Coffee break time

[ahydra]

Time for some easy ones - mainly to canvass opinion rather than because they are challenging or interesting. Both sides weak NT, 4cM. Weak jump overcalls. MPs throughout.

 

1) IIRC both sides were vul

 

♠xxx ♥Kx ♦A ♣AKJ10xxx

 

(1S)-?

 

If you bid 2C it goes (p)-2H; (p) back to you; now what?

 

edit: lots of people support my partner's choice (and probably mine as well) of 2C followed by 2S. What do you do after you hear 2NT from partner?

 

2) Both sides non-vul

 

Partner opens 1S and you have ♠AKJxx ♥x ♦xxx ♣10xxx. Your call is? For bonus points, guess what actually happened (the fact I'm asking should clue you in a bit).

 

3) Both sides non-vul

 

You overcall (1H)-2C holding ♠xx ♥Qx ♦QJ10x ♣AKQJx. It goes (2H)-p; (3H). Bid again?

 

4)

 

xxx

-

Kxxx

AKJ10xx

 

AKJ10x

AJ10xx

A

xx

 

As South I drove to slam rather ambitiously, trying to make up for a bad evening (see hand 2). 1S-2C; 3H-4S; 4NT-5D; 5H-5S; 6S

 

I got the lead of a small diamond. How to play it?

 

ahydra

[gwnn]

1) 2♣ and then 2♠.

2) responder bid 4H and opener passed.

3) noooo.

4) tricky.

[ahydra]

1) 2♣ and then 2♠.

 

What do you show / ask for by a 2♠ bid here?

 

2) responder bid 4H and opener passed.

 

Got it in one. 4H-7 (and "only 50s, partner" is not a valid excuse at MPs). I was surprised at the pass from my partner, given she is one of the top three players at our usual club.

 

ahydra

[gwnn]

I just show a non-minimum ♣ overcall that doesn't have a good bid available. I think I'm too good for 3♣, nothing in spades for 2NT, and don't have 3 hearts for a 3♥ bid. I think there will be some guessing involved in where we'll end up, but 2♠ seems clear. Actually I replied only because I "knew" the answer for 2) but it seemed discourteous to ignore 75% of your post. In a pickup partnership I would bid 4♠ because I know sometimes people take 4♥ as natural (and I think there's some good point in playing it that way, maybe actually best).

[Codo]

1. 2 ♣ and 2 ♠

2. 4♠ and in reality you end the bidding with 4♥

3. Over 2♥ this had been an easy 2 NT, but now it is an easy pass.

4. I try the club finesse, if this win or lose, I try a spade finesse.

[ahydra]

I just show a non-minimum ♣ overcall that doesn't have a good bid available. I think I'm too good for 3♣, nothing in spades for 2NT, and don't have 3 hearts for a 3♥ bid. I think there will be some guessing involved in where we'll end up, but 2♠ seems clear. Actually I replied only because I "knew" the answer for 2) but it seemed discourteous to ignore 75% of your post. In a pickup partnership I would bid 4♠ because I know sometimes people take 4♥ as natural (and I think there's some good point in playing it that way, maybe actually best).

 

This is interesting - what's wrong with 2H first, since that is 100% forcing? I may be biased given my hatred of strong jump-shifts.

 

ahydra

[han]

I was surprised at the pass from my partner

 

If it was your agreement that 4H is a splinter then by all means be surprised. If not then you had no business jumping to 4H imo, it is quite common to play this as natural.

[dkham]

1. Agree with 2♠ on the second round - partner just has to work out it can't possibly be an unassuming cue bid in support of his hearts.

 

2. I would bid 4♠ if I wasn't sure, I think 4♥ is dangerous. Even if you've agreed 4♥ is a splinter, think I'd still bid 4♠ here.

 

3. Pass.

 

4. Two options: draw trumps (from top or with finesse?) then club finesse, or ruff three hearts in dummy (cashing clubs first?). Don't know.

[han]

I would not bid 4S with the second hand, even when I didn't know how to splinter. I think the hand is just too strong.

[ahydra]

We'd agreed "splinters". I've never met a player who plays 1S-4H as natural if playing splinters. As I mentioned above, it seems a pointless bid to have: surely all possible "lots of hearts" hands can be covered by one of 2H...3H, 3H (strong jump shift), 2H...4H or 2H...4SF...more hearts?

 

ahydra

[gwnn]

This is interesting - what's wrong with 2H first, since that is 100% forcing? I may be biased given my hatred of strong jump-shifts.

 

ahydra

You can just have

 

-

KQJTxxxx

xxx

Qx

 

Now you know where you want to play and there's no reason to dilly dally around (other than 4H being a splinter of course! :) ). 4H may not make but it's by far the most likely optimal contract.

 

Again, not saying that this is the best agreement but a good agreement.

