Grand slam force Grand slam force The Grand Slam Force is a bidding convention in contract bridge that was developed by Ely Culbertson in 1936. It is intended to be used in cases where the combined hands of a partnership are so strong that a slam (winning at least 12 tricks) is a near-certainty and a grand slam (winning all 13 tricks) is a possibility. It allows one partner to gain information on the quality of trumps in the other partner's hand. When this convention is in force, a bid of 5NT (five notrump), when it does not conflict with other conventions used
Bridge Battle of the Century appear, at that particular moment, to be one of them". The match was for 150 rubbers and ran from December 1931 into January 1932. Lenz and Jacoby led through 43 rubbers, but then fell behind. Jacoby quit after the 103rd rubber. Culbertson built up a lead that grew to 20,535; Lenz made up some of that gap but still finished 8,980 behind. Bridge Battle of the Century The "Bridge Battle of the Century" was the name given to a celebrated 1931–1932 contract bridge challenge match between Ely Culbertson and Sidney Lenz and their partners. The match pitted Culberson's bidding system,