[catch22]

Scoring: XIMP

---

(2S)-3C-(3S)-?

What now?

[whereagles]

4♥, what can u do?

[rogerclee]

I can't think of any intelligent way to investigate 7♥ (or if we can even make 6♥), so I'll just bid 6♥, which should make the majority of the time.

[helene_t]

5♥. Not much confidence in p being able to make the right decision on that basis but can't make up anything better.

Probably some kind of transfer advances would be better here than 4♦ as a natural force.

[gnasher]

4S, followed by 5H over 5C.

Partner will initially assume that I'm showing a strong raise to 5C, but I think that when I convert to 5H it shows a slam try in hearts with a spade control. The alternative meaning is a grand slam try for clubs, but I think this is wrong on frequency grounds.

6H could easily be off two aces, or just be hopeless after partner's SA has been knocked out at trick one. At this vulnerability you're unlikely to be able to talk them into a phantom sacrifice.

[Sambolino]

4nt, peasant bridge

i bid 7 with 3 aces

[helene_t]

Yes, 4N is fine if it's regular Blackwood, didn't think of that. Afraid it would be RKC for clubs or maybe something else, but OK.

[Fluffy]

What helene said, 5♥ should lead to 7♥ when its right.

[hrothgar]

Fluffy, on Feb 27 2008, 04:09 PM, said:

What helene said, 5♥ should lead to 7♥ when its right.

Say what?

5♥ should lead to 7♥ if partner has a first round Spade control...

You're still missing two other Aces and the Queen of Diamonds...

[cherdano]

hrothgar, on Feb 27 2008, 07:37 AM, said:

Fluffy, on Feb 27 2008, 04:09 PM, said:

What helene said, 5♥ should lead to 7♥ when its right.

Say what?

5♥ should lead to 7♥ if partner has a first round Spade control...

You're still missing two other Aces and the Queen of Diamonds...

5♥ is a general invitation to bid 6♥, not a specific question about a specific control

[hrothgar]

cherdano, on Feb 27 2008, 05:14 PM, said:

hrothgar, on Feb 27 2008, 07:37 AM, said:

Fluffy, on Feb 27 2008, 04:09 PM, said:

What helene said, 5♥ should lead to 7♥ when its right.

Say what?

5♥ should lead to 7♥ if partner has a first round Spade control...

You're still missing two other Aces and the Queen of Diamonds...

5♥ is a general invitation to bid 6♥, not a specific question about a specific control

I don't think that its playable to burn this much bidding space simply to ask do you like your hand or not. How the hell is parnter ever supposed to know what constitutes good or bad.

High level jumps need to ask specific questions. In this case, the only obvious question is whether or not partner has a Spade control.

[Apollo81]

If I had straight Blackwood available, then I would bid that.

I expect this hand to normally make 11 or 12 tricks, though 10 or 13 are possible too. Given this, I suppose the bid with the highest expected value is 5♥. We may not get to slam all the time it is right, nor will we stop short all the time that is right, but on % we will probably do better by making this call than by making any other call.

[mikegill]

6♥. Partner should have a good hand since he is not very likely to be short in spades. Can't see any sensible way to go about investigating this unless 4n happens to be straight blackwood by some miracle. Don't like 5♥ - how is partner supposed to know that Jxx x AQ Axxxxxx is an accept and KQ xxxx AQ KQJT9 is not?

[pclayton]

6♥. Might make 7, might go down.

4N here doesn't help me much I'm afraid.

[han]

5H has the obvious downside that partner has no heart honors and is unlikely to raise. I'll just bid 6 I think.

[mikeh]

It's between the conservative, auction-ending, slam-missing 4♥ and the damn the torpedoes, full steam-ahead 6♥. On paper, I bid the slam and like to think I would at the table as well.

I really don't see 4N as useful, unless partner shows 4 keycards... while blackwood would be okay, my suspicion is that virtually the entire world plays this as keycard, and 5♥ won't get the right answer with sufficient frequency to justify the chance of missing slam.

I've bid slams off two cashing cards before, and I am sure I will do so again: maybe I just did

[Fluffy]

My problem about bidding 6♥ is that partner might raise to 7 and 1 ace might be still missing.

[whereagles]

you shoot pard afterwards, wtp?

[P_Marlowe]

4H.

I like to go plus.

I dont like 5H, nobody knows, what this bid means,
asks, and hence nobody knows, what the answers
may mean, ... unless you are a regular partnership.
5H could well be constructed as some kind of support
bid for clubs, as a void or as a fit bid, ... you never
know, this may sound obscure, but if partner jumps
at me with an undiscussed jump to the 5 level in a
new suit, my mind starts to wander.

I am to fearsome to bid 6H.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[mikeh]

Fluffy, on Feb 27 2008, 01:01 PM, said:

My problem about bidding 6♥ is that partner might raise to 7 and 1 ace might be still missing.

I cannot come up with a hand on which partner will bid 7 where it is not close to cold: he will need more than just 3 Aces, given that he has NO high trump. Axx xx Ax AKxxxx is far from a clear raise, but assume he thinks this is worth it. If he has the 10 of hearts, we can usually ruff a diamond. If that is either unappealing or unavailable, we can try to establish the clubs and/or squeeze rho in the minors, or take a diamond hook. And so on.

Going down in 7♥ is the least of my worries in terms of my selection of 6♥