[CSGibson]

Scoring: MP

1♦-(1♥)-2♣-(3♥),
4♦-(p)-4♠, all pass

---

Our auction sucked.

Playing 2/1, what would you do to improve this sequence from either N or S? Any way to get to the garden spot of 6 diamonds?

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

1D is clear.

I can live with 2C, most likely I would have choosen X,
but a matter of style.

4D is clear.

I dont like 4S, either the bid showes 6-5 (opener seems to
have believed this) or it is a cue (what we play), it certainly
does not show 5-4.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[the hog]

Was 4S natural? Like Uwe I would have played it as a cue for Ds. I guess Nth took it as 6-5 on this auction. Hard to know who to blame unless you know the agreements in place. I can certainly live with 2C, but agree that I prefer a Sputnik x.

[gnasher]

P_Marlowe, on Oct 10 2008, 08:38 AM, said:

I dont like 4S, either the bid showes 6-5 (opener seems to
have believed this) or it is a cue (what we play), it certainly
does not show 5-4.

If you play 4♠ as a cue bid, why do you dislike it on this hand?

[P_Marlowe]

gnasher, on Oct 10 2008, 02:53 AM, said:

P_Marlowe, on Oct 10 2008, 08:38 AM, said:

I dont like 4S, either the bid showes 6-5 (opener seems to
have believed this) or it is a cue (what we play), it certainly
does not show 5-4.

If you play 4♠ as a cue bid, why do you dislike it on this hand?

Wrong wording.

I dont like bidding 4S, with the intention to show 5-4.

From the bidding, it seems that both player did not
agree with each other, what 4S showed, otherwise I
dont understand why openers passed 4S.

And yes, playing 4S as a cue, would have been great and
helpful on the given hand.
But if you happen to play 4S as showing 6-5, than I would
say, that this is also a sensible agrrement, although it would
not have been a helpful agreement on the given deal.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[mike777]

Getting to 5d is easy.......I can see missing 6d.

[FrancesHinden]

I am entirely happy with the 2C bid. If you double, how are you expecting to tell partner that you have 5 clubs and 4 spades and a game force? Looking at a nice 17-count it's not so likely that you are about to get bounced in hearts - and even if you are, you have a comfortable take-out double if 3H or 4H comes back to you.

4D is fine (you have 7 of the things, after all). Over that I agree it's potentially ambiguous whether 4S shows lots of spades and clubs, or whether it's a cue for diamonds. If it's the latter, it's an excellent bid. If it's the former, then you have to bid 4H showing a good 5D bid. Either way getting to 6D is not trivial.

[gnasher]

I agree that the auction to 4♦ is fine. From there, if you know what 4♠ means and you use 4NT/5♦ to express encouragement or discouragement, I think it's straightforward.

Playing 4♠ as a cue bid, responder would bid 4♠; playing 4♠ as natural, responder would 4♥, showing a slam try but not promising a control. Over either of those, opener would bid the more encouraging of 5♦ and 4NT, and responder would bid a slam - lacking ♣A, opener surely has the red aces.

If 4NT in either sequence would be RKCB, it's probably too hard - it would need opener to take control, and he doesn't really have the hand for that.

[han]

Would have bid 1D, 2C and 4D as well.

[InTime]

I think you should consider the following agreements in your partnership.

1. If the opposition has bid a suit and has found a fit a double is not for penalties.

2. If 3 suits has been bid, a double from partner indicates 4 of the unbid suit.

Give it a go and see if your partnership bidding improves.

Back to the bidding:
The 2C does not necessarily deny 4 spades.
If partner would have doubled 3H, it is not towards penalties. A double by partner would have indicated 4 spades. By bidding 4D, partner is in effect denying 4 spades and tolerance for your clubs. Now from this, you can consider your next move.

Hope this helps
Regards

[Codo]

It is true that you can bid 2 Club because you normaly later can bid Spades anyway. But I still had doubled. IF I had doubled and pd has no spades, I can happy bid my clubs later too. And espacially at MPs it is so important to bid the majors at once.

But even when your approach is that your 4 Spade bid shows 5+ clubs and 4 spades, I had not liked it, because pd may pass it when its wrong- missing a slam with QJxx,Ax,AQxxxx,xx f.e.
Or he passes 4 Spade without having four, playing you for a kind of 6/5 hand. (He shouldn't, but I have seen this recently.... )

Too many bad things can happen, so I think that you should bid 4 Heart as a strong raise to 5 Diamond. After all, Kx looks quite good in support to a selfsufficent suit.

I had liked to play 4 Spade as a cue confirming spades, denying a heart control and showing Slam interesst. So, exactly what the south hand had, but not what North expected.

[pclayton]

FrancesHinden, on Oct 10 2008, 12:46 AM, said:

I am entirely happy with the 2C bid. If you double, how are you expecting to tell partner that you have 5 clubs and 4 spades and a game force? Looking at a nice 17-count it's not so likely that you are about to get bounced in hearts - and even if you are, you have a comfortable take-out double if 3H or 4H comes back to you.

4D is fine (you have 7 of the things, after all). Over that I agree it's potentially ambiguous whether 4S shows lots of spades and clubs, or whether it's a cue for diamonds. If it's the latter, it's an excellent bid. If it's the former, then you have to bid 4H showing a good 5D bid. Either way getting to 6D is not trivial.

I agree. 4♥ is a good one for partners to discuss, and IMO it should not promise a control. Does it promise diamond support, or could it just be a great hand with a lot of clubs?

If we held AKxxx xx void KQJ9xx we'd all be talking about how 'obvious' 4♠ is.

Side note: what is 4N?

[FrancesHinden]

4N over 4D is to play there. Definitely.

Qxx
K10x
Kx
AKxxx

for example

[jdonn]

I wouldn't have bid 4♦ but it should have worked well. I would just drive to slam as south over that, the odds are overwhelming to me that partner has heart control, in particular I think shortness is very common since 4♦ is a really big bid. From earlier, 2♣ was definitely a good bid and the correct bid. I would negative double in one of those speed-gib tournaments of course.

My full auction would probably have been
1♦ (1♥) 2♣ (3♥)
P X
3NT P

If I were to reach slam, it would be by south raising to 4NT and north pulling to 6♦. Or perhaps north bidding 4♦ instead of 3NT.