[Rossoneri]

Bidding goes 1♥ by partner, 2♦ by you and now LHO comes in with 4♠. Partner now bids 4NT. What do you think he has? What do you think is the best treatment of this sequence?

Edit: Forgot to add, playing SAYC. Would this change if it was Acol? What if it was 4 card majors with a 15-17 NT? Would it make any difference if you were playing 2/1 instead?

[Codo]

I think it depend on your definition for double.

If double is take out, you need (?) 4 Nt as natural.
If double is cards, well, what do I know. Define 4 NT according to your wishes.
IF double is penalty, 4 NT is a strong raise to 5 ♦. I would not define it as blackwood, but if this is easier for you, you can use it in the "common" way.

[mich-b]

We play that 4NT in competition over RHO 4M bid, is takeout with 2 places to play, the specific suits depend on the preceding sequence.
In your example I would expect opener to have either 6-4 in the rounded suits, or long ♥ with ♦ tolerance (6-3, maybe even 6-4 or 7-3).

[Rossoneri]

mich-b, on Mar 9 2010, 08:05 AM, said:

We play that 4NT in competition over RHO 4M bid, is takeout with 2 places to play, the specific suits depend on the preceding sequence.
In your example I would expect opener to have either 6-4 in the minors, or long diamonds with ♥ tolerance (6-3, maybe even 6-4 or 7-3).

Well, yes that was what partner meant (and I guessed it correctly at the table) but it does seem a bit weird after he has opened and I have made a 2/1? As compared to after 4N over a 4M opening.

[helene_t]

If playing Acol, you are clearly not in a forcing pass situation. This would mean that double would should not be strict penalty. In 2/1, pass is forcing so the standard meaning of dbl is penalty. In SAYC I am not sure but I think pass would be forcing.

In any case I think 4NT is best played as two or three places to play. If pass is forcing, it would show a minimum since a strong hand would pass. If pass is not forcing, a slammish hand with hearts only could bid 4NT then 5♥, but that is confusing since if you bid 5♦ and p then 5♥ it shows hearts and clubs, not substantial extras.

So it's easier if pass is forcing.

[Pict]

I would suppose 4NT showed interest in slam in diamonds or hearts and hoping to hear a club cue bid.

[babalu1997]

i think pass forcing, dbl cooperative

in either sa or 2/1, a 2 over 1 promises a rebid, make the rebid, dble if you can

of course for the pass to be forcing your opening has to have 2 defensive tricks.

but i can see those who open 11 pointers aceless balanced wonders who could not abide a forcing pass