Board 07

Board 07

Q 10 9 4 3
Q J 7 5 3
A Q
8
K 8
A 9 4 2
7 6 3
J 9 4 3
N
W   E
 
S
7 5 2
K 6
J 10 8 2
K Q 6 5
A J 6
10 8
K 9 5 4
A 10 7 2

Dealer:

South

Vuln:

All

W N E S
1NT
Pass 2 Pass 2
Pass 2 Pass 2NT
Pass 3 End

Contract:

3 by North

Lead:

K

With an invitational hand and 5-5 in the majors, responder first transfers to hearts and then forces for one round by bidding 2. (This is counter-intuitive because normally with two 5-card suits you show the higher first, but it gives us the room to show the invitational nature of the hand.) Opener does not yet know about our 5-card spade suit, but that is not an issue because we have another bid, and can convert NT to spades at the lowest level knowing that opener must have three cards in the suit.

Here opener is minimum and bids 2NT, which North converts to 3.