This
deal is from the President's Cup inter counties team
of eight held in July.
Michael
Byrne and Rodney Lighton combined effectively to
talk the opposition out of a grand slam.
After
Michael opened three clubs at green first in hand on
a distributional minimum East doubled with his 23
count. Rodney realised that the opposition
must be close to slam here and muddied the waters
with a raise to four clubs on a doubleton and not
much in the way of high cards. West bid four
hearts and Michael broke all rules of pre-empting by
raising the level again. This took away East's
chance to bid Blackwood. East settled on six
notrump which West felt unable to raise despite his
extra playing strength as East may have had a club
holding of something like Kx.
Perhaps
East should bid six clubs over five clubs as a grand
slam try, but it was difficult to reach the grand
after the effective barrage.
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