[aguahombre]

(1S)2C (P) 2H

(P) 2S

 

What do you show / ask for by a 2♠ bid here?

It is more about what you don't show. If you had heart support, you would pass or raise hearts. If you had Diamonds and extra playing strength you could bid Diamonds. If you had a 2NT/3NT rebid, you would rebid one of those. With a mere 3C rebid, you would rebid 3C.

 

What you ask for is: 1) please don't pass. 2) Do something sensible, knowing what you know from my previous paragraph. 3) IMO, showing a spade stopper is very high on the priorities for advancer after this cuebid.

 

But with a spade control and club support a re-cue would be the sensible thing to do.

[mgoetze]

I would not bid 4S with the second hand, even when I didn't know how to splinter. I think the hand is just too strong.

Really... hm... looked like a max 4♠ call to me.

[perko90]

1) 2♣ then 2♠ (asking for a stopper), then 3NT

 

2) Not strong enough for a splinter. My preference is to bid a Bergen style limit raise and then raise to game if ptr tries to sign off. Slam could still be on with a perfect fitting 19 from ptr and it costs nothing to keep that alive. If not an option, 4♠ is probably the right call.

 

3) easy pass

 

4) you've got a bit of transportation issues... Spade finesse, then Club finesse.

[lowerline]

1) Agree with 2♣ and 2♠. Now 3nt.

2) 3nt undisclosed mini-splinter or another way to 4♠ that describes this hand

3) No, pass.

4) ♥ ruff, ♠A, ♥ ruff, ♠ finesse (if the finesse looses, you'll come down to ♥J and one club in hand and ♣KJ on the table: decision time)

 

Steven

[ahydra]

4) ♥ ruff, ♠A, ♥ ruff, ♠ finesse (if the finesse looses, you'll come down to ♥J and one club in hand and ♣KJ on the table: decision time)

 

Steven

 

After two heart ruffs and the SA, dummy no longer has a spade to take the finesse with :(

 

ahydra

[andy_h]

You can just have

 

-

KQJTxxxx

xxx

Qx

 

Now you know where you want to play and there's no reason to dilly dally around (other than 4H being a splinter of course! :) ). 4H may not make but it's by far the most likely optimal contract.

 

Again, not saying that this is the best agreement but a good agreement.

 

I also agree that it's a good agreement to have. Although I usually play some sort of splinter with this bid, but I love it as natural too. With those kind of hands that you suggested, I would like to bid an immediate 4H to suggest that hand type (in which going via 2H or 3H or w/e would show something different) and sometimes the bid may work wonders. For example, your LHO now has to come in at the 5 level and although that might be OK if they have both minors, it's when they have a 6 card minor that would give them a problem. Who knows, bidding an immediate 4H might be a good sac against their making 5m, or maybe it will prevent the opponents from finding a sac! It's similar to the auctions when partner opens 1m, RHO passes and you bid 4M.

[lowerline]

After two heart ruffs and the SA, dummy no longer has a spade to take the finesse with :(

 

ahydra

 

 

Right ;-) Well, then I play spades from top. If the queen does not drop, 5 club tricks are needed.

 

Steven

[ahydra]

Time to reveal what actually happened, I guess. Some very useful responses here, so thanks :)

 

1) I had a 10-count with AK10x spades, five hearts to the ten. (1S)-2C-(p)-2H; 2S from partner and I had no idea what that meant (good raise in hearts? forcing hand with clubs? ask a stop?) So I bid 2NT anyway and at which point 3NT would have been sensible from partner (after all, she intended 2S as stop-asking!). But she chose 3H, making me think she had a good raise in hearts, so I bid 4H and it scraped home with everything laying nicely + some awesome declarer play... for a second-bottom when everyone else is in 3NT+1 or 5CX= :@

 

2) I judged the hand to be a bit strong for a 3S raise so I tried 4H (splinter) but then partner passed, down 7 (partner even put down ♥AQ10, but the ♥KJ were both offside and the ♠A got ruffed!) I think 4S would have been a better choice (by either of us, lol).

 

3) I picked 4C in case partner had something like xxxxx x Kxxx xxx. Here 5CX is a good sac against their making 4H. Unfortunately this netted me a bottom - not for -500, but because my LHO was the only one in the room to bid 4H on his nice 7-count (5413 IIRC). Meh.

 

I'm amazed that nobody would bid again with this nice 15. I guess it looks like two fast losers each major and asking partner to show up with ♦AK is a bit much.

 

4) I ruffed a heart, ruffed a diamond, ruffed another heart and took the spade finesse. Thankfully spades were 3-2 with Q onside. Seems I misplayed the ending - when the ♥Q showed up on the second heart ruff, I might have played for RHO holding KQx as was the case. If you cash the ♥A and RHO shows out, then no problem - take the club finesse, and RHO can't hurt you even if he wins. So I should have made an overtrick, but just bidding the thing was a top anyway.

