[ruotal]

Hi all !

My partner open 1NT.

I had this hand :

♠ K963 ♥ KJ87532 ♦ ____ ♣ J2

What do I bid ? And what is the continuation ?


Thank you

[TheoKole]

If you have discussed various hand types as resonder after 1 NT you can bid Stayman and if partner responds 2 Diamonds negative on the majors then follow up with a Delayed texas bid of 4 Diamonds forcing partner to bid 4 hearts.

A possible sequence would be 1 NT - 2 ♣ * (Stayman)
2 ♦ - 4 ♦ * (Delayed Texas transfer)
4 ♥

I believe that partner will have some type of play for the game more times than not.

If you don't feel like gambling and are playing Garbage or (Drop Dead Stayman)
a possible sequence would be, 1 NT - 2 ♣ * (Stayman)
2 ♦ - 2 ♥ (Weak for passing)

Of course if partner responds with a major you would decide whether to pass or put him into game. Personally I would go for the game.

Cheers, Theo

[hrothgar]

deleted

[hrothgar]

I've often seen it said that 7-4 fits almost always play better with the long suit as trump. (Not sure that i believe this, but it does seem to be the conventional wisdom)

I'd probably just bid 4♦ as a transfer to Hearts, however, unless I have some kind of exclusion keycard available, I'm not sure that I'd bother looking for 6

[starfruit]

Our group of friends all uses delayed texas as mentioned before, but I feel that 7-4 is too much difference in 2 suits.
Perhaps it might be best to transfer to the known, at least 9 card trump fit.

And there's a chance that you might play in a 4-4♠ fit while there's a 9 card ♥ fit available by going through stayman. Here the problem comes when ♥ ruffs exists, something like ♥ lead, ♥ ruff, ♣A, ♥ruff.
The only time 4♠ is necessary is when you really need the extra tricks generated by the 4-4 fit after taking a few ♦ ruffs but it looks like in ♥s you should enough tricks most of the time.

[HeartA]

I would ignore the S suit and transfer to 4H, unless I really need to gamble on slam and have agreement on various bidding process.

[neilkaz]

I just use Texas to get right to 4H and then pass. Slam needs PD to have just the right cards and the 5 level could be too high.

Perhaps Jacoby followed by a jump to 4D as a splinter might work out, but I can see PD carrying on with hands that aren't safe to do so.

Just my opinion ... neilkaz ..

[the hog]

Just bid 4H over a 12-14 or 15-17 NT. Stayman on this is a bit silly as you will nearly always play better in the long suit. Looking for slam opposite a "magic" hand is a long way off.

[twcho]

The hand is possible for slam facing suitable hand given you have good arsenal to explore for it. As I think it is not easy, just settle for game is more realistic.

For game consideration, I'm certain that the long trump will play better even you have 44 fit in ♠. The only exception perhaps is that you have a 54 ♠ fit. Even so, you may be tapped out of trumps to enjoy your long H (this will be more true if your hand is even weaker. In general, try to play in the long suit held by the weak hand).

[lifemonster]

Easy. Transfer to 2H first, then an auto-splinter of 4D.

[EricK]

I just bid 4♥ as I doubt I could diagnose a good slam if it were there.

I hope we are not playing this as a transfer. Personally I think the benefits of keeping the distributional hand hidden from the defense outweigh the benefits of having the strong but well-defined hand as declarer. The unrevealed diamond void and/or 4 card spade holding could well be worth a trick or two on misdefense.

[Free]

I'd just transfer to 4♥ (or bid it if possible).

[Gerben42]

Not sure if delayed Texas is standard, would not try it with pickup pd!

[AdiBichea]

Hi,
my intermediate opinion
With this hand i want my part to bid the game (have to force) 4♥.
For small slam, my part should have ♠AQx ♥Ax or Qx ♦no matter ♣AK. This hand is possible to my part hand, or not? I like to try a slam verification.
So .. i like this auction:

1NT - 2♦
2♥ - 2♠! GF, 4x♠ and 5+x♥ and a nice hand.
now here my part should bid his hand:
- weak/strong, with/without 3x♥'s
- weak/strong, with/without 4x♠'s
etc.. even then i have room to bid 4♦ cuebid if my part have a strong hand with fit... or show 6x♥ .. or whatever i want to show .. or not ... and then should I decide, not my part (15(16) - 17(18) HCP hand), to try a slam or not.

Regards, Adi Bichea (BIL member) this game

[FrancesHinden]

I would just respond 4H, as long as that was natural.

[paulg]

Looking at my ACBL SAYC Booklet it appears that 4♥ is natural and hence my bid too.

In my experience using 4♦/4♥ as transfers is something that is far more popular in the ACBL than in the UK. Frequently you will find that people use a South African Texas style, with 4♣/4♦ being transfers and 4♥/4♠ being natural - but this treatment means that you cannot use Gerber (a major problem for some, of course).

Paul