[hrothgar]

Playing teams, you get dealt the following juicy collection in first seat

♠ AQxx
♥ x
♦ AKQx
♣ AQ9x

You open 1♦ and partner responds 1♠.
You splinter with 4♥ and partner rebids 4♠.

Do you pass or try another bid?

[mike777]

4nt

I think this is tough. I bid once more since I do not think my 4h bid shows only a 3 loser hand here. Tough

I choose to not bid out my shape with 5 clubs since I could do that with more than a 3 loser hand.

[goobers]

If I bid 4NT, can I still get out in 4S?

Edit: Okay, I've decided to pass. We basically need both black Ks for this slam to be solid, and although the club suit is very appealing since there's even a triple finesse available, 6 will go down badly if partner is missing spots and the suits don't break well.

I've got like an extra 1.5 queens than I promised, and it's making me feel uncomfortable But partner heard my splinter and said his hand was no good for it, so I think I'll just let it go...

I always have a chance of winning the post mortem.

[jillybean]

Agree its tough! My partner thinks I have a good hand 16+ but I havent shown this monster I think its too good for a splinter and regret not opening 2♣
2♣ 2♠ 3♠ asking partner to cue.

As it is over 4♠ if I cue 5♣ it isn't going to help me - the way I play italian cues 5♥ is A,K,singleton, void. Reisig posted a teaser on Italian cues back in July 2006 and I've wondered if I played them correctly ever since.

I doubt I would be able to pass so 4nt

[mike777]

Jlall, on Mar 30 2007, 08:18 PM, said:

If you're bidding 4N now why did you bid 4H?

To give partner a chance to describe her hand...heck she may have a good hand and take control.

[jillybean]

Jlall, on Mar 30 2007, 06:18 PM, said:

this is a symptom of people splintering with terrible hands like 16 and a stiff.

Please elaborate, was does a terrible splinter look like? I've made a few but probably not all of them.

[mr1303]

In my opinion, this hand wouldn't be out of place in the advanced/expert forum.

My response is hidden:

Spoiler

When I splinter, I know that my action is either clear to carry on opposite a sign off, or clear to pass. As a result, I pass here (but wouldn't have splintered with 4H)

[Winstonm]

This shows the difficulty inherent in "direct suit under" splinters - no room is left for anything but yes/no bids. Having elected to splinter, I pass 4S. The main point here is that partner's 4S bid should strongly imply that there is no safety at the 5-level.

[1eyedjack]

Think I might have splintered with 3♥ and likely get to show a further try without committing beyond 4♠

[mike777]

1eyedjack, on Mar 31 2007, 03:05 PM, said:

Think I might have splintered with 3♥ and likely get to show a further try without committing beyond 4♠

I think a 3H splinter is weaker, nongame force, than a 4H splinter. Even this hand is better than a standard 4H splinter.

Sure you can make a 3h splinter and then bid again over a sign off, but why have a 4H splinter then.

[sallyally]

For me, it is hard to say what my real bid would have been
I would never have thought to bid splinter.
So i guess I would have bid 3C.
However given your scenario, I think I would bid 4nt - rightly or wrongly.

[FrancesHinden]

It is interesting to see so many people bidding 4NT. It's a good example of an inference an expert parter might take, that you wouldn't want him to. Look at it from his point of view:

Partner opens 1D.
You bid 1S
Partner bids 4H, splinter
You aren't interested, and sign off in 4S
Partner now bids 4NT.

Well, if partner wanted to ask for aces, why didn't partner bid 4NT over 1S? It must mean something to splinter first and _then_ bid 4NT - I know, partner has a heart void and wants me to tell him how many keycards I have outside hearts.

If my partner bid like this, even an expert partner I hadn't played with before, I would give an answer excluding heart keycards. It's the only explanation I could think of for partner's bidding.

[mike777]

Frances, I explained why we nonexperts are splintering and then bidding 4nt as opposed to bidding a direct 4nt. To give partner a chance to take control if she had a good hand. The rebid says she does not.

This may be a poor/ wrong or silly reason, but it is a reason.

[Badmonster]

I voted pass, as p could have a nothing hand, that's worth less now that I've shown h shortness. However, I wonder am I failing to see how little I need for slam? Am I too timid?

What Frances says however makes sense to me, why ask your p a question then disregard the response. I don't think I do like 4nt there. Maybe I cue in clubs.

[whereagles]

The problem here is there's no way to make a forcing raise. A good hand for that "2NT wtp?" bid

A 3♥ splinter would be nice, but only if pard will take it as so.