[athene]

Scoring: IMP

---

North opens 2♦.

I was East and passed (borderline I thought but I have little playing strength and not good diamonds - with just slightly better spots I have excellent chances for a double stop and would bid 2NT).

Partner balanced with double, I bid 3♦, he bid 3♠, I bid 3NT and there we played, for 720.

Obviously it's easy to point out some deficiencies in that auction Partner and I had zero agreements, which didn't help. I was just wondering whether it would be possible to bid the good grand and know what was going on.

How should the bidding should go after North opens 2♦?

[gnasher]

I'd overcall 2NT on the East hand. I may not have many tricks, but perhaps dummy will provide them.

Of course, if I didn't have ♥J, I'd pass, and we'd still have a good grand slam on. However, a grand slam that needs a squeeze for one of its chances is rarely easy to bid.

After 2♦-pass-pass, I think West should bid 3♠, which I think shows about 7-8 playing tricks. East can drive slam now. If East bids keycard followed by 5NT to promise all the key cards, that might be enough: West knows that opposite ♣Ax he can ruff a club in dummy, opposite xx43 there's a double squeeze, and opposite 3433 there's a rounded-suit squeeze or a club ruff. In the latter case there might also be a compound squeeze.

[pooltuna]

what would have been the difference between 3♦ and 3NT as your choice for a first call. IMO partner would think 3♦ is for a major preference initially and maybe for ♣/♥ after 3NT. Whereas a direct 3NT would have had to take into account a possible weak reopening X and should show 2 or 3 ♠ partner is now better placed to evaluate how to proceed

[Jlall]

Like your pass of 2D.

Dislike X, prefer 3S which is a straight forward bid. X might work better if you belong in clubs though.

Like 3D.

Like 3S.

Like 3N.

Hate the pass of 3N. West totally missed the boat here. His partner drove to game opposite a balancing X and he has a rock. Additionally, partner has expressed doubt about 3N being the right contract. He probably does not have a ton of wastage there (though he may have some hands with a double stopper like 1435 that were looking for hearts).

West must move over 3N. He should bid 4C imo, but if he chose to bid 4D I would understand that too.

[jdonn]

Yes west is mostly to blame, even though east could have bid 2NT. West would have 6♣ opposite some very innocuous east hands that wouldn't even be worth the cuebid, like x Axxx QTx AJxxx. Or 6♠ opposite the east hand missing any of its honors. West really didn't think the situation through over 3NT.

I don't think it's an easy hand to bid 7 even if west bids 4♣ over 3NT, east already has an unclear action. But at least the auction hasn't died yet, they should at least get to 6.

[karlson]

Why wouldn't west bid 4♠ over 3n? Surely this shows a hand like this, though you could be 6313 or something instead of 6214. I think East will keycard over this, and you might get to 7, but at least you will get to 6♠ opposite the same west hand but with the ♥Q instead of the ♥A.

Josh's example hand (x Axxx QTx AJxxx) will just bid 5♣ over 4♠ and I suppose east should give that the bump, though I think it's close. It's not like that slam is ice cold though.

[Codo]

I like your bidding.

I guess your partner intended to bid his spades after his double to show a hand too strong for a direct two spade bid and two flexible for 3 Spade?
Else, his double was wrong.

But if he had this intention, he should show this. You showed a strong hand in the context of the bidding and he bid as if he had a very weak balancing double.

[gwnn]

Many people opened 3♦ on the N hand including my North American expert partner (I definitely agree with him). How would the bidding go then? On our table it went:

N: 3♦
E: 3NT
S: pass
W: 4NT
W(BBO chat): 0314

3♦-3NT-p-4NT
p-5♣-p-5NT
p-6NT-p-7♠
end

my North American expert partner was on tilt for a little while. I was just laughing, our opps were 13 and 14 or something so it just appeared innocent and lovely.