daveharty, on 2011-August-21, 09:05, said:
I think this is really stretching it. Siegmund's suggestion looks pretty reasonable to me (something like 1H-1S-2NT-6S); I wouldn't bid the north hand that way myself, but I've seen people do it before plenty of times, and it might work on this hand.
Surely after 1
♥-1
♠ the next bid must be 3
♦ not 2NT. The problem with this hand is most slams happen by first showing strength, second finding the fit, and third checking on controls. On this hand you're likely to spend too much time trying to find a fit that isn't there to have enough room to check on controls.
I would say this hand definitely cannot be bid to slam if you use LTC, MLTC or HCPs. Both LTC and MLTC require you to have an established 8-card or better fit before you start counting losers (or half-losers) and you only have a combined 28 HCPs so that doesn't put you into the slam zone, either. Assuming that you've decided to play Zar Points (ZPs) or Binky Points (which I know little about) you might agree on a NT structure like this:
26-28 ZPs 1m-rebid 1NT (equivalent 12-14 HCPs)
29-31 ZPs open 1NT (equivalent 15-17 HCPs)
32-35 ZPs 1m-rebid 2NT (equivalent 18-20 HCPs)
38-40 ZPs open 2NT (equivalent 21-23 HCPs)
As you can see from the table the opener's 38 ZPs would entitle him (under this theoretical system, which I've never used, don't say is best, and invented just Saturday) the hand does qualify for an opening 2NT bid, which is more attractive considering the heart suit is Jack-empty-fifth. If that happened, the responder would add up his ZPs, figure out they're in the slam range and check on controls but you still need Voidwood or some other exclusion Blackwood system otherwise you're likely to stop because of uncertainty about controls.
Even so, I think that a good number of people even with the above ZP agreement might still readily open it 1
♥ with plans to rebid 3
♦.