What could the best contract be? by Bobby Wolff

A: 4♣: A call of four clubs is forcing, showing five or more clubs and four hearts, asking your partner for cooperation in a possible slam. You don't have quite enough to drive to slam, but by letting partner know what you have, you can try to engage his cooperation. Also note that four no-trump by him on his next turn would be discouraging, not Blackwood.


Your result so far:

A: 3NT: After this start to the auction, your hand is too good to pass, but it isn't clear whether your best game will be clubs or no-trump. With a minimum hand, you would pass, and a call of three spades should suggest a half-stopper. With what appears to be a full stopper, you should bid three no-trump yourself rather than force partner to bite the bullet with jack-third or even three small spades.

Your result so far:

A: 4♥: You correctly limited your hand with a non-forcing effort on your second turn. Partner then produced a slam-try, and your mundane 12-count was suddenly almost worth a drive to slam. Start by cue-bidding four hearts, and plan to bid on over four spades with a second cue-bid of five clubs. If you trust partner, you know you have golden cards for him.

Your result so far:

A: Double: You will probably feel torn here between raising diamonds and making a negative double to get hearts into the picture. In a way, four hearts is almost as likely to be the best game for your side as five diamonds, with three no-trump an outsider. My guess would be to double, planning to bid diamonds on my next turn at the three- or four-level if the opponents compete.

Your result so far:

A: 5♣: As 14-counts go, your hand could hardly be any better; indeed, I could not imagine stopping out of game. The real concern might be that you would miss slam here, since the right 10-count opposite could make 12 tricks a formality. A jump by you to five clubs should be a splinter, setting diamonds as trump and letting partner evaluate his assets as best he can.

Your result so far: