Presented by Mike Savage
The other day I held something like: S: A H: K10x D: xxxx C: AQJxx, partner opened the bidding 1C and the next hand bid 4S! What should I bid? 5C will never get us to a slam if one exists as I have too many controls for partner to bid a slam. 6C would be an overbid as there might well be two losers in the hand. I’d sure like to invite a club slam while not committing to it. There needs to be a way to do that – and after some thought, there seems to be a good method to do it.
4NT over 4S, especially over a 1C (or even a 1D) opener by partner, should not be used as any kind of Blackwood (ace or control asking). Some might play 4NT here as a natural bid but the frequency of occurrence of that type of hand seems too low to be worth it. Others might want 4NT over 4S to be used as a take-out for the two unbid suits. Lastly, you might use 4NT as a slam try in opener’s minor.
Rather than pick just one of these possible meanings for 4NT over 4S, here is a way to combine two of them. Playing this method you can bid 4NT as a try for slam in partner’s minor suit or to show a two-suiter in the unbid suits, asking partner to pick between them. Here is how it would work:
1C–4S 4NT = Club slam try or a red two-suiter (diamonds and hearts, the unbid suits)
5C = Shows a minimum with no interest in a club slam
Pass = Has a club slam try but is giving up
5D = Has a red two-suiter and is asking partner to chose between them
5D/5H = Accepts club slam and is bidding his longest red suit or if equal, the stronger
5NT = Wants to play in 6C or six of a red suit (pick-a-slam)
6C = To play
6D = Pass or correct to 6H
1D-4S 4NT = Diamond slam try or a rounded two-suiter (clubs and hearts, the unbid suits)
5C = Shows longer clubs than hearts (or the stronger if of equal length). Opener might or might not accept a diamond slam try if responder has one
Pass = Has a rounded two-suiter
5D = Shows a diamond slam try
5D = Shows no interest in a diamond slam and opener has longer hearts than clubs
Pass = Has a diamond slam try but is giving up
5H = To play with a club/heart two-suiter
5NT = Wants to play either 6D or six of a rounded suit (pick-a-slam)
6C = Pass or correct to 6H
6D = To play
Over a 4H preempt, you could use 4NT to simply be a slam try in opener’s minor (my choice).
1C-4H 4NT = A slam try in clubs
5C = To play with no interest in a club slam
5D, 5H and 5S = A cue-bid of opener’s lowest 1st round control.
1C-4H 5C = To play with just enough values and clubs to prefer to play 5C than to defend 4H
1D-4H 4NT = A slam try in diamonds
5D = To play with no interest in a diamond slam
5C, 5H and 5S = A cue-bid of your lowest 1st round control
1D-4H 5D = To play with just enough values and diamonds to prefer to play 5D than to defend 4H
Instead of using 4NT over 4H as a straightforward slam try in opener’s minor, there are a couple of other possible usages of 4NT that come to mind. Responder could use 4NT to show that you have longer length in the unbid minor than you have in opener’s suit. This is classically done with 6-4 in the minors but easily might be 6-5 or 7-5. This usage might get you to the best minor game – or even slam. Another possible usage is to use 4NT over 4H to show either a slam try in opener’s minor or a slam try in the unbid minor. With no slam interest, opener will rebid 5C and responder will pass or correct.