[mikeh]

I cannot imagine splintering with the 4♥ hand and then passing 4♠. I have reasonable 5 level safety opposite xxxx xxx xxx xxx, and very good 5-level safety opposite the 10 of ♣s... and I doubt that any real world bidders would move over 4♥ with xxxx xxx xxx Axx, yet slam is excellent opposite that.

In truth, I would never splinter, in an established partnership, with 22 high, 5 support headed by the AKQ and a LTC of 3... my god, I have a 2♣ opening bid, just made even sounder by partner bidding 1♠!

I would cue to establish the force and then raise spades and hope to elicit a cue... and I don't care if it is in hearts or clubs... I'm gone to 6 in a heartbeat.

Now, if I were worried that partner would pass a sequence that began double then cue then spades, I'd splinter and bid again.

On the given hand, as the 1♠ bidder, I can live with either the conservative 4♠ or the aggressive 5♣... I would never keycard because I don't know enough to know whether to commit to slam opposite a 3 keycard response... AKQxx x AJx KQJx.. and surely, if we'd splinter with the monster he held, we'd splinter with this... and no prizes for guessing where the ♦ King is

[vang]

to defend my option - which seems to be alone at this moment and probably not very well thought: probably the poll should be "you stop or you go". right now the results are 50%-50%. how exactly you go (if you decide to) seems to be a matter of taste.

[TheoKole]

Ok, I can understand the criticism and of course I accept it.

I'm wondering though if I have the "right" to assume that partner has any Ace when he has signed off in 4 ♠.

In my established partnership, I would X, cue-bid, and then splinter and trust my partner's judgement, as he also knows my bidding style which is to always assume that partner has a minimum bid when I force the bidding.

In this hand his minimum is xxx, xxxx, xxx, xxx give or take a Q or J.

Compared his hand to this hand and it becomes huge, my regular P would know I had a 2 club opener .

I'm pretty confident that we would have bid to 6 spades on the hand.

Cheers,

Theo

[dake50]

On this auction partner plays me for a useful 5hcp. I have better than that plus C-single. Bw/key then 6S over 3 or 4.

[whereagles]

Theo, your auction was fine. If pard trusts you, he'll definitely cooperate to slam.

[finally17]

kenrexford, on Dec 5 2007, 10:21 AM, said:

I might have jumped to 2♠ the first time. Having gone low, I now bid 5♣. If the five-level is not safe, I'm heading to the partnership desk.

AMEN