[mike1088]

How can we reach Slam with these 2 hands?

North
♠ xx
♥ AJx
♦ AKJxx
♣ AJx

South
♠ Q
♥ K109xxx
♦ Qxx
♣ KQx

Bidding

South 1♥
West 3♠
North ???


Is a new suit bid by North Forcing?
What about Negative double if played to 3♠?
If north do that and south respond 4♣, is 4♦ by north forcing?

[FelicityR]

I agree it's not easy to bid, perhaps double (negative) followed by 5♥ would get the message across - very good hand but with two ♠ losers.

Doubling and bidding 4♦ or bidding 4♦ direct would probably lead to partner raising to 5♦ and you would not be any wiser, I feel.

Obviously a hand that needs clear cut partnership agreements what specific bids mean in these circumstances.

[MrAce]

North bids 5♥

In competition people play this as one of 2 things

a-slam invitation vs a spade control.
b-slam forcing vs a spade control.

I play forcing vs a spade control. Playing it invitational sounds fancy on paper but only and only on paper. Perhaps it was coincidence but I have an overwhelming success rate in same auctions vs those who plays it invitation. One may argue that those who rejected the invitation made bad decisions but they were (mostly) big names. If such good players have that kind of inaccuracy when it comes to accepting/rejecting the invitation, it is probably better not to play it invitation. As a bonus when you have hands that just wants to bid slam vs a control, you do not worry about it being passed.

[rmnka447]

From North's point of view, only ♥ KQ ♦ Q ♣ KQ are missing outside of ♠ honors. With any reasonable opener, South probably isn't missing more than one of them even with a ♠ control. So slam should have a reasonable play if opener has a ♠ control.

In auctions, where the opponents have bid a suit, a jump to 5 of opener's major asks opener to bid slam with a 2nd round or better control in the opponent's suit.

So, 5 ♥ seems right here by North.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

#1 a new suit in the 4 level is forcing
#2 a new suit may be a cue for openers suit or natural long,
... oppossite a major suit opening, cues will be more common,
but if opener ebids hissuit, responder can rebid his suit.
#3 getting to slam will be tough, giving south min opening, a possible auction

1H - (3S) - 4D (1) - (Pass)
4H (2) - (Pass) - 5H (3) - (Pass)
.. (4)

(1) cue
(2) min
(3) invite, the alternative is 5C, but this may well show a minor 2-suiter
maybe opener can figure out, that responder is searching for a spade control
opener already showed some sort of min.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[mike1088]

P_Marlowe, on 2017-April-29, 10:29, said:

Hi,

#1 a new suit in the 4 level is forcing
#2 a new suit may be a cue for openers suit or natural long,
... oppossite a major suit opening, cues will be more common,
but if opener ebids hissuit, responder can rebid his suit.
#3 getting to slam will be tough, giving south min opening, a possible auction

1H - (3S) - 4D (1) - (Pass)
4H (2) - (Pass) - 5H (3) - (Pass)
.. (4)

(1) cue
(2) min
(3) invite, the alternative is 5C, but this may well show a minor 2-suiter
maybe opener can figure out, that responder is searching for a spade control
opener already showed some sort of min.

With kind regards
Marlowe

Thanks|

[steve2005]

FelicityR, on 2017-April-28, 21:10, said:

I agree it's not easy to bid, perhaps double (negative) followed by 5♥ would get the message across - very good hand but with two ♠ losers.

Doubling and bidding 4♦ or bidding 4♦ direct would probably lead to partner raising to 5♦ and you would not be any wiser, I feel.

Obviously a hand that needs clear cut partnership agreements what specific bids mean in these circumstances.

Yes, this is hard. You need opener to have ♠ control. Opener is also likely to be rather minimum so it will be hard for opener to bid 4♠ to show a control so inevitably you will be bidding 5♥ hoping opener will go with a ♠ control.

[ggwhiz]

With so many controls in the north hand where can the opening bid come from? If you open trashy 11 counts in 1st chair .... STOP IT

I would bid a direct 5♥ asking for spade control and one thing to keep in mind is the response by south.

5nt shows the guarded King giving north the option of picking 6nt and avoiding A♠, spade ruff. A 5♠ response is mandatory with 1st round control after which the north hand has got at least a try for the grand. I know it doesn't matter here (just bid slam with a stiff) but they belong in the tool box.

I was taught that if you can construct a min (or less) for partner that makes whatever, bid to it and ♥KQ, ♦Q and a spade control is plenty given that there is still an opening bid over there.

[neilkaz]

MrAce, on 2017-April-28, 21:35, said:

North bids 5♥

In competition people play this as one of 2 things

a-slam invitation vs a spade control.
b-slam forcing vs a spade control.

I play forcing vs a spade control. Playing it invitational sounds fancy on paper but only and only on paper. Perhaps it was coincidence but I have an overwhelming success rate in same auctions vs those who plays it invitation. One may argue that those who rejected the invitation made bad decisions but they were (mostly) big names. If such good players have that kind of inaccuracy when it comes to accepting/rejecting the invitation, it is probably better not to play it invitation. As a bonus when you have hands that just wants to bid slam vs a control, you do not worry about it being passed.

Yes I agree with you and the others who play it this way.

[SteveMoe]

5♥