[FrancesHinden]

NV against V, IMPs, playing with a regular partner you trust.

Scoring: IMP

1♣ 1♥ P P
x 2♥ P P
x P 3♣ P
3♠ P ?

---

1♣: in the context of 5-card majors, strong NT, open 1D with 4-4 in the minors (and 1C with 4=4=3=2 though not relevant here); sound opening bid style; 2C opening absolutely game forcing if unbalanced.

Your 3♣ bid was likely to have 4 clubs, although might have been 3433; with a 3343 you could have bid 2NT asking partner to choose a minor.

Opponents play strong jump overcalls.

Now what, if anything?

[whereagles]

4♠. Sounds like it's an ok contract if pard is bidding soundly, e.g., with somefink like

AKJx
xx
Ax
AKJxx

[paulg]

I don't think I can be blamed for bidding 4♠ here.

If partner was interested in 3NT then I would have expected 3♦/♥, so 3♠ should be offering choice of black-suit games.

Paul

[FrancesHinden]

I was pretty certain that 3S wasn't forcing.

[Chamaco]

I bid 4S, pard is a sound opener and has forced me to bid twice, plus, I do have extras compared to what I have promised by the bidding; so - if pard is indeed a sound opener - I think I owe him a bid, even if 3S is nonforcing (he has shown twice extras compared to his initial "sound" opening bid).
However 5m is a long way to go, so I'll give a shot to a moysian fit (at least te one who plays it is my pard).

So, given it's my choice, I guess 4S is the wrong spot :-)

[Codo]

What hand does pd have?

He cannot have a strong NT with a heart stopper, else he had opened different, or he had not X first time.
He cannot have a strong NT hand without a heart stopper, else he had not bid 3♠.
He does not have a black two suiter or a club one suiter, so he seems to have a real take out of Hearts, f.e. 4234. But even with this hand, his 3 Spade bid looks suspicious, because he had a 2 Spade bid avaiable instead of his second X.

But 3 ♠ must be natural, pd haas a strong hand without much High crds in HEarts, so he must have a diamond control.

I am sorry, but I am unable to imagine the real hand from pd, but 4 Spade to offer a choice seems to be right.

I promised nothing up to now and have a 4. trump and two beautiful queens.

[hotShot]

4♣

Partner opend 1♣, so he is not 4-4 in the minors, he did not open a strong 2♣ nor did he bid a strong NT. He has no ♥ stopper to bid NT later.
Instead of 2♠ he dbled again.
I don't think he's got 5♠ so we have no fit there.

Partner has long ♣ 4♠ is probably a long suit trialbid asking for some help in this suit.

So i guess he has about 20HCP 6♣, 3-4♠ and 3-4 cards in the red suits.

[FrancesHinden]

I'm not going to leave this here as long as I usually do, as I'm going to Verona tomorrow and I want give this as a play problem as well....

11 Votes so far, and no-one has voted for my choice at the table!

Yes, partner has a great hand with 4 spades and 5 (or 6) clubs.
We can pass 3S or give preference back to 4C, which he will probably pass.
As everyone has pointed out, we have a pretty good hand in context: four clubs, which we haven't completely promised, a great spade card, and a possibly good queen of diamonds.

If partner has a doubleton heart

AKJx
xx
Ax
AKQxx

we want to play in 4S

If partner has a singleton heart e.g.

AKxx
x
AKx
AQxxx

we want to play in 5C

How can we tell?
We can't.

So I bid 4H, asking partner to pick the right black suit game.
Partner picks 4S, so all the 4S bidders have ended in the same spot.

[Blofeld]

I voted for 5♣, but I like the idea of the 4♥ bid. Just didn't occur to me.

[jdonn]

The problem with 4♥ is partner will choose for the wrong reasons. He will think you want really good spades for him to bid 4♠, he won't realize you want him to decide based on his heart length. I agree that it's a choice of games though, so the bid should at least be considered.

[FrancesHinden]

That's true, but he'll certainly know that a doubleton heart is bad news for clubs (that's why he said he picked 4S when I asked him).

[Blofeld]

But 4♦ also looks to be a choice of games, so doesn't 4♥ focus attention on the heart suit?

[FrancesHinden]

That's an interesting point.
I hadn't even considered what 4D ought to mean (I only added into the poll to avoid missing a bid out).

[jdonn]

Admittedly making this up as I go to some extent, I think 4♦ brings diamonds back into the picture. You might be 2254 and have bid 3♣ the round prior. It seems a bit esoteric to me to have two bids offering a choice of games between the same suits.

[mike777]

"♣: in the context of 5-card majors, strong NT, open 1D with 4-4 in the minors (and 1C with 4=4=3=2 though not relevant here); sound opening bid style; 2C opening absolutely game forcing if unbalanced."

Wish I could have bid 2clubs the first round and assume pard promises 3clubs and will often have 4 for his opening bid?

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

5C.

partner cant have a 4 card spade
suit, he could have bid the suit over
1H, and over 2H.
he cant place me with a trap pass,
I would have hit 2H.
He also knows I dont have a 4 card
spade suit.

And 3S is forcing, it probably shows some
values.

I can bid 4C, but you did say more than once,
you dont like playing 4C, which holds true for
myself, i.e. 5C.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[FrancesHinden]

mike777, on Jun 6 2006, 08:48 PM, said:

"♣: in the context of 5-card majors, strong NT, open 1D with 4-4 in the minors (and 1C with 4=4=3=2 though not relevant here); sound opening bid style; 2C opening absolutely game forcing if unbalanced."

Wish I could have bid 2clubs the first round and assume pard promises 3clubs and will often have 4 for his opening bid?

Happy to raise clubs with 4 on this auction, but it should show the values for a raise to 2C - not two random queens outside clubs.

[mike777]

FrancesHinden, on Jun 7 2006, 02:17 AM, said:

mike777, on Jun 6 2006, 08:48 PM, said:

"♣: in the context of 5-card majors, strong NT, open 1D with 4-4 in the minors (and 1C with 4=4=3=2 though not relevant here); sound opening bid style; 2C opening absolutely game forcing if unbalanced."

Wish I could have bid 2clubs the first round and assume pard promises 3clubs and will often have 4 for his opening  bid?

Happy to raise clubs with 4 on this auction, but it should show the values for a raise to 2C - not two random queens outside clubs.

Yes, but what is that in competition? I used to think it showed some real values but it seems people raise one level in competition on 2 queens and 4 cards often nowadays. This is just one area of my bridge bidding that really confuses me. What does a simple raise in comp promise?