[Echognome]

Scoring: IMP

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This hand caused lots of difficulty in the swiss teams I played in last weekend. I thought my partner and I did well to reach 6♦ on a relay auction. And even then it wasn't with 100% confidence.

How do you bid the hands with your favourite partner?

[whereagles]

1♠ 2♥
3♣ 3NT

3♣ = extras, 15+ or compensating distribution.
3NT = pessimistic, but 3♦ would only work if pard could bid a 3♥ delayed raise, so I'd just be practical.

If I were to bid 3♦ nonetheless, it would go..

1♠ 2♥
3♣ 3♦
3♠ 3NT

3♠ = 6 cards or 5 good ones, no diam stop, probably no 2-card heart.

[mike777]

I really like that north hand so I would just bid out my shape.

1s=2h
3c=3d
4c=4d
6d=giving up on a grand.

[inquiry]

Ugly hand for my methods...

3C* -- 3H *
3S* -- 4D*
4S -- 6NT/6D
Pass


3C = preempt in diamonds or strong two suiter with clubs and unknown major
3H = forcing, even opposite the weak hand
3S = strong black two suier, "4 losers"
4D = theoretically denies a diamond stopper, or may show AK instead
4S = lack of a diamond stopper no good, I have two losers there
6NT = 6D might end up in 5-2... and surely no better than 5-3. 6NT will have some play from north side...

[mikeh]

1♠     2♥
3♣(1) 3♦
4♣      4♦
6♦


(1) extra values: if 2♥ were not a gf, 3♣ establishes the game force, while being natural, showing 4+♣

4♣ is automatic: there is no reason to bid 3N at this point: 3N makes sense if 5=1=2=5 or 5=1=3=4, but not otherwise

4♦ is clear: partner can and should prefer to 4♥ with a stiff honour or even, on some hands, a stiff small.

6♦: debatable: clearly worth slam and should deliver both black aces. Ideally, 5♥ would be exclusion keycard, but I think you'd need a slightly stronger hand to do this since opposite x AQJxxx AKQxx x grand is no bargain, and if he is stronger than this, he may be able to bid 7 over 6.

Maybe I should just bid 5♦, since that should be a real raise and 3♣ already promised extras... but the hand is just, I think, a little too pure for that... and I really like my ♦ 10... communication may be an issue, but the opps have to lead something... if they lead a trump, that probably picks up the suit and now we can probably establish enough black winners via pull trump (ruffing a ♥ along the way on many layouts), and then A♣, ♣Q with a ♠ back to dummy and so on. If they lead a black suit, then I probably have time to ruff (at least) 2 ♥ and opposite AKQxx I can arrange to score ALL my trumps and so on. In other words, I can, at my last turn to bid, see many routes to 12 tricks.

[luke warm]

1C : 1H
1S : 2D
2H : 2S(1)
2NT : 3D(2)
3H : 3NT(3)
4C : 4NT(4)
5C : 5S(5)
5NT : 6C(6)
6NT(7)

1-5/5 or better reds
2- even shortage
3-1651
4-5 controls
5-top heart, top diamond, no top spade
6-no top club
7-i might have screwed up trying for the grand

[Echognome]

luke warm, on Jul 10 2006, 08:20 PM, said:

1C : 1H
1S : 2D
2H : 2S(1)
2NT : 3D(2)
3H : 3NT(3)
4C : 4NT(4)
5C : 5S(5)
5NT : 6C(6)
6NT(7)

1-5/5 or better reds
2- even shortage
3-1651
4-5 controls
5-top heart, top diamond, no top spade
6-no top club
7-i might have screwed up trying for the grand

We started similar to this. I don't think relay asker will be so optimistic as this as he can tell this hand is quite dangerous.

In fact, with 65 hands we have an automatic run on to controls, so opener knew responder was 1=6=5=1 with 5 controls by 4♥. So opener knows responder has both red aces and one red king. Why would opener even be thinking grand at this stage. If responder has AK of hearts rather than AK of diamonds, even the small slam is in jeopardy. If he has AK of diamonds and not AK of hearts, 6NT might be a disaster. Furthermore, even if those are the only cards responder holds, he bids the same way. So we might not even have slam at all. The problem is that once you start scanning, you are past any safety level. So it was at this point I just bid 6♦ and felt that if partner had only the A of diamonds that I hoped he had the Q or at least the 9 and 8.

The second question I have for you is why are you scanning singletons? This seems very inefficient. It's of course a debate whether you count singleton Ks as a control (we do not), but scanning through singletons is going to run you out of room extremely quickly.

I appreciate your honesty in how you bid it. But I don't see what holding you are looking for after 5 controls where you'd want to be in any grand. Were you looking for AKQ of diamonds? Because you still have to take care of a lot of losers with only a 5-3 fit depending on which hand you want to set up.

[Impact]

In strong Club our relay is also similar:-

1C 1S
1NT 2C
2D 2S (5+5+)
2NT 3D (even)
3H 4H (1-6-5-1 with extra strength and 5 controls; if normal min 8-10/11 3NT ok)
4S 5S (2top Hons but not 3 top Hons in each red)
6D


safest slam given DJT and when SJ &D9 there just about cold....and do not want to risk 6NT from relayer.


Note Forcing Pass
P 1D
1H 2C
2D 2H
2S 3C
3D 4D (where 3S would be 1-6-5-1 with min range positive, now running on extras saves space as you would still show controls over a signoff)
4H 5H
6D


Oddly still no NT bid from relayer or responder.....so still 6D as do not wish a premature guess on lead through an AQ combination at NT...

[luke warm]

Echognome, on Jul 11 2006, 12:20 AM, said:

In fact, with 65 hands we have an automatic run on to controls, so opener knew responder was 1=6=5=1 with 5 controls by 4♥. 

i like that scheme... we'll talk about it later if you want

Quote

The second question I have for you is why are you scanning singletons?

i guess this is a matter of both preference and perceived frequency... i do know that it's helped in the past to know whether or not a stiff ace or king was held... i don't have any idea which treatment is more efficient