TWO4BRIDGE

It may work for you, but may LOSE Responder's real intent of the 4th suit GF as noted by quantumcat ! ! Namely, Responder may want to rebid Clubs to show strong interest in Opener's 1st bid suit ( and cancel interest in the major ) .

I think I like your treatment here. Immediately raise responder's Major w/3 when MINIMUM, but do not with "extras" ( bid 2C instead ) . ( And Responder can still get out with a 2NT rebid ) . After 2C and a 4th Suit GF bid , if Opener THEN bids 3H, it will show 3 cards but this time w/"extras" . This way it becomes clear if next Responder bids one of Opener's suits, it shows SUPPORT ( strongly ) and THAT was the reason fo the 4th suit GF -- and CANCELS interest in Responder's Major ( Hts here ) .

I agree with Nigel... but I'd say 100% East....without so much as a King in an outside suit

What if Responder indeed has 5 cards Hts, slammish; what would he bid over Opener's 3H since he could not bid 4C as a cuebid ? ( I presume he couldn't use 4D as a cuebid either -- it would agree Diam ; that leaves only 3S as a cuebid-- which probably should mean either a cuebid OR looking for 3NT ). I don't play it ( and probably I should )... but this hand seems like a poster child for XYZ 2-way checkback .

Good point... You are right... I didn't look at it from that perspective. But then it wouldn't have been worthy for a newspaper column.

West 2D was "cheapest new suit forcing, could be artificial" . East's pass of the DBL denied 3 cards Hts. I don't understand the RDBL . 3C at that point would have established a GF, because if West had wanted to invite, he would have bid 3C over 2C.

Someone forgot to tell Rodwell that. Recall the famous hand ( team championship several years ago ) where he directly overcalled a weak-2D open with: South Q 9 x x x x x x x K x x x Meckstroth put him in 4S game with: North A x x Q T x A K Q J T 9 x Rodwell led a Sp and let West's ♠K win ! ! and made it .... because East could never get in to push a Cl thru South's K.... ( West held A Q J x x of Cl) .

My choice is between 3♦! or 4♦! I think 3♦! and then cheapest Ctrl Cue over 3M.

I used to PASS w/ 2 cards ♥ ... and just bid 3H w/3 . But I rather like the "maximal" DBL concept: pass = 2 cards DBL = 3 cards 3H = 4 cards

Strong 2-suiters are difficult to describe by opening 2C first. I realize partner didn't want a 1S passout, but having opened 2C, why did he show Hearts first instead of Spades? Also, with a 5 card diam suit w/2 of the top 3, why not show it with a 3D bid over 2C ? So let's take the 2C bidder showing Sp first: 2C - 3D! 3S - 4S ( partner is not going to pass when you have shown a good hand; and better if the strong hand goes RKC ). 4NT - 5H ( 2 -sQ ) 6H! ( 3rd Rnd Ctrl-ask; by-passing the K-ask step ) - ?? 6S = no 3rd Rnd Ht Ctrl 7S = doubleton Ht 6NT = Ht Q 7H = Ht Q J (..) After: - 6NT 7S - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - All roads lead to the grand with this deal: Even with showing Hts first, Opener should reach 7H. Even opening 1S first, 7S should be reached after a 2D! ( 2/1 GF )

Similar but showing 5s/6+d: 2C - 3D ( 5+cards, 2 of top 3 or 3 of top 5 ) 3H - 3S 3NT - 4S 5D - pass or 6D if you feel lucky

Some would take that 2nd Sp bid as showing 5s/6c .... If you are prone to open 1C with a bare minimum 5/5 in the blacks, I would differentiate between the minimum 5/5 and a "good" 5/6 after the 4th Suit GF as follows: 1C - 1:red 1S - 2:other red ( 4SGF ) .. 2S = minimum 5/5 ..3S:jump = good 5/6

I agree with Ken on the poor 2S rebid. Stronger would be to try to show a 6-4 hand by rebidding the 4 card suit, then the 6 card suit again ( 6-4-6 ). However, that 4 card ♣ suit doesn't look so great ( K x x x ) and the only justification is the stellar ♠ suit to fall back on: 1S - 2D ( F1 ) 3C ( extras ) - 3H ( GF ) 3S - 4NT ( RKC ) 5S ( 2 + Q ) - 6NT

I can't help it. I 'm going to have Opener use RKC [ 4S! ( kickback ) when ♥ are trump -- although it wouldn't matter here ] . With 18, opposite a 2♣ GF response and no 2 quick losers in the side suits, Opener goes RKC: 1D - 2C! 2H ( showing 4 card suit ) - 3H 4S! - 5C! ( 1 key ... deciding not to show the " unuseful " void ) 5S! ( specific K-ask, showing all key cards and ♥ Q ) - 7NT ( because of the "source of tricks" in ♣ ) ............ Responder can count: 3s, 3h, 1d, 6c

You wouldn't have been in this predicament in the first place if you would have rebid 3S = minimum with as few as 2 cards ♠. [ See quote below by Justin ... which he made re. these types of hands ] .

