What's the meaning of this sequence in 2/1?

[Hanoi5]

1♠ 2♣

3♦

 

Is it a splinter showing bid or 5-5 in the pointed suits with a strong hand?

[jillybean]

I'd expect 6/5 or better; 2♣ may not be real, partner could have a gf hand with ♠'s

[karlson]

I would think splinter undiscussed, but I believe plenty of good players play it as a good 5-5 (or 6-5 or whatever).

[cherdano]

Depends on agreements. I would try to avoid this bid with a new partner.

[karlson]

2♣ may not be real, partner could have a gf hand with ♠'s

That's certainly true, but I'm not convinced it's a strong argument for playing it as natural. Either way, responder will bid 3s next to show a GF with 3 spades. Is it more useful for opener to have shown short diamonds and 4 clubs, or a decent 5 card diamond suit? I think this is somewhat unclear.

 

Of course if you do restrict it to 6-5 as you said, you win on hands when responder is now able to bid 3s with 2 of them, but lose some frequency. If you think that a club splinter is often of little use since responder has real clubs so rarely, then sure. But I think the 6-5 is much less frequent.

[jdonn]

You know, I hear it in discussions all the time that this jump is either splinter or 5-5 by agreement. But at the table, I have seen it be a splinter 100% of the time, and natural 0% of the time, not even one single time. I feel perfectly safe assuming splinter.

[Lobowolf]

It's a splinter for me.

[655321]

By agreement I play this as natural, 5/5, strong hand. Without agreement, like cherdano, I would try to avoid it. I don't know what is the usual meaning.

 

I am sometimes unsure what the question "what is the meaning of this sequence" in these forums is intending to find out.

Is it asking "What, if anything, is standard?", or similarly, "A pickup partner pulled this sequence on me, what should I guess to understand by it?". Or is it asking the different question "What agreement is best, i.e. what agreement should I make about this sequence?"

[maggieb]

I have basically never seen anyone actually play this as strong 5-5 at the table even though there is obviously some merit to this.

 

I am very confident in an expert pickup partnership that this would be a splinter, at least in North America.

[awm]

Well, Elianna and I actually play this as a strong 5/5. This is valuable for us because we use 1♠-2♣-2♦ as a catch-all bid with a wide variety of minimum hands (1♠-2♣-2♠ promises six and extras, 1♠-2♣-2NT promises red suit stops and extras). This treatment (2♦ as catch-all) has a lot of advantages but creates some problems when we want to go slamming in diamonds which the "natural 3♦ rebid" helps to minimize.

 

Of course, our methods are very far from standard (or "standard 2/1" whatever that is). I think with a pick-up expert 2/1 partner I would feel confident that 3♦ here is a splinter.

[jillybean]

If 1♠:2♣ 3♦ is played as a ♣splinter what is 1♠:2♣ 4♦?

[jdonn]

If 1♠:2♣ 3♦ is played as a ♣splinter what is 1♠:2♣ 4♦?

If you never make that bid you are doing ok :P However there are at least two good reasons you would want to splinter a level lower. You leave 3NT in the picture, and you leave partner room to cheaply support your major.

[jillybean]

Thanks, Im not sure if Ive ever made a minor suit splinter but if I have, Ive been doing it wrong.

[the hog]

Depends on agreements. I would try to avoid this bid with a new partner.

Agree with Arend.

This is a splinter with my partner.

[peachy]

Obvious splinter. I have never seen a good player play this as anything else. But maybe I haven't "seen" enough?

[P_Marlowe]

We play it natural.

 

Having said this, I agree that splinter makes a lot more

sense, we will change it, ... but it does not really matter

a lot.

 

And just repeating the already given advice: Dont try it

out with a new partner, if you dont know, what he thinks

the bid means, you will guess the meaning of his answers,

hence, you would be better of, if you had bid 2D or 4D

instead.

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

[BobElliott]

I play this as a "picture bid"

 

Min. AKJXX XX KQJXX X

 

KQJXX X AKJXX XX

[ArcLight]

From Mike Lawrneces 2/1 notes:

 

Jump shift to new suit – 2 treatments (both good) Discuss with pard which treatment to use.

1. Two GOOD suits. 8 – AQJ87 – Q8 – KQJT5, but NOT AK – Q9763-J-AKQ87 (hearts are weak, even with 19 HCP). Bid 2D with the later, despite the HCP.

2. Splinter. Keeps the bidding lower than a double jump to the 4 level. You can play that a double jump then shows a void.

 

Note: Jump to the 4 level ALWAYS is a splinter (assume 1 card, not a void).

[kgr]

If 1♠:2♣ 3♦ is played as a ♣splinter what is 1♠:2♣ 4♦?

I don't play 2/1.

But we play 2♦ forcing, that 3♦ is splinter for ♣ and 4♦ is void with 17+ and ♣-fit