Hands from the USBC’s Bulletin 1

Justin Lall, Joe Grue, John Hurd, foto: Peg Kaplan

Another Day … Another Practice!

West          North          East           South

Katz          Jacobs           Nickell          Beatty

                   1                    2                 Doblo

4           Pass                   5                Pass

Pass         Doblo               Fin

    Katz and Nickell bid aggressively to the 20 point game.  Beatty led the king of spades which Nickell ruffed in hand. Nickell led a diamond to dummy and played the singleton eight of hearts toward his king. Jacobs ducked!! His duck was fatal. Nickell won his king, ruffed a heart in dummy, and played a club to his jack and Beatty’s queen. Steve had no trumps to lead and was helpless. He exited his hand with a heart which Nickell ruffed in dummy. Nickell played a club to his ace and another to Beatty’s ten before claiming 11 tricks. Had Jacobs risen with his heart ace, he could have played a second round of trump leaving declarer with ten tricks  max! +750 was worth 11.1 IMPs to Nickell and Katz.

If I Had a Nickell for Every Grand…

West                North          East                          South

Roger Lee       Nickell       Raghu Rajkunar     Katz

                                                 Pass                              1

 2                   3               Pass                              3

Pass                  4               Pass                              4NT

Pass                   5              Pass                              5 (tengo la dama)

Pass                   7              Fin

Nickell and Katz had an excellent auction to arrive at the cold grand slam in hearts. 
Nick made a key bid when he responded four clubs to Ralph’s three spade cue. Katz certainly felt more confident bidding Key Card knowing that his partner held what was the most important side king on this hand. 
Nick’s 5D bid showed all the key cards and Katz made a try for the grand. 
When Katz asked for the queen of trump, it was easy for Nick to bid seven hearts with all the second round 
controls plus the lady in question. 
Bidding and making the grand was worth 12.1 IMPs.

 Grand Slams Abound … Everyone’s Ready to Hold the Cards!  

West	North	East	South
Howard Liu	Bathhurst	Peg Kaplan	Justin Lall
		1NT	Pass
4	Pass	4NT	Pass
7	Fin

West	North	East	South
S.Deutsch	Josh Donn	J.Kranyak	Roger Lee
		1NT	Pass
4	Pass	4NT	Pass
7NT	Fin

While both grand slams are cold, and the difference mathematically is miniscule, 7NT is clearly better on two counts: One, it scores more… and Two, there is NO danger of a ruff off the opening lead. On the other hand, if you are going to bid 7NT, shouldn’t you set diamonds as trumps so you can ask for specific kings?

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