Slam bidding continues to be interesting. Sometimes it goes smoothly, sometimes it goes awry, and sometimes -- like in yesterday's game -- we end up in the right place in spite of ourselves. Here's what happened. I had 23 high card points and opened 2 clubs. South passed and Julie responded 2 hearts.
"Alert," I said. We bid controls and so I started going through the possibilities: 2 diamonds means a king or less, 2 hearts . . .
"What does that mean?" North interrupted my thought process and I was stymied.
"I have to think for a minute," I said.
"That's okay, never mind." Both opponents seemed to understand my embarrassment in not knowing the answer and didn't want me to stress about it.
"I have to think anyway," I responded. Even if the opponents didn't care anymore, I still had to figure it out and bid properly. North reached for my convention card, which furthered my discomfort in not knowing. Then it came to me.
"It means that she has . . ." I started triumphantly. Both opponents interrupted and spoke over me.
"We don't want to know."
"But she was reaching for my card, so I was going to tell her."
"She can look at your card," South said. "But when we say never mind, you can't say anything."
I apologized, and that's when I realized that they were not being sympathetic about my memory lapse. They were hoping that I would come to the wrong conclusion and that Julie would be in the dark! Well, I came to the correct conclusion and realized that we had all of the aces. The next thing would be to figure out where to play. I bid 2NT and started mentally going through the possible Puppet Stayman bids and responses.
Julie bid 4NT.
Hmm, I thought. I don't think that's 1430 because wouldn't we do Gerber over 2NT? Plus, I already know we have all of the aces and we don't have a suit. But she bypassed 3NT so she must think slam is a possibility. What the heck.
I bid 6NT.
"What do you think her 4NT means?" South asked. I thought it interesting that he didn't ask what her bid meant, but rather what I thought it meant. I could see that he didn't have much confidence in our communication.
"I think it means she has a big hand," I replied. "She's thinking about slam."
"What did her 2 hearts bid mean?"
"That she has an ace."
South's expression showed his confusion in trying to reconcile a big hand with having an ace. When dummy came down, there was indeed only one control, the ace, but also other cards that fit nicely with my hand. We did make 6NT, which was a good board for us. Others in the room got there as well, but not everyone did, and most likely not by the same route.
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Margaret:
ReplyDelete1. Your opponents are entitled to know what your partner's bids mean in accord with your system and your agreements. They never are entitled to know what you "think" a bid means. What you "think" may be influenced by the cards in your hand. Neither your opponents nor your partner are entitled to that information.
2. Most likely you play a system of controls where 2D = 0 or 1, 2H = 2 and so on. If that is the case, your answer to your opponents' inquiry about the 2H call should not have been that she has an Ace. You should have responded that she has 2 controls. The only way you could have known her 2 controls were an ace was because you held 3 kings in your hand. Your opponents are not entitled to that information. Furthermore, your partner, upon hearing from you that she has an ace, would be able to conclude that you have three kings. That conclusion is unauthorized information to her.
3. The only time during an auction that an opponent may look at your convention card is when it's that opponent's turn to bid. That also is the only time an opponent may ask a question about what your bids mean.
Congratulations on bidding the slam and for taking the time to figure out what 4N means. That bid commonly is known as a quantitative raise. Your partner is asking you to bid 6 with a better than average holding and to pass otherwise. (Just so you know, a similar raise directly to 5N by your partner would have demanded you bid 6, but to bid 7 with a maximum for the hand you had advertised.)
I hope you continue to enjoy your bridge.
Burt Bothell