tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26947137.post-59372993773952964962007-11-17T09:57:00.000+01:002007-12-02T10:34:12.209+01:00Toying with voidwoodYesterday I had following hand:<br /><span class='spades'>♠</span> AJ9x<br /><span class='hearts'>♥</span> AKJT9x<br /><span class='diamonds'>♦</span> xxx<br /><span class='clubs'>♣</span> -<br /><br />Playing a natural system (pretty basic actually), partner opened 1<span class='spades'>♠</span> in 1st seat, Vulnerable. What's your plan?<br /><br />I thought of several possibilities:<br />2<span class='hearts'>♥</span> = natural, forcing for 1 round<br />2NT = GF with fit<br />4<span class='clubs'>♣</span> = splinter<br />5<span class='clubs'>♣</span> = voidwood<br /><br />Normally I prefer to bid 2<span class='hearts'>♥</span>, but with this partner I wasn't sure I could set up a GF at 3-level if he rebids 2<span class='spades'>♠</span>. After 2NT we play pretty standard responses, so with a minimum hand he'll rebid 4<span class='spades'>♠</span> which we don't want! I thought my hand was too strong for a splinter, so voidwood was the only thing left. However, if partner doesn't have a control in <span class='diamonds'>♦</span> we may already be too high... Nothing was really satisfying. Then I thought a little further, and found a response that was imo better than all the rest. Can you find it?<br /><br />I bid 5 Diamonds, voidwood. This solves the problem in <span class='diamonds'>♦</span> (who will lead this suit now?) and lets us play 6<span class='spades'>♠</span> pretty comfortable. The auction continued as follows:<br />1<span class='spades'>♠</span> - pass - 5<span class='diamonds'>♦</span>! - 6<span class='clubs'>♣</span><br />pass! - pass - 7<span class='spades'>♠</span> - pass<br />pass - pass<br /><br />Partner's pass should show 1 keycard (not counting <span class='diamonds'>♦</span>A), so I made a gamble and bid the grand slam.<br /><br />Partner's hand was:<br /><span class='spades'>♠</span> KQTxx<br /><span class='hearts'>♥</span> Q<br /><span class='diamonds'>♦</span> Axx<br /><span class='clubs'>♣</span> Jxxx<br /><br />The slam is laydown, but the trumps were 4-0! After a <span class='hearts'>♥</span> lead you'll have to count on a 3-3 <span class='hearts'>♥</span> split so you can play some kind of dummy reversal ruffing some <span class='diamonds'>♦</span>s. Otherwise you can only make 12 tricks...<br /><br />While I was dummy, I was thinking about these Zia voidwoods (I've seen him do this several times as well, voidwood with another void). Actually they work amaizingly well, although this hand doesn't illustrate this completely. For example, partner has <span class='diamonds'>♦</span>A: without it, the killing lead would've been avoided. He also has <span class='hearts'>♥</span>Q, a lucky card. Playing 6<span class='spades'>♠</span> (this was my initial plan) while partner had <span class='diamonds'>♦</span>xxx obviously would've been a better example, but I don't like to change the hands.<br />Nevertheless the Zia voidwood works in the sense that opponents don't know there's a suit wide open, and the hand should practically be over once they've lead the wrong suit. I think it's less useful if you have a <span class='diamonds'>♦</span> control of your own.Freehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15121114182464630256noreply@blogger.com