[awm]

On Saturday I was filling in at the local club game (Elianna directing) and got myself paired up with a fellow I'd never played with before. He is a student of a local pro and we didn't have much time to discuss, so I just agreed to play their card. Among other things that I don't usually play, the card included step responses to 2♣. Here are two auctions that came up where I'm interested in what others might do:

1.

♠JTx
♥AKxx
♦Jx
♣Q9xx

After I passed in first chair, partner opened a strong 2♣. I bid 2♠ showing an ace and a king (kind of forced) and partner bid 3♠. Now what?

2.

♠Q
♥AKJ9xx
♦A
♣AKxxx

I decided to open 2♣ (it is not clear that opening 1♥ makes the auction any easier). Partner bid 2♥ showing an ace or two kings. I bid 3♥, partner bid 3♠, I tried 4♣ and partner bid 4♥. Now what?

[jdonn]

First one I bid 4NT, I don't care that I've shown most of my hand and I'm not leaving it up to this guy.

Second one I'll just pass, certainly there is no safety higher as partner can have xx of hearts. If partner has the two kings, something like KJxxx xx Kxxx xx, then I can even go down here if the breaks are lousy.

[whereagles]

1. That seems easy: 4♠. Jdonn's mastermind has a point here, but I'll just stick to my philosophy of only masterminding with the stronger hand

2. Being the strong hand this time, I won't mind masterminding a 5♥ bid. By this time I should know whether I can trust pard to make something out of this. If he can't, I'll probably just pass or shoot 6♥ if I feel lucky.

[ArtK78]

1) 4♠. The purpose of control showing responses is to give the strong hand the control count. If there are 10 controls present, you should definitely be looking for slam. 9 controls is enough if there is no duplication opposite a singleton or void. The extra queen and couple of jacks are of little consequence. And the spade support is minimal.

If partner cannot work it out, then partner cannot work it out.

2) Punt. Seriously, given that partner did not raise hearts originally, your fit doesn't rate to be too good. Slam could be good - if partner has fitting honors, such as the rounded suit queens and the spade ace (that might be enough for a grand). But even a 5-level bid could be dangerous opposite 2 kings and 2-3 in the rounded suits - all small.

All in all, I think the hand is worth a 5♥ bid. Partner should know that you are looking for cards in your two suits and, hopefully, he will bid on with the right hand. A 5♠ cuebid with the spade ace would be nice.

[kfay]

1) 4♠. This one is simple.

2) Partner has the ♠A. I'll bid blackwood and if partner shows the ♥Q I'll bid 6♣ asking for 3rd round control there. This one is also simple, I guess.

[jdonn]

kfay, on Nov 17 2008, 05:13 PM, said:

2) Partner has the ♠A.

Why? 3♠ is natural, not a cuebid.

[kfay]

I know it's natural.

I guess I can't say 100% he has the A, which is why I'm bidding 1430 (thought I wrote "I'll safety check..." but I guess I must have just thought it), but when I looked at it it seemed that partner might have had some other call at some point, namely 4♦. But now I guess this is probably a cue for ♣s. Regardless, even without the ♠A I don't share your pessimism about heading higher, although I admit that it is certainly possible to go down. If partner does have the ace of spades slam looks excellent because he is a favorite to have club shortness as well. Two clubs and two hearts exactly is like... the antinuts.

[jdonn]

kfay, on Nov 17 2008, 05:33 PM, said:

I know it's natural.

I guess I can't say 100% he has the A, which is why I'm bidding 1430 (thought I wrote "I'll safety check..." but I guess I must have just thought it), but when I looked at it it seemed that partner might have had some other call at some point, namely 4♦. But now I guess this is probably a cue for ♣s. Regardless, even without the ♠A I don't share your pessimism about heading higher, although I admit that it is certainly possible to go down. If partner does have the ace of spades slam looks excellent because he is a favorite to have club shortness as well. Two clubs and two hearts exactly is like... the antinuts.

No I was nice. I could have given him 2 hearts and 3 clubs.

