SPADEWOOD ON SPADEWOOD

Greetings to my followers and friends. I made my annual trek back to NY on Feb 16-18. The trip was uneventful. Spent a nice weekend in our apartment and on Monday, Feb 22 I had a major heart attack. I ended up in Newark-Wayne hospital for two nights of diagnosis and stabilization, then was transferred to Rochester General Hospital for surgery. On Thursday I had angioplasty and 5 stents were inserted. I had two blocked arteries and one almost blocked. The stents were sucessful and blood flow was resumed. Tests indicate there was damage to the heart and it was running at about half speed. But I am still alive. My cardiologist said I looked better in person than I did on paper. In addition my kidneys are approaching need for dialysis but so far I have avoided that. While in the hospital a severe diabetic ulcer was found on my foot and a golf ball hunk of flesh was removed. I was in RGH for 9 nights during which there was a blizzard. Julie could not travel back and forth and she stayed with me and slept on a chair. What a girl! After the hospital stay we remained at home mostly in recovery. I am doing well. I start hyperbaric oxygen therapy on Monday. This will continue daily for 20 to 40 days of treatment. I continue to see doctors each week, It seems like one every day. Not much time for blogs but here I go again.

I had promised some of my friends I would explain the convention I call SPADEWOOD. My wife and I have been playing this for many years and while sucesses are few, the principles are in use on almost every NT deal. The convention is designed to get to makable balanced hand slams in the 31 to 32 HCP range. Not quite enough to be safely in 6NT but you feel slam is possible.

Let me say right up front, I do not like the GERBER convention. It is misused far more often than it is correctly used. In fact when my opponents use GERBER I usually can count on a good board. There is always some way to misinterpret the bids. At a recent local duplicate my opponents bid 1C- 3C, a limit raise. Now comes 4C, announced as GERBER. After 4H showing one ace, opener finds he has no way to sign off in 5C. Yeow! They proceed to 6C, down one. A top for me but I just shake my head. People will not listen. I make every effort to NOT PLAY GERBER AT ALL. But some partners talk me into it with reassurance that it is only used in 1NT and 2NT auctions. I still hate it and avoid it if possible.

If you dont play GERBER you need some way to ask for aces. Blackwood still works but now you lose the QUANTITAVE raise to 4NT. Not a great loss in my opinion, but SPADEWOOD effectively replaces BLACKWOOD, GERBER and QUANTITIVE NOTRUMP RAISES. I should also say I like a 15-18 1NT opening. The extra range can be handled and it gived credibility to all other NT ranges. NUFF SAID!

We open 1NT with 15-18 hcp and play Stayman and Jacoby transfers to H and S. 2NT becomes a transfer to 3C either a pass if weak or bids at the three level to show various holdings. Now, 2S is availible as an ASKING BID FOR SIZE and if a maximum, Aces are shown as 3C=0, 3D=1, etc.
With minimum, 15-16 HCP, opener bids 2NT which can be passed. This is equal to an old fashioned raise to 2NT, which opener passes with 15-16 HCP. After opener bids 2NT in response to 2S, responder can bid 3C which is ace asking, like GERBER except at a level lower.

My theory, which has no scientific basis, is that 31-32 HCP will often produce slam if ALL THE ACES ARE HELD and a good 4-4 fit is found. So, the procedure is to first determine if you have the required HCP, then check to see if all the aces are held, THEN look for a good 4-4 fit. If none is found, sign off at the cheapest NT level availible. This will usually be at a lower level than other bidders in the room. An example hand is in order.

You hold SA94 HK95 DQT63 CAK2. Pard opens 1NT (15-17). What is your bid?
Frank Stewart in his classic book "Becoming a Bridge Expert" says, bid 4NT, quantitative. Sounds good to me. I expect Pard will pass with 15, bid 6NT with 17 and look hard at 16HCP. What does the raise to 4NT show? Yes, about 16, but what do you do with 17? You probably blast 6NT and expect to make it most of the time. Not very scientific, eh.
Well Pard holds SK82 HA7 DAKJ4 CJ863. According to Frank he bids 6NT, I would too and finds he can only make 11 tricks. Frank suggests opener start looking for 6 of a minor by bidding 5C. Responder bids 5D, the opener raise to 6D. Makes 6. Ye Haw! Ride em cowboy. I would not dream of bidding a J high suit to suggest 6 of a minor. My minimum is QTxx or better.

Using SPADEWOOD the bidding goes
1NT(15-18) p 2S* p *SPADEWOOD
2NT(15-16) p 3C* p *Ace asking.
3S*(2 Aces) p 4D*(we have all the aces-natural bid)
6D*(good 4 card D support)

There is lots you can do in this auction. You can continue looking for a 4-4 fit til one is found or sign off at a minimum NT. If you are missing an ace (or two) you can sign off at 3NT, not 4NT as you would with GERBER.

Thanks for reading my blog. Feel free to make any comments. Ill try to keep up with timely posts. Best Regards and Happy Bridging. SPADEWOOD.