[Adobe BC]

ACBL, South holds

Scoring: MP

1♥ - 2♦
3♦ - 3♥
4♣ - 5♣
5♥ - ?

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2♦ was game forcing, and there is no firm agreement on 3♦. There was a significant hesitation before the 5♥ bid. Do you allow further action by South?

[axman]

Adobe BC, on Apr 13 2010, 11:47 AM, said:

ACBL, South holds

Scoring: MP

1♥ - 2♦
3♦ - 3♥
4♣ - 5♣
5♥ - ?

---

2♦ was game forcing, and there is no firm agreement on 3♦. There was a significant hesitation before the 5♥ bid. Do you allow further action by South?

S can do as he pleases. That does not mean that what he does would not breach some law such as L16.

Notably, in America 4C should be control in clubs denying the SA, and seeing as how it is second round control and it is his first Q they apparently Q first or second round controls. Thus, 4C also denies the SK.

As such, an inference from the pause suggests opener has a stiff S. The AI thereby suggests since there are 2 S losers that 5H may be too high and the UI suggests that there is [among other things such as I've got something extra but no method to tell you] at most one spade loser.

[jdonn]

This obviously depends on the agreements. For example if 4♣ denies a spade control then not only is pass an LA but it would be the only one (but this is unlikely to be the case or the 5♣ bid would have been silly). But if this sequence shows a slam try with short spades then I can't imagine passing.

With no agreements I'd say pass is clearly an LA (and it goes without saying that bidding on is suggested by the break in tempo). We have a flat 13 count and have already made a slam try, and (although I couldn't pretend to fully understand a system that bids either 2♦ or 3♥ on this hand) presumably we could have had 3 hearts so having 2 is a negative as well.

[Fluffy]

I wanan hear why he bid 5♣ before taking a decision. But IMO the answer will be no, no further bid avaible and pass is a LA.

[Codo]

Isn't it common to "pattern out" in some partnerships? In this case 4 club showed short spades and I can see no harm in the hesitation.

So I see some LAs to any bid south will find, but I see nothing what is suggested, so I would let any score stand.

If 4 club simply denies a spade control and shows one in club, I still do not see whether 5 ♥ now shows short spades or is a simple MP effort to avoid 5 m. So again, I see no suggested alternative.

[jallerton]

Codo, on Apr 13 2010, 09:26 PM, said:

Isn't it common to "pattern out" in some partnerships? In this case 4 club showed short spades and I can see no harm in the hesitation.

It may be common to "pattern out" in some partnerships, but that is probably not relevant here. If N/S do not have an agreement as to what Opener's 2nd call shows, it is highly unlikely that they have discussed what Opener's 3rd call shows!