[Cascade]

JLOGIC, on 2011-April-15, 15:58, said:

God not another thread on this again!

Almost means if I was ever dealt AKQx xx xx xxxxx I'm sure I would bid 1S and treat them as 5. I did not want to say "1S is always 5" since I'm sure you would say "ALWAYS?!?!"

I was interested in where your boundary was not trying to be picky about your language.

[kgr]

gnasher, on 2011-April-15, 12:51, said:

Wouldn't 2♦ show, or include, a good raise? If so, that's probably the right call, so that we can distinguish between an opening hand like this and the tat that we might have had.

My thoughts..I voted 2♦

[mcphee]

Gee, I would not consider anything other than 2S. When lacking the 3rd S this becomes awkward. Balanced I am, but if NT is the place to be partner will need to bid it. I would try 2C maybe even worse than 1NT, but I like NT here to contain D feature. The 3 little D make the hand far less appealing to me.

[Siegmund]

Nice advertisement for playing 1S NF IMO.

[Free]

2♠ is really obvious, for me 1♠ is worth a 5 card suit (so exceptionally a good 4 card is allowed).

With a ♠ less I think I'd rebid 2♣. I don't like to bid 1NT without a (semi)stopper, so 2♣ is pretty much all that's left.

I don't understand why anyone would like to play 1♠ as NF.

[barryallen]

Cascade, on 2011-April-16, 03:54, said:

I was interested in where your boundary was not trying to be picky about your language.

Surely the key here is not whether 1♠ shows 4 or 5 cards, but that a 2♠ response can easily be 3 card support?

[whereagles]

If 1♠ is 5 cards, then 2♠ seems very trivial.

If not, then there are many things to this auction, as for instance
- How strong should a 1NT rebid now be?
- Can 2♣ now be 3 cards? If so, under what circumstances?
- How strong would 2♦ now be?
- Are you allowed to rebid hearts on 5 cards if stuck for a bid?

Without agreements I would probably just bid 2♣.

[whereagles]

1eyedjack, on 2011-April-15, 08:29, said:

Then I would go for 1N. Some may object on the grounds of inadequate Diamond guard, but I think that nowadays that is not a requirement.

I definitely wouldn't object; rather, I'd encourage it. But then again, how strong should it be? Since 1♠ is normally 8+ hcp, I'd say 12-14 is enough (with 15-17, rebid 2NT).

However, common-sense says this is a particularly dangerous situation for such a move, as RHO is sitting over dummy's eventual stops and has side entries. Curiously enough, we having Txx diamonds can be more dangerous than Tx: if diamonds sit Kx/Txx you're in trouble, whereas if they split Kxx/Tx you're through for 1 round.

Anyway, 1NT seems ok to me, though I might prefer 2♣ with a stopper-picky pard (which pards usually are).

[gnasher]

barryallen, on 2011-April-18, 07:05, said:

Surely the key here is not whether 1♠ shows 4 or 5 cards, but that a 2♠ response can easily be 3 card support?

Yes, to me it seems OK to bid 1♠ on a decent four-card suit, but to raise it routinely on three-card support - the sky won't fall in if we play in 2♠ with only seven trumps. As advancer I'd bid 1♠ on AQJx xx xxx Kxxx, but 1NT on AJxx xx Qxx Kxxx.