[FrancesHinden]

love all
LHO opens 4H, passed round to you

♠AKJ86542
♥-
♦A
♣Q1064

[Gerben42]

I will just bid 6. Five will just get a puzzling look from partner, the hand is too good for 4.

Let me guess, this was from the Spring 4s, and bidding 6 knocked us out.

[joker_gib]

I think I'd double ! (not especially recommended with the void but maybe we belong to clubs !)

[Free]

4♠, but not really happy about it...

[hrothgar]

Preempts can be such as pain

The bidding is already at the 4 level. However are we possibility going to let partner know that club controls are so crucial and that the KQ of Diamonds might not matter at all?

If the missing high card are split evening bettwen RHO and partner slam could be quite reasonable. However, even with LHO's Heart length, there are still two opponents and one partner who can hold missing card which doesn't encourage me.

Mark me down for 4NT (suggesting two places to play). If partner bids 5♣, I'm going to bid 6♠. If partner bids 5♦, I'll bid 5♠. I hope that this will work better than 5♠, 6♠, or even pass.

[FrancesHinden]

Gerben42, on May 7 2008, 11:58 AM, said:

Let me guess, this was from the Spring 4s, and bidding 6 knocked us out.

This is from a match we won.

[whereagles]

I'm happy with a plain 4♠.

[gwnn]

5♠ sounds just right. We will make this opposite almost anything, and the danger of partner raising and slam being off is zero.

[655321]

4♠

[Walddk]

4♠. Did I miss a slam? Too bad. He wouldn't know what to do over 5♠ anyway, and 4NT (two places to play) is not attractive. Even if he bids clubs, it's not at all certain we belong there. He could be 2-3 in the blacks.

Roland

[ArtK78]

4♠, and hope we don't miss a slam.

[Apollo81]

I don't think either 4 or 6 can be criticized too much here, but I really don't like 5. I know that if a small club were the ♣J instead I would bid 6♠ for sure. I think this is a much more important change than ♠J to ♠Q.

If this is early in a long match then I would try 6♠. Otherwise I'd just bid 4 and take the plus.

[hrothgar]

Walddk, on May 7 2008, 04:45 PM, said:

4♠. Did I miss a slam? Too bad. He wouldn't know what to do over 5♠ anyway, and 4NT (two places to play) is not attractive. Even if he bids clubs, it's not at all certain we belong there. He could be 2-3 in the blacks.

Roland

I seem to be the only person suggesting that yiu bidding 4NT (two places to play).
Please note, I have no intention of ever declaring a club contract.

Rather, I think that information about partner's Club length will provide useful information about where he is likely to hold randomly placed honors.

In turn, this information might allow me to make an more accurate decision about level for a Spade contract.

For what its worth, I agree with Justin's basic comment that no one (or very few) players will have sufficient exerience with this type of hand to make an accurate decision at the table. Offline, we can do a monte carlo simulation or some such, but I think that the EBU would frown if I pulled out a laptop during a real event.

I really have no idea whether we want to be in 4♠ or 6♠. I'm hoping that the 4NT might provide some useful information. Unfortunately, I'm not sure whether this will justify bypassing 4♠ on the wrong hands...

[cherdano]

Jlall, on May 7 2008, 07:32 AM, said:

TBH I think no one has enough experience with this type of hand to have any idea what is right from experience, and no one is capable of reasoning out the best bid either. I mean how do you reason out how frequently partner has good clubs?

How about this reasoning:
If partner has a hand where 6♠ is good, and you give that hand to LHO, then 6♠ is probably down. Since RHO might also hold a club honor some day, this suggests 4♠ is better than 6♠.

[pclayton]

4♠ with clenched teeth. Making 6 or 7 I'll bet. Hopefully are opponents look at the hand the same way and out teammates made the same pressure bid.

Put it this way - on a really, really, REALLY bad day you are going bait in 4. The clubs are moth-eaten and there might be a spade loser (or two). Give me solid spades and its a 5♠ call. Upgrade to solid spades along with KJ9x of clubs and I'll gamble 6.

[jdonn]

4♠ based on my general principles. Extremely close to 5 but the argument by others that partner can't evaluate accurately is compelling.

I don't despise Richard's plan for 4NT but I don't think it's likely to help. The correlation between partner's club length and club honors seems relatively slight to me, and it would do nothing toward slams that make based on a hand with partner like Qxx xxxx KQxxx x. But maybe it should at least rank higher than blasting 6♠?

[whereagles]

Richard's plan is ok, but I hope pard can understand the spade pull mastermind, otherwise you'll endup in an hopeless 7♣ or 7♠.

[han]

jdonn, on May 7 2008, 11:53 AM, said:

4♠ based on my general principles.

What are those principles, that partner should pass with strong hands expecting you to have a poor hand? You're such a coward Josh.

I also bid 4S.

[jdonn]

han, on May 7 2008, 05:33 PM, said:

jdonn, on May 7 2008, 11:53 AM, said:

4♠ based on my general principles.

What are those principles

Eat right, exercise, get plenty of sleep unless playing BBO till 2 in the morning, and waste 3 hours a day at work on the forums. It's gotten me where I am today.