[flytoox]

Vul. None
You hold:
S:--
H: Axx
D: Kx
C: AQJ8xxxx

Bid goes:

W N E S
P 2S P ??

What is your plan?

[helene_t]

Pass. Nice hand for a computer simulation - I wonder how much chance 3NT has.

[pbleighton]

4C. Too good for 3, not good enough for 5.

Peter

[helene_t]

Sounds as if you read it as opps opening, but partner did, Peter.

[pbleighton]

"Sounds as if you read it as opps opening, but partner did, Peter."

Oops.

Pass.

Peter

[hrothgar]

3♣, natural and forcing....

(A lot of partnerships would treat 4♣ as keycard for spades)

[kfgauss]

3♣, planning on rebidding 4♣ (which is NF) unless something exciting happens.

Andy

[whereagles]

3NT. All I need is an entry in dummy and some luck on clubs.. just about par.. lol.

[Little_love]

PASS 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

[Codo]

3 Nt. I need just the King of clubs in pds hand or a stopper in the suit the lead to make.
In second seat, pd will not have a dead minimum, so this looks like a reasonable gamble.
Okay, pd looked at AKQJxx, and out and they took 5 diamond tricks, 3 hearts and a club?
Bad luck, -250...

[neilkaz]

3NT has a decent shot here, I think. I'll take my chances on 3NT, but won't criticize Pass. 3C followed by 4C could work out, but most of the hands that PD can carry on to a making 5C will make 3NT since he has club help.

3NT for me, since PD's 2nd suit weak 2 shouldn't be garbage, and he often has a helping card outside his spades.

[JSilver]

How about an asking 2NT? If partner shows a feature, you can bid 3NT with more confidence. If not, you have a decision to make at a level one higher, but basically the same options with more information.

[Double !]

This problem is much more difficult if not playing disciplined weak 2 bids. If playing disciplined weak 2 bids, there would seem to be a good argument for passing 2S. Otherwise, if you bid, the hand is committed to 3NT or 4C. 3NT will need an entry to dummy along with a successful club finesse (assuming opener doesn't have the magical club-King). My partners always seem to have that perfect hand or card when I choose the conservative option, and never have it when I take the more optimistic route.

A nice hand if one happens to be playing McCabe Adjunct, you can play 3C, but it doesn't resolve the issue of whether or not to just bash and bid 3NT.
At matchpoints, I suspect I would pass 2S.

DHL

[han]

It amazes me that so many people know what to bid without knowing what the type of scoring it is. At IMPs, 3NT seems a lot more attracting than at matchpoints. After all, 3NT might make while 2S goes down. On the other hand, 2S seems a lot safer than 3NT, and going plus seems most important at MPs.

I used to play transfers over weak 2's with my f2f partner. This would allow us to transfer to 3C with this hand for a sure plus. I still like these transfers, they allow you to invite in spades while showing a concentrating of strength, amd without giving away anything about openers hand. It also allows for easy lead-director. (of course, the biggest advantage is that it allows to bid new suits both forcing and non-forcing).

[luke warm]

i'd probably bid 2nt and hate hearing 3♠... then i guess i'm cooked.. but anything else would make me feel good about our chances in 3nt

[WrecksVee]

The previous argument re MP vs IMPs swings me to pass at matchpoints. Playing with Jay (I am Rex, part of the misadventurers that my partner often posts about) and assuming it is IMPs or I decide to bid anyway: I would bid 3♣ asking. This is a treatment/convention that we found on Kent Feiler's website. Partner is expected to bid NT with a stopper (3NT then tells me he has the K) or show how many cards are in ♣. Of course the 3NT response may have just wrong sided the NT but at least we are there when partner has the K. If he lacks the ♣K I will retreat to 4♣ unless I get luck and find three ♣ when I may consider 3NT. Sadly if was really lucky and he had four ♣ the response is 4♣ taking us by 3NT. Then I would try 5♣.

[han]

That's a nice treatment Rex. How unfortunate that partner will be playing 3NT if he has the club king, in that case he probably doesn't have much in diamonds.