[mtvesuvius]

The auction begins 1♣ - 1♥ as a transfer to ♠ showing 8-11 HCP with 5+♠ and the 1♣ opener rebids 1NT. Should this be limited, with opener jumping based on his HCP or should it just establish a balanced hand with 2♠? If opener were to rebid 1NT then what are responder's jumps now?

The hand:

Playing the system of your choice...
How would you avoid the
♠ slam which fails with QTx offside,
and reach the laydown ♦ slam/grand?

---

[akhare]

This is easy with symmetric relays -- all opener's bids are relays unless otherwise noted. QPs are counted using the A=3, K=2, Q=1 scale.

1♣ (1) - 1♦ (2).......................;1: 16+ any; 2: 6+ QPs, GF
1♥ - 2♦..................................;♠+♦
2♥ - 2N.......................................;Long legged (at least 5-5)
3♣ - 3♦...................................;High short (singleton or void
3♥ - 4♥...................................;6=0=5=2, 7 QPs (4♦+1 for zoom)
4♠ (7) - 5♦ (8).........................;7: DCB. 8: A, K in ♠/♦, no ♣ AK
5♥ (7) - 5N (9).............................;7: DCB. 9: Second ♦ control, no Q♠
6♣ (7) - 6♦ (10).....................;7: DCB. 10: No Q♣
7♦...............................................;Must have AK ♦, K♠ for 7 QPs, because K!S, ♦AQ and Q♣ has been ruled out

[rbforster]

Similarly in my custom version of TOSR:

1♣-1♥ 16+; 4+♠ unbalanced (long spades or S+minor)
1♠-2♠ relay; ♠>♦ with high (♥) shortness
2N-3♣ relay; 6♠ and a ♥ void
3♦-3N relay; 6052 shape with 7 QP (see above post for details)

At this point opener has various options, such as bidding 4M for RKC in either of responder's long suits, but for simplicity I show the denial cuebidding route. Note that excluding the heart suit, there are only 18 QPs and opener knows they hold 14/18 (missing AQ or KK or KQQ) making small slam likely and the grand worth investigating.

4♣-4♠ denial ask; 1-2 AKQ honors in ♠♦, none of AKQ in ♣

At this point, opener knows that the 7 QP are solely in ♠♦, and missing only 8 there and holding the Q♦ himself, he knows the AK♦K♠ exactly. Checking on the J♠ is possible but not decisive, so we conclude with:

7♦

As an aside, knowing all of partner's AKQ honors at or below our cheapest game (4♠) seems a little overkill when we're going to bid the grand anyway. Maybe we should make a few extra bids to get our money's worth... after all relay players measure their enjoyment by bids made/$ card fee, right?

[helene_t]

8-11 with 5+ spades is very specific for the second-lowest bid available. Doesn't sound optimal to me.

[awm]

Yeah, this is easy playing relays. But even playing very simple methods:

1NT - 2♥ (spades)
2♠ - 3♦ (GF natural)
3NT (a bunch of cards in the round suits, no ♠ fit) - 4♠ (6+/4+ and clearly slam interest)
6♦ (good fit, ♠A is huge, and control in the round suits)

Note that south didn't even raise diamonds at first turn (much easier if he does). The auction also gets much easier with transfer extensions, or various other methods that allow north to show a clear 6-5 pattern.

The only interesting inference is that with 6+♠, 4♦, and a very minimum GF north would just transfer to spades at the four-level. So the correction of 3NT to spades must indicate some interest in slam. South has quite a good hand in context, with the nice diamond fit and excellent spade holding.

[akhare]

Rob F, on May 12 2009, 05:15 PM, said:

Maybe we should make a few extra bids to get our money's worth... after all relay players measure their enjoyment by bids made/$ card fee, right?

We used only 17 out of the possible 35 bids, so it's slightly less than 50% value for money .

As an aside, it's possible to reach this using an alternative scheme as well:

1♣ (1) - 1♦ (2).......................;1: 16+ any; 2: 6+ QPs, GF
1N (3) - 2♣ (4)...........................; 3: Reverse relay, 9-11 QPS, 4: relay
2♥ - 2♠ (4).............................; 4: relay
3D (5)............................................; 5: 4♦s and the bells go off, DCB etc.

Of course, this requires the unbalanced hand to ask the balanced hand, a practice that's frowned upon as I understand.

[Gerben42]

1♣ (Fantunes) - 1♦ (negative / invite / GF 5-5)
1NT - 3♠ (♠ and ♦)
4♦ (I like them!) - 5♥ (exclusion)
6♦ (2 + trump Q) - 7♦ (I can ruff ♠ until they are high!)
Pass

[PrecisionL]

Ultra Club:

1♣ - 1♥ (4+♠) -
1♠ (Relay) - 2♦ (6+♠) -
2♥ (Relay) - 3♥ (6-5 with 5♦)  -
4♦ (Beta for Controls) - 4NT (4 Controls, 9 Total Controls)
5♦ (Denial Cue: No ♦ control, ♣  control) - 6♣ ( No ♣ Control, but Controls in the other suits skipped) -
6♦ (To Play) - - -

[awm]

As a side question, assuming we can see all our side's assets (or have relay methods to find all of them) how good is 7♦?

Supposing a diamond lead (people usually lead trumps against suit grands) we need to dispose of the club loser. It seems like this will require establishing the spades and then ruffing north's small club in the south hand after some discards. This means we need to establish spades while still holding a trump in the south hand. The most likely ways are:

(1) Trumps 2-2 and spades 3-2 or ♠Q singleton.
(2) Trumps 3-1 and spade Qx(x) onside (better to hook than play for drop in this case)

While not terrible, I don't think this is good enough odds to bid a grand slam.