Aces full of Kings lead to an imaginative raise

Partner opens Three Clubs in front of you and you hold a top fullhouse among your 13 cards. I shot out SIX CLUBS since partner tends to have good seven card suits, and they may not guess to lead spades.

Partner's hand surprised me, our total trump assets mean we needed a slightly against odds break. We got it.

I proudly showed my real life partner this hand, saying see what an imaginative raise I made. He replied dryly:"Indeed, quite imaginative! And very lucky not to lose two spades off the top."

Thinking outside the box

I was South in a robot pairs cross IMP event with fifteen other human South players in competition on BridgeBaseOnline. I raised partner's TWO HEARTS to FOUR HEARTS. (All pairs got to 4hearts one way, or anther). I had to move over to the North seat to declare for the robot. After the lead of the DQ, I played another top diamond pitching a club from the North (declarer's) hand. I took stock. Despite South's huge complement of high cards, the possible losers were 2 clubs, an inevitable Ace of spades, and a possible HQ. Against normal breaks, although I have a two way finesse (assuming reentries will be safe) I was loath to take an immediate trump position. I thought out of the box. If i exited, in clubs and repeatedly exited in black suits, I could better count out their high cards, distribution and then figure who was more likely to hold the HQ. So I exited with a club which West won. West thought that I was trying to score ruffs in dummy, from my failure to draw trumps. Innocently he returned a trump from xx picking up the queen of his angry robot partner whose circuits were fusing

The traveler showed that I was the only declarer to make 4H. 15 declarers failed by one or two tricks.

Almost Lightner, declarer steals a six spot winner

On the following deal, when they landed in 5 Clubs after a competitive auction, partner showing the majors, I almost made a lightner double. I wonder if partner would have duly led a spade for me to put him in with a H and to collect a second spade ruff? However, as things unfolded, partner got off to a H lead, now we could not get three off the top, he shifted to a diamomd, my King and declarer's Ace. Declarer after drawing trump in three rounds ending in hand, advanced the Spade 6 and when partner drowsily played small, played the five from dummy! the trick had been six, four, five, and I was void in the suit! Now he made 12 tricks easily. Note the play if North covers. Declarer must now duck in dummy and leave north on play. He should finish the last two trump in dummy, and then the diamond finesse of the ten and the DQ is the squeeze card. North is squeezed between S:KJ and H:Q, dummy having S:Ax and declarer S:x H:Q

Luck or cunning? Wearing the mask in a lost slam

Me and my bidding. I had torn it again, I thought. Still, one has to wear the mask. I won the trump lead, andd advanced SQ, covereed and won in dummy. Cheap attempt one was to make East duck his presumed Jack and sneak the 12th trick by playing small from T9x toward my 8. It failed but West made the last mistake, fearing to open from his Kxx clubs, and who could blame him, he had nearly an opening hand and we had bid to slam. My partner, with whom I shared the deal thought West had to try clubs. My play would have been strange with Ax of clubs the only way West could lose playing into the tenace.

"Hold your cards back!"

Playing online against Robots on BBO, I held the South hand and played in 2NT. After CA and CK brought the bad news, i decided to make something of the Txx in spades in dummy to build tricks. At the same time, I did not want to go all out with Ace and Queen from hand. I got incredibly lucky when I chose to lead out the SQ, and West, reasonably not placing me with AQx(x) (surely the idiot would have crossed to CQ to finesse) ducked. I continued with Spade Ace and the King fell. I set up the S winner, and diamonds (not 4 4 as I had hoped) were at least blocked. I brought in 2nt making my own luck as it went down all over the field

A pretty trump throw-in

I arrived in Four hearts, and knew from the bidding that west had long Spades and Clubs. After the SK and a small spade, East unaccountably made a mistake, a rookie mistake of not ruffing. However, the rest of the play was interesting. Visualizating and counting East's hand, I threw him in (with my last trump) to give entryless dummy an additional diamond trick, making.

Defender fails to crocodile; I sow confusion and engineer a onesuit endplay

This was one of the more exciting 3NT contracts with many points in the play. When west tried to win the second Heart trick cheaap (he needed to look ahead and crocodile) his partner found himself on lead. (My leading their suit was an attempt to throw sand in their eyes, but also to set yp a late endplay for the ninth trick)

I retained a fourth round spade entry to hand, the finesse having worked, the idea in the ending was to have west give me a trick after taking two

A non-lazy bid gets us to slam

I pontificated, in an email to my bridge partner that, Much ink is spilled on gadgets like serious 3NT non-serious 3NT, but more important IMHO, is simple co-operative bidding when level allows.nHere partner produces a funny limit raise. I accept, but en route, I bid 4C, a cue. This is all partner needs to put me in slam. I ruff with small trumps and am able to catch the T98 void break.

He responded " Weird that you didn’t have company in slam. Partner has an obvious 4D response to 1S, and with nothing wasted in diamonds and controls in the other suits, you’d seem to have an easy route to slam. But I agree that 4C was a good bid given your auction." Which is fair enough. Why didn't robot partner splinter

A bread and butter little slam. In NoTrump

A spade lead might have attacked the entries, but eventually I play up to the CQ and have many chances. As the actual defence went, I was not even tested

Declining a quantitative NT slam invite, on table feel

Barometer scoring, and I was in pole position with one board to play. When partner invited me to 6NT, I let it go hoping to have company and also hoping the slam would fail. And boy, did it?

A 3NT steal

I was trying to open 1NT like Zia, but my partner (later) just inquired if it was a mad rush of blood to the brain. When West chose to open small from his lognest suit, I was racking up my contract. Alas, I did not manage to put them on tilt. For, they were robots.

Three slams: The ugly, the optimistic and the systemic

The ugly

I perpetrated a inverted minor raise and then drove to slam gambling on unpromised diamond length given my slam controls. Surely there are better methods to ensure diamond nine card fit. I should have responded 1H; that would have resulted in an auction that would provide assurance that partner had a real diamond suit.

The optimistic

Yes I have aces and kings, and this time a five carder, but I still had to read the heart lead and continuation. Lucky no ruff.

The systemic

I wheel in Soloway, just so that I can hand over the slam inquiring business and naming of suit to partner. This was perhaps the worst suit length/quality I can ever hold for a Soloway, but partner came up with a 4-card fit

Partner whom I had shown the deal had this to say: "the play was weird. As the cards lie there is no squeeze, but one should surely ruff the last diamond and play for a club-heart squeeze (Vienna Coup) for the overtrick"

A few grandslams

In the following competitive auction, my Five diamond free call was not a thing of beauty. However, partner took a view with his void in spades a semi-solid holding in clubs and boosted me to a grand slam

Would you have rather rebid 5C to show a "two suiter"? With the club finesse working, I racked up thirteen tricks at 7D gratefully.

On this hand the robot with his 6D bid shows DK and admits to the trump Queen (Spade queen). I then bid Seven Spades (which the link does not display.) With all suits behaving, I made 13 tricks. My human partner made an interesting comment. He said N should convert 7S to 7NT.

Here is another. This time the robot makes a very strange bid. My understrength offshape 2NT was par for the course. Then partner got frisky. All was well that ends well

Partner professed to have two key cards and the HQ. I said, we cant both have the HQ, you must have six hearts, and short diamonds. Maybe I have cover cards for the grand slam. (On this hand, 5S was a nice bid by the robot! ) But I was lucky North had the SK—he did not promise that card on the bidding. Still, 7H should be at worst on a finesse. I think I bid well