acol  bridgeacol  bridgeacol  bridgeacol  bridgeacol  bridgeacol  bridgeacol  bridge
Home > Bidding > Big hands > To slam or not to slam--some general considerations

To slam or not to slam--some general considerations

1. A slam is 12 or 13 tricks--but only if you bid it!

• a small slam is 12 tricks
• a grand slam is 13 tricks

Making 12 or 13 tricks without bidding it carries only remorse.

2.  Slams are exciting and profitable. They are the hands you will remember on the way home and in the dead of night.

• the bonus for a small slam is 500 if non-vulnerable and 750 if vulnerable
• the bonus for a grand slam is 1000 if non-vulnerable and 1500 if vulnerable . 

3.   Don't be put off by potential deficiencies in your play; these will usually be compensated by mistakes by the opposition You cannot expect belt and braces all the time in bidding slams. You must be prepared to take some risks.

4.  Remember that you need

• 33 points for 12 tricks in no-trumps
• 37 points for 13 tricks in no-trumps

BUT suit slams are usually based on shape and as little as 29-30 points between the two hands can often generate 12 tricks.

The knowledge that the hands have a combined point count in this range usually comes from either

• A big opener (2C, 2D, 2NT, etc) faced by a good responding hand, or
• A good opener faced by a jump-shift (1H-2S etc).

5.  Throughout life, rewards are related to risks. Put your money in a building society and the capital will still be available in ten years time, but the interest gained will not be great. Invest in some shares of your choice and the return may be substantial but you may, of course, lose everything. We all enjoy a flutter on the lottery where the odds are heavily stacked against us winning, but if we do, we become millionaires overnight.

This concept of risk versus reward can be applied to slams, as well.

In a small slam, the loss (of not making it and missing the available game) is about equal to the gain if you make it (big bonus). So, if the slam depends on a 50:50 finesse (missing a king, say) this is acceptable; it is a risk worth taking; over a lifetime you will make as many as you lose, but will have had the fun of trying.

In a grand slam, however, the loss is much greater than the gain (as you will have rejected the small slam) so you are looking for much better odds than 50:50. So, if in using Blackwood you find a king is missing, so that your grand slam would probably depend on a finesse, it is not a risk worth taking. Settle for the small slam.

6.  Most slams will be preceded by an ace-asking enquiry, since if only one ace is missing, the hand on lead can have A K, and you are one light immediately. Since a king-asking bid will result in a six-level contract anyway (if using Blackwood), this course of action is only worthwhile if you are thinking of a grand slam.

7.  There are several ways of asking for aces and kings. Players must select the one(s) that suit(s) them best. Have a look at these:-

• Blackwood
• Gerber

8.  Hands suitable for slams are dealt with in this page (balanced) and this page (unbalanced). I have simplified, in particular, the responses to two-level opening bids. You will find many books on Acol which have very sophisticated sequences stemming from two-level opening bids. They paint a very full picture of responder's hand and are a great help in reaching the best contract. Unfortunately, since these big hands crop up only rarely, you find that you've forgotten the correct response if you have too many to chose from.

Happy slamming!