SPLINTER BIDS
I hadn't intended to take a Christmas break. However, what with my 102nd birthday and associated extended visits from overseas by two grandchildren (one of them accompanied by my two-year-old so far only great-granddaughter) who retired from bridge after winning the Australian under-14 pairs title to become Doctors of Philosophy instead of perhaps grand-masters it is now four weeks rather than two since readers last heard from me. As Twelfth Night is yet, as I write, to occur I can nevertheless still legitimately wish every one of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. So that's what I've just belatedly done.
In their original form, splinter bids, were invented independently about 60 years ago by two North Americans. One of them was David Cliff, a noted theorist who also originated the once-popular and still not quite obsolete concept of relay bidding in which one partner's artificial (usually single-step) successive asks elicit equally artificial (potentially multi-step) replies that together convey an accurate picture of the responder's hand. The other inventor was the more enduringly famous Dorothy Hayden (later Truscott). Ignoring here irrelevant later extensions to other contexts splinter bids are self-evidently game-forcing; and what they explicitly show is at most a singleton in their named suit plus four-card or longer support for partner’s most recent suit.
North’s diagrammed jump to 4♣ was a real-life example. The general idea is that partner will sign off in game if but only if unenthused by that information.
In every constructed illustrative case that I can remember seeing, any thus shown singleton was a low spot card. Does that imply that hands containing a singleton honour-card are unsuitable? A few commentators explicitly rule out an ace or a king; but what about a queen? Notice that North’s ♣Q in the diagrammed auction significantly increased the value of South's ♣KJ842 whereas a likelier low singleton or, even more so, a void would have diminished it. Given South's undisclosed void in the suit of North's opening bid, would you have emulated the 4NT Roman Key-Card Blackwood ask next found at the table by Sydneysider Peter Gill in one semi-final of the 2023 national open teams championship? And, after thus discovering that the North hand contained only one of ♥K and both black aces, would you not have chosen 5♥ instead of jumping to the small slam? Be that as it may, Gill's choices worked out well for his team – Goulburnian North Sophie Ashton, her husband Sartaj Hans partnering Andy Hung (Queensland) at the other table, and their sitting-out teammates Nabil Edgtton (NSW) and Michael Whibley (NZ). The play went ♦J-K-2-6, ♥K-4-2-3, ♥Q-♠2-♥5-8, ♣Q-A at which point 12 tricks were claimed and conceded. At the other table in that semi-final, after a likewise uncontested but less optimistic 1♠-2♥-4♥ auction, Hans led ♦J to 3-4-A. South continued ♥2-3-Q-4, called for dummy’s ♥Q and also claimed 12 tricks. The 750-point difference in table scores generated a 13-IMP gain to the eventual gold medallists.
In the other semi-final both Souths reached and brought home the unbeatable heart small slam, One auction did contain the 4♣ splinter but continued 4♦-4♥-4♠-5♥-6♥ in which South's two non-heart bids named his cheapest first-round or second-round control. The other auction went 1S♠-2♥-3♥-4♣-4♦-4NT-5♣-5♦-6♦-6♥ in which a lead-directing double by East of North’s 5♣ was ignored by everyone including West who led ♠A to neither better nor worse effect.
The inaugural national open teams championship was staged in Sydney in 1973 when four local players -- Egon Auerbach, Max Hitter, Gabi Lorentz and Olek Minc -- became the first title holders. Poor support, especially from interstate, resulted in its 1974 transfer in to Canberra where it eventually became the main and closing event of the annual Summer Festival Bridge. A top-eight finish in the preceding all-comers four-day South West Pacific teams championship there secures a place in that three-day knockout event. This year's 13-day Festival at the Canberra Rex Hotel begins on January 9. Visit myabf.com.au/events/congress/view/790 to enter or enquire.
Another imminent deadline relates to next month's three-day World Bridge Federation Online Women's Teams. The final day for registration is January 16. All known details are at wbfwomensbridgeclub.org/OnlineWomensTeams.html but even though the schedule cannot be set until all entries are in, nobody will have to play within her national work hours on any day or before 9am or after 11pm by her clock.