Sittard BC Internal Championships Imps Pairs 2002

Session 01, Baandert, Sittard, March 05, 2002


Group A, Boards 09-12

Special thanks to William Gielkens

Copyright © 2002-2025 by Michel Franssen

Recommended bidding sequence:

Dbl = Precisely 3-card ª-support, 11+ hcp.
3¨ = Announces double fit. It doesn't make sense to search for the best fit just to stay in partscore, so 3¨ is 100% forcing.
3© = 1st or 2nd round control of hearts.
4¨ = Denies §-control, and gives preference to diamonds, since he could have 'waited' in spades as well.
4NT = 6-Aces Blackwood.
5ª = 2 or 5 Aces with ¨Q, the queen of the last suit that has been bid 'for real'.

Report from Mr. William Gielkens:

3§ certainly causes some trouble, but after 3ª, South could at least try 4¨. If North cuebids 4© now, this would show controls in © and § at the same time, and NS are in business. North even makes 7¨ on a finesse!

We expected to gain on this deal, but on the other end, one could say: 'If Rob van Wel and Onko-Jan Gelling don't bid the slam, nobody will.' That is really something to be ashamed of, A-group of Sittard BC!

So we yield 1 imp, because 4ª+2 outscores 5¨+2, indeed!"

Recommended bidding sequence:

1© = Perhaps bypassing a 4+ ¨-suit in Walsh Approach, so East must alert.
2¨ = 4th Suit Forcing.
3§ = Promising 6+ suit, the whiter lie.
4§ = Slamtry in clubs. If West was only interested in game, he would have invited with 2NT or 3§, rather than taking the detour of the 4th suit. A large number of experts treats 2-level calls in 4th suit as forcing to game, period. Some turkeys will never learn, and keep passing after partner has returned to their suit.
4¨ = 1st or 2nd round control of diamonds.
4NT = RKCB.
5¨ = 0 or 3 out of 5 aces (1403-variation).

Report from Mr. William Gielkens:

"Is this a good slam?"

I certainly would say 'yes!' At imps, I prefer to play in clubs, that is to say, in 7§! The majority of the field should be very ashamed of not even bidding small slam.

Instead of 3NT, I prefer to raise West's 4th suit to 3¨ to show shape and extra values (Tricky, for East tends to show 4144 or  4045 with such raise. Revealing the 5-card §-suit clearly does a better job here, provided we treat 2¨ as a game force. If we don't, this and many other East hands become virtually unbiddable - MF). West will then announce slam interest with 4§. West could still bid 4§ over 3NT, but that would sound like 4-card support, so we have to give him some credit for his pragmatic call of 6NT.

Our score: +11 imps for making 6NT."

It turns out, that William's preference to 7§ is mathematically correct. Elementary a priori calculations bring us all the way up to a 76.57% chance of making the grand slam, or about 13% more than the minimum required at imps. A posteriori calculations, which apply when the opponents interfere with our bidding, or when the hands are (partially or completely) disclosed during the play stage, tend to lower the odds we have calculated a priori. It turns out, that this would still keep us above the critical 63% on this particular deal.

The 63% assumption, however, loses its practical value when (virtually) all of the other EW pairs are uncapable of reaching (at least) small slam. Bidding 6§ and making 13 tricks would gain us 11 imps in this particular A group. Bidding and making 7§ would bring us 15 imps, but cost us 14 imps when we went down due to some unfavorable break. This result differs 25 imps with 6§+1, and that is certainly not a risk we are willing to take in order to gain 4 lousy imps more.

Recommended bidding sequence:

2¨ = 4+ ¨-support, nó 4-card major, 10+ hcp (inverted minor raise).
2© = ©-stopper. A rebid of 2NT requires full stoppers in all outside suits.
3NT = East takes care of the other suits.

Recommended bidding sequence:

2§ = Stayman relay, which does not require a 4-card major.
2¨ = Denying 4-card majors.

Go to Boards 13-16