[1eyedjack]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I think slam is quite a bit less than 50% so a poor one to be in. That said, I have been in a lot worse slams and it certainly has play. If I am going to be in slam I think that I want to be in Clubs, despite the possibility of two cashing Diamonds at tricks 1 & 2 via ruff.

Anyway, as it is so borderline I did not expect an easy ride. I shall have a digest of the responses (and thanks also for the links to the other threads).

[kenrexford]

Echognome, on Dec 12 2007, 02:06 PM, said:

Ken - When you say "sets trumps" in your auctions, does that mean you cannot play in 6♣? Seems odd that responder would want to set trumps in a 5-3 rather than a 4-4 if he has slam ambitions.

So I'm just asking if the only way back to clubs is by a jump at the 6-level later on.

No. Responder "sets trumps" at 2♥ because he wants to describe his hand to partner more than to take over, especially with the actual hand.

There are many occasions where Responder might continue on with the club agreement, planning to bail into hearts (or try the heart slam). I don't think that this is one of them, because Responder has a flat dead-minimum with clubs that are not inspiring.

Thus, to a degree Responder does have a weighty decision immediately as to how to set the tone (continue the club exploration but suggest hearts later, or suggest hearts now and hope to return to clubs later when appropriate). On default, Responder will elect to show the heart support because (1) cuebidding is better when the major is agreed and (2) both sides know (after a club raise) that a club strain might be the choice of slam strain.

[benlessard]

natural.

Quote

1♥-2♣
3♠-4♥ splinter-negative
4♠-5♥ cue-negative again

Staynless

1H--- 5H 12-14 or 18-22 unb
1S ---6+ relay
1Nt=4C (denies 4S)
2D=GF (2C 2H would have been preference 6-11)
3H=S void
4D = sign off signal (expecting partner to be 12-14)
5C= im 18-22 i have 2Keyc no Q probably no extra length in H.
pass in imps 5H in MP.

After the 2D we used a simple method

2H=64
2S =3514
2Nt=2524
3C=?5?5 no voids
3D=1534
3H void in higher suit
3S void in 2nd higher suit

if KQxxx,KQxx,AKxx

then after 4D its 5S
2keyc +Q♥+K♣C+K♦ no Q♣.
followed by 6C.

[kfay]

Auction with my normal partner playing 2/1:

1♥-2♣
3♣-3♥
4♠!x-4N!y
5♣!z-5♥!*
?

!x-exclusion 1430
!y-1/4
!z-Q ask
!*-don't have it
? Probably would pass if it were my partner. would bid 6♥ if it were me...

Playing a big club (which we recently switched to) it would hopefully go:

1♣!1-1N!2
2♣!3-2N!4
Edit: my partner informs me that the auction should be more like:
3♣!5-3♥!6
4♠!7-5♣!8
6♣

!1-15+ any hand
!2-Balanced GF
!3-Relay
!4-12-15 HCP 3334 shape with 4 cards in either minor
!5-2nd checkback
!6-cue in support of clubs (shows 3334 exactly)
!7-exclusion
!8-1/4

[Apollo81]

Here are two which don't rely on any conventions:

1h-2c
3c-3h
3s-4h
4s-5h
6c-p

1h-2c
2d-2h
3c-4h
4s-5h
6c-p

[mr1303]

Funny how everyone is starting with 2 clubs. I must confess that in a 2/1 based system the club suit is not good enough for 2C.

[kenrexford]

mr1303, on Dec 14 2007, 01:41 PM, said:

Funny how everyone is starting with 2 clubs. I must confess that in a 2/1 based system the club suit is not good enough for 2C.

I seem to recall that maybe there was a slight disagreement here sometime back...

Three schools for 2/1 players.

1. 2♣ shows real damned clubs (5+)
2. 2♣ might be fudged
3. 2♣ is freely and liberally fudged upon the slightest provocation.

I'm in School 3.

Every school will claim with amazing confidence and authority that the other schools are idiotic. There are probably 1000 posts on this site on the topic, 800 of which include a claim that anyone who disagrees with the ___ school is an idiot.

I think all styles are playble, for idiots. Mine is the best. LOL

[jdonn]

mr1303, on Dec 14 2007, 01:41 PM, said:

Funny how everyone is starting with 2 clubs. I must confess that in a 2/1 based system the club suit is not good enough for 2C.

Isn't the hand 3334? And the clubs aren't even terrible. What response do you suggest?