Best Call?

[Winstonm]

Playing imp pairs, vul against vul, you pick up this hand with a non-regular partner with whom you've agreed to play a basic 2/1. What's your rebid?

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[smerriman]

If it were a hand I wanted to force to game, I would bid 3♦ with this shape.

 

But the club king isn't worth much, so it's just an invitational 3♠ for me.

[DavidKok]

Is 1NT non-forcing, semi-forcing or perhaps forcing?

 

Hands like this are why people play Gazzilli. There is no clean answer in standard. 3♠ looks OK to me, although we might miss a 5-3 heart fit. 2NT is maybe even better (singleton club king looks like a doubleton). This hand is very soft anyway. Put me down for 2NT, I have my "I had a spade in with my clubs" locked and loaded for the post-mortem.

[nige1]

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Winstonm' Playing imp pairs, vul against vul, you pick up this hand with a non-regular partner with whom you've agreed basic a basic 2/1. What's your rebid?'

++++++++++++++++++

I rank

1. 2N = BAL 18-19.

2. 3N = NAT Implies good ♠. ♣K might be useful.

3. 3♠ = Good hand good suit.[/hv]

[mycroft]

Partner shouldn't bid 3NT with a void spade, so opener with "can play opposite a small stiff" can pull it. At least that's what I've been taught.

[Winstonm]

The reason for the question:

 

 

 

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South was trying to make a straightforward bid while north expected better spades. Ce la vie.

 

[paulg]

The reason for the question:

 

 

 

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South was trying to make a straightforward bid while north expected better spades. Ce la vie.

 

As a Gazzilli user, although it helps describe opener's hand better it just transfers the problem to North in this case. In the traditional version of Gazzilli, I can show a balanced hand with five spades and three hearts, or six spades with three hearts, and 16-17 points or 18-20 depending on your valuation. Some variants may remove the strong balanced option with only five spades.

 

North now has to guess what is best. You are in a better position, but you are still guessing. I expect we'd get to four hearts, but we have invested a lot of time into the convention.

 

[i should have added that I could not have a balanced hand with six spades and two hearts, since this is the meaning of a 3NT rebid]

Edited September 22, 2021 by paulg

[DavidKok]

I think this sort of hand opposite is precisely why 2NT is preferred over 3♠ with this hand.

[mw64ahw]

I think this sort of hand opposite is precisely why 2NT is preferred over 3♠ with this hand.

You could be in trouble opposite a Weak 2443.

 

I still prefer to show the Strong hand with 6+♠, but would bid 3NT opposite with 8hcp and the singleton ♠. Partner can always correct to 4♠ with a self-sustaining suit.

 

Otherwise with a 2♣ agreement available that's my preference.

[nullve]

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nullve(S)-nullve(N)

 

1♠(1)-1N(2)

2♣(3)-2♦(4)

2N(5)-3♣(6)

3♦(7)-3♠(8)

4♥(9)-P

 

(1) "10-21, 5+ S, unBAL"

(2) "5-12, NF"

(3) Gazzilli-like: "10-15, 4+ H" OR "16-18, any"

(4) "8+, relay"

(5) "16-18, either 4+ C or 1-suited"

(6) "relay"

(7) "1-suited"

(9) "5(+) H"

(9) "3 H, not a particularly good hand in context"

[akwoo]

I'm bidding 3♦. Partner is allowed to have ♠Kx ♥xxx ♦Qxx ♣xxxxx which makes 4 spades and wouldn't accept the 3♠ invite.

[smerriman]

I'm bidding 3♦. Partner is allowed to have ♠Kx ♥xxx ♦Qxx ♣xxxxx which makes 4 spades and wouldn't accept the 3♠ invite.

Partner is allowed to have that hand, but even if you get a 3-2 trump break and the Ace of hearts is onside, you still haven't made 4♠ yet?

 

There are plenty more hands partner is allowed to have which are worse too..

[Gilithin]

The obvious answer from a bidding perspective is Gaz or transfer rebids. Gaz sequences have already been given; in transfers 2♥ followed by 2NT is a reasonable description of this hand. The "best" auction I can come up with in Standard is 1♠ - 1NT -- 2♦ - 3♦ -- 3♥ - 4♥, but I am certain I would not be trying anything like that with a random pick-up. Hiding the 6th spade is quite appealing when you can see this hand opposite but there are plenty of other hands where doing so will be sub-optimal.