Dealer: S Vul: N/S
NORTH
♠ J6
♥ J97642
♦ K75
♣ 63
WEST EAST
♠ AQ1075 ♠ K982
♥ A ♥ K1053
♦ A10964 ♦ —
♣ KQ ♣ AJ842
SOUTH
♠ 43
♥ Q8
♦ QJ832
♣ 10972
John Nankervis and Pat Kelly are on the verge of making Grand Slams a habit. Their successful bid of seven spades on Board 28 last Monday means that they have bid two of the three maximum contracts this year. Having a splinter at their disposal was the secret of their success last week. More about that shortly.
While most players would open the bidding with 2C, showing a strong hand, and bid their spades on their second bid. It is then really up to East to push towards either 6S or higher. John, on the other hand, opened 1S, giving Pat (East) the chance to bid 4D. This kind of bid is called a splinter bid. It shows a hand strong enough for game with a singleton or a void in the suit bid at the four level. John then used the standard bid of 4NT to ask partner for Aces. Pat’s bid of 5D showed one Ace. John could see that 7S would succeed if either Pat or South held the King of spades and took that chance,
After North led the Jack of hearts and dummy (East) was displayed, John’s worries were over. The Ace of hearts took trick one. The defenders’ trumps could then be drawn in two rounds, followed by the Ace of diamonds and the King and Queen of clubs. Dummy could be reached by trumping a diamond, then the King of hearts and three clubs could be cashed and that was just one way of winning thirteen tricks. Only Janine and Peter Cumming reached 6S, while the remaining pairs languished in 4S..
Results, Monday, 14/07/25 (4-table Mitchell): N/S N. Collins H. Price (59.5) 1; J. Smith L. Munson (50.6) 2. E/W P. Kelly J. Nankervis (66.7) 1; J. Cumming P. Cumming (55.4) 2. Friday, 18/07/25 (3 & 1/2-table Howell): N. Collins N. Bonnell (71.9) 1: W. Milne J. Sipple (52.1) 2; L. Munson J. Nankervis (51.0) 3.
