Everything but Heart

-----Another deal from Turkish Winter Teams Championship 2009, 1/16 knock-out matches between Izmir BB (champion) and Eksi team.

You hold this hand at west and bidding goes :

♠AKxx
♥xx
♦A
♣AKQJxx


W------N-------E------S----------Vul:N-S
---------3♥------p------p-----------Dealer: North
dbl------p------4♠-----p
?

-----Now what to bid.You have only problem with ops suit and 5♠ would be asking for ♥.
After partner bids 6♥ meaning Ace, you bid 7♠ without hesitating. If partner has void ♥, he should have bid 7♠ to 5♠.



W------N-------E------S----------Vul:N-S
---------3♥------p------p-----------Dealer: North
dbl------p------4♠-----p
5♠-------p------6♥-----p
7♠-----All Pass

----Both hands:

♠AKxx--------------♠Qxxxxx
♥xx------------------♥A
♦A--------------------♦Jxxx
♣AKQJxx----------♣xx


-----This grand-slam was bid at both tables with exactly the same bidding.


-

In Safe Hands

-----Izmir Buyuksehir Belediye team including Turkish legend bridge players Nafiz Zorlu and Salvador Assael, be the champion of Turkish Winter Teams Championship 2009.

-----Here one of the hands from 1/32 knock-out matches between Kolankaya team including Turkish star players Suleyman Kolata and Ismail Kandemir and team Eksi including Dogan Uzum.

You hold this hand sitting south, bidding goes on and time to lead.


♠KT87x
♥QJ
♦KQx
♣Kxx

W------N-------E------S----------Vul: All
----------p-------p-----1♠----------Dealer: North
-p-------p------1nt-----p
3nt----All Pass





-----Automatically you may think leading long suit. However, you know your partner has 1-2 pts and hard to establish such a suit. If you lead K of ♦ it may result in losing a trick as ♣. What about ♥ ?. West didn't start with a take-out dbl which means he has no ♥ as east didn't interest in ♥ so partner has long ♥ and it is safe with no fear of losing a trick.
-----Lets see ops hands:


♠AJ9x------ ♠Qxx
♥Kxx------- ♥Axx
♦AT7x-------♦ 92
♣Jx---------- ♣Axxxx

-----At the original deal after K of ♦ lead contract is still in danger and down 1 but if east has J of ♦ this lead would be fatal. After ♠ lead as it is in many tables declerar easily make 10 tricks however, ♥ lead beat contract -3. In the closed room contract with 1♠ -2 and this hand result in -14 imps for Izmir BB team.

-