Sheffield Bridge Club	Established 1936

GRAND  BIDDING  BY THE  PIG  TRADER  ?

(From Sheffield Bridge Club Newsletter No 68, June 1992)

 It was no secret that the Pig Trader was the only person to bid and make a Grand slam on this board from the May Day Swiss Pairs. But it was only when I probed him further that I discovered that he hadn’t a clue what he was doing half the time!

His partner, Charlie Mead, had opened 1ª and, over his 2§ response, he heard a 3NT rebid.

The Pig Trader and Charlie Mead were armed to the teeth with gadgets! Multi, Mini NT, Intro, Lebensohl, ASPIRIN, Unexploded Cue Bids, Terry Wogan Raises, East Ender Control Bids, you name it! But the Pig Trader couldn’t remember how to ask for aces!

He bid 4§, not knowing whether it was natural and forcing, or ace asking. Charlie Mead replied 4¨. This could not be 0 or 4 aces so had to be a cue bid! (This was also confirmed by the lack of an alert by Charlie Mead, but this unauthorised information was unnecessary!) The 4¨ bid did show that partner’s values were in the right places, so he bid 4NT. This had to be for aces! Charlie Mead alerted and bid 5NT! The Pig Trader had completely forgotten that they were playing Roman Blackwood! Still, it usefully pin-pointed partner’s aces! But the bidding had reached a level where asking for Kings was out of the question, that is, if the Pig Trader could remember how to do it! He bid 7§.

When South led a small heart and dummy went down, the Pig Trader wished that he had settled for 6NT. But he played low from dummy and the Ace appeared. Having both ©Q and ©J, South should have led the Queen and deprived the Pig Trader of his glory!

Sheffield Bridge Club, 6 Thornsett Road Sheffield S7 1NA		Tel:  0114 255 0844
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