Perhaps Too Many Options...

[MinorKid]

[hv=d=s&v=e&s=shat87daqt743cat2]133|100|Scoring: IMP

1♦ (-) 1♥ (1♠)

?[/hv]

 

This is the last board recently played at Main Bridge Table.

 

Please don't laugh at my choices ... i am a beginner indeed. :)

Conventions are welcome.

 

Gee I have almost forgot 4♥ is also an option. ;)

For those who choose an instant 4♥ please vote for "Others..." and may post "4♥"

Sorry and thx

 

18 MAR ask: Does your choice differs without the overcall? Thx again.

How to go to 7♦ after a splinter?

[kenrexford]

I would force game however it makes the most sense to do so as you play. It is a tad aggressive, but the overcall suggests that values will be to your right, which increases the odds of any given finesse working, up to any of your tenaces.

[Cyberyeti]

I'm going to force to game and show a spade shortage and primary support. 3♠ for me (showing a void specifically with my normal partner).

 

Potentially this hand is vast opposite say xxxx, KQxxx, Kxx, x it appears to make a grand if no voids are around.

 

My idea is to use exclusion if partner gives me either minor suit king and I'm prepared to look stupid if partner has AQx, Jxxx, xx, KQxx and I go off in 5.

[MinorKid]

If slam is on ... are you sure it is in ♥ ?

 

Anybody play fit jump here?

[Fluffy]

If slam is on ... are you sure it is in ♥ ?

most likelly yes, it is hard to figure out alternative strains, except we find out after keycard that ♥Q is missing or something.

 

I'd bid 3♠ sicne this hand has so much potential, with a bit less I'd bid just 4♥

[Free]

We have a distributional GF hand, so I want to show my hand type to partner before he has to make a 5-level decision. 3♠ is imo best.

 

I'm pretty sure slam is best in ♥, unless partner has many ♦s (in which case he should go to 6♦ instead of 6♥, or offer us a choice.

[Codo]

As a beginner, you may shoudl choose a simple 4 ♥. But the hand is strong enough for 3 ♠ too, espacially if you have enough tools to find out below 4 ♥ whether partners hand is suitable or not.

[MinorKid]

So far... nobody rebid or jump to diamonds.

[Free]

So far... nobody rebid or jump to diamonds.

Indeed. There's a very simple rule which is pretty important: "support with support". You have an 8-card Major fit, so you show it to partner. ♦s can come in play later if necessary.

[ArtK78]

So far... nobody rebid or jump to diamonds.

The diamond suit is not strong enough for a 4♦ bid showing a strong hand with 4-6 in the reds. This typically shows a SOLID diamond suit with good 4 card heart support.

 

A 3♦ bid would show a good hand with long diamonds, but it would deny holding 4 card heart support. The 4 card heart support is the most important single characteristic of this hand, and one should not ignore it.

 

As for a 2♦ rebid, that is wrong for two reasons. The hand is far too good for a 2♦ rebid and it would deny 4 card heart support.

 

Both 2♦ and 3♦ rebids would be major errors.

[vuroth]

I voted 3♥, but I'm reconsidering 3♠. Not only does it help partner if the next bid is 4♠, but it's not easy to build hands where 4♥ has no chance, even if partner has wasted strength in ♠s.

[MinorKid]

So far... nobody rebid or jump to diamonds.

The diamond suit is not strong enough for a 4♦ bid showing a strong hand with 4-6 in the reds. This typically shows a SOLID diamond suit with good 4 card heart support.

 

A 3♦ bid would show a good hand with long diamonds, but it would deny holding 4 card heart support. The 4 card heart support is the most important single characteristic of this hand, and one should not ignore it.

 

As for a 2♦ rebid, that is wrong for two reasons. The hand is far too good for a 2♦ rebid and it would deny 4 card heart support.

 

Both 2♦ and 3♦ rebids would be major errors.

 

Can 3♦ be a fit jump with ♥ support?

 

If not then rebid ♥ after ♦ where approprate.

[MinorKid]

What if partner actually holds ♦Kxx ♥Kxxx(x) ?

[Free]

What if partner actually holds ♦Kxx ♥Kxxx(x) ?

It's still better to play in ♥. Give partner ♣xxx. You'll be able to discard 3 losers in partner's hand on your long ♦s (so all his ♣ losers will be gone), while you won't have any discards in your hand when partner holds only 4 ♥s, and only 1 discard if he has 5 of them (so you still have 1-2 ♣ losers).

 

A common situation is if you have the choice between a 4-4 fit and a 5-3 fit. In most cases (not all!) the 4-4 fit will play better, because you have some discards with your second fit. Even if you have a 4-4 and a 5-4 fit it may pay off to play in the 4-4 fit, because you still have 1 discard on the 5-4 fit.

 

This is a general principle: if you have 2 equal fits, always try to avoid playing in the fit that would provide most discards. In this case, ♦ can provide 3 discards, ♥ can provide maximum 1 discard, so avoid playing in ♦.

 

There's one exception: if one your fits is huge you should still play in it, because of a possible ruff. If partner has 4♥ and 5♦, you definitely want to play in ♦. It's dangerous to play in ♥ because opps might have a ♦ ruff to start with.

