get to 3N!

[goobers]

J95

AK862

KT

QJ7

 

432

975

AQ2

AK53

 

South deals, 1C 1H 1N...

[gwnn]

1♣-1♥

1N-2♣*

2♦-3NT**

p

 

* forces 2♦

** choice of games with 5332

 

with nothing fancy:

 

1♣-1H

1N-checkback

2♥-3N choice of games with 5332 I think

p

[gnasher]

1♣-1♦ (clubs or balanced / hearts)

1♥-2♦ (3 hearts / FG enquiry)

2♥-2♠ (balanced / forces 2NT)

2NT-3♦ (forced / 3523 choice of games)

3NT

 

Sorry, I know that probably wasn't very interesting for most readers, but good hands for my methods come up so rarely that I like to make the most of them.

[gnasher]

1♣-1♥

1N-2♣*

2♦-3NT**

p

 

* forces 2♦

** choice of games with 5332

 

with nothing fancy:

 

1♣-1H

1N-checkback

2♥-3N choice of games with 5332 I think

p

Presumably you'd also get to 3NT if responder had ♠K10 and ♦J9x. That's not such a good idea, is it?

[gwnn]

Oh sure it's not; but OP asked me to reach 3NT ;) I wanted to write something along the lines of your reply to append my post but I gave up. Anyway I'd always offer 3NT as responder; the question is should opener stay there or pull with xxx in spades? Hard to say when seeing the full hand - so I just pretended that wasn't a problem and there. To make my posts here somewhat more intellectually honest, I will note that the opps are very silent to opener can surmise that partner is more likely to have 3 spades than 2 spades.

[jdonn]

Of course it doesn't have to be right, but if responder shows some 5332 and offers a choice I think it's clear for opener to choose 3NT. He is 3334 with xxx of hearts. And yes the silence of the opponents increases partner's expected spade length/strength and decreases the chances LHO has a natural spade lead.