[kenberg]

You are South, dealer on your left, imps. Here is your hand.

Scoring: IMP

Pass 1♦ 2♥ 2♠
Pass 3♥ Pass ?

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At the table, I bid 4♣, partner raised to 5♣, passed out.


Here are the wo hands:

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As it turns out, 5♣ is a very lucky make. Presumably no one thinks that it is the right contract. What is the right contract? Imagine that you play 3NT and that the spades come in. You have 8 tricks. In 4♠, if the spades come in, you have more options for coming to ten tricks, I think. In 5♦ you have 8 trump, but you now need 11 tricks.

Bidding.

As to my 4♣ bid: That deuce of diamonds in partner's hand could have been the deuce if clubs, could it not?

I thought later that over 3♥, maybe my call is 4♥, meaning ok, we play game, you choose where. Providing that is what 4♥ means. More likely it means I have a stiff heart and an interest in slam. So, pick the game you think best and explain how to get there.

[bill1157]

4♦ at your second turn looks right.

Bill

[andy_h]

North has a normal 2NT bid.

[cherdanno]

Agree with both Bill and Andy.

[kenberg]

I'm not seeing it. I understand if you feel you have said enough, but I really don't see it.

A. On the combined hands I think we want to be in 4S. I need the Q onside and no worse than a 4-2 split, and then it's on ice as long as I don't get greedy. If spades are 3-3 I can lose a finesse to the Q and perhaps still get home. Can we get there?


B. If, over 3H, I bid 4D what happens next? I would also have bid 4D if the 4 of clubs were the king of diamonds. Seems we also have a reasonable play for 6D if merely the Q of clubs is the K of diamonds. How do you envision the auction going after I bid 4D over 3H? We have picked up some momentum, and my hand is not at all limited yet. RKC, if partner now bids 4NT over 4D, will disclose the lack of a key but it is the lack of only one key and my hand is unlimited....

Mostly I bid clubs because I have clubs and it was not clear to me that partner was not 4-4, looking for 3NT, instead of 5-3. But it seems the momentum problem is real as well. Perhaps he would have bid 3C holding 4-4 in the minors, but I am not so sure.

Resulting: The clubs are Kxx on my left and the diamonds are Kxx on my right, hence 5C making and 5D making. The spades are Qxxxx on my left so 4S is at the very least difficult. I see no way to make 3NT. But 4S seems to me to be the right contract on the combined hands. Many were in it going down. I think that I should be also. It makes when you can pick up the spades and it makes some of the time when you cannot pick up the spades.

[aguahombre]

My Partner would not be 44 in the minors, since we are pretty sure he has a balanced hand (our opening preference). So 2-3-5-3 is most likely, since he didn't rebid 3S, 3D,2NT or 3C and I would choose 4D also. Whether opener tries his 2 card spade support over 4D or just bids 5D, I have effectively made the final decision his, not mine

[kenberg]

I shall accept 4D as the right bid!