This hand comes to us direct from the front lines, where Rowen and David have been playing at the Central States I Regional. They picked up some teammates with a bit over 2000 master points between them; this landed them as the 16th-highest team in Monday's KO, which meant they played in the top bracket and started off against the #1 seed: Ron Andersen, Mark Lair, Eddie Wold, and John Fout.
They lost the first half by 38, and won the second by 11, for a quite respectable 27-imp loss. (They took some chances in the second half--Rowen sent me a couple of summaries, but I don't want encourage anyone, and wouldn't print some of what he said about his partner without giving David a rebuttal. This one is refreshingly tame.)
AK84 QJT
Q AKT643
AKQ94 763
K96 A
"We're red on white, and in second seat David opens a strong 1C with the 21-count. No interference this time. I bid 1H (natural, G.F.), David bids 2D, I bid 2H (extra length and extra values), David bids 2S (natural), and I bid 3D (more extra values)."I don't know why David has suddenly ceased to be scientific, but he tanks and bids 6D." [David isn't here to defend himself, but would presumably blame this on Rowen's bidding ability in some typically unsubtle way. - Sandy]
"Now, this hand took place after we missed a lay-down grand slam in which David lept to the six-level without investigating for the grand, and once again I was faced with the question of raising partner's six-level signoff to seven. This time, I used the following reasoning: I have first and second round control in a suit which has not yet been mentioned, so partner's club holding has to be something like Kx or Kxx (he can't have a void or there'd have been some interference). Moreover, while he may have only 5 diamonds, they have to be good or he wouldn't have leaped to slam.
"So, I gritted my teeth and bid seven. The grand slam depends on the 3-2 diamond split -- a 68% chance -- and we got it. Lair-Wold stopped in six, so we gained 13 IMPS."