Posted 2012-April-03, 06:45
Both are tough IMO.
First one the start is easy:
3♦-3♥ (partner will bid 3♠ with doubleton honnor because of lack of support double)
3NT
Now 3♦ can be wide ranged and 3NT hasn't clarified much, partner can have 2 low spades and ♥KQJ and 5♦ should fail, or he can have ♥A and singleton spade and 6♦ makes. I don't find reopening 3NT obvious but I think its worth it, 4♦ by north and south can sing off in 4NT with a bad hand. On this case south has a supperb hand and will bid 4♥ over wich north can bid 5♣ to pinpoint ♠AK missng and south can bid the slam. the full sequence:
1♦-1♠-(2♥)
3♦-3♥
3NT-4♦
4♥-5♣
6♦
On the second one I have eve more doubts, those stiff red honnors are golden and very hard to evaluate. 3♦-3♥-3♠-3NT is obvious IMO but anything beyond that is not. The good news is slam is not good on spade lead unless you play in 6NT wich I think its pretty unnusual.