Slam Bidding

It has been awhile since I've written about bridge--not because my interest has waned, but because I've been busy with other things and also because nothing especially noteworthy was happening at the bridge table. I've been playing regularly and I think (hope) continuing to improve. There have been interesting hands, new conventions, odd conversations, tournaments, victories and defeats. Yet with all of that action, it took yesterday's Friday night game to bring me back to blog.

Here's what happened. Julie opened with a weak 2 spades bid. My RHO thought for a moment and bid 3 hearts. I had 5 spades, plus the ace of clubs (and about 9 points). WOW, I thought, we have 11 trumps! Plus a club trick! My only explanation for what happened next was that during the previous round I had made slam but we had only bid game. Yes, you guessed it, I bid 6 spades.

I have to commend Julie for keeping a straight face; it couldn't have been easy, since she had about 6 points in her hand. My LHO thought for a moment and bid 7 hearts. Everyone passed, and I led with my ace (I know, I should have doubled). They went down one, which was a top board for us. It turns out that we wouldn't even have made 4 spades, and that it always played their way.

When we told this story later, no one laughed or even commented. Apparently experienced players don't appreciate it when unorthodox (stupid) bidding by less experienced players pays off. Oh well. We will take whatever good boards we can get. That round helped us place 2nd in C, which on a Friday night is enough to make us smile.