[Echognome]

Scoring: IMP

1♠* - (P) - ?

---

*10-15hcp, 4+♠, <4♥, could have longer minor

After recovering from the shock of your partner opening your 6 card suit, you have to decide what you do on this hand. Well, there are plenty of options and I'll give them to you.

1NT: GF relay
2NT: Raise to 3+ ♠, 4+ card support
4♥: Splinter
4♠: To Play
4NT: RKCB
5♥: Exclusion

There are other bids, but they are not so palatable. Even if you wanted to psyche 2♥, it's NF in our system.

Of course if you relay, you can find out partner's entire hand if uncontested.

If you bid 2NT you can get a picture of p's hand type (bal, 2 suited, or shortness), ask keycards, and then scan for specific K's and sometimes Q's.

I believe the other bids are self explanatory.

Your call?

[awm]

Relay is nice when it works, but opponents are never going to let you bid uncontested in this auction. It seems better to let partner in on the big fit, raise the auction a bit, and start a cuebidding style sequence. On the other hand 4♥ is awfully high and partner won't envisage this kind of trump support (or the void). My choice would be 2NT.

[P_Marlowe]

4H.

The only downside is, that opps. know,
they have a 9 card heart fit.
But then, they would need to enter on
the 5 level being red. vs. green, not likely.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Free]

What would 2♥ mean? If it's natural and forcing, I'll bid that, but otherwise 4♥...

[Echognome]

Free, on Apr 19 2006, 08:33 AM, said:

What would 2♥ mean? If it's natural and forcing, I'll bid that, but otherwise 4♥...

I will refrain from quoting myself. But I can tell you that the answer to the question you seek can be found through careful scrutiny.

On a side note, I would not have considered 2♥ even if it were natural and forcing.

I could have added 3♥ as a fit jump as well.

[Free]

oops sry, didn't read till the end 4♥ it is...

[whereagles]

3NT. To play.

[Echognome]

whereagles, on Apr 19 2006, 10:15 AM, said:

3NT. To play.

There's a very good chance you will, indeed, get to play there. Fun one to explain to teammates.

[tonedown]

Start the Relays...

if opps contest, next bid prolly 4♥

[whereagles]

Echognome, on Apr 19 2006, 10:18 AM, said:

whereagles, on Apr 19 2006, 10:15 AM, said:

3NT. To play.

There's a very good chance you will, indeed, get to play there. Fun one to explain to teammates.

I thought you said this was a tactical situation

(i.e. a time to get immaginative.. lol)

[hotShot]

I go for 4♠.
Maybe partner has just the values i need, and i need a lot in the minors.
There are relevant 20 HCP missing (♠A ♦AKQ ♣AQJ ) and partner holds only 10-15 that may be poisend with wasted ♥ values. If the ace of ♦ is missing, we need it right sided or the ♦J to avoid a second ♦ looser.
So only if partner is maximum, has a longer minor and no wasted values in ♥, we have a chance to make a slam. If partner has all that, he will make a move over my 4♠, because he knows that i intend to make game, even opposit a minimum.
If opps find out that they can use their ♥ fit, they might even have a sacrifice worth bidding over our ♠ slam.

[hrothgar]

My gut says that raising to 4♠ is the practical bid. Yes, there are hands where we'll make slam, but I'm not sure that its worthwhile to go looking for them.

If you were to try for slam, a Splinter raise seems best.

Relay is a big mistake with this hand type.

[Echognome]

Whereagles - I cannot imagine bidding to go down at this point. They haven't bid 5♥ yet. So you can be creative or unimaginative as you want, I just may disagree with your choice.

[whereagles]

Echognome, on Apr 19 2006, 11:51 AM, said:

Whereagles - I cannot imagine bidding to go down at this point. They haven't bid 5♥ yet. So you can be creative or unimaginative as you want, I just may disagree with your choice.

Hum.. what I mean is that the title said "tactical considerations", so I took it a joker bid was required

Of course, at the table 4♠ is the obvious bid (at least for me).

[mike777]

2nT

This seems to be somekind of spade raise. I guess p describes his hand next?

[mikestar]

Let's see. We have 10+ spades and they have 10+ hearts. At best they have a cheap sac, they might make 5♥ -- there are some 10 point hands for partner where they can make 6♥.

So the odds that they have a paying sacrifice or can make is greater than the chance we have slam. I bid 4♠. This is particularly effective in a big club system where it might not be preemptive: it could be a balanced hand with good support but not enough values for slam to be in the picture--let the enemy guess with doubtful hands.

[Free]

mikestar, on Apr 19 2006, 03:49 PM, said:

Let's see. We have 10+ spades and they have 10+ hearts. At best they have a cheap sac, they might make 5♥ -- there are some 10 point hands for partner where they can make 6♥.

So the odds that they have a paying sacrifice or can make is greater than the chance we have slam. I bid 4♠. This is particularly effective in a big club system where it might not be preemptive: it could be a balanced hand with good support but not enough values for slam to be in the picture--let the enemy guess with doubtful hands.

I wonder why opps suddenly have 9+♥, or even 10+♥!

Chances are huge that partner has 4+♥ himself. That's why I think a splinter is the best choice, partner can immediatly evaluate his hand for slam. Bidding 4♠ obviously has some merrit, but imo the hand has a lot of slam potential.

[MickyB]

Free - I would agree entirely if the opening bid had not denied 4 hearts

[jdonn]

I vote 4♠. Every other bid (except 4NT, which is ridiculous) lets them into hearts more easily. I am not altogether worried that they will bid over this. They have 16-21 points, are vul, and I presume 4♠ could also be a heavy hand in a limited opening system, so they may realize that bidding over this is putting their lives in their hands.

[han]

We can easily have slam here, a fitting 10-count is enough. On the other hand, the best way to find out whether we have slam is to have a 1NT-auction, and everybody agrees that that would be suicide.

I can't see how a splinter is going to help. How can partner know that Axxxx xxx x AQxx is golden but switch the minors and we have no play? How can I find out after the splinter which hand partner has?

4S certainly seems reasonable. It gives us the best chance to play there, and 4S is likely a good spot. We may well be way ahead of the other table if partner has only 4 spades.

2NT should give us a chance to explore slam if the opponents are silent, but it will make it far easier for the opponents to come in. I don't know the right answer to this tactical consideration, but I wouldn't fault 2NT or 4S.