What should I Bid? - Best enquiry for March 2007 

John Nicholas made the best submission for the month of March..

 Hand: East was dealer and NS were vulnerable:

AQ7  A3  J63  KQ873

KJ108  92  4  AJ10542

Bidding:	West	North	East	South
			2	Pass
	3	3NT	4	5
	//

Comments:    2 was weak with 5 or more hearts and possibly a minor suit. How could we have bid the slam? 

Peter's Reply:

Hi John,

One way to look at situations like this is to look at the actions of each player and see whether they might have done things differently at each opportunity to act. If the examination suggests alternative actions, would that have led to a different outcome.

Regarding North's actions:
3NT is hardly an underbid. It is closer to an overbid as Pass or Double are possible alternatives. Neither would have made reaching 6 any easier than 3NT did. The Pass after 5 seems normal. Trumps are better and longer than expected and two Aces go in the plus ledger, but, the diamond holding is bad and a likely heart loser goes in the out column There are no obvious side source of tricks for partner. So, North's actions look OK.

Regarding South's actions:
Pass over 2 is certainly not silly. The 6-4 pattern suggests bidding; the lack of high card values suggests passing. 3 is certainly possible. A double looks too risky. 5 as opposed to Pass, looks an obvious bid after 4 but consideration of the possible strength of the 3NT bid might suggest a more aggressive action. 3NT must be a pretty good hand on the auction.

To reach 6, either South enters via 3 and North simply bids it at some stage. This action would not be unreasonable but is, by no means, clear. Alternatively, South bids 6, instead of 5, in the given auction. This action also is not silly given the likely source of tricks, but once again is, by no means, clear.

On balance, I don't think it unreasonable to reach only 5, missing the slam. If anyone has underbid it is South, but hardly significantly. .

Regards
Peter Fordham

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