[Mbodell]

I'm pretty sure this is a clear cut auction where the answer is completely 100% obvious to experts, but I've seen a number of decent players disagree on what the obvious bid is. Can people help out both with what is the right bid on this hand (and for bonus credit what's the minimum change you'd have to make to pick the other listed choices).

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If it matters at all this is a 2/1 strong nt context playing matchpoints at a club game.

[blackshoe]

I'd say the obvious bid is 3NT, so I'm probably wrong.

[awm]

There's some disagreement (even among experts I think) as to whether the fourth suit should be natural in this auction or some artificial temporizing bid. Certainly we're already game forced so there's no need to use the fourth suit just to show values, but there are still hands with no clear call.

In any case, I don't think this hand is suitable for a natural 3♦ call. The diamond suit is quite weak; even if partner has a 1534-type shape (giving us a diamond fit) our spade holding and values make slam a really bad bet and point towards 3NT being better. On the other hand, if partner has a 3514-type we might be better off playing in 4M since we don't really have much of a diamond control to speak of. A natural 3♦ bid would give partner the wrong impression in both situations.

We could bid 3NT, but again it's easy to imagine being better off in hearts or spades. Partner will not necessarily know to pull with 2614 and mediocre hearts for example.

For this reason, I like 3♥. This shows our doubleton support and keeps the auction fairly low. Partner can still bid 3NT with a little something in diamonds, but we will get to 4♥ any time partner has six of them.

This post has been edited by awm: 2011-July-05, 10:25

[peachy]

I did not vote, but instead of "hey, I have diamonds", 3D should say "hey, I don't have 3-card hearts, 5-card spades or 5-card clubs, let's hear more from the opener". We can still get to hearts, since we are in GF auction. 3C could well be on 2-6-2-3 shape but too strong to make a strong (but nonforcing) 3H call so even if we had club support, there is no need to rush even with 4 of them to show it.

Second choice 3H and with a tad weaker hand and doubleton heart, I would always bid 3H on a doubleton.

[the hog]

awm, on 2011-July-04, 22:46, said:

There's some disagreement (even among experts I think) as to whether the fourth suit should be natural in this auction or some artificial temporizing bid. Certainly we're already game forced so there's no need to use the fourth suit just to show values, but there are still hands with no clear call.

In any case, I don't think this hand is suitable for a natural 3♦ call. The diamond suit is quite weak; even if partner has a 1534-type shape (giving us a diamond fit) our spade holding and values make slam a really bad bet and point towards 3NT being better. On the other hand, if partner has a 3514-type we might be better off playing in 4M since we don't really have much of a heart control to speak of. A natural 3♦ bid would give partner the wrong impression in both situations.

We could bid 3NT, but again it's easy to imagine being better off in hearts or spades. Partner will not necessarily know to pull with 2614 and mediocre hearts for example.

For this reason, I like 3♥. This shows our doubleton support and keeps the auction fairly low. Partner can still bid 3NT with a little something in diamonds, but we will get to 4♥ any time partner has six of them.

Agree with everything that Adam posted here.

[kenrexford]

Responder almost never has three hearts anyway.

[TWO4BRIDGE]

Mbodell, on 2011-July-04, 22:32, said:

I'm pretty sure this is a clear cut auction where the answer is completely 100% obvious to experts, but I've seen a number of decent players disagree on what the obvious bid is. Can people help out both with what is the right bid on this hand (and for bonus credit what's the minimum change you'd have to make to pick the other listed choices).

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If it matters at all this is a 2/1 strong nt context playing matchpoints at a club game.

A similar problem ( same 1H - 1S, 3C - ?? ) came up recently at rec.games.bridge where Responder held:

K J 10 9 x
x
Q J 9 x
A 10 x

All of the answers there were also divided between 3D and 3NT .

I've struggled with a system ( largely unsuccessful for this auction ) to create "more rebids" for Responder ( at the expense of using 3D! as natural ) .... by using 3D! as a relay to 3H!

That way you can have 2-ways ( direct and after-relay ) to bid 3S, 3NT, 4C, 4D, 4H, 4S, and 4NT ....
and the direct 3H rebid is also still available .

And thus, you have more ways to describe Responder's holding at a lower level in this GF situation .

[Free]

3♥, leaves some options open. This doesn't promisse a 3 card, and if partner is short in ♦ he gets the opportunity to bid 3♠ for example, finding our best spot.

3NT used to be the obvious choice, but 3♥ is a modern approach that's gaining popularity because experience has shown it usually works better than the alternatives.

[ggwhiz]

3♥ for me. Partner is almost always short in something and if not it's a power jump shift that can usually bid 3nt next.

What I really want to hear over this is 3♠ on a 3-5-1-4. A ♠ game on the moyse should play like a dream.