[Apollo81]

1♠-4♥*
6♠-???
*splinter

all red imps

AKxxx x K10xx AJx

[pbleighton]

No, though it is tempting.

I don't like to splinter with hands this strong, and here's a reason why.

Peter

[hrothgar]

Apollo81, on Apr 9 2007, 02:22 AM, said:

1♠-4♥*
6♠-???
*splinter

all red imps

AKxxx x K10xx AJx

Comment 1: If the partnership has some conventional meaning for the raise to 6♠ it would be nice to be let in on the secret

Comment 2: If 6♠ is simply an offer to play a small slam than I'm not raising. I have a beautiful hand with the A+K of trumps and a side Ace, however, partner doesn't seem to care much what I have. I'm simply not willing to risk 7♠ -1

If I had to guess, I'd place partner with a hand like the following:

♠ QJT9876
♥ AKxx
♦ void
♣ Kx

Partner has enough Spades that he figures that the suit will play for at most one loser. He is probably sitting on some wasted Heart values and potentially some length there. I suspect that he has a side suit void, completely destroying the value of any kind of Blackwood sequence. I note that the hand that I constructed looks quite nice for a grand. At the same time, give partner a 7=4=2=0 and you're off an Ace.

[jdonn]

Richard's example is not bad. I think partner probably has 7 spades since he didn't bid either normal or exclusion keycard, so maybe the king of trumps is useless to him and a keycard ask won't be accurate. Given that, I think my hand is not as good as it looks so I will pass. 7 could be on but I better be darn sure if I'm going to overrule partner in this spot.

I caused this problem by splintering on a hand that is clearly too good (but probably not good enough to bid on if partner had signed off, though that is close).

[cherdano]

Hmm. I would have made the 4♥ bid with a small spade instead of the spade ace...

[skjaeran]

1♠ - 4♥ shows a void in my methods, so this could not happen to me.

Playing normal splinters, this hand is too strong. A forcing raise (2NT) is better - you're better off to a controlled auction then.

When that's said, I really can't see what hand partner should have where a grand isn't either cold or at worst on a finesse. Parnter doesn't need all this for slam, and since I really can't have what I got, he'd not try for a grand. So put me down for 7♠'s.

[zasanya]

As somebody remarked in another thread 4♥ is "an unfortunate example of bidding by rote."
Would certainly bid 7.

[Free]

Why did I splinter showing a void with such strong hand and a singleton?

I'll pass and be sorry for my poor bids...

[dake50]

Partner didn't do a whole bunch of bids to find/show controls. But chose WAG 6S. Imagine SQxxxxx HAK DQJxx Cx: he knows H-stuff is wasted but still try slam.
Pass.

[Vilgan]

Was about a year ago that someone really beat into me that you don't splinter with strong hands (after we missed a slam). Thus.. as many people mentioned, way too strong for a splinter.

However, I'd expect partner to have some super long spade suit, and a void in clubs or diamonds for his leaping 6 spade bid. Anything else could be bid a bit more scientifically.

Eric

[whereagles]

pass and blame pard if we missed 7 seems like a good plan to me

[skjaeran]

whereagles, on Apr 9 2007, 06:55 PM, said:

pass and blame pard if we missed 7 seems like a good plan to me

I guess that was meant to be ironic, hence the smiley....

[cherdano]

dake50, on Apr 9 2007, 06:53 AM, said:

Partner didn't do a whole bunch of bids to find/show controls. But chose WAG 6S. Imagine SQxxxxx HAK DQJxx Cx: he knows H-stuff is wasted but still try slam.

This hand is impossible. 4N RKCB is obviously better than a jump to 6S. In my opinions it is actually an obvious sign-off. No splinter can make this slam better than a finesse.

[cherdano]

whereagles, on Apr 9 2007, 10:55 AM, said:

pass and blame pard if we missed 7 seems like a good plan to me

This plan will backfire if partner know anything about bidding (or can ask someone who does). 6♠ may be a bad bid, but it can hardly be worse one than 4♥.

[pclayton]

Pard has a flaw that prevents key card; either off 2 quick losers, a void, or both.

Isn't: QJTxxx, AKxxx, xx, void possible? Reverse the minors, and 7 still isn't real good. With a little more, I suppose could EKCB via 6♣.

I'll pass.

[whereagles]

cherdano, on Apr 9 2007, 10:07 PM, said:

6♠ may be a bad bid, but it can hardly be worse one than 4♥.

Maybe. But personally, I would never have bid 4♥. I was just put into this situation

[helene_t]

A splinter is a very descriptive bid. After having splintered, you respect partner's decision.

For me, this hand is too strong for a splinter, but that's irelevant. Apparently my 4♥ bid showed this hand according to the agreements of this partnership.

In one partnership, I play 3♥ as a two-way splinter, either invitational or too strong for a normal splinter. If I'd made that bid, it would be more difficult. As Richard suggests, the partnership should have some agreement about what 6♠ shows. I think it should say "we loose one heart trick and that's it" so that I could bid 7 with the strong variant of the two-way splinter if I have a void.