[helene_t]

Cumbria Congress Swiss teams, table 4 of 18 in the 5th round of 6, opps are (like you) decent regional-level players at both tables, teammates decent club players. This is board 5 of 8 and the first four boards where pretty dull. IMPs will be converted to VP using the English scale. The first price is probably out of reach so your objective is just to do your best with no particular place in mind. Opponents at the other table will be playing some sort of English Acol.

Red vs white

♠A9xx
♥KQ9xx
♦x
♣KQ9

Partner opens (opps are silent)
1♣-1♦*
1♥-1♠*
2♣-?

P has shown an unbalanced 11-14 (give or take) with 5+ clubs and 3 hearts. You have shown 4+ hearts and 8+ points.

Lots of calls are undiscussed so to avoid misunderstandings it is probably a good idea to pick one of the choices in the poll. We play RKC 1430 but 4NT at this stage would be quantitative.

[Free]

I think I'd go with 4♣, since we may have 9 trumps.

[jjbrr]

isn't 2♦ artificial and GF? can i splinter in support of ♣ with 3♦? I'd do one of those I think. 3♣ over whatever partner bids after 2♦.

[peachy]

It appears partner's singleton is in spades rather diamonds so the hands fit well, one suit is for trumps and the other for side tricks, so all we need is first round controls. There is no option in the list for asking controls. Therefore, my only option is to set trumps (clubs, we have as many or potentially more than hearts) by 4C.

[kenrexford]

THis is a fairly amazing collection of the right cards. I mean, my spades are Ace-empty, which is great. I have both K-Q combos which is great for asking questions. This seems to be the ideal hand to have been dealt.

I think I'm forcing game in hearts. I like partner's possible spade shortness more than my diamond shortness, plus major sequences are generally easier.

[jdonn]

Wouldn't 2326 be 'unbalanced'?

[helene_t]

Yes right, p could have 2326. I suppose he would have bid 1NT with Jxxxxx of clubs, but probably not with AJxxxx.

[Fluffy]

4♦ sounds right, partner will have a cue in a major, but if he fails to cue then I trust him and pass.

[whereagles]

The slam should be tried for: all we need is 2 aces + some bits - very possible.

At first it seems that it must be played in clubs, so that you can disc some spades on the long hearts, but that's not needed because opener can only have 5 clubs if he's 4315.

So 3♥. Don't like 4♦ because pard is this isn't the time to pass the buck. Sorry gonzalo

[peachy]

helene_t, on Mar 22 2010, 11:56 AM, said:

Yes right, p could have 2326. I suppose he would have bid 1NT with Jxxxxx of clubs, but probably not with AJxxxx.

So the OP should have said 5+ clubs and _exactly_ 3 hearts. I misread it as 5+, 3+. I suppose this also comes to definition of unbalanced, I would think *unbalanced* means there is a singleton somewhere.

[mike777]

4d splinter

I have 5 loser hand.....hope we can stop in time.

[uqx]

Playing 0314 RKCB bidding 4C has it's dangers. But since we're playing 1430 it seems sensible to agree the suit we want to play in slam rather than confuse partner with 3H and then later trying to sign off in 6C perhaps.

[helene_t]

I splintered, partner signed off in 5♣ with
♠ -
♥ ATx
♦ AQJx
♣ JTxxxx

Signing off with that hand is correct IMHO, with only five HCPs outside diamonds, especially with such a bad trump suit.

Afterwards I thought I should just have bid 4♣ followed by 4NT, as I want to be in 6♣ if he has two aces.