[mcphee]

When I have responders hand and hear partner bid 3D I already know he has not made a very good choice. I would not therefore try anything strange, nor would I make any attempt to look for 7, even getting to 6 might bring a minus, however that is what I would do, 6D and hope it makes. I have no confidence it will make either

[Free]

kgr, on Feb 26 2010, 02:18 PM, said:

Free, on Feb 26 2010, 02:57 PM, said:

Ok, kgr had values but no controls.  His partner had all the controls except for ♦AK.  kgr thought that his partner started cuebidding because his partner missed one or more controls (while in fact he didn't), so he "signed off".

More specific:
My partner did bid 4♥ control.
- I thought that he bid 4♥ control because he was missing a ♠ or a ♣ control and therefor I did bid 5♦.
- But in fact: missing a control was not the reason for my partner's 4♥. He did bid 4♥ because he didn't want to take leadership of the hand. Which is logic because he already described his hand better then I did. (In the actual hand he did not have the extra's to take control of the hand, but probably he will very rarely take control after this bidding?)
- Having ♦AK in my own hand should be more an indication of not bidding 5♦, because - not having ♦AK - it will be difficult for partner to continue over 5♦.

Regards,
Koen

You said 4♦ shows slam interest.

- Why is partner afraid of taking captaincy with all controls in his hand? Doesn't he trust your judgement?
- After the lowest available cuebid, how can you suddenly be no longer interested in slam? So what does 5♦ really mean?

[kgr]

Free said:

- Why is partner afraid of taking captaincy with all controls in his hand?  Doesn't he trust your judgement?

Partner has no idea what I have. I have some slam interest, but it is possible:
- that this is only opposite a max and good fitting hand of partner;
Eg: QJxx=Ax=xxxx=xx vs x=Kx=AKxxxx=AKxx (Maybe this is better example to bid ...4♦...5♦?)
- It is possible that I'm interested in 6 or 7. If partner takes control then he will never know if he should bid 7?
Eg: QJxx=Ax=AKxxx=Kx (If partner takes control, then he will know that we have all keys, but not that we can make 7?)

Free said:

- After the lowest available cuebid, how can you suddenly be no longer interested in slam?  So what does 5♦ really mean?

5♦ means: "I have no control in ♠ or in ♣"; but it also means(?): "I don't have a good enough hand to bid 4NT"
NOTE: I did bid 5♦ at the table, so probably I'm not best placed to argue with you against a 5♦ bid ....and thanks for the support for the 5♦ bid because I thought it was very bad
 
Partner claimed after the lead. So his min must have been something like with a Club lead:
A
Kxxx
QJTxxx
AJ
It is difficult for him to continue over 5♦?

[cherdanno]

Do you have the hand wrong, or does partner not know how to reverse?

[kgr]

cherdanno, on Feb 26 2010, 06:54 PM, said:

Do you have the hand wrong, or does partner not know how to reverse?

As I said: I don't know partner's hand. But maybe he was not strong enough to reverse.
...I'll ask him what he had.

[jdonn]

Well the example hand is a 2♦ rebid, but definitely if partner is 4-6 with a heart honor and strong enough for 3♦ he should reverse instead.

[Jlall]

Free are you aware that even when you have all suits controlled, and some slam interest, you are not necessarily cold for a slam? There is more to making slam than having every suit controlled.

[hanp]

Where's mikeh, I remember a good discussion about this issue.

[1eyedjack]

jjbrr, on Feb 25 2010, 09:13 PM, said:

5♣ should be a cuebid without a ♠ cuebid.

Not to insist, or even suggest, that 5♣ as "Last Train" is right for this hand, is there some underlying rule which determines that 5♣ would be a cue and not Last Train in this sequence, or is it something that I would just have to remember about this specific sequence? I prefer to remember rules that cover general cases than to remember separate rules that cover a load of specific instances in the absence of the general.

[MinorKid]

It makes me think of a hand I played.

Partner[N]
♠ AKxxxx
♥ -
♦ Kxxxxx
♣ A

Me[S]
♠ x
♥ AQxx
♦ AQx
♣ KQJTx

The bidding was
N----S
1♠ 2♣
3♦ 4♦
4♥ 4N
5N 7N

If on the other hand partner takes captaincity
N----S
1♠ 2♣
3♦ 4♦
5N 7♦
We would have missed 7N (7♦ makes but 7N is better)

I think that may be the reason of your 4♥ cue appears instead of 4NT