Just Bid What You Think You Can Make - with Curt Soloff

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Sometimes, less is more. Highly distributional hands can be very difficult to show, especially when partner does not show a fit with you early in the auction. Rather than conduct what is likely to be a tormented auction that could result in a misunderstanding, sometimes it is best to simply go with a "bid what you think you can make" approach.
Even if the contract is not perfect, a misstep by the defense might come to your rescue!
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[@TheEricthefruitbat]

If I were North, I would be tempted to bid 7NT with my Ace of Diamonds. If my partner has a hand that s/he is willing to open 7C missing the AD, I figure there is a Diamond void, bloody long Clubs and solid Hearts and the AS. If 7C makes, 7NT must be a big favourite since I can cover a Diamond lead for partner.

[@SmileyEmoji42]

Suerely West was clearly wrong to throw hearts as they were the only possible way to take a trick - Diamonds lose to dummy. Clubs lose to declarer. JS only make if partner has AS and declarer does not have void in which case teh contract is already 1 down. That only leaves hearts however unlikely they look

[@stevefeak5696]

I think this hand is safe to open 2!c... you can bid 7!c yourself in a pinch

[@SmileyEmoji42]

Causes S to show his hearts which is surely going to make W question why declarer tries to squeeze instead of just bannging them down or even claiming

[@PaulRussell-hn5bk]

I’m new to Bridge (acol) but I wondered if you could open the bidding with a Blackwood 4NT to find out if partner had the other ace. Having found out that he does then bid 7NT.

[@doughill1945]

The other day on BBO in a vugraph event the fourth to speak had 30 HCP ! with Singleton Ace of Diamonds and no long suit His system was 1club =16plus HCP so he opened 1c by the time he bid again opponents had upped the ante to 5 diamonds(P had passed). At least the 2 club opening tells partner you are a lot stronger than 16 hcp

[@doughill1945]

I checked the hand .It was Upmark v Bessis. I now see the opponents did not jump in with diamonds straight away and the bidding began slowly at first but dealing with the diamond preempts became difficult.

[@insouciantFox]

I would've bid 6♧. That dummy is really lucky and I have no confidence in grand slam. But I am a cautious man.

[@archiewoosung5062]

He did say that everyone bidding grand slam made it - & I assume all players were experts; you might well have ended with a low score.

[@insouciantFox]

@@archiewoosung5062 I also am not very good

[@manudude02]

@@archiewoosung5062 I would be quite confident in saying this is a weak field if no-one is beating this grand, west has literally no reason to keep anything else but hearts.

[@wjockusch]

At matchpoints, surely it is better to look for the heart fit.

[@rootnroute9872]

7 club bid shows first and 2nd round control of all suits. So diamond void and spade either void or singleton ace. So the 2nd long suit is heart and only possible weakness is there. WEST WASN'T CAREFUL ENOUGH AND HENCE COULD NOT GUARD THE HEART despite ...

[@richardfarrer5616]

Extra bonus to bidding 7C is that, on a low club lead, it's possible west led from Jx(x) and the ten is an entry. Then your heart loser goes on the diamond ace.
I would open 4NT, however, as a direct ace ask, in a matchpoint event. When partner show DA, I bid 7NT - and then almost certainly go down against good defence. But I need so little that it seems the lesser risk.

[@arthilas_]

The question is though, did you agree with your parther that a 4NT opening is a direct blackwood? I'd tempted to read it as an extreme two-suiter with both minors.

[@richardfarrer5616]

@@arthilas_ I did, yes, though it was about 30 years ago so he might have forgotten or thought I had forgotten.

[@anthonylau8821]

As west, south bid 7c without Dia A. He must have spade A and heart A. After 3 rounds of trumps, west know south has 7C tricks, 3S, 1 Heart and. 1 diamond. West also knows if south has heard K or diamond K, he already got 13 tricks. If not, spade will break and a possible squeeze. If I am west, I shall guard the hearts and let my partner guide diamonds and spade. I shall dispose of all diamond and then spade, keeping all hearts. Hoping my partner have spade Txxx and/or diamond KQx or KJx.

[@martinsundland7614]

Four no?

[@pietergeerkens6324]

A thought to keep in mind is that a 2 Club Opening will always have problems if Opener is distributional and doesn't know what the final denomination is going to be. So 2-suited hands should try to avoid opening 2 Clubs.

[@gracielajuda9659]

So great !! Thank you for your advice!!!!!

[@sheikebrahimsheikismail]

Well analyzed hand. Highly enjoyable ❤

[@thearcticlord3920]

So this only makes on a defence mistake. Not a great example of how to learn bridge.

[@sanjeevbindal1311]

Great

[@jwy4264]

I’m not a fan of this, opening 2 clubs or something at the one level is definitely reasonable and likely better. The take-away shouldnt be “open a grand with an amazing hand”

[@Cadence1948]

So No Blackwood !!

[@SmileyEmoji42]

Even if you could use it, it wouldn't tell you anything useful - There are already no diamond losers.

[@richardfarrer5616]

@@SmileyEmoji42 Not entirely true. He said this was a matchpoint event. So making 7NT would be great, and you need partner to have the diamond ace for that.
But an opening 4NT wouldn't usually be Blackwood for most people. It asks for specific aces instead.

[@armantookmanian1938]

Go Slow! Using 2C-2D Waiting and Blackwood (or 1430), you'd probably have been in 7NT. You'd have needed the same 3-2 Club split and the same poor play by West to make, but you'd have scored better!