Good contract, but a bit unsure about the auction.

[Quartic]

[hv=pc=n&w=sa8hkqjt2dak6cj43&e=skqj63h87543dcaq5&d=e&v=0&b=14&a=1sp2hp4d(Splinter)p4s(Cue)p5c(Cue)p5d(Cue)p5s(Cue)p6d(Cue)p6hppp]266|200[/hv]

 

Making 12 tricks on the ♣8 lead.

 

I'm not entirely happy with this auction, because I (West) was unable to find out whether partner had the A♥. Also, while I thought 6NT would be good from partner's side of the table, I wasn't sure if it would play well from my side.

 

Where could we have done better?

 

Our general system was Acol, so 1♠ didn't immediately promise 5, and 2♥ was 10+, not game forcing. Our cues showed first or second round control.

[Codo]

If your first cue in partners suit shows an honour, easts only problem is the location of the high hearts. There is a convention for this: It is called josephine. After 4 Spade, you bid 5 NT and partner shows his high heart honours.

You would still miss the grand opposite AKxxxx, but that is the smallest loss, compared to other solutions I know.

[TWO4BRIDGE]

If your first cue in partners suit shows an honour, easts only problem is the location of the high hearts. There is a convention for this: It is called josephine. After 4 Spade, you bid 5 NT and partner shows his high heart honours.

You would still miss the grand opposite AKxxxx, but that is the smallest loss, compared to other solutions I know.

A number of slam tries have been attributed to Culbertson's wife, Josephine.

 

Over 4S! cuebid :

 

- - 5NT = Josephine Grand Slam Force : asking for 7H w/2 of top 3

 

whereas:

 

- - 5H! = Josephine 5-of-Trump : asking for 6H w/2 of top 3

......and the Josephine 5NT REPLY to the 5H!-ask = A K Q ( at least with this one you would reach the grand ).

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

EDIT: Some might think 5H is a sign-off here since you are forced above game, but with a bare minimum opener, I think you if you really wanted to sign-off, you would first bid 4NT ( RKC ) over 4S .

Edited May 21, 2012 by TWO4BRIDGE

[TWO4BRIDGE]

A 2/1 GF auction:

 

East    West

1S        2H ( 2/1 GF )

3H        3S ( cue; NOT a double-fit; says nothing about "Seriousness" )

5H ( asks for 6H w/2 of top 3 )

[Quantumcat]

West can anticipate East's problems - if he has a void, he can't keycard. Therefore West should just ignore his small clubs, and keycard himself. When you are faced with a crunch situation, you sometimes just don't have the luxury of ironing out every tiny detail. This is Pragmatics for Bridge 101.

 

In addition, there isn't really any way that his partner can have his bids if he doesn't have something solid in clubs - he has shown the equivalent of a 16 count or better, to be suggesting slam over a 2/1. They only way really, is to have exactly KQJTxx Axxxx - Qxx. And this might not be worth 4D to some people.

 

In other situations, it's good to recognise that when one partner has shown a splinter, if the other one has the ace (and knows the partnership has slam values, of course) he should either (a) cuebid his ace as soon as humanly possible so that if his partner wants to keycard he can, or (b) keycard himself.

 

Suggested auction (incredibly simple):

 

1♠ 2♥

4♦ 4NT

5♣ 6♥

[Quartic]

Thanks for the replies, I can see how these get me to 6♥ with more confidence. I still wonder if there's a sensible way to get to 6NT by partner. (Which was cold anyway with the ♣King onside.)