On our table we had a storming first half, gaining nearly 4000 points over the 12 hands. This was thanks in large part to two big slams. On one of them Anna opened a Weak NT (12-14), and I had this hand:
It's only 14 points, but there's seven Diamonds and I liked what I saw. I investigated a slam, and when Anna showed ♦Kx in Diamonds we ended up in 6♦. We were lucky, and it made on a finesse.
On the other big one I sorted my cards and found I had a void in Hearts. Then I saw Anna reaching for the bidding box. I was almost certain she was going to bid 1♥, or worse 2♥, but to my surprise she pulled out a 1♠ bid. This hit the jackpot - I had five Spades myself. You've got to make the most of it when that happens.
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I'm sitting North. Once Anna's opened 1♠ I have a few possible ways of showing support. I could bid a natural 4♠, but my hand is too good for that. It's only 8 points, but also it's only 5 losers. I could bid Jacoby 2NT, but we save that for hands with support and some points. So instead I bid 4♥ as a splinter, a double jump showing a good raise in partner's suit, and a void or singleton Heart. We've not discussed how strong you need to be to do this, apart from of course you need to be good enough to play 4♠. The splinter could help Anna evaluate her hand, which is especially useful if the bidding gets competitive. I thought this was quite likely as I know the opponents have lots of Hearts and a few points too.
Over my 4♥ there's not much room for Anna. She can either bid 4♠ with a minimum hand, 4NT Blackwood, or make a cuebid in Clubs or Diamonds. She wisely went for 4NT. Our normal responses are 0314, so with 1 Keycard I would bid 5♦. But of course I've also got a void in Hearts, which could be as good as another Ace. I decided that I had such a freak hand the best things was just to punt for 6♠. Anna was surprised, but passed then raked in all the tricks for 6♠+1.
Me and Anna have since agreed these Blackwood responses with a void:
| 5NT | Even number of keycards, and a void |
| 6 of the void suit (or six trumps if void suit is higher than trumps) | Odd number of keycards, and a void |
Some people play it the other way round, but Anna says the table above is the more memorable way, as "No Trumps feels even.". If we had have agreed this I'd have bid 6♥ on the hand above, showing one keycard and a void in Hearts.
Note that despite only having 24 points 7♠ is a fine contract. We still gained for 6♠+1, as on the other table the auction just went 1♠-4♠.
Here's the half time biscuits (pictured at the end of the interval), another excellent selection from Hamilton Bridge Club.
In the second half of the match our opponents played well to claw back lots of points, but in the end we finished with a positive score on all four tables, and won the match 15-1, and celebrated with some tablet on the drive back.
Epilogue
A week later, on Bridge Base, me and Anna were faced with a similar Blackwood-with-a-void situation.
Anna sitting North opened 1♥, East overcalled 1♠ and I splintered with 4♣. Anna made a cuebid in Spades and I bid 4NT. This was crunch time for Anna. She has two keycards, and a void in Spades. Would she simply bid 5♥ to show two keycards, or would she attempt to show the void?
Although she was worried it would take us too high, Anna bid 5NT, showing an even number of keycards and a void (presumably in Spades). I now bid 6♥. I didn't have any choice, as we were already at 5NT, but of course with my one keycard our only loser was the ♦A, so it made exactly. Even better, East doubled it.
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