Twelve Diamonds

Hi all

So little time. My new job is like a dream come true, but it leaves little room for writing. I just have to beat the drums the right way and get used to the rythm. Here are two slams from Star:

East Dealer
EW Vul
North
xxxx
x
AJxx
AKTx
West
xx
KT9xxxx
xx
Qx
East
QJT
QJx
xx
Jxxxx
South
AKxx
Ax
KQTxx
xx

 

West
North
East
South
 
 
pass
11
1
dbl
2
3
pass
4
pass
4
pass
5
pass
6
a.p.
 
 
 

1. unbalanced (4+ )

Hoek wanted to get two messages across with one bid: his slam aspirations and his fit. But the resulting sequence doesn’t look really smooth. Certainly, it’s an excellent contract, even slightly better than 6. But still, there was no designated captain in the bidding, so grand investigation was impossible. If the EW cards are split something like this:
 

West
x
KT9xxx
xx
Qxxx
East
QJTx
QJxx
xx
Jxx
 

Then 6 is always down, while in 6 you can eliminate all suits and with a loser on loser play achieve a placing. The following ruff and sluff let’s you discard your other loser.

Another slam.

South Dealer
NS Vul
North
JT9x
xx
KQ8x
AKx
West
AKxxx
Jxx
xx
Jxx
East
Qxx
QTx
Tx
QTxxx
South
x
AKxxx
AJ9xx
xx

 
Hoek and I weren’t able to bid this bleeding edge slam on very minimal values. Too bad! But these little diamonds really make my bridgelife shine. If anyone sees a sensible way to reach slam (West will overcall), please, feel free to comment.

1 thought on “Twelve Diamonds”

  1. The second slam we didn’t reach because I forgot our little convention to play transfers after a spade overcall. If I had remembered, I would have introduced the diamonds as intended and later on bid 3NT. Yes, it’s only a four card suit, but the hand feels more suit oriented. With a maximum of 2 hearts in my hand, and spades not good enough to play for penalties, moving on to 4 diamonds looking for slam makes sense.

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