 7NT. All they have to do is to finesse the clubs from the right side, cashing the clubs, discarding ♥A and ♥Q. This establishes a squeeze against East who must hold the ♥K and the diamond stopper.

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