Here's a fun, but poorly bid (by me,) hand from Friday with Jeff.

I picked up in first

AT74 / AKQT62 / - / KQ7

I don't like opening 2 Clubs with 18 counts, unless I have 10 or more tricks or so.  This hand didn't quite meet my standards.  I opened 1 Heart.

Jeff responded 1 Spade.

A 2-part question:  What do you think I bid?  What's the right bid?

Slam doesn't need much, but it needs it in a very specific place.  How am I supposed to find out about the QJ of Spades and Jack of Hearts?  I can bid exclusion, but it's conceivable that slam might make on a non-club lead (and I wasn't 100% sure that we were on the same page for exclusion responses anyway.)  It's BBO, what the hell, I bid 6 Spades.  Jeff, with KQJ of Spades and an Ace, bid 7.

After the hand, Jeff suggested I jump shift in Clubs first and then jump to 5 Spades, which paints a pretty clear picture of a hand with a Diamond void, primary Spade support, and about 9 tricks.  He's right, of course.  But 1 Banana - 1 Grape - 6 Grapes is one of my favorite auctions and I've had a lot of success with it, in no small part due to luck. 

Yes, my luck held again this time.  Jeff's Ace was a black one.  7 Spades was worth about 12 and a half IMPs.  Surprisingly, nobody duplicated our auction (though to be fair, the opponents were a little busier at many other tables.)

KQJ986 / 9 / J74 / AT3

AT74 / AKQT62 / - / KQ7