[sasioc]

You hold

♠ AKTxxxx
♥ -
♦ -
♣ JT9xxx

1st in at unfavourable playing teams.


First question - what is your call?




At the table I passed and the auction proceeded

p (p) 1NT (2♥*) *H and a minor; 1NT = 14-16
3♠ (4♥) 4♠ (p)

Do you agree with 3♠ (which is gf in principle but obviously I'm a passed hand so it is not impossible that partner will drop it - this possibility had not really occurred to me when I bid it)? What do you do now?

[Cascade]

I would open 1♠

[Hanoi5]

1♠ to begin with. 6♠ on the given scenario.

[mike777]

1) agree with pass
2) prefer 4h tfr to 4s
3) pass now.

[aguahombre]

I♠ in any jurisdiction. Everything would be different after that, so I haven't a clue what to do on the given auction.

If I opened 1♠, I still might not have a clue; but will have different information upon which to make the wrong choice.

[wank]

detest pass. i would bid 4s. i would rather bid 6s than pass

[the hog]

I would open 4S on this. Second choice is 1S.

[MrAce]

I open 4♠

[mike777]

lots of posts from pass to 1s to 4s and then some think anything less than 6s is silly ...wow

[aguahombre]

mike777, on 2011-November-14, 23:54, said:

lots of posts from pass to 1s to 4s and then some think anything less than 6s is silly ...wow

I believe the 6S part is referring to the auction as it developed after we passed the first time. If you were making one of my type of jokes, I apologize.

[JLOGIC]

4S and no second choice. Maybe optimistic to hope that I buy it but I'm definitely not going to let them in cheaply just so I can find clubs.

[JLOGIC]

Opening 6S however seems like an extremely funny/interesting bluff because of the vul... Maybe with the right image and against the right opps they will just save. If I was a little old lady playing against myself 6S would probably be the winner! I have never seen anyone open 6S r/w and not have it in their hand. Would have to be an almost perfect situation for it to be right though, I doubt I'd ever do it. Kind of like how I think opening 6C in third seat r/w with xx xx xx AKQJT98 is probably right in some ideal world.

[Fluffy]

pass put you on a better position than anyone, even when it looks as a ridicoulous option. Now you can blast bid 5♦ or blast 6♠.

[whereagles]

I would just open 4S. This isn't a hand to be scientific.

Passed worked really well though. Now either bid 5D (if pard skips a heart cue, a grand is possible) or just play the odds and bid 6.

[sasioc]

Clearly part of the reason I passed was that I hoped that I'd be able to show my hand later but I could obviously run into problems on a competitive auction. I was also worried that if I opened 4S and oppo came in I'd be very poorly placed. When I passed I had certainly already decided that I would bid 4S later if I had to.

At the table I bid 6♠ over 4 because my partner and I don't play together often and I wasn't sure what 5m would be - on one hand it certainly sounds like a cue bid but on the other I must surely have been dealt a very shapely two suiter to have passed and now be looking for slam, so maybe it should be NAT? Given that I wasn't certain what 5m should be and which m suit p would expect from me if I bid it (if I bid 5♦ and then try 6♦ later to look for grand I am certainly worried p will pass it) I thought 6♠ was the most practical bid. To whereagles, how will p show/ skip a heart cue? I'd have thought 5♥ over 5♦ would just show a club cue (kind of last train-esque), otherwise you have no idea what's going on when p bids 5♠?

P put down

Jxx
AKx
xxxx
AQx

so obviously small is all but frigid.

To the (many) people who open 4S, what would do you if it went 4s p p 5H or something of that ilk?

[whereagles]

sasioc, on 2011-November-15, 10:07, said:

To whereagles, how will p show/ skip a heart cue? I'd have thought 5♥ over 5♦ would just show a club cue (kind of last train-esque), otherwise you have no idea what's going on when p bids 5♠?

Well, pard did open 1NT. If pard skips the heart cue I can't possibly believe he has no club cue. He'd need to have like

Qxx
QJx
AKQ
Qxxx

or thereabouts for us to be off 2 club tricks.

[sasioc]

whereagles, on 2011-November-15, 10:15, said:

Well, pard did open 1NT. If pard skips the heart cue I can't possibly believe he has no club cue. He'd need to have like

Qxx
QJx
AKQ
Qxxx

or thereabouts for us to be off 2 club tricks.

I realise that if p has no heart control, slam is pretty darn likely to be good but that wasn't really what I was asking - sorry if I wasn't clear. I meant that I don't understand what auction you are referring to. It sounded as if you were advocating looking for grand if p bid 5♠, which is what he is likely to bid on *any* hand with no club control, regardless of whether it contains a heart control or not because he will believe we are off 2 clubs. Surely 5♥, whatever else it shows, must promise a club control here.

[whereagles]

Well, I meant pard might bid 5H even without a club control. But you're right, he probably won't.

[mycroft]

Heh, we were practising Keri responses in BBO bidding, and about the third hand that came up was (opposite a 12-14 1NT):

AQJTxxx
--
AJT9xx
--

Partner had no clue what to do with it. I have to admit I suggested "transfer to spades, bid 6♦" (we don't play exclusion anywhere, and we aren't ready yet (maybe ever) for asking bids...)