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Bridge 3/28
Game-invitational to game-forcing
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When the major-suit limit raise — a game-invitational jump-raise of one of a major to three of that major — gained acceptance in this country, there was a need for a game-forcing raise.
    To fill the void, Oswald Jacoby proposed using two no-trump as the response. This became known — surprise, surprise! — as the Jacoby Forcing Major-Suit Raise. It is a great convention, but with unusual rebids by opener. A new suit that is bid by opener at the three-level shows not length in that suit but shortage — a singleton, or perhaps a void. Then the responder can judge whether his honors are working.
    This deal is a great advertisement for the Jacoby Forcing Raise.
After South opens one spade, North can see several losers: one spade, one heart, one or two diamonds and two clubs. (You don't count any card beyond three in a suit as a loser.) But when South rebids three clubs, showing a singleton or void, North's losers there evaporate because he knows South can ruff them in his hand. So, North uses two doses of Blackwood before bidding seven spades.
    West led a trump. South saw that it was a case of hunt the lady — the diamond queen. He set out to discover as much about the distribution as possible, ruffing three clubs in his hand and one heart on the board. Declarer learned that East had begun with one spade, six hearts and five clubs — hence only one diamond. So South cashed his diamond king, then played a diamond to dummy's jack to land the grand slam.
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