slam decision with long 2 suiter

[whereagles]

Swiss IMP teams of 10 boards, experts all around. Pard is a slight overbidder.

 

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questions:

 

1. Agree with dbl?

2. Agree with 4♥?

3. Now what? (4NT would be RKCB.)

[Hanoi5]

I agree with double but I'm sure some people would prefer 3♣. The question is what would you do over partner's rebid of spades.

 

I like 4♥, I suppose it sets up clubs as trumps.

 

I'd ask for KC now. I hope they don't come in with 5♥ so I better have a good understanding with partner on what to do. Asking for KC will allow me to find if we have 7 but that's not easy for it needs partner to have 3 KC's and the ♦K/great spades. I wouldn't mind a jump to 6♣ either. Also some people play 03-14 responses when clubs are trumps, so that's something else we have to be clear about.

[whereagles]

4♥ does set clubs as trumps.

 

4NT has the normal replies: 5C = 0-3, 5D = 1-4, etc.

[ahydra]

I missed a game recently where partner responded 3C with both minors (not quite as shapely as this though) instead of X after the same start. So perhaps X is the way to go :)

 

Since you say 4H sets clubs as trumps, agree with that also.

 

Agree with going for 4NT next, trusting partner to have 2 keys. If he turns up with AKQxx xx Kxx Qxxx or the like, I either drop a singleton CK or fake illness and go home early. :)

 

ahydra

[BunnyGo]

4♥ does set clubs as trumps.

 

4NT has the normal replies: 5C = 0-3, 5D = 1-4, etc.

 

This makes RKC unfortunate here. If you hear 5♦ as a response, you're going to either have to pass (a big position to take), or bid 6♣ off two key cards. Hopefully partner's 4♠ cue bid is an Ace (or could it be a king?) in which case you just have to find the King of clubs...still not great.

 

I'd probably just bid 6♣ (especially if the cue bid has to be an Ace) as the grand is not a favorite, and 6 at least has chances off 2 key cards. It also puts them to the guess to sac or not--maybe that's 1.5 ways to win.

[gnasher]

This makes RKC unfortunate here. If you hear 5♦ as a response, you're going to either have to pass (a big position to take), or bid 6♣ off two key cards. Hopefully partner's 4♠ cue bid is an Ace (or could it be a king?) in which case you just have to find the King of clubs...still not great.

 

I'd probably just bid 6♣ (especially if the cue bid has to be an Ace) as the grand is not a favorite, and 6 at least has chances off 2 key cards. It also puts them to the guess to sac or not--maybe that's 1.5 ways to win.

 

You're worried that RKCB may take you past game when you're off two keycards, so you jump to slam instead?

 

I don't suppose you meant that, but I can't see any advantage to eschewing RKCB on this. Is a grand slam out of the question?

 

Edit: I wouldn't be worried about being opposite no aces. If partner has something like KQJxx xx KJ KQJx I don't think he should cue-bid.

Edited May 23, 2011 by gnasher

[menggq]

I think this was a good bidding sequence.

South: Dbl=Neg showed minors 9hcp+ probably

North: 4C=promised C4+cards

South: 4H=cue bid showed C FIT implied slam interesting.

North: 4S=first round control SA held.

South: Now why not 4N for RKCB?!

[whereagles]

allright, hands were

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I was South and in practice bid now 5♣, mostly because I was afraid of a 5♦ reply, which is possible due to pard's tendency to overbid. Here pard was, on top of that tendency, under pressure as well. I reasoned if pard had a good hand, he'd bid on after my cue.

 

Well, not today. Pard passed 5♣ and we missed a slam which made because RHO had the diamond king, as was more or less expected from his overcall. In the other room the player in my seat had better methods and bid 4♦ kickback to later reach 6. Lose 11 IMP.

 

In retrospect perhaps it my hand is worth 4NT anyway, as I have a lot more distribution than could be expected. The odds pard has just 1 key are low enough to make it worth a try. He did say he'd move on with ♦K instead of the ♥K, though.

 

Anyway, thx all. Preempts work, I guess :)