[ewj]

Scoring: IMP

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You are playing in a teams event, and RHO opens a weak 2S.
You bid 4C, leaping michaels, showing clubs and hearts.
LHO bids 4S, and your partner thinks for a bit, before offering 4NT.

This is the first time you've ever played with this person and you have no agreements here obviously. Your partner is no mug though and you suspect that this is just some sort of slam try. What do you bid and what are your thoughts on your hand in general anyway?

[pclayton]

Depends on your agreements, but I play 4♣ as a strong hand, and forcing to 4♥. While the 6-5 is nice, the moth eaten heart suit has to be discounted and I would have settled on a 3♥ overcall.

I hate it when new partners spring strange bids on me. Even though he's no 'mug', he has introduced a serious element of uncertainty into this auction. So whats 4N? Is it key card for hearts? Is it club support, but with long diamonds (xxx, A, KQJxxx, xxx)? Personally, I think its in the 2 places to play category, but I don't know if my pard thinks the same.

I try to look for solutions that cover all possibilities, if I can, and if I'm playing 1430, 5♦ covers me. If I knew for sure pard had long diamonds and clubs, I'd take a diamond preference, since this a pretty good hand for ♦'s. At least it wins the post mortem.

Because of the doubt, I'm not telling pard about my void

[Halo]

5D

I don't feel so pessimistic about my hand (its excellent to bad, but that's why they preempt).

If partner has poorish hearts he can bid 5H otherwise he will bid six.

[inquiry]

I think 4NT is pick the suit (hearts or clubs). I will go with my 6th heart and bid 5♥. I too am not thinking of slam.

[FrancesHinden]

I haven't explicitly discussed this auction with regular partners, but our general approach is that 4NT is either two places to play or a random slam try. Here I see less need for 2 places to play, because I've already told him I've got at least 5 cards in two suits, but he does need space to say he's got a good hand.

I'm (sub)minimum so I'll just bid 5C. To me, my bids could be
5C = minimum
5D = 1st round diamond control, happy to play 6C if that's what you are looking for
5H = no first round diamond control, happy to play 6C if that is what you are looking for
5S = 1st round spade control, good hand
5NT = good hand but little interest in grand unsure about suit
6C = much prefer clubs to hearts but accepting a try in either suit

(in my style it'd be very very rare for the 4C bidder not to have at least 2nd round control in the two unbid suits here)

p.s. double of 4S by partner would have been PENALTIES

[mikeh]

I like Frances' approach, other than asking whether there is any utility to using 5♦ to delineate a 0=5=3=5 hand, with suitability for ♦s if that is of interest to partner. I haven't actually discussed this sequence with any of my partners, altho I do play the Roman Jump Overcalls.... one reason I enjoy these forums as much as I do is that infrequent auctions come up for discussion frequently

As for my bid: an easy 5♣... I doubt that I would have bid 4♣

[whereagles]

I have no clue what 4NT is, but I do know what I'm going to bid: 5♣.. lol.

[kenrexford]

I'd bid 6♦.

Here's why:

First, I have agreed to play Leaping Michaels without any agreement as to what 4NT means. This is absurd. After Leaping Michaels, a very frequent action will be four of the major by the opponents, and partner may very well want to bid 4NT. How are we playing this without any agreements about common sequences?

Thus, we are dealing with very poor techniques. So, I'll assume that 4NT is RKCB for hearts. Might as well. I'll also assume that we are playing 1430 because we seem to be playing extremely complicated stuff without discussion.

6♦ works because it could be interpreted right. If we skip a level when answering if we have a useful void, I have 3 key cards and a useful void. Again, I am guessing, so this works as well as anything.

(Actually, I'd really bid 5♣. My point is that this is a silly problem. 4NT could mean many things, and I am boxed into a wild ass guess.)

[flytoox]

I like 5H.

[brianshark]

I like the "all purposes" 5♦ bid. It's 0 or 3 keycards. It's a ♦ cue showing my ace. It's supporting his ♦ suit. And its forcing him to ♥s if he wants me to pick the better of my suits.