[ArtK78]

Playing with a very good pick-up partner in an ACBL IMP pair game on BBO, you hold:

Scoring: XIMP

P - 2♣
2♦* -2NT
3♥** - 4♠
?

---

2♦ was waiting, and 3♥ was a transfer to spades.

Do you bid over 4♠?

[whereagles]

Yes. 4NT now.

[Fluffy]

Sure, I have a 'monster'.

[whereagles]

The hand metamorphed, so now I'll try for 7

[inquiry]

ArtK78, on Apr 2 2008, 08:03 AM, said:

Playing with a very good pick-up partner in an ACBL IMP pair game on BBO, you hold:

Scoring: XIMP

P - 2♣
2♦* -2NT
3♥** - 4♠
?

---

2♦ was waiting, and 3♥ was a transfer to spades.

Do you bid over 4♠?

I assume 4♠ shows a maximum 2♣/2NT (if opening 2NT is 20-21, then this is at least 24) with four card spade support. You have a nice five card suit with an honor, good distribution and 7 hcp. Consider say 3 distributional points for your singleton hearts, you hand is worth "10 points." Nine card fit (at a minimum), partners 24 + your "10", surely you didn't consider pass. Whereagles try for 7 is only a little too aggressive. But I can't imagine not at least trying for slam if not just bidding it right now.

[mikeh]

I have trouble imagining a hand with little 5-level safety and many hands will make slam reasonable to cold, so we have to try.

The real question is: how?

4N is the fallback for most non-expert players, and (in fairness) many experts use it more than I do. I surely wouldn't use it here because (as is usually the case when it is a poor choice) the answer to the question won't help us evaluate the hand.

Contrary to whereagles, I see no reasonable prospect of grand, and I cannot imagine, if I did, how keycard will help me reach it (other than simply a blind and low-percentage guess... even if I knew that partner had AK of spades, the red Aces and the club AK, I still can't count 13 tricks! AKJx AJx Axx AKx.... or AKxx AJx Ax AKxx how do I know (not that 7 is cold on the latter anyway)

So I try a cuebid of 5♦ and, over 5♥, I bid 5♠... I think this hand is a mild slam try and this auction conveys the appropriate message.

It isn't perfect.. in particular, if partner doesn't cue 5♥, I will not know whether that is good news (if he lacks even the heart K, that is good news, but if he holds KQx, as an example, that is probably bad news) and a bid by me of 5♠ would imply concern about the heart suit.... which I don't really have, in terms of two top losers in the suit.

[gnasher]

Partner's 4♠ bid isn't particularly helpful. I'd prefer a sequence that allows me to show my second suit and let him take charge.

Anyway, we are where we are. If partner had a strong four-card side suit like ♣AKJx or ♦AQJx, I assume he would have shown it on the way. That means that a grand slam requires some miracle fit like AKxx Axx AQx AKx or AKJx Axx Axx AKJ. Finding that will be too hard. Equally, identifying that small slam is bad (eg AKJx AQx AQJ Kxx is impossible, so I'd just drive to a small slam, checking for keycards first.

[ArtK78]

Apparently, I was too conservative on this hand. 6♠ was cold, and the grand was makable by applying restricted choice to the club suit, as the full hand was:

Scoring: XIMP

---

The ♣J falls on the second round of the suit behind the Q9xx, and, as you might expect, the club suit is divided 4-2 with Txxx in front of the Q9xx. Nothing breaks badly, so the hand is easy.

I have not bothered to try to construct hands consistent with the auction on which a small would not have good play, but it did not strike me at the time that bidding slam was so clear. In any event, the quotient on the hand was about 500, so just bidding game and making 7 earns you a fraction of an IMP. My pard only made 12 tricks, so we were -0.9 IMPs. Clearly, not many pairs bid the slam.

[jdonn]

4NT, sometimes life is too easy.

[han]

Also agree with checking for keycards, I'm fairly comfortable bidding slam if we are not off two keycards.

If partner shows 5 I will ask for kings. If partner shows the club king I will bid 6D showing the diamond king. Hopefully partner will kick it in with ♠AK ♥A ♦AQ and ♣AK.

[brianshark]

han, on Apr 2 2008, 04:43 PM, said:

Also agree with checking for keycards, I'm fairly comfortable bidding slam if we are not off two keycards.

If partner shows 5 I will ask for kings. If partner shows the club king I will bid 6D showing the diamond king. Hopefully partner will kick it in with ♠AK ♥A ♦AQ and ♣AK.

Does bidding a new suit after what I presume is a specific king ask not ASK for the king in that suit rather than show? I would have thought this way common if not standard.