[sceptic]

Scoring: IMP

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West North East South

 -     Pass  1♥    Pass
 2NT   3♠    4♣    4♠
 4NT   5♠    6♥    Pass
 Pass  Pass  

I am interested in my 4NT bid here, why do I always seem to get it wrong?

what would you bid in my place and why

[awm]

In the context of having bid jacoby 2NT, you actually have a pretty bad hand for slam. Flat shape, minimum values, only one keycard. I think 4nt (which should be keycard) is a bit of an overbid.

I suggest either pass or double. Arguing for pass (suggesting partner bid 5♥) is the fifth trump. Arguing for double is the spade holding (KQ tight is not five good points for declaring a heart contract), the lack of aces, and the relatively flat shape. I think this is a fairly close call especially at unfavorable, but double is perhaps slightly superior.

Of course if partner has a moose of a hand, he already knows you have a game-forcing raise and he can certainly cuebid over either pass or double (or bid rkc himself).

[paulg]

awm has covered it well.

In essence you have managed to show your hand in one bid by responding 2NT. What has now changed to make it worth a slam try? Well the ♣K is now a good card but really nothing significant has changed and you still have no first round controls.

So pass and leave it to partner.

Paul

[luke warm]

almost all problems seem to me to be a matter of system... the west hand is one reason i dislike 2nt with less than 15, 16 hcp (for me it's 4♣, 4+ hearts with 2 of top 3 honors and a balanced 12-15)... be that as it may, on the actual bidding i think the 2nt bid said it all... you have no extras for the bid, you have a partner who heard your bid, and pass seems correct

also, maybe you should think about playing depo over the 5♠ bid... partner can double 5♠ showing even # of keycards and you will then know to leave it in

[Winstonm]

You hold a 7-loser hand. Pard will need a 5-loser hand, or just short of a 2C opener for slam to be reasonable. If he has that, he can make forward motion. So the thing to do is pass over 4S, allowing partner to decide whether to move on, try for slam, or double. The KQ of spades and xxx in diamonds are both terrible holdings in this auction.

Winston

[mikeh]

This hand ties in very well with your other thread about your tendency to show the same values twice, as I am sure is no coincidence

Over 4♠, think about what you have already shown: 'I have an opening hand with at least 4 trump, and probably no singleton or void' Delete that last part if not true for your partnership.

Do you have anything extra?

You hold minimum hcp, zero Aces (and hence a very unsuitable hand for slam) and the only redeeming feature is one extra trump... which, incidentally means that your trump Q is not pulling its full weight: if you upgrade for the extra trump, you have to downgrade the trump Q to some degree.

Do you have to bid over 4♠?

No: partner cannot pass if you pass.

So you can: double to deny interest in slam and to suggest defending

or: bid 5♥ to deny interest in slam while announcing you do not want to defend

or: pass and let partner, who is still relatively unlimited, further describe his hand

4N, frankly, is not a logical choice. Regardless of the other problems, ask yourself this, any time you are considering keycard: will I know what to do opposite all possible responses?

Clearly, the answer is 'no'.

If partner has all the keycards, you don't know whether to bid 6 or 7... altho maybe you can bid 6♣ to involve partner

If you are off a keycard, you don't know if 5 is the limit (take away partner's ♣J and replace it with the ♠A) or if 6 is on a hook or laydown.

If you cannot know what to do after a keycard response, don't bid keycard!

As it is, I would bid 5♥ because my ♣/♥ length suggests that we will likely make and will not get rich against 4♠. Note that 5♥ is the WEAKEST call available (other than double)

[EricK]

The previous replies have covered your question well - you are minimum for your bidding so far. But I would add that if you had a similar but stronger hand (eg ♠Ax ♥KQxxx ♦xxx ♣KQx) theb 4NT is still not correct because of your weak ♦. On that hand, if you want to look for a slam, then a bid of 5♣ is in order.