I am not sure whether to bid 3C, 4C or 5C but I guarantee clubs will be trump — NO MATTER WHAT. To do otherwise would be a form of bridge heresy. Edgar Kaplan once chided me never to lay down a seven card suit in dummy — and in this instance, you have one to spare (and a great suit, to boot).
We play 3C NF (insisting on clubs as trump); 4C (a better hand and invitational); 5C (aggressive — hoping for the right cards in partner’s hand).
Who knows what will turn out right?
Out of curiosity, what was partner’s hand?
paul croninMay 20th, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Hi Judy,
Partner’s hand was
AK102
J7532
A96
3
6C is a laydown as the cards lie, with a good chance of making seven, as opponents are under tremendous pressure when the clubs are run. The SQ is onside, and the LHO of the 6C bidder has to save all four of his spades to hold you to six. A very difficult hand to bid, but …..the glass is always half-full…..and holding a good eight card suit is not the time to be pessimistic. That being said, I put the hand in a poll on “Bridge Winners” and so far 75% of those responding have opted for bidding 3C. Don’t know that there is much the opener can do over a 3C response – 12 HCPs and a singleton club don’t look like the world’s fair.
Steve GaynorMay 20th, 2013 at 3:29 pm
I agree with you about the 3C bid, as I thought 3C is non-forcing over Flannery opener. I may start with 2N and then jump to 5C. Bidding a slam is VERY speculative, and I would think getting to 5C making 5, 6, or 7 would be a decent score.
paul croninMay 20th, 2013 at 4:08 pm
Hi Steve,
E-W reaching any game scored well, as you can see below.
7C x making 7 for 2330 was the top score, with the next best being 910 – don’t know what that could have been with vulnerable all. Perhaps should be 920, but then again Bridgemates were being used. Then 3NT making 5, 5C making 7, 5C making 6, and 5C making 5 (or possibly 3NT making 3). Anyone not in game got a below average score. There was also a 660 in the N-S column, but can’t imagine how that could be.
Judy Kay-WolffMay 21st, 2013 at 3:06 am
Hi again Paul:
I was curious as to the chances of “having a play” to make eleven tricks (let alone twelve or thirteen) opposite the eight club hand after a Flannery opening. So, I asked my guru and learned that if you dealt out a simulation of perhaps 1,000 hands (with the Flannery opener having 11-15 HCP with four spades and five hearts), his guess would be that you would average making about 9-3/4 tricks with clubs as trump. Consequently, an invitational bid of 3C would represent almost the perfect description of your holding. The thought of bidding 2NT and hearing a possible 4D conventional response (showing specifically 4/5/4/0) is unappealing as you are now forced to bid 5C — like it or not.
IF I was endowed with extra-sensory vision, blessed with magical vibes and knew (1) my partner had such a delectable spade holding opposite my JXX; (2) my void was opposite five little hearts with no wasted values; (3) the spade finesse was on side; (4) the club king (according to the report of six or seven clubs making), must have been onside either singleton or doubleton; and furthermore …. (5) partner would produce aces rather than secondary values, etc., etc. — I would happily have bid 6C and with the lie of the cards it was .. shall we say … a slam dunk. Go know!
Steve GaynorMay 21st, 2013 at 6:39 pm
Hi Judy
Thanks for the simulation, but of the times it does not make 5C, I wonder how often that is a good sacrifice over opponent’s diamond contracts?
Judy Kay-WolffMay 22nd, 2013 at 11:49 pm
Hi Steve:
According to my guru .. in response to how many tricks in diamonds the opponents expect to make with the club hand opposite a random Flannery starting out 4-5:
Bobby said about 8.1 tricks with a random 5-0 heart break figuring about 2+ defensive tricks, 1+ spade trick, 1 club trick and close to 1 diamond trick, one way or another. The Flannery bidder’s hand figures distribution-wise (probably at least 50%) to be 4-5-3-1, but how the heart and spade honors play out will vary regarding the number of defensive tricks taken. Since clubs figure to be 3-1 in the opponents hand about 50%, with 2-2 close to 40% (4-0, 10%), it should be no surprise that their hands might produce as few as 6 or 7 tricks with diamonds as trump. Of course, if one opponent held a 6 or 7 card diamond suit it may be likely that we would hear from him, but it is all speculation. And — after all, the law of averages is what allows Las Vegas to build these billion dollar meccas.
