[inquiry]

Scoring: IMP

---

South    North
1♥       4♦    
4♠       5♥    
Pass  
              

Generally I don't like assess the blame problems, but here I am showing one.

4♦ was splinter, 4♠ was cue-bid

Thoughts by north.. if parnter was interested in ♥ honors he would blackwood
Thoughts by south...if parnter has AKxx of hearts and I make slam try with 4♠, wouldn't sign off.

Result, easy 6♥ missed, and a huge imp loss.

Questions to consider.
1) Is north too good for splinter?
2) Should south bid 4NT directly
3) What should north bid over 4♠, and would 5♦ promise a ♦ void.

Ben

[mr1303]

Personally I think that South is to blame. North has a perfect hand for a splinter in my opinion, good trumps and a shortage in diamonds, but no other controls.

South's cue-bid was a waste of a bid frankly. Unless his partner could cue-bid the ace of clubs, what useful information could he find, and RKCB would tell him that anyway.

And even after the cue-bid, he didn't think logically about what North might have. A splinter shows a good raise to 4, i.e. at least 10 working HCP. He knows North has nothing in diamonds (generally a bad idea to splinter singleton K, and even then), nothing in spades, and no ace of clubs, so clearly all of the points must be in trumps. So clearly South's fault IMO.

As to the other questions, North has no other bid to make after 4S, as a cue-bid like this is surely asking for a club control. North has no reason to think that the partnership isn't off two club losers, so correctly signs off. By most agreements 5D should show a void after a 4D splinter

Mark

[Trpltrbl]

1 ) no, not even close

2 ) Yes

3 ) 4♠ is accepting slamtry, and pd is missing AKJ of trump, just bid 6.

Mike

[helium]

heya Ben

Normally i dont answer bidding problems couse i dont play same system as most of you,i play a for of sayc:)
but its we use the same gadgets like splinter Q-bids ect,so ill answer what i whould do on this one:O))

1. no i think 4♦ is very discribing on this hand, a great bid

2. no i whould bid 5♥ (ask p to raise whit good ♥)

3.i whould bid 5 ♥ too,and yes 5♦show void now


So its in my oppinion south is to blame

kenneth

[luis]

1) Is north too good for splinter?

Depends absolutely on partnership agreements. With my current pd a splinter is done with honors in the long suits (AK or Q) and about 11-14 hcp. So it's easy to know if you have to continue and how. So with Jxx of spades I wouldn't splinter.

2) Should south bid 4NT directly

Absolutely. He only needs AK of hearts to have a good playable slam. or the cA and the hK.

3) What should north bid over 4♠, and would 5♦ promise a ♦ void.

Over 4s I think that 5d does indeed promise a void. He can't bid 5c with just the Q so I think that 5h is correct.

If north has what the parnership has agreed for a splinter (and I suposse he has) I think 100% of the blame goes to south. 4s is a bid that doesn't have any purpose, because the only thing that south needs to do is ask for keycards. Again when poor north is unable to cuebid clubs what does he have for a splinter? South should realize that AK of hearts is a certanty and bid the slam even after his doubtful 4s start.

Luis

[Free]

inquiry, on Mar 12 2004, 02:08 AM, said:

Questions to consider.
1) Is north too good for splinter?
2) Should south bid 4NT directly
3) What should north bid over 4♠, and would 5♦ promise a ♦ void.

Ben

1) No, perfect hand imo

2) Perhaps. Depends on your agreements... If he bids 4♠, he can find out if partner has ♣A or not. After 5♥, it's sure he has ♥AK, so slam is sure (what else does partner splinter with?).

3) North has to bid 5♥ imo, because he has no first round control ♦ and no control ♣. 4NT would be wrong...

I give South the full blame...

[Cascade]

Quote

Questions to consider.
1) Is north too good for splinter?

No.

Quote

2) Should south bid 4NT directly

Yes. If the 4♦ splinter has any combination of two key cards then slam will be playable.

Quote

3) What should north bid over 4♠, and would 5♦ promise a ♦ void.

5♥

A splinter with no side controls must have excellent trumps so South can easily go on over 5♥. Opener should play the splinter for at least two useful cards.

[mishovnbg]

1. No 2. Yes 3. 5♥; yes void and ERKCB 4. South == blame 5. Even not interesting for discussion imho.

Spoiler

-------------------------------------------------------

Misho

[Poky]

Test. (How to delete it???)

[Poky]

North: 5%
South: 95%

1) Is north too good for splinter?
No.

2) Should south bid 4NT directly
Yes.

3) What should north bid over 4♠, and would 5♦ promise a ♦ void.
5♥. 5♦ is void.

[flytoox]

inquiry, on Mar 11 2004, 05:08 PM, said:

Scoring: IMP

---

South    North
1♥       4♦    
4♠       5♥    
Pass  
              

Generally I don't like assess the blame problems, but here I am showing one.

4♦ was splinter, 4♠ was cue-bid

Thoughts by north.. if parnter was interested in ♥ honors he would blackwood
Thoughts by south...if parnter has AKxx of hearts and I make slam try with 4♠, wouldn't sign off.

Result, easy 6♥ missed, and a huge imp loss.

Questions to consider.
1) Is north too good for splinter?
2) Should south bid 4NT directly
3) What should north bid over 4♠, and would 5♦ promise a ♦ void.

Ben

south 100%. He should simply bid 5H after 4D.

[inquiry]

I agree with the vast majority of the posters.

1) This is a perfect 4♦ splinter,

2) 4NT is the right next bid by south, simple, safe, effective

3) South should not bid 4♠, as this specifically says I need help in ♣'s (imho). And north looking at no first or second round control in ♣'s must sign off.

Ben

[Free]

Poky, on Mar 12 2004, 06:19 PM, said:

North: 5%
South: 95%

1) Is north too good for splinter?
No.

2) Should south bid 4NT directly
Yes.

3) What should north bid over 4♠, and would 5♦ promise a ♦ void.
5♥. 5♦ is void.

If North did everything right, why does he get 5% of the blame??? Did he give South the right cards or something?