[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

in 2nd seat, all being red, you hold

♠A83
♥10874
♦J72
♣AJ9

The auction proceeds as followes, opponents always pass

Pass - 1D (1)
1H - 4D (2)
4NT(3) - 5C (4)
5D (5) - 5H (6)
all pass

(1) you play a 5 card major system with 12-14 NT
(2) 5422, with a good diamond suit
(3) RKCB
(4) 0 or 3
(5) Asking for the Queen of Trumps
(6) no Queen

#1 Do you agreen with 4NT?
#2 Do you agree with the final Pass?

Partners hand followes in hidden text

Spoiler

♠72
♥AKJ9
♦AK1083
♣K3

With kind regards
Marlowe

[jukmoi]

#1 No. I would rather bid 4♠. I prefer partner doing the ace-asking with this hand.
#2 No. It is my fixed policy to always bid a slam after ace-asking if there are sufficient keycards.

[whereagles]

#1. Depends. If I'm not in the mood, I'll probably pass, fearing 1 black suit loser and 1 red loser.

#2. Sure. It's a good slam if they don't lead a spade but a rather iffy one if they do.

[MFA]

I don't understand keycarding and then signing off with all five because of the queen of trumps. Sorry, it shouldn't exist.

[ONEferBRID]

The problem I see is 2-2 in the blacks.
Opener may have one black K, but unlikely to have both.
If the lead attacks the weaker black suit, you may very well lose 2 tricks .

However, you have a 50-50 chance of droping the hQ in the event of a a 3-2 trump split, or finessing if Opener holds the hJ.

And, another "fly in the ointment" is that Opener may not have the dQ so there is a problem with only 8 cards in that suit.

Looks like slam is worse than 50% without the trump Q.... sooo, I will pass 5H.

[ArtK78]

1) I disagree with RKCB. As pointed out by the later action, slam was not reached after the most favorable response to RKCB. If that is not enough to bid a slam, then RCKB was wrong to begin with.

2) Abstain. As already mentioned by another poster, after confirming possession of all 5 key cards after RKCB, slam must be reached. Since one cannot be sure if slam is good after confirming possession of all 5 key cards, the pass or go decision is a complete guess. I would not be in this position.

Another point. If opener's hand qualifies for a 4♦ bid in the methods employed, then the methods are partially to blame. If opener promised a more red suit oriented hand, such as 1-4-6-2 or 2-4-6-1 with the same high card distribution (Kx in the 2 card black suit) slam would be much better. Opener should just have bid game opposite a passed hand.

[ONEferBRID]

I agree with Art on the 4M/6m shape for "the convention with no name".
But if you are going to stretch it, then the 5 card minor should be nearly solid.... 3 top honors at least.

Another point... right or wrong, if 4NT is RKC for the Major, what is RKC for the minor ?.... I would assume 4oM ( 4S! in this case ).

However, I think most here would prefer cuebidding.

If the minor suit is not "solid", perhaps 6 Ace RKC might work out better.

[pooltuna]

ONEferBRID, on Mar 11 2010, 11:22 AM, said:

I agree with Art on the 4M/6m shape for "the convention with no name".
But if you are going to stretch it, then the 5 card minor should be nearly solid.... 3 top honors at least.

Another point...  right or wrong, if 4NT is RKC for the Major, what is RKC for the minor ?.... I would assume 4oM ( 4S! in this case ).

However, I think  most here would prefer cuebidding.

If the minor suit is not "solid", perhaps 6 Ace RKC might work out better.

I was recently the responder(victim? I was volunteering as a sub in any tourney or team game that needed one) in an auction that without interference went 1♣ 1♠; 2♠

Opener held the equivalent of (can't remember spots)

---

Naturally I could not move and held the ♣ and ♠ Ks.

Most beginners, intermediates and some advanced don't understand the strength of this hand once it has found a fit. This is what a "convention with no name" 4m call is meant to handle although I am sure I will get disagreement here.

[ArtK78]

pooltuna, on Mar 11 2010, 01:11 PM, said:

ONEferBRID, on Mar 11 2010, 11:22 AM, said:

I agree with Art on the 4M/6m shape for "the convention with no name".
But if you are going to stretch it, then the 5 card minor should be nearly solid.... 3 top honors at least.