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Hi Paul:
I am not sure whether to bid 3C, 4C or 5C but I guarantee clubs will be trump — NO MATTER WHAT. To do otherwise would be a form of bridge heresy. Edgar Kaplan once chided me never to lay down a seven card suit in dummy — and in this instance, you have one to spare (and a great suit, to boot).
We play 3C NF (insisting on clubs as trump); 4C (a better hand and invitational); 5C (aggressive — hoping for the right cards in partner’s hand).
Who knows what will turn out right?
Out of curiosity, what was partner’s hand?
Hi Judy,
Partner’s hand was
AK102
J7532
A96
3
6C is a laydown as the cards lie, with a good chance of making seven, as opponents are under tremendous pressure when the clubs are run. The SQ is onside, and the LHO of the 6C bidder has to save all four of his spades to hold you to six. A very difficult hand to bid, but …..the glass is always half-full…..and holding a good eight card suit is not the time to be pessimistic. That being said, I put the hand in a poll on “Bridge Winners” and so far 75% of those responding have opted for bidding 3C. Don’t know that there is much the opener can do over a 3C response – 12 HCPs and a singleton club don’t look like the world’s fair.
I agree with you about the 3C bid, as I thought 3C is non-forcing over Flannery opener. I may start with 2N and then jump to 5C. Bidding a slam is VERY speculative, and I would think getting to 5C making 5, 6, or 7 would be a decent score.
Hi Steve,
E-W reaching any game scored well, as you can see below.
7C x making 7 for 2330 was the top score, with the next best being 910 – don’t know what that could have been with vulnerable all. Perhaps should be 920, but then again Bridgemates were being used. Then 3NT making 5, 5C making 7, 5C making 6, and 5C making 5 (or possibly 3NT making 3). Anyone not in game got a below average score. There was also a 660 in the N-S column, but can’t imagine how that could be.
Hi again Paul:
I was curious as to the chances of “having a play” to make eleven tricks (let alone twelve or thirteen) opposite the eight club hand after a Flannery opening. So, I asked my guru and learned that if you dealt out a simulation of perhaps 1,000 hands (with the Flannery opener having 11-15 HCP with four spades and five hearts), his guess would be that you would average making about 9-3/4 tricks with clubs as trump. Consequently, an invitational bid of 3C would represent almost the perfect description of your holding. The thought of bidding 2NT and hearing a possible 4D conventional response (showing specifically 4/5/4/0) is unappealing as you are now forced to bid 5C — like it or not.
IF I was endowed with extra-sensory vision, blessed with magical vibes and knew (1) my partner had such a delectable spade holding opposite my JXX; (2) my void was opposite five little hearts with no wasted values; (3) the spade finesse was on side; (4) the club king (according to the report of six or seven clubs making), must have been onside either singleton or doubleton; and furthermore …. (5) partner would produce aces rather than secondary values, etc., etc. — I would happily have bid 6C and with the lie of the cards it was .. shall we say … a slam dunk. Go know!
Hi Judy
Thanks for the simulation, but of the times it does not make 5C, I wonder how often that is a good sacrifice over opponent’s diamond contracts?
Hi Steve:
According to my guru .. in response to how many tricks in diamonds the opponents expect to make with the club hand opposite a random Flannery starting out 4-5:
Bobby said about 8.1 tricks with a random 5-0 heart break figuring about 2+ defensive tricks, 1+ spade trick, 1 club trick and close to 1 diamond trick, one way or another. The Flannery bidder’s hand figures distribution-wise (probably at least 50%) to be 4-5-3-1, but how the heart and spade honors play out will vary regarding the number of defensive tricks taken. Since clubs figure to be 3-1 in the opponents hand about 50%, with 2-2 close to 40% (4-0, 10%), it should be no surprise that their hands might produce as few as 6 or 7 tricks with diamonds as trump. Of course, if one opponent held a 6 or 7 card diamond suit it may be likely that we would hear from him, but it is all speculation. And — after all, the law of averages is what allows Las Vegas to build these billion dollar meccas.
Cheers,
Judy