Science?

[mtvesuvius]

All Vulnerable, with LHO Dealing at IMPs you hold:

 

♠ AJTx

♥ KJ

♦ AKx

♣ K9xx

 

(2♥) - X* - (P) - ?

 

*Takeout

 

What's your bid, and why?

[straube]

I'll try 6 spades.

 

Partner ought to have more than...

 

Kxxx xx Qxxx AQx

 

for which I would still have chances. Hopefully, partner has something better.

 

Also, it's important that I declare, so I can't get fancy trying to see if we have

a better club fit than spade fit.

[Codo]

6 NT. Even without a heart lead, I hope to make 4 tricks in all other suits.

6 Spades looks like a 5 card suit to me.

[P_Marlowe]

2NT, Lebensohl.

 

At least you will have the chance to find out,

if partner is complete broke (in the context)

of his bidding or not.

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

[Hanoi5]

6NT for me, too.

[Fluffy]

I like Uwe's 2NT, it is important to assure that you will play in one fo the strains, 3♥ is likelly wrongsiding.

[cnszsun]

If we play lebensohl, Wouldn't 3S be game force? (invitational hand, we will bid 2nt first, then 3S)

Also, if we are in slam, 6S seems better than 6nt.

[rbforster]

If you're bidding lebensohl with this hand, you're following it up with 3♥. I think the difference between the direct cue bid and the one via 2N is that the 2N route promises a stopper. Since that's what I have and since partner might not have 4 spades, I want to give him a chance to show them. I suppose there's merit too of 3♠ (game forcing) if that only shows 4+ since you probably want to declare the spade contract too.

[mikeh]

It is possible that we have 34 hcp and no slam, but we can't afford to play in that much fear.. so we are off to slam.

 

We need to maximize our chances of strain. Any of 6♣/♠/NT seem like reasonable destinations, and we want to ensure, if we can, that we are declarer.

 

Most hands will play as well in notrump and/or spades as in clubs, so I won't worry about clubs. Besides, as noted below, I don't know how to get there from my side.

 

3♠ is a possible call... it is forcing, since with invitational values, we lebensohl first (in most approaches with which I am familiar). This will surely fetch a raise, and we can keycard and then choose our poison.

 

I am not convinced that this is best, since we will learn very little that will help us.

 

6♠ is possible. The vulnerability suggests that grand is out of the question, and most dummies will make 6♠ decent to laydown.

 

6N is possible.. again, most dummies will make that a good spot, and we may have 12 tops when spades fails on a bad trump break.

 

2N then 3♥ was one alternative I considered briefly, but that wrongsides both black suits.... if he bids 3N over my 3♥, denying 4+ spades, I will want to introduce clubs as a trump suit, but he will have bid clubs over my 2N.

 

So I think I have to guess. I can't think of a scientific way of preserving my status as declarer while investigating strain in a co-operative fashion.

 

My guess: 6N. Most hands will make 12 tricks in both spades and notrump, but my guess is that 6N will be a little safer. I guess I pay to something like KQxx x Qxxxx AQxx when diamonds break 4-1 and spades 3-2.

[Fluffy]

2NT->3♥->4♣, do you think this can be passed out?, if the answer is yes, then I just saw why my previous 2NT can be wrong. 6NT will have more chances to get to a good grand than the precious space saving 2NT.

 

The best way to investigate is to bid 3♠ then (I won't do that with any partner just in case). it cannot possibly wrongside any contract, you can blast 6NT in the end.

[mtvesuvius]

Turns out partner held the extremely questionable hand: Q9x Q JTxx AQTxx, the ♠ finesse was on and ♠ were 3-3 so my punt of 6♠ made... Mike's thoughts about 6NT were an extremely valid concern, seeing as 6NT cannot be touched if the K♠ is on. Thanks for all your thoughts :)

[andy_h]

This seems a bit hard. We're wanting to try and tell partner we have slam aspirations and whilst needing to know what his best suit is so we can declare it from the correct side. It seems to me that playing in a suit contract will be by far better on this hand than 6NT would be, if partner rates to have x or xx in hearts and hopefully won't have a mirrored shape.

If I bid 2NT lebensohl now (never have I bid lebensohl with such a strong hand lol) I've still got no idea what to do after partner bids 3C. He will be pretty much bidding 3C on a lot of hands unless he has a *monster*, so I don't get how 2NT will obtain much information from partner.

So maybe I should just bash 6S...or maybe 2NT then bid 5S? Whatever that means..

[mikestar]

Turns out partner held the extremely questionable hand: Q9x Q JTxx AQTxx, the ♠ finesse was on and ♠ were 3-3 so my punt of 6♠ made... Mike's thoughts about 6NT were an extremely valid concern, seeing as 6NT cannot be touched if the K♠ is on. Thanks for all your thoughts :P

Partner's actual hand was an obscenity, but it still makes with luck. Opposite a normal double I like direct 6NT. It guarantees I declare and might make if either spades or partner's longer minor break. 4-1 spades may set 6♠ when 6NT makes and I believe that this is more likely than the contrary case.