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Last train or sign off?


MickyB

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In my non-expert opinion this hand should sign off pretty sharpish - you need to tell your partner about your poorly fitting values, aceless hand and 3 trumps ASAP.

 

With a hand like Ax AKJxxx AJxx x, p will have to move if you bid last train and opposite your hand the five level might not be safe.

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I don't understand the problem.

 

The way I play Drury is that 3 by partner would have been a slam try. That means that 4 was not a general cue, but a splinter. In that case 4 would not be last train in my vocabulary, but a genuine diamond cue. I would bid 4.

 

If 4 would not be a splinter, but a cue, it would be absurd to bid a last train 4 since we don't have the spade control that partner denied.

 

Rik

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I don't understand the problem.

 

The way I play Drury is that 3 by partner would have been a slam try. That means that 4 was not a general cue, but a splinter. In that case 4 would not be last train in my vocabulary, but a genuine diamond cue. I would bid 4.

 

If 4 would not be a splinter, but a cue, it would be absurd to bid a last train 4 since we don't have the spade control that partner denied.

 

Rik

 

I would guess that 4 is a splinter. Why does this mean that 4 cannot be last train? There is one bid between signing off and the current level so 4 is just a general slam try neither denying or confirming a control. That's the way I play it anyway.

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Assuming 4 is a splinter, 4 seems crazy to me. We had soft values for our Drury to begin with (and only 3 cards, as Broze said), and now our hand's best feature has disintegrated. If all P needs to make slam is a second round control and a smattering of quacks, surely he could either have set the suit at a lower level and forced cuebids, or can now push on over my signoff?

 

ETA - didn't register 4 was last train. Not my finest morning. Anyway, given that, I feel like it's even worse than bidding it as a cue would have been.

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P had all kinds of ways to investigate slam and yet they chose a 4c splinter.

we do not know why they chose that method but our hand got 30% worse when p

shows up short in clubs. While the ability to potentially ruff diamonds keeps

this from being a hopeless hand it is still a poor hand overall given your

p choice of bids.

 

It seems far better to just bid

 

4h

 

letting your p know about your hand downgrade and they can continue further if

they wish. As an aside your hand construction seems to indicate that one pitch

on the club K is unlikely to ever be the slam going trick. Switch your dia K

and spade Q around and the club K might still have slam potential (even then

it is at best 5050).

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P P 1H P

2C P 4C P

 

2C = Drury (one-way)

[Edit 4C = splinter]

 

QT9x

Q9x

K

KT9xx

 

 

4 without hesitation. This is the worst possible hand.

 

 

yeah probably the worst possible.. 4 seems auto

 

I disagree. This hand is much better than something like Qxx Qxx Jxx KQxx.

 

The hand given could be just what partner is looking for: the spade suit could be a good filler opposite length, The diamond holding could take care of partner's losers in the suit. On a good day, even the K might provide a useful pitch.

 

Bearing in mind that with a perfect fitting hand I should be forcing to slam, I should show vague signs of encouragement when my hand is OK, particularly when I'm not committing our side above the 4-level. I bid 4.

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yeah probably the worst possible.. 4 seems auto

 

 

I disagree. This hand is much better than something like Qxx Qxx Jxx KQxx.

 

The hand given could be just what partner is looking for: the spade suit could be a good filler opposite length, The diamond holding could take care of partner's losers in the suit. On a good day, even the K might provide a useful pitch.

 

Bearing in mind that with a perfect fitting hand I should be forcing to slam, I should show vague signs of encouragement when my hand is OK, particularly when I'm not committing our side above the 4-level. I bid 4.

 

It was the worst possible which was worth a 2 drury call.

Qxx Qxx Jxx KQxx

That's a 2 bid.

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It was the worst possible which was worth a 2 drury call.

Qxx Qxx Jxx KQxx

That's a 2 bid.

MickyB is probably opening balanced 11 counts.

 

I will never understand why so many think it's best to have a range of 4-10 for 1H-2H, and 9.5-10.5 (or 9.5-11 if you are a more solid opener) for 1H-2C.

We have a fit, and we have two more steps below the 2-level. We can manage with a range of good 8 - submin opener.

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I'd say most 8s are good enough to Drury and most 11s will already have opened. Not bidding Drury on this hand is lolworthy IMO.

 

I signed off at the table without much thought, we missed a decent slam when partner held AJxx AJT8x AQJx void. A player I respect suggested I was worth 4D. I was unsure - 7 hcp outside of clubs is ok, but stiff king must be a fair bit worse than Kx here.

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I'd say most 8s are good enough to Drury and most 11s will already have opened. Not bidding Drury on this hand is lolworthy IMO.

Spot on. I think this is a maximum hand for Drury. If you replace your wasted K by a small club, you would still have a Drury bid (knowing that your K is likely working). This is why I would co-operate with a slam try by cueing diamonds.

 

Rik

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I play that 4D is reverse last-train, a puppet to 4H, and that 4H is last train. Partner can overrule the puppet if he does not want to sign off. That allows one to bid 4NT through the puppet or immediately, and I think the latter should be RKCB, the former something else by agreement. If you play kickback, you can also bid it through the puppet. David Gold thought this idea was good, but, like me, feared it being forgotten at the table.

 

On this hand I would puppet and pass 4H if partner is happy with a sign-off.

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