BBO Discussion Forums: 4-6 majors over weak NT - BBO Discussion Forums

Final board of a close teams match; neither vul; you hold

♠ AKxx
♥ KT9xxx
♦ x
♣ Ax

Partner passes as dealer and RHO opens 1NT (12-14). You play multi-landy, so your options are Dbl (penalties), 2C (both majors) or 2D (one major).

What do you do?

If you bid 2♣ partner will bid 2♠. Are you worth another bid?
If you bid 2♦ partner will bid 2♥. Are you worth another bid?

dcrc2, on 2011-November-08, 18:35, said:

I would start with 2♣, but i have to tell you that if u play 2♣ showing majors, after partner's simple preference you need to agree what those bids mean over 2♠ (or 2♥);

2NT
3♣
3♦
3♥
3♠
3NT

etc
etc

With the current hand you posted, even if you had these agreements, it is tuff call for me to be honest.

Here is what would go through my mind while looking at this auction and my hand;

Negatives

- Pd will not have 4 card ♠ most of the time, and if he has he must have reasons not to bid 3♠
- He is coming from pass
- Non vulnerable
- His major holdings are expected to be either 3♠+2♥ or 3♠+1♥ with 2-1 he would probably bid 2♦
- Even if i find prime major cards in his hand such as Qxx ♠ and Ax ♥ i still need more to make game even with 3-2 trump split. I will also need a 3-3 ♠

Positives

- I have prime cards
- I have good shape and spots in ♥
- I have a good position behind the opener in regards to ♥ suit. (or ♠ suit if pd has JTx.. etc )
- Not likely but if pd has 4♠ i always want to be in game at IMPs.

Overall i would personally make another move whichever bid i listed above shows this 4-6. I am interested in what others think though. Good hand to post imo.

2C then pass

2♣ followed by 3♥

Landy + pass. Pard has ways of showing some life.

2C then pass 2S. Partner could have bid 2D then 2S, we may not have a fit and it's only a NV game.

I find this interesting. I learned that with 6-4 over a weak NT that one should show the 6 carder and suppress the 4 card suit unless partner shows some life. Of course this heart suit is nothing to write home about but I am sure I would have bid 2D and passed 2H before reading this thread.

I'd show a one-suiter in hearts. 6-4s don't usually play well in a 4-3 fit.

Zelandakh, on 2011-November-09, 08:32, said:

I think 2D would be fine if your hand was weaker, but here that course of action risks missing game in either major. If you start with Landy, you are well placed to pass 2S, raise 2H, or bid 3H over 2D knowing that you won't find a singleton heart opposite.

MickyB, on 2011-November-09, 08:47, said:

Perhaps it depends on follow-ups somewhat. I would expect any invitational-plus hand with a doubleton or better in both majors to start with a 2NT enquiry to find out which major partner has and min-max. If partner has an invitational hand with short spades then they will probably start with a 2S response over which we can make a positive noise.

Zelandakh, on 2011-November-09, 08:54, said:

Of course, this is just standard, but it doesn't get us to game if partner has 5♠1♥ or xx Axx xxxx xxxx.

Why are my options only to use these conventions?
Would 3H show this hand naturally?

MrAce said most of it. To add, the fairly common agreement that partner advances with 2♦ on most hands with 32 in the majors is very useful for this sort of situation; there'd be no need to choose between missing spades or playing a 43 instead of a 62. (The downside may come when you shy from overcalling with 44 in the majors.) Even without this agreement, I'll start with 2♣ before passing 2♠. Missing spades seems likely to be more costly.

If I bid landy and my partner has 2-3 in the majors, he will often bid 2D. Our agreement is that I will always pick hearts with equal length, and only bid 2S with longer spades. But if I bid landy and my partner is 3-2 in the majors, he'll pick spades.

This makes it more appealing to bid 2C with 6-4 than with 4-6 in the majors, unless we are planning to make another bid.

With this hand I'd bid 2D.

I definitely prefer bidding landy, if we have a game landy will be better. If we have a partscore 2D will probably be better on average but landy may work better, and with our hand being this good we could easily survive playing the wrong partscore when partner is 3-2 or 3-1. It just seems like a really small target to show a 1 suiter with a hand this good, we are basically playing for partner to have 3-2 or 3-1, and for 2H to make, and for 2S to go down, in order to win a partscore swing. I'm hoping to get to 4S and don't think it's that unlikely.

At the table I bid 2♣ then 3♥, which was too much. Partner had ♠Qxx ♥x ♦Kxxx ♣Kxxxx.