[AL78]

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MPs playing Acol, what do you do here?

[DavidKok]

4NT (RKC) looks OK. I would be tempted to bid 4♠ instead, but partner likely does not have a club control (no splinter last round either, if you play those here) and cannot take charge from there. We will just have to gamble on partner having a diamond control. We have such a strong hand that we should not pass. Unfortunately after the successful preempt we can't investigate a slam more sensibly, so we just have to take our best guess.

[mw64ahw]

36 points accounted for so the remaining 4 sit with West with distribution to justify 4♥. On that basis slam looks to be on the cards.

Alternative scenario:
West opened a 10-pointer 0463 and jumped in an attempt to stiffle the ♠ contract. Maybe slam is still on the cards.

[akwoo]

Unless your partner will think it shows first round control, 4♠. Of course partner will be worried about a club control, but they can always bid 5♦ with a diamond control and no club control.

If partner thinks 4♠ shows first round control, I'll bid 5♣.

Yes I could end up in slam off 2 key cards, but I think given the bidding the risk of being off two top diamonds is bigger than the risk of being off 2 keycards.

[smerriman]

akwoo, on 2024-June-23, 13:49, said:

Yes I could end up in slam off 2 key cards, but I think given the bidding the risk of being off two top diamonds is bigger than the risk of being off 2 keycards.

A problem with this is that if you are missing both top diamonds - which does seem very unlikely - you've almost guaranteed the opponents' first three tricks of A, K, ruff, so haven't really gained anything.

4nt gives us a chance of finding grand too, so seems practical to me. (Edit - actually, maybe no better than the alternative, so ignore the grand part.)

[AL78]

I chickened out and passed thinking if I did Blackwood or cue bid clubs I would not find enough information about the diamond holding to know whether slam was good or not, and I wasn't sure if partner's jump was based on firepower or distribution. I should have just gone for it anyway, this was the full deal:

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13 tricks on a diamond lead which was worth 72%. A meaningless score as it was a four table movement with the last round cut off for time reasons (England were playing which was the theory for the poor turnout which was unusually low for Thursday evening).

[pescetom]

DavidKok, on 2024-June-23, 13:23, said:

4NT (RKC) looks OK. I would be tempted to bid 4♠ instead, but partner likely does not have a club control (no splinter last round either, if you play those here) and cannot take charge from there. We will just have to gamble on partner having a diamond control. We have such a strong hand that we should not pass. Unfortunately after the successful preempt we can't investigate a slam more sensibly, so we just have to take our best guess.

I'm happy bidding 4♠, the fact that partner could not splinter looks positive to me.
If partner can now show 4NT even keycards then I'm happy with 6♥, if not then I press on with control bids hoping she didn't have a freak hand or misbid.

[pescetom]

AL78, on 2024-June-23, 15:21, said:

this was the full deal:

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I think the double was silly.

[AL78]

pescetom, on 2024-June-23, 15:31, said:

I think the double was silly.

Par for the course at this club.

[akwoo]

AL78, on 2024-June-23, 15:21, said:

I wasn't sure if partner's jump was based on firepower or distribution.

I understand you might be playing with a partner where you don't have this agreement, but the jump to 4♥ should always be on firepower - bids to game based on distribution should splinter.

I don't think West's hand was worth a 4♥ bid; especially when playing weak NT 3♥ is enough. Ironically in this case it gives you an extra round of control bidding making it easier to find the slam.

[bluenikki]

AL78, on 2024-June-23, 15:21, said:

I wasn't sure if partner's jump was based on firepower or distribution.

Wait! Did you think the jump might be intended to produce a _minus_? And if there were no black honors and two additional red cards, why would you care?