Another point...  right or wrong, if 4NT is RKC for the Major, what is RKC for the minor ?.... I would assume 4oM ( 4S! in this case ).

However, I think  most here would prefer cuebidding.

If the minor suit is not "solid", perhaps 6 Ace RKC might work out better.

I was recently the responder(victim? I was volunteering as a sub in any tourney or team game that needed one) in an auction that without interference went 1♣ 1♠; 2♠

Opener held the equivalent of (can't remember spots)

---

Naturally I could not move and held the ♣ and ♠ Ks.

Most beginners, intermediates and some advanced don't understand the strength of this hand once it has found a fit. This is what a "convention with no name" 4m call is meant to handle although I am sure I will get disagreement here.

No, that hand is not good enough for a 4♣ bid. But 4♠ is perfectly reasonable.

A classic 4 of a minor rebid is something like this:

KQxx
xx
x
AKQJxx

The point is that the 4 of a minor rebid is a very specific slam try. It shows a running (or near running) 6 card minor along with good 4 card support. If all you were interested in was game, then there would be no point to the bid.

[nigel_k]

TBH I can't actually think of a hand where slam is as good as 50% if they find the right lead. And they will lead their best black suit which has a good chance of being the right lead. So I would just sign off in 4♥.

If an immediate 4♥ is a balanced raise I would prefer to do that on the given hand and reserve 4♦ for 6-4 hands. Describing a 5422 as balanced is not far off and any 5422 that doesn't open 2NT won't be much better than a minimum raise to game anyway.

[jdonn]

I wouldn't have even responded 1♥, prefer 1NT. Having bid 1♥ I also like signing off over the splinter.

[nigel_k]

Actually xx AKQx AKQxx xx is a good slam, well 68% anyway.

But I don't see how you can cater for that and avoid going down in the bad cases - he probably won't jump to slam himself over a 4♠ cue bid with no club control and if you bid slam only when he fails to cue bid clubs then he could have Kx AKxx AKQxx xx plus there are five level safety issues when you sign off.

And when the trump queen is missing I doubt slam can ever be good.

[Codo]

1. It is obvious to move over a 4 ♦. You cannot have more as a passed hand. If partner has no slam interesst opposite this hand, why did he bid 4 ♦ and not 4 ♥? (His actual hand was terrible for that bid)

2. Even as an unpassed hand, bidding on is surely right. Partner promises SOLID Diamonds, not the crap he actually holds. xx,AKxx,AKQxx,Kx would be a minimum.

3. 4 ♠ would never occure to me. First: partner has described his hand extremly well. So 4 ♠ now sounds like a club problem which you do not have.

4. Obviously you knew that your partner may have so lousy diamonds, so pass was fine. I think slam is odds on if partner has solid diamonds. If they lead the wrong suit, you allways make, if they lead the right one, you need to find the queen of hearts.

[nigel_k]

Codo, on Mar 12 2010, 08:28 PM, said:

1. It is obvious to move over a 4 ♦. You cannot have more as a passed hand. If partner has no slam interesst opposite this hand, why did he bid 4 ♦ and not 4 ♥? (His actual hand was terrible for that bid)

I agree that partner's hand should have bid 4♥ but still you could be a lot better, e.g. Axx Qxxx xx Axxx or even AKxx Qxxxx Jxx x.

Quote

2. Even as an unpassed hand, bidding on is surely right. Partner promises SOLID Diamonds, not the crap he actually holds. xx,AKxx,AKQxx,Kx would be a minimum.

Opposite xx AKxx AKQxx Kx slam is bad and with any more he would have a 2NT opening so that cannot be a minimum.

Quote

3. 4 ♠ would never occure to me. First: partner has described his hand extremly well. So 4 ♠ now sounds like a club problem which you do not have.

4♠ sounds like any hand with a spade control that cannot use Blackwood, i.e. needs more than just key cards. Opener can still bid 5♦ to show interest but no club control. The only thing wrong with 4♠ on the given hand is that you'll go down too often.

Quote

4. Obviously you knew that your partner may have so lousy diamonds, so pass was fine. I think slam is odds on if partner has solid diamonds. If they lead the wrong suit, you allways make, if they lead the right one, you need to find the queen of hearts.

If partner has the ♥J and solid diamonds, slam is probably 34%. And there's a good chance it won't be any better than that even if they don't find the best lead. Plus of course he might not have the ♥J.