4. Weak or strong twos?

East Deals      

Love All

A K 7 5 4 3

A 5

A 2

K Q 7

8

J 7 6

K Q J 8 5

J 10 4 2

Q J 9 2

10 9

10 9 7 6

8 6 5

 

10 6

K Q 8 4 3 2

4 3

A 9 3


West       

North       

East        

South                                                 

Opening Lead: K 

   

Pass

2NT

Pass

3 NT

4NT

Pass

5 ♠

Pass

Pass

Pass

There's no contest! Here, playing Strong Twos, the bidding would go (north) 2♠ - 3 - 3♠ - 4♠ - 6♠ (or similar), failing when East has four spades. But with South opening a Weak 2, a Grand Slam in hearts can be reached. North's 2NT asks for partner's strength and the 3NT rebid shows top of the range and two of the top three heart honours. 4NT is RKCB, with 5♠ showing two keycards (K & A♣) plus the queen of trumps. North assumes a 3:2 heart split and expects that spades can be established for a 13th trick, so goes for gold, 7 (not 7NT). To make, win the lead, draw trumps in three rounds before playing AK♠ and ruff a spade. The bad split is not a problem. Cross to K♣ and trump out East's remaining spade, before crossing again to enjoying dummy's established ♠ winner and Grand Slam glory.