rbforster Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Holding this hand you have a strong club relay auction and learn that partner holds a 5242 minimum game force (~8-10 pts). Sadly for your heart holding, partner bids NT first. What do you want to play? [hv=d=s&s=sqxhkjdjcak98xxxx]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] this was our auction: 1♣-1♥ upgraded to 16+; 1♠ GF with 4+ unbal1♠-2N relay; ♠>♦ even shortness3♣-3♦ relay; 52423♥-3♠ strength ask; min... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwnn Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 I'd play 5♣. They will usually find the heart lead and we will usually go down. And it usually pays to stay with the 'field' when you aren't sure after a relay auction. The 'field' plays in their 8 card suit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Awful awful aaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwfullllll upgrade to 1♣. Now you can just flip a coin... 3NT, you'll need to find the ♥ in whatever contract, so why not stay low... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cascade Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 5♣ needs both red aces or a top spade and an ace (including ♠AK as a possibility). Most of those combinations will have good play for 3NT. We may have a guess if partner does not have the ♥ A or ♥ Q. But we will also have some play for 3NT when partner does not have the above combinations. I think this makes 3NT much more likely to make. Although there is also the possibility that 3NT will go several down e.g. opposite ♠AK and a wrong heart guess and lots of hearts and diamonds cashed. Still I bid 3NT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigel_k Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 3NT. On this auction RHO might lead A♥ if he has it and might lead another suit with neither heart honour. So you have pretty good chances of a heart stopper playing J♥ at trick 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherdanno Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Why did I relay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echognome Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Why did I relay? Totally agree with this comment. Even if you choose to upgrade to 1♣, why not break the relay to show your suit? Perhaps you play breaks as showing misfits with partner, but then that's more the reason not to open a strong club in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_h Posted July 31, 2009 Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 3NT. 5♣ may also need a heart guess like say a diamond lead and a heart through. Partner may have [H]Q (say ♥Q ♦KQ and a spade card which makes 3NT better than 5♣) or if he doesn't he can try and guess the heart on the first trick or maybe the hearts are blocked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbforster Posted July 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 Good points about the auction. The upgrade was motivated a little bit of a quirk of our Silent Club system, where we would have otherwise passed with this hand and partner would have (re)opened with his hand. In the context of the system, I'm reasonably happy with the upgrade, since we would probably play 2♣ (similar to partner passing a precision 2♣ opener) and I thought the potential for game was higher than that. The point about relaying is well taken. We don't have well defined relay breaks in the early rounds of our auctions, so long good suits (naturally) is probably a good agreement and would be a good choice here. The hand was also interesting. [hv=d=s&n=sa9xxxhxxdqt32cqj&w=skjhaxxxdaxxxctxx&e=st8xxhqtxxxdkxxxc&s=sqxhkjdjcak98xxxx]399|300|Scoring: IMPSouth to play 5♣North to play 3N[/hv]I suppose I forgot to add to the poll about whether the 3N bidders were playing high or low on the heart lead. This time the J is right, as you can see. The play in 5♣ on the actual hand was somewhat interesting. The lead was a low club, and I played a small diamond off of board. RHO ducked his K and LHO won the ace and continued a low trump. I took the ruffing finesse in diamonds (covered and ruffed), and ran trump. With one trump to go, I reached this ending after RHO erred by pitching a diamond along the way. [hv=d=s&n=sa9xxxhxxdqt32cqj&w=skjhaxxxdaxxxctxx&e=st8xxhqtxxxdkxxxc&s=sqxhkjdjcak98xxxx]399|300|Scoring: IMPSouth to play 5♣North to play 3N[/hv]West gets caught in a strip squeeze on the 2nd to last (or last) club. In practice he parted with the J♠ and the contract was made when the spade loser disappeared and one heart went on the good diamond to avoid the guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.