Invite with 3 card support

[DWM]

Last night my partner held a nice 17 count 2-3-6-2

 

Bidding went

 

1D - 1H....

 

When we looked at the options for further bids we found a little hole

 

2D/2H these both show a lot weaker hand

3D - this hides a possible 5-3 heart fit

3H - This could get us in trouble with a 4-3 fit, also how do we distinguish between strong hands with 3 or 4 card support

 

Any suggestions on dealing with these sort of hands? I can see one option is to open it 1NT but looking for other possibilities as well.

 

We are currently playing a 2/1 system strongly based on the ML CD

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

 

one option is to play 3D as showing a 6

card suit and promising 3 card support,

... I have seen this mentioned somewhere.

 

The usual way is to play 3H over 3D as forcing,

promising a strong 5 card suit, and 3S instead

of 3H should also show some interest in playing

hearts.

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

[Gerben42]

This is a known problem hand.

 

one option is to play 3D as showing a 6

card suit and promising 3 card support,

... I have seen this mentioned somewhere.

 

This methods requires having the 2NT rebid free for 1-suited hands with ♦ without 3-card support. Normally this sequence is NOT free, however, you have to adapt your system.

 

For the moment I'd choose between 2NT and 3♦ as rebid.

[ArcLight]

>The usual way is to play 3H over 3D as forcing,

promising a strong 5 card suit, and 3S instead

of 3H should also show some interest in playing

hearts.

 

 

Is this standard?

I never heard of 3♠ over a 3♦ rebid showing heart interest in this auction.

I would assume pard is looking for 3NT and showing a spade stopper.

Or asking for one?

Would you bid 3NT with ♥ and ♠ stoppers and hope 3NT makes?

Does 3♠ show a good 4=5 hand?

 

 

I would bid 3♦ in general.

 

BUT

 

It would greatly help if you would display the exact hand.

 

>Last night my partner held a nice 17 count 2-3-6-2

xx

KQJ

KQJxxx

AQ

 

Spades are a concern in 3NT

 

 

Kx

Qxx

AKQTxx

Kx

 

3 NT can work out well.

[Finch]

This is a problem hand-type in standard methods.

With a 17-count 2362 you are too strong to open 1NT, even if you are happy to have a 6-card minor.

 

I agree with you that raising to 3H on 3-card support and a balanced (ish) hand is unlikely to be right.

 

Assuming the hand is not so good that you wish to force to game, the two best options are to rebid 3D (over which partner's 3H is natural and forcing, showing five cards only) or to rebid 2NT. Which you choose depends on the nature of the hand:

 

Qx

AJx

AQJxxx

Kx

 

looks like a 2NT rebid

 

xx

AKx

AKQxxx

Jx

 

looks like a 3D rebid (and a pretty maximum one, at that)

[Apollo81]

2NT or 3♦ depending on the location of your high cards.

[skjaeran]

2NT or 3♦ depending on the location of your high cards.

Ditto.

[Stephen Tu]

These are variations of what is known as the "Bridge World Death" hand, since it is a common problem that stumps the experts in that magazine.

 

It's even worse with some 6331 shape hands where rebidding 2nt is unpalatable. If you need 2nt to be able to show 18-19 bal, there's no great way to do it in std methods. With non-std methods, possibly utilizing semi-artificial or wholly artificial forcing 2c/2s rebids, there's somewhat more room to find out whether partner has 4/5/6 hearts, still maybe stop in 3d if that's the last sensible contract, and sort out the black suit stopper question.