Cuebidding to DEFEAT a Slam

Cuebidding is not just for the side with all the stuff.  Sometimes, a cue is necessary to defeat a slam.

I was playing last night with a newer duplicate player.  The first game we played was a life master party for a friend of his.  That new LM decided to celebreate by sponsoring a pro-am game, where regulars were matched with newbies, folks who perhaps played party bridge and might like duplicate.  My partner for that game was a real novice -- we did not even play Stayman!  But, with some well-timed luck and some heavy work to bring in some interesting contracts, we won.

Last night, we tried round two.  This time, the game was open, with no leveling of the playing field.  so, out work was cut out for us.  One deal, however, helped us with a repeat first.

LHO opened a strong Two Clubs, and my partner overcalled Two Diamonds after hearing that 2C showed a strong hand but any suit or balanced.  What kind of silliness was that?  Why not just open two of your suit with a strong hand?!?!?  So, partner decided to step in on that nonsense.

RHO then bid Two Spades.  All white, I had been interested in this deal before the opening bid, as I held xx-void-AKxx-xxxxxxx.  The developments so far made me even more interested.

Lots of options come to mind, but I tried a rather simple option of Six Diamonds.  LHO thought for a while and tried Six Hearts, passed to me.

Well, now we have reached to key point.  Better cuebid sometime, eh?  I mean, if you are thinking about bidding a grand, should'nt you tell partner that you have first-round control of one of the opponents' suits?  So, I bid Six Spades.  We eventually bid our grand, failing by 800 for a top.  The traveler showed a few small slams in hearts for an overtrick, on grand in hearts making, and our grand in diamonds, which was best.  LHO noted that the grand in hearts seems to make BUT for the cuebid in spades.