[silvr bull]

Matchpoints, neither vul. Opps are likely better than BBO average, but are otherwise unknown.

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[MrAce]

I would not even dream of saving. Despite my decisions tend to fail in forums, I still keep on replying as if I hold this hand at the table, totally ignoring the fact that this hand made its way to forums for a reason.

[rmnka447]

I'm not saving either.

Your partner has pushed them to the 5 level. You have a defensive trick, you don't have a good fit with partner, and you don't have complementary distribution to partner. Partner is unlikely to hold many ♠s.

Your side has pushed the auction. Now let the opponents try to figure out where they belong. If they guess right, tip your hat to them and move on.

Worst case scenario could be you bidding 6 ♦ and pushing them into a making ♠ slam when no one else is bidding it. Equally bad is you're playing 6 ♦x - 3 while they can only make game or can't bid the slam.

If 5 ♠ goes down your probably getting a good board or average at worst. If 5 ♠ makes you're probably getting an average board. And any time they guess wrong on bidding or not bidding slam, you're probably average plus to near top.

[dkham]

I pass. It's very unlikely your hand has enough for 6♦ to make and you may be beating 5♠ with your ♣Ace and maybe a Diamond trick and a ruff somewhere.

[steve2005]

Even with a more suitable hand saving at the 6 level is a losing proposition. You may have already won the auction ie 5♠ is -1 or field bidding 6 and partner pre-empted them out of it. 6♦X even if a good save is going to lose to anyone in 5♦X. Worse of all you push them into a making 6 gack.

Plus all the reasons others gave..

[WellSpyder]

Have the red suits been transposed in the diagram?? Otherwise, I cannot see why this is a problem hand...

[silvr bull]

I cast my lonely vote for 6C. The people who passed so easily were rewarded on this hand, but mostly because north had fewer Ds and more defense than might be expected. 6D was down 2, and that netted us 17% for beating the pairs that were allowed to play in 4S. If 5S makes, then 6D will be a very good result. Even so, if I (south) was in the pass out seat so that it was a simple question of playing 5S or 6D, then I would have also passed 5S with the same general philosophy that most of the passers here expressed.

But I was not in the pass out seat, and West still had an opportunity to make another bid. If west decided to push to 6S, a pass by south over 5S would miss an opportunity to make a lead directing call. If north's hand is xx x AKJxxxxx Kx, or xx x AKJxxxxxx x, or possibly xx x AKJxxxxx QJ, then a C lead may be essential to beat 6S.

I am unable to guestimate the probilities of 5S making and 6D down two, or 6S down with a C lead, or 6S making after being pushed there, so I can't properly defend my choice of 6C. However, I think there is more to consider in this hand than the simple guide to not save over 5M. Note that I would agree with those who see no reason to post this hand if north guessed to bid only 4D, so that I had the opportunity to make a lead directing 5C call over 4S.

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[MrAce]

silvr bull, on 2015-May-21, 01:17, said:

I cast my lonely vote for 6C. The people who passed so easily were rewarded on this hand, but mostly because north had fewer Ds and more defense than might be expected.

If you are expecting 9-10 diamonds from your pd for his 5♦ call, I'd say you are expecting way too much and you may not even be able to make that bid in this lifetime.

And your excuse of "pd not having enough diamonds and having extra defense" actually works against the point you are trying to make. If pd held what you anticipated, then you would be pushing them to a slam which otherwise they could not. Your raising can make them figure more about their pd's hand as well.

I like the 6♣ bid though once you decided not to pass.