Do I have the Queen?

[wyman]

[hv=pc=n&s=skqjha84dqj6ck642&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=1n(15-17)p4d(%21h)p4hp4n(1430RKC)p5c(1/4)p5d(%21hQ%3F)p]133|200[/hv]

[Zelandakh]

You need a known 10 card fit (or the queen herself) to give a positive response to a queen ask in RKCB. Your partner has shown 6+ hearts, you have 3. 9 is not enough so you can only bid 5H.

[wyman]

You need a known 10 card fit (or the queen herself) to give a positive response to a queen ask in RKCB. Your partner has shown 6+ hearts, you have 3. 9 is not enough so you can only bid 5H.

 

Thanks. Always knew that extra length was a suitable substitute, but never knew it had to be a known 10-card fit.

[bd71]

Thanks. Always knew that extra length was a suitable substitute, but never knew it had to be a known 10-card fit.

 

Don't just think of this as a rule...understand the reasoning behind it.

 

Because partner is asking about the queen, it's very likely partner has the K♥. By claiming the queen when you don't have it, you are suggesting that there are no trump losers.

 

With a 9-card fit, partner's strongest and weakest possible queenless trump holdings would give you these two situations to keep to zero losers:

 

KJTxxx

Axx

 

or

 

Kxxxxx

Axx

 

Are you confident there are no heart losers? Assuming you play for the drop, I think the probabilities of no losers will be between 41% and 53%. Not very good.

 

With a 10-card fit, the strongest/weakest holdings would be:

 

KJTxxx

Axxx

 

or

 

Kxxxxx

Axxx

 

Here, your odds of zero trump losers are between 78% and 89%. Very good.

 

On the off-chance that partner doesnt' have the K♥, the reasoning is much the same but you're thinking about your odds of holding trump losers to one rather than zero. Percentages will be slightly different, but general point will be the same.