[ONEferBRID]

West opens with a preemptive 4D.

North
K Q x x
Q x x
A Q x
K J x

South
A x
A K J 9 x x
void
A Q 9 8 x

W       N      S
(4D) - DBL - ? etc.

[jjbrr]

7♥

[Fluffy]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

[ArtK78]

It sure seems like this is one of the rare cases where a jump to a grand slam is justified.

7♥.

I suppose someone could construct a hand where it is right to play in 7♣ rather than 7♥, but none springs to mind.

[Fluffy]

7NT is the best contract, but I don't think I'd mess around with some cuebids to try and reach it.

[gnasher]

So you bid 7♥, RHO doubles, partner has KQJx Qxx x KJxxx, and they take a club ruff.

Or nobody doubles, but partner's trumps are xxx, RHO has Q10xx, and you run into a ruff when you try to cross to dummy to pick them up.

Or maybe partner puts down KQxxx 10x A KJxxx, sheepishly commenting that he was planning to convert 4♥ to 4♠.

I can understand 7♥ to avoid a risk of a misunderstanding, but if you can safely offer a choice of strains I think you should do so. With most people, I'd be confident that 5NT would show clubs and some major, so I'd bid that and raise whichever round suit he bids.

[lamford]

gnasher, on Mar 5 2010, 04:13 PM, said:

So you bid 7♥, RHO doubles, partner has KQJx Qxx x KJxxx, and they take a club ruff.

Or nobody doubles, but partner's trumps are xxx, RHO has Q10xx, and you run into a ruff when you try to cross to dummy to pick them up.

Or maybe partner puts down KQxxx 10x A KJxxx, sheepishly commenting that he was planning to convert 4♥ to 4♠.

I can understand 7♥ to avoid a risk of a misunderstanding, but if you can safely offer a choice of strains I think you should do so. With most people, I'd be confident that 5NT would show clubs and some major, so I'd bid that and raise whichever round suit he bids.

With my regular partner I play that 4NT is either the two lower suits or a two-suited slam-try, or a single-suited grand-slam try. It is not a particular strain to memory, unlike some of krexford's interesting ideas. Partner will give preference, say with 5C, and now:

5D = both majors slam-try
5H = hearts and clubs slam-try
5S = spades and clubs slam-try
5NT = club GS-try
6C = to-play
6H = hearts GS-try
6S = spades GS-try

If partner had bid 5H, preferring hearts, then:
5S = spades and clubs slam-try
5NT = hearts GS-try
6C = clubs GS-try
6D = both majors GS-try
6H = to play
6S = spades GS-try

All fairly easy and logical.

7H would be my choice playing with someone that doesnt like system, but gnasher is right that 5NT might be the simplest here.

[pooltuna]

Fluffy, on Mar 5 2010, 02:40 PM, said:

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

You like the taste of Tweety Bird how much?

[PhantomSac]

gnasher, on Mar 5 2010, 04:13 PM, said:

So you bid 7♥, RHO doubles, partner has KQJx Qxx x KJxxx, and they take a club ruff.

Or nobody doubles, but partner's trumps are xxx, RHO has Q10xx, and you run into a ruff when you try to cross to dummy to pick them up.

Or maybe partner puts down KQxxx 10x A KJxxx, sheepishly commenting that he was planning to convert 4♥ to 4♠.

I can understand 7♥ to avoid a risk of a misunderstanding, but if you can safely offer a choice of strains I think you should do so. With most people, I'd be confident that 5NT would show clubs and some major, so I'd bid that and raise whichever round suit he bids.

That's not all that great, you get to 7C instead of 7H sometimes opp Qxx Kxx in the rounds imo. This requires partner to have doubled with 5323 or 4333, but its possible.

Also, your point about a lightner double is a good one... if partner bids 6H then HE declares hearts, and LHO, the 4D bidder, might lightner double you. That would suck heh. There is some merit to getting to hearts from our side as RHO who passed 4D X is very unlikely to have a void (since then he probably had a raise).

I don't buy your 5215 argument either, maybe I'm old fashioned but I just chance 4S with those hands, I fear 4D X 5D 5H way too much, or even 4D X 5D X when I haven't shown spades yet, or partner slam trying in hearts.

Maybe in a perfect world 5N then 6D then 7C shows a longer major or something? lol. Seems like with 5D, 5N then 6D, and 5N then 7C, we should be able to resolve everything.

Overall I think 7H to avoid 7C opp Qxx Kxx specifically is worth it and to declare from the side that is least likely to get lightner Xed.

[gnasher]

PhantomSac, on Mar 6 2010, 12:15 AM, said:

That's not all that great, you get to 7C instead of 7H sometimes opp Qxx Kxx in the rounds imo. This requires partner to have doubled with 5323 or 4333, but its possible.

I'm not so worried about that - to double with 4333, partner would have to be very strong, so he'd probably be able to convert to 7NT anyway. Even KQJx Kxx Axx Qxx isn't a double of 4♦ IMO.

Quote

Also, your point about a lightner double is a good one... if partner bids 6H then HE declares hearts, and LHO, the 4D bidder, might lightner double you. That would suck heh.

I hadn't thought of that. That seems a more likely secenario than finding inadequate heart support opposite and not being able to pick them up. You've convinced me.

[jallerton]

Is it obvious to double 4♦ with the North hand? My wife points out that it could easily be the winning action to pass. We are not told the form of scoring.

[lamford]

jallerton, on Mar 6 2010, 07:06 AM, said:

Is it obvious to double 4♦ with the North hand? My wife points out that it could easily be the winning action to pass. We are not told the form of scoring.

I think it is completely obvious to pass, unless partnering Brother Anthony, when I would have a penalty double in my bag.

[Free]

I have a cool toy available here: 6♦ asks a 2nd round stopper, 7♦ asks a first round stopper.

No seriously, I'd just bid 7♥.