Package 5

The question was asked. How do you bid this to slam? Scoring is IMPs.

First, I'd like to follow this reference : https://sites.google.com/view/learningbridge-by-jm/articles/bidding/2c-strong-opening

Key Points

1. Use all the methods of evaluation you have. Every bid gives additional information and may result in a upgrade of your hand. In this case, we use "visualization" a fair bit as well as losing trick counts. Visualization is quite important in exploring slams because you are only looking for 0-1 losers in the total deal.

2. In a strong 2C opener, a minor suit response at 3 level takes away bidding space. That's why you are advised to bid 3D only with 8+HCP *AND* 6+ diamonds. Otherwise, just bid 2D to allow partner to describe her hand as "balanced" or "shapely". The moment you bid a 2 level major or 3 level minor, slam is possible.

3. You can play a major trump contract at 4 level even with a 7 cd fit. Therefore, if the 2C opener keeps insisting, and responder keeps avoiding spades, you can suspect responder has 0-1 spades only.

4. There are some slams where Roman Keycard Blackwood (or just plain blackwood) is useless. This is one of them. Same with control cue bids (if you use them).

5. Forcing bids are important when you are strong, and want to end at least game. After a 3D bid, game is on, and slam is possible. Don't stop bidding.

6. When bidding, it is helpful to think 2 or 3 bids ahead and set/reset your target contract. Don't just mechanistically think about your current bid.

Now I'd like to do the thinking out aloud for West and East. Please follow and imagine the thinking. Assume opening bid starts with West.

West - bid #1

I have 21HCP, a solid suit in spades, and only 2 losing tricks. Conversely, I count 11 playing tricks. I only need a little help from my partner to make slam, so I need to watch out for it at this early stage.

My spade suit is so solid that I will not have any losing spade tricks even if opponents are 5-0. It is very likely the contract will be in spades even if my partner has 0 spades. The exception might be if I'm gunning for 6NT or 7NT (they score better - but in IMPs, it is insignificant. In MPs, I might think of trying. For IMPs, better to stick to a more safe contract like 4S, 6S, or 7S).

I bid 2C.

East - bid #1

Most of 2C bids are responded with 2D (waiting). This is so that I give room to partner to show if he's a balanced 2C or shapely 2C. In this case, I have 6 diamonds and 10HCP with a void in spades. I can afford to sacrifice the bidding room and bid 3D. Slam is possible, but it is also possible we have a suit mismatch - i.e. my long suits are partner's short suits.  

With a suit mismatch, sometimes 3NT can be hard to play, even with a lot of HCP.

I bid 3D.

West - bid #2

Wow. My partner is showing 6+ diamonds and 8+HCP. With 8+HCP, I can visualize that she has an estimated 2 good honors somewhere at least. That means almost certainly a small slam, and possibly a grand slam, since I have only 2 losers.

I now need to show my partner that I opened 2C as a "shapely 2C". If I had a "balanced 2C", I may have to jump to 6NT (its hard to do an in-between bid because the 3D bid removed a lot of bidding space).

I rebid 3S

East - bid #2

My partner rebid 3S. That means she has a shapely 2C opener. Less than 22/23HCP but 4 losers or less. With a strong 6+ card suit.  It is quite possible the spade suit is solid or nearly so. I have no spades though. 

After showing 3D, we will never stop below game, so I have another bid left that my partner will not pass even if she doesn't like the suit. I will show my 4 cd heart suit. There is a bit of risk, she rebid 4NT as a natural (not blackwood/RCKB) - we didn't discuss this case in our agreement. 

I bid 4H.

Alternatives: bid 3NT. Opener will correct or bid on. If opener has a less than solid spade suit, she must have something in clubs.

West - bid #3

Hm.... my partner is showing 6+ diamonds and a likely 4 cd heart suit (5 seems unlikely). With a 2 suiter 6-4 hand, and she bid 4H instead, I think it is almost certain she has 0-1 spades and quite likely 0. We are encouraged to try for major trump contracts even with 7 cd fits, so 0 spades is more likely than 1 (otherwise, she might bid 4S instead).  Nevertheless, I don't need any help from her on spades.

I need to visualize her hand.

If she has 0 spades, that means she has 3 clubs. With 1 spade, she has 2 clubs. I have AK in clubs so at most 1 loser in clubs.

If she doesn't have an Ace of hearts, then where are her 8+HCP? KH, KD possibly (that's only 6HCP). So I dare not bid grand slam in case she's missing the AH. If she has KD, then I can certainly use her KD to discard any club loser I might have.

(note: I can't control cue bid because we have no agreement on trump suit. Same for use of RCKB or blackwood).

My conclusion: small slam is virtually certain. The combination in which small slam is problematic is if she has KQJ of Hearts, and QD or something like that - that seems pretty unlikely. Even then, I have a singleton AD, so even if she has a QD, can still make if partner has 2 clubs (i.e. no club loser).

I jump bid to 6S (not enough info to jump to 7S).

After note

In MPs, I would likely be bidding 6NT. Nearly everyone should be bidding slam and while 6NT only scores 10 pts more than 6S, it is enough to give me top board in MPs even if everyone bid and made 6S.

Alternative scenario

In another table in the actual game, East opened the bidding with 1D. (10HCP but a shapely hand). So can you bid to slam?

If you play strong jump shifts, then a 2S bid would be appropriate to start with. (BBO has a variant called Soloway Jump Shift). Let's assume we don't have this. 

When you are strong, you need to ensure that all your bids short of the final contract are forcing. The strong jump shift (if you had it) would make this easier.

Here's the first opening/response sequence: 1D-1S

To this, opener will probably rebid 2D. At this point responder has 2 losers only and a super solid spade suit. There are no more forcing bids to be made. Again, you can't use blackwood etc, but you don't need to. With a 1D opener and a rebid to 2D (min hand), you can assume partner has 3 good honors. You have no more forcing bids to make (if you had a strong jump shift protocol, that would be different).

You now bid 6S or 7S!  (partner has no spades or spade honors, diamonds are solid. You assume partner has 3 good honors, which must be in one of the 3 side suits). Even if partner has KQJ in diamonds, and QJ in clubs, that still leaves 3+ HCP in hearts . This is a small probability but even then still makable if your opponents do not lead H. If you feel a bit unsure, just bid 6S, but i think 7S is a good risk with high probabability of making.

Note: this is only possible because East has advertised an opening hand rather aggressively. If West did not have as strong a hand (say 4 losers), West might still bid 7S but the partnership may go down. This happened only because East opened the bidding - causing West to overestimate the strength.  

In the main scenario, it was West that opened the bidding and East advertised 8+HCP with a long diamond suit (a decent hand but not opening hand strength).