[kfay]

r/w IMPs

10xx AQ AQxx AQxx

AKJxxxx xx KJx x

S deals:
1S-(2H)-3H
4D-4H
4S-4N
5S-5N
6S

How would you bid?

[kenrexford]

♠10xx ♥AQ ♦AQxx ♣AQxx
♠AKJxxxx ♥xx ♦KJx ♣x

1♠-2♥-3♥(GF, fit)*-P-
3♠-P-3NT(serious)-P-
4♣(club control)-P-4♦(diamond control)-P-
4♠(no heart control)-P-4NT(RKCB)-P-
5♠(two with the Queen)-P-5NT-P-
6♦(King)-P-6♥(Grand Slam Last Train)-P-
7♠-all pass

(*would bid 2NT as 3+ invitational)

[Fluffy]

my bidding would be

1♠-(2♥)-3♥ (transfer, weak or very strong)
4♠-4NT
5♠-???

At this point North doesn't need kings, with 2 kings he might just make ♠AKQxx, AKQ, AKQ, A for a total 12, and if ♥Kx then only 11. But ♥Kxx won't be much better and KJx in a minot is possible. He will bid 5NT to know something more, but the bidding is very obscure now. If anything I think he will just blast 7 after 5NT thinking that if the fineses are needed, they are so very likelly to be onside.

[jdonn]

I think north has a force to the grand once he finds all the keycards. I could imagine it being on a finesse but not likely at all to be worse than that, and it might just be cold like this. Assuming 4♦ was a slam try as this hand suggests and not just a suit then it was a big bid, and north shouldn't forget that south made it.

The interesting question is how to get to 7♦ if it's right, like AKQJx Kx KJxx xx. No answers here.

[nigel_k]

The first question is what kind of strength 4♦ shows. IMO it needn't be a lot extra but I wouldn't do it with a bare minimum 4♠ bid. The following is based on that assumption.

I don't agree with South bidding 6♠ instead of 6♦. Possibly North can infer ♦K from his own hand on the theory that it would be hard for South to cue bid a diamond shortage with no other king or the queens that North has. But I don't see why South shouldn't have something like AKQJxx Jxx - 10xxx.

If South has shown ♦K already (and it looks like South at least thinks so because they didn't bid 6♦) then I think North should bid 7. The worst case is AKQxxx xx Kx xxx and you need both finesses which are probably on. With AKQJx xx Kx xxxx South should not bid 4♦ IMO.

[gnasher]

I'd start with double as responder. You might belong in a minor, and you'll get more information than by bidding 3♥. Without any special methods it might go:

1♠-(2♥)-dbl
3♠-4♣   [cue]
4♦-4NT   [cue/RKCB]
5♥-7NT

When opener shows two without the queen, he might have either his actual hand or something like AKJ9xx xx Kxx Kx. Opposite the second hand 7NT is still pretty good, because you can test the other suits before deciding how to play the spades.

With the right agreements you can do better than that: over 4♦ I could bid 5NT GSF, find out that opener had AK with an extra card, and bid 7NT with certainty.

[Hanoi5]

Why did South deny a King? (6♠ means no outside King, right?). Anyway South might have something like:

AKQJxxx
Jx
x
Jxx

Well probably that hand would just jump to 4♠, but anyway I give some blame to South, 80% North 20% South or maybe 70-30.

[kenrexford]

Hanoi5, on Jan 7 2010, 07:02 PM, said:

Why did South deny a King? (6♠ means no outside King, right?). Anyway South might have something like:

AKQJxxx
Jx
x
Jxx

Well probably that hand would just jump to 4♠, but anyway I give some blame to South, 80% North 20% South or maybe 70-30.

I don't know that South denied a King. If the partnership bids honor controls before shortness controls, then 4♦ promised the ace or King of diamonds. Thus, 6♠ denied the queen of diamonds.

[jdonn]

Some people sure bid 4♦ on worse hands than I do. Maybe I'm just missing the boat but I think several of the examples given are not good enough.

[Fluffy]

on andy's sequence I think I would rather bid 4♠ than 3♠ as opener.

[Jlall]

kfay, on Jan 7 2010, 04:46 PM, said:

r/w IMPs

10xx AQ AQxx AQxx

AKJxxxx xx KJx x

S deals:
1S-(2H)-3H
4D-4H
4S-4N
5S-5N
6S

How would you bid?

Without reading your auction or anyone elses so that I am unbiased:

1S (2H) 3H
4D 4N
5S 7D
7S

[Jlall]

gnasher, on Jan 7 2010, 06:32 PM, said:

I'd start with double as responder.  You might belong in a minor, and you'll get more information than by bidding 3♥.  Without any special methods it might go:

1♠-(2♥)-dbl
3♠-4♣   [cue]
4♦-4NT   [cue/RKCB]
5♥-7NT

When opener shows two without the queen, he might have either his actual hand or something like AKJ9xx xx Kxx Kx.  Opposite the second hand 7NT is still pretty good, because you can test the other suits before deciding how to play the spades.

With the right agreements you can do better than that: over 4♦ I could bid 5NT GSF, find out that opener had AK with an extra card, and bid 7NT with certainty.

I see that I was biased by the hand anyways... starting with X is definitely better imo. Definitely prefer 4S by opener over it though.

[gnasher]

Jlall, on Jan 8 2010, 12:03 PM, said:

starting with X is definitely better imo. Definitely prefer 4S by opener over it though.

Yes. Maybe I was subconsciously cheating to make it easier to cue-bid.

If so, I'm not sure why I wanted to cheat. After dbl-4♠, you can just bid RKCB a couple of times.