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3NT with a 9-card major fit No 4333 hands involved

Poll: Is this something that really happens? (37 member(s) have cast votes)

Is this something that really happens?

  1. Pretty much only in bidding contests (5 votes [13.51%])

    Percentage of vote: 13.51%

  2. I've seen it come up a few times, but not worth worrying about (26 votes [70.27%])

    Percentage of vote: 70.27%

  3. Finding these 3NTs is very important to winning bridge! (6 votes [16.22%])

    Percentage of vote: 16.22%

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#1 User is offline   awm 

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Posted 2008-May-09, 12:56

Recently I've been doing a bunch of online bidding contests (via biddingquest). One very common theme is hands where we have a nine-card major suit fit, yet 3NT is the only making game. I'm aware that this kind of thing comes up sometimes with eight-card major fits, and when there is a 4333 hand involved, but these are less balanced hands where we just happen to be off four top tricks (but have nine or more top tricks of our own).

Is this something that comes up in "real bridge" with any degree of frequency, or just an artifact of the bidding contests?
Adam W. Meyerson
a.k.a. Appeal Without Merit
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#2 User is offline   cherdano 

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Posted 2008-May-09, 14:33

They are not very frequent, but they do come up (e.g. with a 6-3 fit in a suit that is running). While it is not worth designing your bidding system around it, in every natural bidding system you will sometimes be presented to diagnose this situation, and it would be silly not to take advantage of it.
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#3 User is offline   FrancesHinden 

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Posted 2008-May-12, 05:45

It does come up, it's usually a 6-3 fit (or 7-2!)

Without designing your bidding system round it, it's certainly worth bearing in mind the most obvious positions, typically when you have something like

Qx
AKQxxx
Jxx
Jx

opposite partner's NT opening

Our NT methods have a way of showing a good 6-card heart suit and offering choice of games on this type of hand.

The other typical position is this type of combination- this is a hand from the weekend:

AQ98xx
108
KJx
9x

Kx
Q9543
Ax
KJ10x

this is only an 8-card fit, but you can give north a 7th spade and the principle is the same. We bid
(1H) 1S (P) 2NT
(P) 3NT all pass

There are 5-4 and 5-5 major suit fits where the only making game is 3NT, but these are usually in the 'too difficult' category for me. Or you can construct a 13-card fit like this:

KJxxxxx
KQx
Q
Qx

AQxxxx
A
J10x
Jxx
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#4 User is offline   helene_t 

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Posted 2008-May-12, 06:57

FrancesHinden, on May 12 2008, 12:45 PM, said:

KJxxxxx
KQx
Q
Qx

AQxxxx
A
J10x
Jxx

That one would probably make 4♠ as well. What about
KJxxxxx
KQ
Qx
Q10

AQxxxx
A
J10x
Jxx
The world would be such a happy place, if only everyone played Acol :) --- TramTicket
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#5 User is offline   hotShot 

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Posted 2008-May-12, 07:08

Imagine a 5332 hand opposite a 4432 shaped hand. You will have a hard time to ruff something at all, because you have similar length in both hands.
So the hand plays about the same in NT or in 4M. Playing around with HCP and honors you can construct a hand where only 9 tricks are possible.
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#6 User is offline   Apollo81 

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Posted 2008-May-12, 10:20

It does come up. I think its worth thinking about, but for most people should be way way down on that list.
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