[pclayton]

♠AKJxxxxx
♥void
♦A
♣Qxxx

You are dealer. The vulnerability won't matter, because I'm going to help you and say that whatever you do the opponents are silent. FWIW, its green so a 4♠ opening should never be considered.

You open 1♠ and pard bids a Forcing 1N call. Your next move?

[kenrexford]

Without special techniques, my next call is 3♣.

Of course, I have special techniques... LOL

[rogerclee]

We have a slam, eh?

Anyway, my first move is a JS to 3C.

Opening this hand 2C could've possibly worked out better, but I wouldn't have done it. I opened 2C one time in a midnight on some 3-loser 10-count, and the opponents went ballistic about psyching. In a midnight.

[rogerclee]

sceptic, on Dec 28 2007, 04:03 PM, said:

hope you dont mind a non advanced expert having a say

But 3 Spades looks like the right call to me especially as pard may not have the club fit I would like to see and could have a weak 2 diamond or weak 2 heart bid at the ready after a 2 level bid by the opener

Do you still make this call knowing that 3S is nonforcing?

[awm]

There are actually a lot of possible bids with this hand at second turn.

I rather like 4♦ if this is a "self-splinter" which I think is fairly standard since 3♦ would be GF. This tells partner immediately about the main feature of the hand (spades!) and also tells partner to discount diamond cards.

Whoops, somehow misread the shape. Obviously 4♥ (heart splinter) is much better than a diamond splinter.

[joshs]

awm, on Dec 28 2007, 04:12 PM, said:

There are actually a lot of possible bids with this hand at second turn.

I rather like 4♦ if this is a "self-splinter" which I think is fairly standard since 3♦ would be GF. This tells partner immediately about the main feature of the hand (spades!) and also tells partner to discount diamond cards.

Whoops, somehow misread the shape. Obviously 4♥ (heart splinter) is much better than a diamond splinter.

But diamond cards and club cards are not of equal worth....

[pclayton]

kenrexford, on Dec 28 2007, 12:57 PM, said:

Without special techniques, my next call is 3♣.

Of course, I have special techniques... LOL

Forcing 2N? Gazzilli extensions?

All good and well. They cater to certain hands and ignore others, but I doubt you ever are really getting the true nature of this 8=0=1=4 across.

[Echognome]

joshs, on Dec 28 2007, 01:15 PM, said:

But diamond cards and club cards are not of equal worth....

When given this problem I simply refused to jump shift into Qxxx. Partner is going to totally misevaluate Kxx or Axx.

[ArtK78]

I would bid 3♣, but I play it as an artificial game force.

Failing that, I would bid 3♣ natural and forcing, intending to bid 4♠ next.

[kenrexford]

pclayton, on Dec 28 2007, 04:16 PM, said:

kenrexford, on Dec 28 2007, 12:57 PM, said:

Without special techniques, my next call is 3♣.

Of course, I have special techniques...  LOL

Forcing 2N? Gazzilli extensions?

All good and well. They cater to certain hands and ignore others, but I doubt you ever are really getting the true nature of this 8=0=1=4 across.

Well, it is sort of interesting.

2NT would be a GF hand with any number of possible hands.

I'll assume a mundane 3♣ relay response. With diamonds or hearts and any shape, I bid that suit. Clubs is difficult to show. With notrump viability, you rebid 3NT. With no notrump viability, you rebid 4♣.

I could just bid 3♠, a GF call. But, I think I can do better than that.

After 3♣, I bid 4♠. This seems to send a club message and eliminate the possibility of any minor calls. Hence, per force, I need club and spade cards and nothing in the reds. Self-playing spades.

Tada!

[Cascade]

We play 3♠ as forcing on this auction so I would do that.

Otherwise I suppose I have to jump shift into 3♣ but I don't like it with bad clubs and eight good spades.

A self-splinter to 4♥ (or even 4♦) won't help partner as we are really only interested in club cards.

[jdonn]

I would bid 3♣ first for sure. There is no other way that I can see to focus partner on where we need help.

[Halo]

I'd open 2C.

If I was forbidden from bidding 2C, I'd never bid 3C in this auction. I don't see how partner could come close to placing my hand.

If I played 3S NF, I'd bid 4S at my second turn.

[Apollo81]

might as well bid 3c before proceeding on to 4s....only way to get to a slam intelligently

[ArcLight]

Plaing the Mike Lawrence 2/1 style
3♠ shows a strong hand 16-18, 6+ cards, good suit

So I bid that.

The 3♣ bid can work too, because it focuses pard on ♣.

[whereagles]

I wouldn't open 1♠, but, having done that, I guess I must bid 3♣.

I thought of 2♣ (the hand needs some probing - keep it low), but, being so short on spades, there's a fair chance pard prefers clubs and passes 2♣ with

--
Txxx
Qxxx
KJTxx

[pclayton]

I think 3♣ is a reasonable, if not consensus choice here. Thats what I bid at the table as well.

Pard now bids 3♥. He isn't a passed hand, so you can't rule out weak 2's and such, but we do play intermediate jump shifts, so if its a 6 bagger, he's limited to a 9 count or so.

[whereagles]

1♠ 1NT
3♣ 3♥
3♠

Life still seems easy...

[kenrexford]

I'm not sure how opening anything but 1♠ helps matters, not that this is an objection to these comments. It may well be that the honest assessment would be a 4♠ opening, which is hopeless as slam-aspirational, or 4♦ Namyats, which is anti-constructive but resembles the right call more.

2♣ (or 2♦, he he) might work, but I doubt it. Similar problems.