[rogerclee]

jdonn, on Nov 17 2008, 11:57 AM, said:

First one I bid 4NT, I don't care that I've shown most of my hand and I'm not leaving it up to this guy.

Second one I'll just pass, certainly there is no safety higher as partner can have xx of hearts. If partner has the two kings, something like KJxxx xx Kxxx xx, then I can even go down here if the breaks are lousy.

Agree totally with jdonn, don't even consider these to be very hard. On hand 2 I am not even close to being cold yet if partner has the SA.

[kfay]

BTW I know that some people like to play something along the lines of 2NT= 3 kings, 3♣ = touching AK, 3♦ = anything more than 3.

That'd be nice for the first hand, I guess, but I don't really like the method. The reason I dislike keycarding myself is that I think partner would be in the best position to judge how our hands fit if he KCs. If he doesn't keycard now then probably I screwed up, so 4N has that going for it I guess.

[mikeh]

ArtK78, on Nov 17 2008, 04:54 PM, said:

1)  4♠.  The purpose of control showing responses is to give the strong hand the control count.  If there are 10 controls present, you should definitely be looking for slam.  9 controls is enough if there is no duplication opposite a singleton or void.  The extra queen and couple of jacks are of little consequence.  And the spade support is minimal.

I don't consider J10x to be minimal support for a hand that can open 2♣ and bid a suit... while, as the second hand shows, AKxxx is possible, my experience is that 2♣ openers based on a major typically contain suits that look like AKQxxx.

And while it is all well and good to suggest that we have 'shown our hand', we have NOT shown 3 spades, let alone 2 honours, and we have NOT shown a ruffing value.. put another way.. what do we rebid with xx AKxx xxx xxxx? This looks like a 4♠ bid to me... and now I HAVE shown my all.

Since any other call is natural, I think we are stuck with the hideous 4N.. a call I abhor when (1) I have an uncontrolled uncue-bid suit, and here I have 2 of them, and (2) the answer to keycard, including re-keycard will not tell me (or partner) what to bid... yes, we'll bid slam when it is right, but can we reach grand opposite AKQxxx Qx AKx Ax?

(1) doesn't worry me much on this auction... anytime I hold this hand and partner opens 2♣, we are not off an AK or 2 Aces

(2) worries me, but since I can't trust partner very much and, anyway, have no better idea, I'll just tough it out.

As for the second hand, I agree 100% with josh on the need to pass

I note in passing that I have never liked control responses primarily because they preempt the auctions on good hands... anytime responder has a good hand and opener has a major, we have NO forcing suit agreement below game, and no inferential cues available, because neither side has shown even one suit until the 3-level. Control showing is wonderful for allowing us to avoid getting too high.. altho that's rarely a problem with more natural structures, but imposes a huge price on major suit hands.

[awm]

I did the same as Josh. Here's what happened:

(1)

Partner held ♠AKQxxx ♥x ♦AKxxx ♣x. No, I wouldn't have opened 2♣ on this hand, but I can see what he was thinking (3 losers). I hated bidding keycard but couldn't see much else to do, and it worked out here, getting us to 6♠. This was actually a top board because it was declared from my side (step response stole it) and my LHO has a natural heart lead whereas RHO has a natural club lead. So we scored up +1460 when the field was getting +1430 (well, about a third of the field missed slam entirely). Luck, obviously, but +1430 is still an average-plus. I don't think partner was bidding over 4♠ from me.

(2)

Partner held ♠ATxxxx ♥Q ♦xxx ♣T9x. You can see that 6♥ and 6♣ are both pretty good, but I passed 4♥ and we played it there. Partner got to declare (step response stole it again) and decided to make only eleven tricks. This was a bad score; about a quarter of the field bid and made slam, and most of the others were in 4♥ making six. If partner had made twelve tricks it would be average-minus.

[P_Marlowe]

#1 I agree, 4NT is certainly best, it will simplify the
auction.

#2 Again 4NT.
The alternative being 6C.

With kind regards
Marlowe