[kgr]

Scoring: IMP

1D-1S
3H-??

---

No a lot of agreements, but you know partner plays sayc and splinters. What do you bid?

[rogerclee]

4♠, isn't this hand the reason we play invitational splinters?

[matmat]

game seems like it might be good. we have nothing wasted and well fitting pointy kings

[manudude03]

3S for me. It seems if I'm possibly in the minority in that I would take 3H as GF. This hand may well be a minimum response to 1D, but we have a very nice diamond suit for partner. Give partner a hand like AQJx x Axxxxx Ax and slam has good chances so 4S would seem too much of a signoff. I would personally expect more for 4D. Take off a

Maybe those who play invitational splinters would go on opposite a game accept with the above hand, but I think slam would become much more difficult to bid.

[pclayton]

Depends on what our requirements are (see Gnome's thread a few weeks ago) for a mini-splinter, but I have dreams of AQxx x Axxxxx Ax or Axxx void Axxxxx AKx.

Let's see what 4♦ brings us.

[gwnn]

always look on the bright side of life...

[mikeh]

playing sayc, I would assume that this was a gf splinter (personally, I prefer it as invitational or better, with 4♥ showing a void splinter, but that ain't sayc).

I agree that this relatively dull hand has suddenly become very good indeed. My problem is that I don't know how to get there from here, in terms of getting to a good slam and staying out of a bad one.

4♦ gets us by this round, but will/should partner bid on with AQxx x AQxxxx Ax, where slam is pretty good.. spades 3-2 and no immediate diamond ruff, while knowing not to bid on with AJxx x AQxxx AKx? Surely the second hand will appear far more slam suitable to partner than the first?

The sexy 4♦ bid allows us to say that we showed interest, but it doesn't, to my mind, actually help partner evaluate, and we surely are not worth another move over 4♠ by partner... nor even an unlikely 4♥..... Q109x A AQ10xx AQx lacks 5 level safety.

If we believe that 3♥ is gf (I think sayc says it is, but does this partner know that... assuming I am right), then we could bid 3♠, then over 4♣ bid 4♦... but this just gets us back to the same spot all over again.... how is partner to evaluate... and note that it is going to have to be his decision from 4♦ on, because we lack any more cue bids and we surely cannot meaningfully place the contract safely or accurately by running easley up the flagpole, no matter how sophisticated our keycard agreements may be.

[Free]

If I'm gonna bid anything else than 4♠, it will be 3NT as frivolous.

[P_Marlowe]

<snip>

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

4S, I take it, you know 3H is a splinter, ... although
this is certainly not standard.

If you dont trust partner, bid 4D.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[skjaeran]

Playing 3NT as serious, 4♦ seems like an obvious (cue)bid to me.
3♥ shows a singleton and inv+.

[kgr]

Scoring: IMP

1D-1S
3H-4S
4SA-5D
6S

---

4S: I wasn't sure if 3H was GF or invite, but I supposed invite and didn't feel strong enough for 3S.
5D: 1 ace of 5
After the bidding my expert partner said: "How can you bid 4S with that weak hand. Now I know why I blacklisted you." ...and left. (I wonder how many hands he can play without leaving)

[manudude03]

I'm blaming North for this. After finding out you are missing a key card, he really should check for the Queen of spades before bidding 6. Personally, if I was playing 3H there as Inv+, then thats a 5S for me, not a 4NT

[skjaeran]

I don't know why north thought he should take another bid over 4♠ at all. Pass seems clear to me.

[neilkaz]

skaeran, on Apr 18 2008, 11:22 AM, said:

I don't know why north thought he should take another bid over 4♠ at all. Pass seems clear to me.

And very clear to me, and why not ask for the Q of ♠ on the way to the doomed slam ?

[ArtK78]

I don't even like the splinter bid that he made with a singleton ♥A. I would have bid 4♠ on his cards. Splinter bids should not be used on hands where the singleton is the Ace. It makes it more difficult to properly evaluate the other hand for slam purposes.

By the way, for what it is worth, I like using the jump reverse to show one of two types of splinter bids - either the invitational to game splinter bid or the hand that is too good to bid just game splinter bid. With a game forcing but not more splinter bid the splinter should be one level higher (4♥ on this hand).

Responder assumes that the jump reverse is an invitational to game splinter bid and bids accordingly. If responder signs off, opener bids again with the BIG splinter.

The jump reverse is only available on three auctions - 1C-1H, 1C-1S, 1D-1S.