[pescetom]

MP

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You tend not to be concentrated on the first board of the evening, but this hand certainly gained full attention.

How do you open in your regular partnership and what risks/developments do you foresee?

[mike777]

I am a simple guy

4nt

will rebid 5H over 5C

[jillybean]

I would rather bid 6nt than 4
Lets leave some room for partner, 2♣

Love this hand

[thepossum]

I only have 2 clubs
Partner may have an Ace

I don't have 4NT and probably need to decide between hearts and NT and 5 or 6. Unfortunately not 7

I'm not 100 percent sure on all the sequences after 2c and how to be sure we get an Ace ask

[thepossum]

.

[kerkido]

I can't think of any bidding sequence which will tell me if partner has the ♣Q.

So 4NT seems clear, finding out if they have the ♠A (then any king, if they do) is all I need to know. Anything less could make the auction murkier if the opponents bid spades, without gaining anything.

[jillybean]

mike777, on 2026-June-25, 16:00, said:

I am a simple guy

4nt

will rebid 5H over 5C

What are your agreements?

[mike777]

Simple blackwood

[jillybean]

I don't have any agreements for 4nt. If I did , I think I want specific Kings.
The only risk here is that we miss 7
So, 2♣ and over the anticipated 2♥ 4♥

2♣:2♦
3♥: and so on

[mw64ahw]

4♣ Namyats is a possibility & then force the issue, but I think I'll go with reverse 'birthright' with a Grue switch. So
2♣-2♦
2♥-2♠ (prob. some values)
3♣ 6♥
Now let's see what partner says/asks

[pescetom]

 mike777, on 2026-June-25, 17:50, said:

Simple blackwood

Yes that was my second thought too.
Many of our players have that option after 1S-1X, we don't (by choice). First time I ever missed it.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

I would open 2C, I always can blast 6H later, given the colors we will have room.

Assuming they stay silent, I will get a chance to find out, if p thinks he is dead
or not. If he think he is a live, chances that 6H makes increase.

I may also be able to set up a RKCB seq.

In the end I will bid it anyway, ..., may as well bid it at once.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[pescetom]

My third thought was 2C. Playing my version I can impose hearts as trumps over any response and now we are into control bidding.
But with this partner developments are "standard" except for the 2NT response. So even if LHO does not bid spades or diamonds, CHO quite likely will and now I have a fat chance of setting trumps in hearts below game. If she has her own suit then RKCB will be no use either as it equates trumps K to SA.

My fourth thought was 1H with Gazzilli, but that is not on the card either.

So I reverted to my first thought of 4NT. At least we have a good agreement there.

[pescetom]

jillybean, on 2026-June-25, 21:10, said:

I don't have any agreements for 4nt. If I did , I think I want specific Kings.

Mine has specific Kings (after specific Aces) and can pinpoint specific pairs of Aces or Kings too.
I posted it for you in the 4NT Opener discussion to avoid hijacking this thread.

[TMorris]

In standard Acol a 4nt opening asks for specific Aces.

[mikeh]

Late to the thread.

I’d open 2C.

4N, asking for specific aces, is possible but it pretty much means that our next bid is a guess. If he bids 5S, we have to guess 6H or 7H. Against most club level players I’d guess 7, because it may be cold and, when it’s not, there’s a chance that they’ll not give or pay attention to count. If he doesn’t bid 5S, I have to guess between 5H and 6H.

2C may give me the ability to count tricks.

The one edge 4N has is that it’s basically impossible for NS to interfere. But….at this vulnerability I’d be very surprised if they disrupt my auction and I may survive anyway. Reverse the vulnerability and the choice is more difficult.

[pescetom]

MP

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The opps don't have much and will not disturb your auction.
Partner might however.

[mike777]

pescetom, on 2026-June-26, 09:27, said:

MP

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The opps don't have much and will not disturb your auction.
Partner might however.

4nt-5d
5nt-6c
6nt

nothing fancy
chances for an overtrick

[Huibertus]

A matter of planning ahead to try to find out what you need to know and how to get that information.

Open 2♣ set ♣ as trumps, ask for keycards,

- If he has none bid 6♥ (it might be down, it might be cold, it might depend on the lead, they might discard wrong)
- If he has 1 keycard ask for ♣Queen, if he has it bid 7NT if he doesn't 6NT.

[pescetom]

Huibertus, on 2026-June-27, 00:23, said:

A matter of planning ahead to try to find out what you need to know and how to get that information.

Open 2♣ set ♣ as trumps, ask for keycards,

- If he has none bid 6♥ (it might be down, it might be cold, it might depend on the lead, they might discard wrong)
- If he has 1 keycard ask for ♣Queen, if he has it bid 7NT if he doesn't 6NT.

Yes that is another option, although it requires several agreements that I did not have with this partner and are not necessarily standard:
- you need to still be able to impose clubs as trumps in the not unlikely event that partner responds spades or diamonds to 2♣ (I can do that in better partnerships, but it is definitely not standard)
- if he has 1 keycard you need partner to have a response to deny ♣Q but show a K (we give that up when playing Specific King)
- he has to accept an unexpected 6♥ as a natural signoff rather than some kind of try 6NT/7♣ (we do have this agreement, but I think it is unusual).