[rogerclee]

Matchpoints, Third Seat, All Red

♠T ♥AJ9x ♦AQJx ♣AQxx

1♣ - 1♥
3♥ - 3♠
3NT - ?

3♠ = artificial, asking
3NT = 18-19 balanced

If you bid 4♣, partner will bid 4♦. If/when you bid blackwood, you will find out partner has two keycards but no ♥Q.

[Flameous]

6NT for me. I think that if you can find the Q you will have a good chance of 13 tricks without any ruffs and... well if you can't 7 has no play.

[dicklont]

7♥
The lead will reveal the queen.
Either the lead is hearts - problem solved - or the I'll find her on my left.

[FrancesHinden]

It might be a bit late for this, but it would be helpful to know if partner has promised clubs.

If we're going to be guessing a grand slam, and partner is known to have 4+ clubs, I would try 7C rather than 7H. If partner might have shorter clubs he might worry about whether we can have 5+ of things (or would we have done something other than bid 3S with that?)

I'm not worried about which grand to bid. Bidding and making a grand off the queen of our 8-card major suit fit will always be a good board. And it's possible that 7C is a great spot if partner has a doubleton diamond, how about

AKx
Kxxx
Kx
KJxx

(which is only a 17-count)

[Viren169]

♠T ♥AJ9x ♦AQJx ♣AQxx

1♣ - 1♥
3♥ - 3♠
3NT - ?
4C
4D - 4N
5H - 6H

I am a simple soul... 4C, 4N and 6H for me.

[Fluffy]

dicklont, on Jan 6 2009, 11:45 AM, said:

7♥
The lead will reveal the queen.
Either the lead is hearts - problem solved - or the I'll find her on my left.

Good aproach, but you do not have the ♥10, but its not a bad idea.

I go the scientific way and bid 7♣ hoping that partner won't like it with 3 cards, for the reasons Frances posted, as well as that partner might have ♠AKQ, ♠AKJ or there can be a squeeze better than the ♥ finese.

[dicklont]

Fluffy, on Jan 6 2009, 01:47 PM, said:

dicklont, on Jan 6 2009, 11:45 AM, said:

7♥
The lead will reveal the queen.
Either the lead is hearts - problem solved - or I'll find her on my left.

Good approach, but you do not have the ♥10, but its not a bad idea.

You are right, this was too clever.
I think I deserve to find lefty with Q10x.

[mike777]

BW and then 6nt. Give up on grand at MP.

[MarkDean]

Of the missing spade AKQJ diamond K, club KJ, partner is either missing one jack, both jacks or the spade queen.

If he is missing one jack, we have 13 tricks off the top. If he is missing both jacks and has 4 clubs, the grand is good, need 32 club break (with the heart finesse to fall back on). If he is missing both jacks with 3 clubs, need 33 clubs or heart finesse.

If he is missing spade queen, we have 12 and can try to drop heart queen, and fall back on spade finesse.

I am bidding 7NT.

[whereagles]

18 + 18 = 36 = grand slam, wtp?

Even if the Q is not there, 3 things can happen:

1. There are 13 tricks regardless, maybe 14
2. They blow a trick on defense and I make it
3. I read the cards properly and find the ♥Q or squeeze someone out of it

7NT for me. Eventually 7♣ if you trust pard will pull with 3 cards only.

[Apollo81]

6NT

The hearts need to be played for 0 losers to make a grand, which won't happen a significant % of the time. When we go down in grand we will lose to all the 6-level tables. In 6NT we are beating most of the 6-level tables (which are in hearts due to the lack of the asking bid we had used) regardless of whether the hearts go our way.

[jdonn]

MarkDean, on Jan 6 2009, 02:32 PM, said:

Of the missing spade AKQJ diamond K, club KJ, partner is either missing one jack, both jacks or the spade queen.

If he is missing one jack, we have 13 tricks off the top. If he is missing both jacks and has 4 clubs, the grand is good, need 32 club break (with the heart finesse to fall back on). If he is missing both jacks with 3 clubs, need 33 clubs or heart finesse.

If he is missing spade queen, we have 12 and can try to drop heart queen, and fall back on spade finesse.

I am bidding 7NT.

I like 7NT, I'm going for it. This post was the closest to how I feel.

[skjaeran]

Me too, good analysis.