barmar, on 2012-March-07, 21:41, said:
Or you should specify the kind of further description being requested, from which the opponents can logically infer from GBK the kind of hands that would ask the question. Although things like non-promissory Stayman make this less clear -- while he's ostensibly asking about a 4-card major, it's sometimes just a temporizing bid forced by the rest of the system, so you should presumably mention this exception in the explanation (except that hardly anyone ever asks about Stayman).
This is essentially what I was saying in my answers on this subject. I think it is necessary to describe the hand types that the bidder can hold rather than (specifically) what is being asked for. In this case something like "a hand with a 4 card major, or a balanced invite, or a game-forcing hand with a 5+ card minor" would probably do the trick.
barmar, on 2012-March-07, 21:41, said:
There are some situations where this really may not be possible. For instance, in a relay system, where relays are practically automatic once you establish a game force, the asker just keeps asking until he thinks he has enough information about partner's hand to place the contract. These systems are often specifically designed to avoid divulging information about asker's hand, to make the defense more difficult.
As I wrote earlier, relay systems have relay breaks. It is not automatic to just keep relaying. In these cases it is usually easier to list the hand types not held rather than those held. It is quite common for relayers to hide behind "it's just a relay" as an answer without giving the negative connotations they have from partner not having chosen an alternative route. As an example, we had a thread where people were saying how, during an auction review, they would like descriptions of the individual bids to know which questions were being asked as opposed to just finding out what the bids showed. But this should not be necessary if the relaying side described what the relayer had shown, or at least implied, by their choice of sequence. If the relayer asks about a 3 card major and then signs off in 3NT then there is a reasonable expectation that they hold 5 cards in a major. Even if this is not promised the description should include "will very often be a hand with a 5 card major" or something along these lines.