 

If you try the club finesse first you go off because clubs were 4-1.

 

ahydra

[han]

1. Maybe she (correctly) bid 2S because she had a strong hand, not in order to show anything but strength, or as an asking bid. I agree with you that 3H was not the best choice for her, but wouldn't it be better for you to bid 3NT? What do you think 2S followed by 3H shows, is it a slam try? If you agree that that is a rather small target after two NF bids, perhaps you agree that your partner is still looking for the best strain. Isn't it then obvious not to bid 4H with 10-fifth and a triple spade stopper?

 

2. Perhaps your partner should have figured this out with AQ10 of hearts. But of course you would have done better not to make ambiguous calls.

 

3. 4C is simply terrible, your hand is basically balanced. You have no business competing at the 4-level in a 5-card suit that you have already overcalled in.

[ahydra]

1. Maybe she (correctly) bid 2S because she had a strong hand, not in order to show anything but strength, or as an asking bid. I agree with you that 3H was not the best choice for her, but wouldn't it be better for you to bid 3NT? What do you think 2S followed by 3H shows, is it a slam try? If you agree that that is a rather small target after two NF bids, perhaps you agree that your partner is still looking for the best strain. Isn't it then obvious not to bid 4H with 10-fifth and a triple spade stopper?

 

2. Perhaps your partner should have figured this out with AQ10 of hearts. But of course you would have done better not to make ambiguous calls.

 

1) I did mention she intended 2S as stop-asking. And what about something like void Axx Axx KQ10xxxx - that's not strong enough for X-then-bid, so start with 2C and when partner bids 2H you might envisage some kind of slam?

 

Still, I guess I could bid 3NT anyway, but to be honest I was playing partner to be the strong player I know her as, despite the splinter mix-up and her earlier not inviting with a 9-count over my 1NT overcall (yes, 10 tricks were cold). So when she doesn't bid 3NT herself despite me suggesting NT is a good place to play...

 

2) As I mentioned earlier in the thread I'd never before come across someone who, playing splinters, thinks 1S-4H is natural.

 

ahydra

[JLOGIC]

I think bidding 4H is really bad even if it was a splinter. Your partner has no room to maneuver and your hand is very bad. There needs to be a tight range on splinters that are 1 under our game contract.

[JLOGIC]

Really... hm... looked like a max 4♠ call to me.

 

I would always bid 4S FWIW. We have no defense and a stiff heart, the last thing we want to do is let them into our auction easily. Also, what else can you bid but 4S? Sure you can play system and be able to show a good 1-4, or a very light splinter or something, but barring that I see no reasonable alternative to 4S anyways, tactical considerations aside. I'm not bidding 2N.

[Zelandakh]

1. 2♣ -> 2♠ -> 3NT. On the subject of the 2♠ call, a good general rule for non-expert pairs is to treat any undiscussed cue bid at the 2 or 3 level exactly like 4th suit forcing (stopper asking or general good hand). Not optimal but usually good enough and most importantly avoids misunderstandings.

 

2. 4♠. This is a simple hand evaluation matter. We are close to a 4♥ response but partner has to make an immediate decision over this as to whether to bypass 4♠ and in that spot it is a bad idea to lower the bottom end of the splinter. It is unusual for me to disagree with han so I assume he simply has a different splinter range agreed and handles the top end of my splinter range differently.

 

3. Pass. This looks obvious - we do not have anything special and there is a real danger we push them into a making 4♥.

 

4. Shame you already gave the answer to this. Seems interesting and I would have liked to see our card play experts evaluating the lines.

[sasioc]

 

I picked 4C in case partner had something like xxxxx x Kxxx xxx. Here 5CX is a good sac against their making 4H. Unfortunately this netted me a bottom - not for -500, but because my LHO was the only one in the room to bid 4H on his nice 7-count (5413 IIRC). Meh.

 

I'm amazed that nobody would bid again with this nice 15. I guess it looks like two fast losers each major and asking partner to show up with ♦AK is a bit much.

 

 

♠xx ♥Qx ♦QJ10x ♣AKQJx is not a nice 15 on this auction. I'd expect partner to have a 6 card suit a lot of the time for 2♣ - that or a little bit of extra strength. From this point of view you don't really have extras. The diamonds could be useful but Qx in opponents' suit is likely to be wasted and the fact that you don't have a singleton sucks. In short, you are not at the top end of a 2♣ bid imo and don't have anything like the shape required to wander back in at the 4 level.

 

There are also a couple of problems with the hand you are trying to pick with partner. He is not massively likely to have a heart singleton - opponents' auction doesn't sound like they have a 10 card fit so you should probably expect to find partner with some length in hearts (and, for that matter, spades). The other problem is that at white he is not going to be too scared to bid 3♣ over 2♥ and when he does not you can probably assume that you don't have a massive fit and/or that his hand is pretty rubbish.