Declarer still has slim chance ... with the ♠ Q x in the dummy. Draw trump and pitch dummy's three ♥ losers if ♠ split 3-3 .

Nothing wrong with it here: p - 1S 1NT - 3D 4D - 4H 4S ( I presume the Q in partner's 1st suit is worth a cue ) - 4NT 5D ( 1 key ) - ... but really not much room for a grand slam probe ...

You hold ( from post 5 ): Qx, Txxx, JTxxx, AQ Partner has made a GF bid with a 2-suiter. If you have 4+ cards in the 2nd suit ( the minor ), there are 4 unused bids bids BELOW 5m. Use them as "key card showing" in support of the minor ( pre-ageement of course ): You have agreements for the 5 bids : 3S 4S 3H ( other Major ) 3NT and probably 4C ( other minor ) That leaves 4 unused bids BELOW 5D: 4D! ( 4m ) = 0 ( or 3 improbable ) 4H!( 4oM ) = 1 ( or 4 impossible ) 4NT! = 2 - ♦ Q 5C! = 2 + ♦ Q Certainly, 4H!( 1 key ) would allow partner to make a better decision than the 5D "closeout" bid . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Note: All of the four 1M - 1NT - 3m sequences have 4 "unused" bids BELOW 5m . For example: 1H - 1NT - 3D has 4 similar "unused" bids below 5D ( similar to the above case ): 4D! ( 4m ) = 0 4S!( 4oM ) = 1 4NT! = 2 - ♦Q 5C! = 2 + ♦Q Likewise: the two 1M - 1NT - 3C sequences have 4 similar "unused" bids BELOW 5C : 4C! ( 4m ) = 0 4D! = 1 4oM! = 2 - mQ 4NT = 2 + mQ

I like it, not for the simplicity, but that I'm a RKC "mechanic' ( some may say "maniac" ). I think I would like only 3 steps: 5C = 0/3 5D = 1/4 5H = 2 Then, what is also appealing, is that the "next step" would now be a K-ask ( cheapest specific King if you will ) since the trump Q is no longer an issue. That means the "2nd step" would be an "outside Q-ask" ( or 3rd Rnd Ctrl Ask ). Also, this could be incorporated into Minorwood after suit agreement in a GF auction: 4m = iQ-Minorwood -- "asking" but "I have the trump Q " ; and any bid above 4m = 0/3, 1/4, or 2 -- "telling" and " I don't have the trump Q " Advantages for Minorwood are the subsequent K-ask at a lower level and plausible outside Q-asks which are practically non-existent otherwise. For example: 1D - 2D!( inverted, GF ) 4D!( asking w/♦Q ) - 4S ( 1/4 ) ?? ...4NT = to play ...5C = K-ask ( normally would be ♦Q-ask and 5H = kickback for K's ) ...5D = to play ...5H = ♥ Q-ask ...5S = ♠ Q-ask ...6C = ♣ Q-ask

Let's see if I got this right in this example: 1NT - 4H! ( Texas ) 4S - ?? a ) 4NT = iQRKC "asking" and I have the ♠Q ( steps are 0/4, 1, 2, 3 ) b ) 5D = nQRKC "telling" ( 1 key ) and I don't have the ♠Q ( 5D = 2nd step above 4NT = 1 ) where iQ = i have the trump Q and nQ = no trump Q in my hand

I didn't mention it in this thread ( but in other similar threads ) that: "In a GF situation and a minor ( m ) is agreed -- outright or implied -- the first partner to bid 4m, then that should be RKC ( Minorwood ) . " Forget the kickback except in very special ( pre-agreed ) auctions ( eg relay situations, etc ). For this one ( post 40 ) : 1S - 2D! ( 2/1 GF ) 3D - 3H ( either a cue or NT probe ) 3S - 4D! ( RKC ) 5C ( 2 + dQ) - 5H ( kickback for specific K's using Minorwood ) 6D ( none ) - pass

How does Meckwell play it ? I saw some discussion that: 1H - 2S = ~ 5-9 hcp weak/constructive 1H - 1S 2x - 3S = ~ 10-12 invite and ( from Bridge World, Dec 2010 ): 1H - 1S 2D - 2S! = GF

The 5-level belongs to Nigel ...

Correctamundo. I think it was the Swedes who came up with the idea of 2NT! = limit+ w/4. And folks, including myself... and Bill Higgins, have been improving/modifying it -- for better or worse -- ever since. For example, Responder can still use Bergen Raises and a different splinter structure: 1M - 3C! = lower Bergen but now 3D is not needed for Upper Bergen, so: 1M - ?? 3D! = ♣-splinter 3M! = normal preemptive Bergen raise 3oM! = ♦ splinter 3NT! = oM splinter This frees-up 4-level splinters to show VOIDs.

Trick 2: Lamford: "Cash ace of spades and exit with a heart." How can that (ruff ) happen ? East will be out of trump if Hts were either 2-2 or 3 (West) - 1 .