[Stephen Tu]

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OK another one of my marginal reverse hands.
Shouldn't 3H be prioritized over showing diamond fit, when the suit is this long and good?
I realize on this hand 6d makes and 6H doesn't, but slam is kind of a horrible contract and 4H is by far the safest game contract. Might be tough to construct good rules here because with some stronger hands with 6 cd hearts, Ace empty, or AKxxxx type of hands, and diamond fit, want to move towards diamond slam and might want to ruff out hearts or have other source of tricks, where the diamond raise would be preferred. So maybe low priority to fix this. I'd generally want to show hearts with only 4 cd diamond fit, and good suit solidity playable opposite stiff, unless maybe have ace headed suit and slam values. Similar if club fit, it wants to raise clubs at too high priority when holding good 6/7+ major. I'd like to rebid 3M and then maybe pull 3nt to 4m depending on the hand, rather than raise m and never show the really long M.

Now my opponent OTOH not wanting to make a light reverse, instead tried 1c-1h-1s. Then North bid 2d 4th suit forcing, and raised 2nt to 3nt, never bothering to show hearts a 2nd time! He luckily escaped a black suit lead. Surely Northbot on this auction should bid hearts at least a 2nd time, if not a third?

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[virgosrock]

Stephen Tu, on 2018-June-08, 01:10, said:

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OK another one of my marginal reverse hands.
Shouldn't 3H be prioritized over showing diamond fit, when the suit is this long and good?
I realize on this hand 6d makes and 6H doesn't, but slam is kind of a horrible contract and 4H is by far the safest game contract. Might be tough to construct good rules here because with some stronger hands with 6 cd hearts, Ace empty, or AKxxxx type of hands, and diamond fit, want to move towards diamond slam and might want to ruff out hearts or have other source of tricks, where the diamond raise would be preferred. So maybe low priority to fix this. I'd generally want to show hearts with only 4 cd diamond fit, and good suit solidity playable opposite stiff, unless maybe have ace headed suit and slam values. Similar if club fit, it wants to raise clubs at too high priority when holding good 6/7+ major. I'd like to rebid 3M and then maybe pull 3nt to 4m depending on the hand, rather than raise m and never show the really long M.

Now my opponent OTOH not wanting to make a light reverse, instead tried 1c-1h-1s. Then North bid 2d 4th suit forcing, and raised 2nt to 3nt, never bothering to show hearts a 2nd time! He luckily escaped a black suit lead. Surely Northbot on this auction should bid hearts at least a 2nd time, if not a third?

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For me happy with being in vul slam on this. But that does not mean anything LOL.
You must have calculated the % on this slam. Does it fall in the ballpark for vul slams.

Also recurring theme. does one bid 3S to show shape?

[Stephen Tu]

Slam is terrible. You have a club loser, so basically you need heart ruffing finesse + diamonds 3-2. That's like 35%.

Vulnerability doesn't matter for slams. You need to be >= 50%. (Also most suit slams "on a finesse" are in fact at least a little < 50%, because you typically also have to avoid bad breaks, ruff on opening lead, so in theory should be avoided)
It's vul *games* that can be thin, because of the IMP table. Because it's like -6 for down 1 vs. +10 for making game, so you can afford to go down more often than you make. But with slams, typically you are -13 for down 1 and +13 for making. Same for total point scoring, -750 vs. +750. (In this particular case, with minor slam, it's slightly different 12 vs -12, 1370 vs. 650 in hearts, or -100 vs. 650). Non-vul, slams are +/- 11 so still need 50+%.

[virgosrock]

Stephen Tu, on 2018-June-08, 11:51, said:

Slam is terrible. You have a club loser, so basically you need heart ruffing finesse + diamonds 3-2. That's like 35%.

Vulnerability doesn't matter for slams. You need to be >= 50%. (Also most suit slams "on a finesse" are in fact at least a little < 50%, because you typically also have to avoid bad breaks, ruff on opening lead, so are in theory should be avoided)
It's vul *games* that can be thin, because of the IMP table. Because it's like -6 for down 1 vs. +10 for making game, so you can afford to go down more often than you make. But with slams, typically you are -13 for down 1 and +13 for making. Same for total point scoring, -750 vs. +750. (In this particular case, with minor slam, it's slightly different 12 vs -12, 1370 vs. 650 in hearts, or -100 vs. 650). Non-vul, slams are +/- 11 so still need 50+%.

great refresher on vul games and slams. might have read this in "why you lose at bridge" by simon. will go read it again
wrong or right, i tend to be fairly cavalier when it comes to slams

[wbartley]

Priority should be given to rebidding even a five card suit over raising the second suit. There are many hand types where you're manufacturing a reverse with three card support.

x Kxx AKx AQJxxx is a good example. I don't want to have to make a non-forcing 3♣ rebid with this hand so I bid 2♦, which is forcing for one round, expecting my partner to rebid hearts with five or more. If I do this with GIB, I end up in 5♦ opposite the given hand.

Upon further reflection, GIB doesn't play Walsh style responses, right? With 4-4 in the red suits it will bid 1♦ in response to your 1♣ bid. So, the raise of diamonds here automatically implies five or more hearts.