[han]

You hold Qxx Qxx Kx AK10xx. Partner opens 1D, the opponents are silent throughout. What is your call after:

1D-2C
3C-3NT
4D-??

2C was gameforcing, 3C was natural and showed more than a minimum.

[FrancesHinden]

This depends a bit on style: my partner will have 4-card club support, but can yours have only 3?

If partner has four clubs he should be (21)64 or so with good diamonds.
If he has a singleton ace, we are off two major suit tricks.
If he has Ax in one major and a small singleton in the other, say

Ax
x
AQJxxx
Qxxx

we make 6 of either minor

I'd love to cue bid a major here, but I can't.
I'd love to bid 4NT as a general slam try, but I think it's natural and strongly discouraging (lots of slow stuff in the majors).

So I'm left having to make the last guess. I'm going to guess we want to play slam. If partner has promised 4 clubs, I bid 6C. If he hasn't, I bid 5NT (choice).

If partner would interpret it correctly, I'd bid 5D natural and encouraging (with 4NT discouraging) but that is a fairly specific agreement to have.

[whereagles]

Easy 5♣ bid: no major suit controls, pretty much a min for my bidding.

Maybe pard misbid? If he had bid 4♣, I would have bid 4♦ and he might have used blackwood then.

[Free]

Why did I put myself in trouble by bidding 3NT? Can't I just start cues at 3-level? I'd bid 5♣ and say "sorry partner"...

[han]

My partner was cherdano, and we recently changed our 1D-2C structure (we are basically playing a natural structure now). We haven't discussed whether 3C showed 4-card support.

4NT would surely be taken as a sign-off, as well as 5C. 5D is ambiguous, I am not sure that partner would take this as encouraging.

I like the 5NT suggestion, Arend would certainly interpret it as "pick a slam".

[whereagles]

Hannie, for this bidding pard must be unbalanced. Hence he will have 4 clubs most of the time.

[EricK]

Maybe it marks me as a hand hog or maybe it marks me as a bad bidder, but I would have responded 3NT on the first round.

On the auction you had, I suppose that 5♣ will show no major suit control, but because the 3♣ bid showed extras, partner then will not know about my extras.

Since partner is showing significant extras here (he has shown extras and then bid again over your 3NT). I suppose you could just punt 6♣ and hope for the best.

[keylime]

4NT, asking pard to pick their game since they are minor oriented.

[inquiry]

What ever you have done to your minor suit structure, there is an important question, why didn't Arend bid 4♣. Would that have been blackwood? Whatever it is, it woudl have been forcing and if slam try, it would have given you a chance to show the one feature in your hand he probably wants to hear most (or else blackwood could have been used), the diamond king.

Look how easy the auction becomes after 4C-4D

If he bids 4 of a major, you are worried about two losers in the other suit, If he bids 4NT here, that just has to be blackwood after the 4D bid, so whatever happens after 4♦ you are smug and happy.

If 4♦ was blackwood, show two no queen and wait to see what happens.

[Winstonm]

5D.

Partner sounds like a 64 or 74 or 73 hand and I can't think of any other way to cooperate in a slam try and the diamond key card may be all partner needs to reach 7 if he hold something like AKx, void, AQJxxxx, QJx.

Winston

[Double !]

I, too, would bid 5D with a trustworthy partner.

P pulled out of 3NT for some reason and has shown (likely) at least a reasonable 6-4 hand. Where are partner's high cards when P is missing AK of clubs and diamond king, and what type of hand caused P to pull from 3NT? (I hope that P doesn't play 4D as some form of minorwood/rkc.) I have a diamond king to show partner: I doubt that we were going to be stopping in 5m on this bidding. So, are we down 1 in 6 clubs, or do we make 7?

DHL