Dubious Logic

Venturing into Limbo

There are no more certain ways of losing the sympathies of your team-mates than trying for a slam, reaching the five level and being defeated. This never-never land, whether it be five of a minor when three no-trump was secure or, as is more often, five of a major when only ten tricks are available, is an issue that wasn't touched upon in the discussion about slam bidding a few weeks back. 'Is the five level safe?' is a question you should always ask when deciding whether to investigate a slam. This was the rationale behind Easley Blackwood's great invention; once you are assured you have enough tricks, use his 4NT to check if you have all the controls.

Perhaps that's old hat these days; the almost universal adoption of the 'five ace' varieties where the trump king is regarded as having equal standing with the four aces has displaced it – but you still have to be certain you have the material to take twelve tricks or eleven in the case of bad news. During a recent match my partner and I reached limbo three times. Each had its uncertain moments but I'm glad to say, they all turned out well in the end;

In some senses an amusing auction; East bids hearts four times and doesn't mean a single one. After the transfer the rebid showed a singleton somewhere, opener's three no-trump was a good hand. East completed the description with four hearts showing the shortage there. West's key card Blackwood elicited two of the five 'aces' but no trump queen and that was not enough for West. Spades behaved and when the defence were not quick enough with their ace, twelve tricks gathered in. The addition of the spade queen to either hand would make the slam excellent. In general, situations like these where one player shows the other a shortage are best reserved for invitational, rather than slam insistent hands.

After the opponents bid a suit a voluntary five of a major shows two losers in the opponents' suit. Simple as that – don't listen to anyone who says otherwise. Here East had the necessary control but (a) he had a bad hand and (b) he had three hearts. That meant the partnership had five, the overcaller at least seven and the other opponent at most one. There would be a ruff on the opening lead and he was right to decline. In the event North didn't lead his ace and furthermore played it immediately when declarer led towards the king. That meant a squeeze developed and twelve fortunate tricks were made (South held ♠ Kxx ♥ 10 ♦ Jxx ♣ QJ10xxx).

After another transfer start, East completed his description naturally. It wasn't completely clear to West whether his partner was bidding length or shortage at his third turn but either way you would have thought that four winners in the minors were sufficient to mop up whatever losers were in his partner's hand. Nevertheless he signed off and a good slam was missed. But.. North turned out to hold all five trumps and there was no likely line to make six hearts. Our team-mates weren't happy with our bidding but they were pleased with the points.

Published Saturday 28.Apr.2001