[FrancesHinden]

You may recognise your hand, but now the auction is rather different.
Pretend you haven't heard the bidding at the other table!

Scoring: IMP

1♦ 3♥ 4♥ ?
P P 6♦ ?

---

You are at favourable vulnerability.

LHO opens 1D (in a 5CM, strong NT, 4+ diamonds style)
Partner overcalls 3H
RHO bids 4H (slam try in diamonds, does not promise a heart control)

What do you bid?

- if you pass, LHO will bid 5♦ which is encouraging (4NT would be regressive) and RHO will bid 6♦
- if you bid 4S or 5H, LHO will make a forcing pass and RHO will bid 6♦

If you do something else, I'll tell you what happens next

What do you do over 6♦? I assume this may depend on what you did over 4♥...

[Apollo81]

I haven't been reading the forums much in the last 48 hrs, and as such I haven't see the other post.

4♠/6♥

[Fluffy]

same as apollo

[gnasher]

If my partner really passed my fit-showing 4♠, I'd certainly save.

If I were unlucky enough to not be playing fit bids, I'd probably bid 4♠ anyway, then save, feeling slightly foolish, because I hadn't yet mentioned my heart support.

If I bid 4S (fit) and it goes
   (pass) 5H (6D)
I think I should be able to make an action double, saying "I want to bid on unless you want to defend". No one will agree with this interpretation.

[FrancesHinden]

I'm astonished you think 4♠ is fit-showing.
As far as I am concerned it is in the "game is to play" category.

Anyway this thread doesn't seem to have generated much interest....
The winning action is to save, that is -300 against -1370 on a spade lead.

[Apollo81]

game bids are not fit showing. However pard might raise with a hand like Jxx KJ10xxxxx xx x anyway which is what we want.

[ArtK78]

I think it is pretty clear to save.

The real problem may be what do you do over 7♦. Against 7♦, if you don't take your trick at trick one, you may not get one.

I would be surprised if a spade does not cash. But it wouldn't be unheard of.

[RMB1]

In my story from this hand, the opening bid was 1♦, NS bid hearts, West (1057) bid clubs and diamonds, and when EW bid 6♦, North bid 6♥. Now East had a think (this is when I turned up - monitoring time) and emerged with 6NT; passed back to North who soon concluded that double was greedy. South lead a major and they took the first seven tricks (6NT-6). If doubling 6NT pushes EW to 7♦ then North will be very sick: a spade lead is only -1 and any other lead is making.

Robin

[skjaeran]

I might have tried 5♠ over 4♥ at the table.

[mikeh]

skaeran, on May 13 2008, 12:28 PM, said:

I might have tried 5♠ over 4♥ at the table.

I was thinking that as I read the posts... don't know if I would have done so, but it makes a lot of sense... in particular, I think it beats bidding the semi-automatic 4♠ (which I would not take as fit showing unless I were a passed hand), but it actually might cause more difficulty on the actual hand if the opps now bid 6♦. Having bid only 4♠, I think saving is crystal clear. Having bid 5♠ and caused them to guess, it is not (quite) as clear... altho at imps, I think one has to bid it.

The main upside of 5♠ is that it deprives LHO of some options... but if rho bids slam anyway, I think you have to trust him. Of course, a lot of good players bid slams here precisely because they trust you to trust them

[P_Marlowe]

4S, followed by 6H.

If I got the vulnerability right, I am bound to go
down for at most 300.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[gnasher]

FrancesHinden, on May 9 2008, 10:22 AM, said:

As far as I am concerned it is in the "game is to play" category.

Apollo81, on May 9 2008, 02:42 PM, said:

game bids are not fit showing.

We're allowed to look at the auction, aren't we? The opponents have made a slam try opposite an opening bid, whilst partner has preempted in hearts. It seems to me that:
- I'm unlikely to have the wherewithal to make more tricks in spades than partner can in hearts.
- They're not going to let us play 4♠ anyway, because they are committed to at least 5♦.
- Making eleven tricks in spades is extraordinarily unlikely, so the best that spades can offer us is an alternative strain in which to sacrifice.
- Knowing that we're going to have to judge what to do over 5♦ or more, having a 4♠ or 5♣ fit bid available is likely to be very useful.

[skjaeran]

mikeh, on May 13 2008, 08:30 PM, said:

skaeran, on May 13 2008, 12:28 PM, said:

I might have tried 5♠ over 4♥ at the table.

I was thinking that as I read the posts... don't know if I would have done so, but it makes a lot of sense... in particular, I think it beats bidding the semi-automatic 4♠ (which I would not take as fit showing unless I were a passed hand), but it actually might cause more difficulty on the actual hand if the opps now bid 6♦. Having bid only 4♠, I think saving is crystal clear. Having bid 5♠ and caused them to guess, it is not (quite) as clear... altho at imps, I think one has to bid it.

The main upside of 5♠ is that it deprives LHO of some options... but if rho bids slam anyway, I think you have to trust him. Of course, a lot of good players bid slams here precisely because they trust you to trust them

Having bid 5♠ I'd trust partner to make the last decision, if there's any.