wastage?

[wyman]

rubber, no legs :)

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The discussion I've had so far is on the relative merits of 5♦ vs 6♣, but all comments are welcome.

[billw55]

Is that diagram right - did east really pass first, then come in at 5♣?

[wyman]

It is correct. I almost altered the bidding so that the given hand was dealer, but I thought I'd accurately report the hand as bid.

 

This is an erratic home rubber-bridge game. Partner is not strong, so the nuances of the bidding from here on out will be lost on him, but I thought it was an interesting spot.

 

I reached out to a couple of my regular partners who bid 5D and 6C, so I brought the problem to the masses :)

[mikeh]

I am going to ignore the original pass by East, since it seems possible it was a typo, and even if it wasn't, I can't really draw a lot of inferences at this stage.

 

I suppose partner could hold x AQxx KQxx xxxx, in which case grand looks pretty good. Say they lead a club...A and ruff a spade, heart to hand, spade ruff, heart to hand, run trump....if RHO has the spade K and shortness, it ruffs out, and if LHO has the spade K, he is almost certainly squeezed in diamonds and spades.

 

So we need to probe for grand.

 

Bidding 5♦ won't get it done...we cue a black suit over 5♥, but which one? Wouldn't that suggest we are looking for 1st round in the other?

 

That's why my choice is 6♣. It is clearly a try for grand, yet if we had only a club control and one of but not both the diamond and spade Aces, we would have cuebid the one we hold, and then (hoped) to be able to cue clubs next time. Thus, so I like to think, we and partner can infer that bidding 6♣, a try for grand bypassing both diamonds and spades, must show all the side controls.

[PhantomSac]

Starting with pass seems like a freebie, if partner does not X then I will bid 7 immediately (doesn't sound like he has much wasted in clubs!).

 

In the likely event he doubles, I can continue from there.

[ggwhiz]

This is an erratic home rubber-bridge game. Partner is not strong, so the nuances of the bidding from here on out will be lost on him, but I thought it was an interesting spot.

 

Under these conditions I'm in for 6♥. I DO expect some club waste, bad splits or maybe a trump lead (but I doubt it). In similar games I've been in if East had solid clubs they would have passed again and come in just as we were putting our bidding cards away.

[Bbradley62]

I expect East to be 7-4 in the black suits. You're not allowed to open 3♣ when you have a 4-card major, right?

[wyman]

[hv=pc=n&s=saq52hkj9754da54c&n=shaqt632dkj72caq6&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1hp3s(4%2B!h%2C%200-1!s)5c6cp6hppp]266|200[/hv]

[rmnka447]

I am going to ignore the original pass by East, since it seems possible it was a typo, and even if it wasn't, I can't really draw a lot of inferences at this stage.

 

I suppose partner could hold x AQxx KQxx xxxx, in which case grand looks pretty good. Say they lead a club...A and ruff a spade, heart to hand, spade ruff, heart to hand, run trump....if RHO has the spade K and shortness, it ruffs out, and if LHO has the spade K, he is almost certainly squeezed in diamonds and spades.

 

So we need to probe for grand.

 

Bidding 5♦ won't get it done...we cue a black suit over 5♥, but which one? Wouldn't that suggest we are looking for 1st round in the other?

 

That's why my choice is 6♣. It is clearly a try for grand, yet if we had only a club control and one of but not both the diamond and spade Aces, we would have cuebid the one we hold, and then (hoped) to be able to cue clubs next time. Thus, so I like to think, we and partner can infer that bidding 6♣, a try for grand bypassing both diamonds and spades, must show all the side controls.

I think there's an added inference that North can take by looking at ♥ AQ. By bidding 6 ♣, I think South also implies holding the ♥ K. I don't think South would force to slam on something like ♥ J9xxxx not knowing what the ♥ situation is.