[cherdanno]

What if partner actually holds ♦Kxx ♥Kxxx(x) ?

Then we still belong in hearts (in fact, 6♥ is excellent).

Not raising hearts here is a major error.

[MinorKid]

In this board i did not care about partner's shape. So i bid 4NT...

The result... tell you later

 

Forgive me... i met a 13 year old novice there

 

i am 14

[vuroth]

Was the location of the K♥ that important to you??

[jjbrr]

3♠

[jjbrr]

In this board i did not care about partner's shape. So i bid 4NT...

The result... tell you later

It's generally wrong to bid RKCB with a void because partner's response might be completely meaningless to you. Suppose on this hand he shows 1 keycard. It's more or less a coinflip that he has the ace of spades rather than the king of trumps. If you ask for the Q and he denies it, then what do you do? You'd look silly getting to slam missing the KQJ of trumps.

 

If you just play straight blackwood, I guess this is fine, but when you ask for the number of kings partner has, again he could easily have the king of spades.

 

The solution is to cuebid rather than ask for keycards. In this case you're interested in hearing about a ♦ cuebid and later about good trumps.

[ArtK78]

So far... nobody rebid or jump to diamonds.

The diamond suit is not strong enough for a 4♦ bid showing a strong hand with 4-6 in the reds. This typically shows a SOLID diamond suit with good 4 card heart support.

 

A 3♦ bid would show a good hand with long diamonds, but it would deny holding 4 card heart support. The 4 card heart support is the most important single characteristic of this hand, and one should not ignore it.

 

As for a 2♦ rebid, that is wrong for two reasons. The hand is far too good for a 2♦ rebid and it would deny 4 card heart support.

 

Both 2♦ and 3♦ rebids would be major errors.

 

Can 3♦ be a fit jump with ♥ support?

 

If not then rebid ♥ after ♦ where approprate.

It is certainly not standard to play a jump rebid by opener as showing support for responder's suit. The standard meaning of the jump rebid is a good six-card suit and an above-average opening bid - about a K above average.

 

Suppose you hold:

 

xxx

x

AKQJxx

AQx

 

What do you want to bid after the auction starts 1♦ - (P) - 1♥ - (1♠)? Certainly 3♦ seems right.

 

The meaning of the 3♦ rebid doesn't change when RHO bids over partner's 1♥ response. It is the same as if the auction went 1♦ - (P) - 1♥ - (P) - 3♦.

 

Furthermore, the 3♦ rebid is not forcing. So, with 4 card heart support, you must support partner's heart suit otherwise you may wind up playing in 3♦. Besides, partner will never play you for 4 card heart support unless you raise hearts immediately.

[Fluffy]

In this board i did not care about partner's shape. So i bid 4NT...

The result... tell you later

this leaves me speechless. When you make a bid you have to have a purpose in mind, 4NT doesn't help you at all on whatever your target is here.

 

bidding 4NT too much is typical for inexperienced players because that's the only slam tool they know. The sooner you learn other weapons such as splinter, cuebid etc, the better.

 

Bidding 4NT with a void is even worse than the usual wrong 4NT, you take all your bidding space to ask a question for wich you don't want the answer.

[Bbradley62]

As a beginner, you may shoudl choose a simple 4 ♥. But the hand is strong enough for 3 ♠ too, espacially if you have enough tools to find out below 4 ♥ whether partners hand is suitable or not.

While I generally think beginners should keep auctions simple, avoiding the 3♠ bid is not a good example of this. Even if you maintain that, for beginners, each bid should have the simplest reasonable meaning, 3♠ can't possibly be anything except a splinter, so you should use that bid when appropriate.

[P_Marlowe]

3S.

 

You have fit, you show it, espesially since you have a major suit

fit, and the auction got competitive.

 

Since you are strong enough, that slam should have reasonable chances

if p has no wastage in spade and moderate values, you are too strong

to just bid 4H, so you need to make a stronger move.

 

I prefer to bid 3S, since this makes it clear to p, that you are seriously

bidding game, which may be important, if they compete with 4S, and that

you have slam interest.

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

[P_Marlowe]

If slam is on ... are you sure it is in ♥ ?

 

Anybody play fit jump here?

I guess a 4D still has the same meaning, even after the 3S call.

 

With no intervention - 4D would show a 6 carder and the heart fit,

but one usually requires a better suit, AKQxxx.

That is the classical meaning, but there is a approach, which reserves

the 4D bid for 5422 hands, the reason being, that with a 6 card suit

and 4 card support, you have a splinter.

 

The splinter basically gurantees 5diamonds, ... you could be 4441, but

that is the only sensible distribution, and since you make a slam move,

the diamond suit wont be rubbish, so the splinter is a fit jump, sort of.

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

[MinorKid]

I am just curious. If you splinter would partner bid ♦ with ♦ Kxx ?

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When I come to auctions that splinter the opponent's suits there's oftenly a group of tables bid something like a fit jump. i.e. jump to a suit immediate the overcall , showing a >5 card bidded suit with at least 2 honors.

 

I throught "splinter" and "fit jumps" are a pair! But here i met all fans of "Splinter"