I
spent my formative years at Highgate School in North London, where I
was very frightened of some of the masters. I was once beaten for
forgetting to write my name in a mathematics book! I have achieved a
minor revenge by writing ‘Beaten by the Masters’ (published by
Cassell’s), a humorous account of bridge at the school. The
characters involved are the actual masters of that time. Here they
face the mistresses of Channing School for girls. The Headmaster,
A.J.F. Doulton, protects with 2C and then sees the opponents bid to a
slam! How would you play 6S on a club attack? Miss Frowde ruffed the
second club, played the diamond ace, and ruffed a diamond. She then
played the king and ace of trumps, exposing the 4-1 break. By running
good diamonds through West, she was able to land the slam. "You
should have let them play in ID, Headmaster," observes the senile
Reverend Benson. "I don’t think we can beat it but, of course,
they wouldn’t score so much as in the slam."
What would you say
now on the West cards?
Answer
You have already
shown a giant hand by opening 2C and rebidding your heart suit. To bid
any further would imply a lack of trust in partner. The essence of
good slam bidding is to suggest a slam below the game level and then
to leave any advance to your partner, rather than guess whether they
have the cards that you need. Here you have four holes in your hand
and no reason at all to expect partner to fill three of them.
I
spent my formative years at Highgate School in North London, where I
was very frightened of some of the masters. I was once beaten for
forgetting to write my name in a mathematics book! I have achieved a
minor revenge by writing ‘Beaten by the Masters’ (published by
Cassell’s), a humorous account of bridge at the school. The
characters involved are the actual masters of that time. Here they
face the mistresses of Channing School for girls. The Headmaster,
A.J.F. Doulton, protects with 2C and then sees the opponents bid to a
slam! How would you play 6S on a club attack? Miss Frowde ruffed the
second club, played the diamond ace, and ruffed a diamond. She then
played the king and ace of trumps, exposing the 4-1 break. By running
good diamonds through West, she was able to land the slam. "You
should have let them play in ID, Headmaster," observes the senile
Reverend Benson. "I don’t think we can beat it but, of course,
they wouldn’t score so much as in the slam."
You have already
shown a giant hand by opening 2C and rebidding your heart suit. To bid
any further would imply a lack of trust in partner. The essence of
good slam bidding is to suggest a slam below the game level and then
to leave any advance to your partner, rather than guess whether they
have the cards that you need. Here you have four holes in your hand
and no reason at all to expect partner to fill three of them.