This month we will look at slam bidding. Remember that to get the bonus points for a Small Slam (UN PETIT CHELEM) –that is 12 tricks- you have to bid up to Six. Bidding Four Spades (QUATRE PIQUES) and making two overtricks is very disappointing.

Grand Slams (LES GRANDS CHELEMS) – that is 13 tricks – are more difficult and dangerous.

To bid a Small Slam you need to be sure of two things. First you need to have sufficient points. If the Slam is in No Trumps you should have 33 or 34 honour points between the two hands. If the Slam is in a Trump Suit with a good holding of eight or nine trumps between the two hands the 33 or 34 points can include distributional points. For these you count one point for a doubleton in an outside suit, two points for a singleton and three points for a void. So with good distribution and ruffing opportunities you can bid and make a Small Slam with less than 30 points.

The next requirement is that you must not be open to the opposition making two early tricks to get you down. This might be Two aces (DEUX AS) or an Ace and King in the same suit. So you need to ensure you have good CONTROLS. The traditional way to check on this is to use BLACKWOOD (the same in French). The partner who wants to explore a slam possibility bids Four No Trumps (QUATRE SANS ATOUT) and his partner shows how many Aces he has. Five Clubs shows no Aces, Five Diamonds shows one ace and Five Hearts shows two aces. If the enquirer wants to find out how many Kings his partner has he bids Five No trumps and his partner shows his number of Kings in the same way.

Many players now use a development of Blackwood called Roman Key Card Blackwood (BLACKWOOD A CINQ CLES). With this method the King of the agreed trump suit is treated as equal to an Ace.

When the original bid has been one or two No Trumps it is general practice to use GERBER which uses Four Clubs as an Ace Asking Bid. So a reply of Four Hearts would show One Ace. Then Five Clubs will ask for Kings. This method keeps the bidding at a lower level than Blackwood but it uses up valuable bidding space which could be helpful for giving more information. For this reason it is not recommended for use when you are aiming for a slam in a trump suit.

While these methods show the number of Aces and Kings they do not show which particular ones are held and they do not show any voids which could be as helpful as Aces. This is where CUE BIDS can be very helpful. After a trump suit has been agreed, say by the sequence One Heart –Three Hearts, the next bids by both partners show First Round Controls in ascending order.For example Three Spades would show the Ace or Void (CHICANE) in Spades. The partner could bid Four Clubs, Diamonds or Hearts to show first round control in one of those suits. Without any controls he signs off in the agreed trump suit.

Finally there is a special bid to use if you think a Grand Slam is on the cards. This is the Grand Slam Force or JOSEPHINE. If you are certain that you can make 12 or 13 tricks depending on your partner’s trump holding you make an early bid of Five No Trumps. This bid asks partner to bid the Grand Slam if he holds two or three of the top honours in the agreed trump suit. If he holds only one top honour he signs off in six of the trump suit.

So where does the name JOSEPHINE come from? No, Napoleon’s wife was not a BRIDGEUR. It refers to Josephine Culbertson, the wife of Ely Culbertson. They were the American couple who in the nineteen thirties did more than anyone else to poularise bridge around the world.