[bridgeboy]

You hold:

J9xx
AQ10xxx
-
10xx

All Vul, imps, p deals and open 1S RHO pass,

your bid?

2/1 GF no bergen (3S: limit)
3NT: any void splinter

[HeartA]

I will bid up to 4S, though it could be overbid. Between 3N (splinter) and 2H, I choose 2H, telling pd where my strength is.

[PriorKnowledge]

very close between 3S & 4S
With 7hcp, you can't make a strength bid. So no 2H, 2N or 3N
If you splinter with this hand, you don't understand splinters.

[Fluffy]

1NT, let partner explain a strong hand before bidding 4♠.

4♠ is the only other alternative, having a good 6 card suit and a void it will hardly be a matter of how many HCP partner has to win game, but that he has the good ones, and that is not possible to explain.

[mike777]

3nt void splinter..play splinters weaker than 2nt.

[inquiry]

My goodness... 3♠ is so horribly wrong... you would miss game if your partner passes. 4♦ and 4♠ are also not very good.

What might work great here, if you play it, is 3♥ as a fit jump.. followed by a slam try of some sort if partner shows extra values based on heart fit. LAcking that, the only possible bid is 2♥, GF with hearts, then show your spade support next...

For ZAR fans...

7 hcp
2 control points
16 distributional points...
25 ZAR points...

Fit points..
One for jack of spades (honor in partners suit)
three for void in diamonds iwth a fourth trump

This comes to 29 ZAR points, more than enough to force to game.

Ben

[hrothgar]

Clear 2♥ bid

[whereagles]

PriorKnowledge, on Nov 18 2004, 10:28 PM, said:

If you splinter with this hand, you don't understand splinters.

I just love this sort of dogmatic statements.. care to tell us why that is, oh enlightened one?

[PriorKnowledge]

Splinters work based on the math of high-card points, Oh Seeker-of-Wisdom. Take these hands:
Dealer: AQJx Axxx AKxx x
1) Respo: Kxxxx KQx xx xxx
2) Respo: Kxxxx xxx xx KQx

1) 1D 1S 4C .... 6S
2) 1D 1S 4C 4S p

In hand 1) the 26 hcp between the 2 hands are all located in 3 non-splinter suits. That is an average of 8+2/3 points per suit and responder can easily see that the only loser will be the missing ace.

In hand 2) the 26 hcp are spread across 4 suits. In particular responder sees the 5 hcp in clubs is wasted opposite partner's shortness and can sign off in 4S. You will notice that even 5S may not make.

If you splinter on wildly distributional hands that have few hcp, the math will not work. Partner may drive to a hopeless slam. So on weak, wildly distributional hands, just jump to game and don't splinter. Finding the rare slam is a total crap-shoot.

This is a quick splinter explanation. There are better write-ups all over the Internet.

[Free]

2♥ clear cut...

[pclayton]

OK; the next time I hear a reference about "points" in a non-NT auction, I think I'm going to SCREAM!

We have a phenomenal suit and great support for pard. We have an outside VOID. This is a clear 2♥.

Some seem to want to force to game but feel sheepish about it. C'mon already. There are non-fitting weak 2's that make slam very good, and fitting minimums that make a grand. Try getting there after a forcing NT or a direct 4♠.

A splinter is possible, but I don't like it with such a outside good suit. Even 2N is too much for me.

A fit jump is very possible, but most only play those in competition. In my prior partnership, we did play 1♠ - 3♥ and 1♥ - 2♠ as fit jumps, but not anymore.

[luke warm]

2♥ ... this is a great hand

[whereagles]

PriorKnowledge, on Nov 18 2004, 11:40 PM, said:

If you splinter on wildly distributional hands that have few hcp, the math will not work. Partner may drive to a hopeless slam. So on weak, wildly distributional hands, just jump to game and don't splinter. Finding the rare slam is a total crap-shoot.

Funny you mention hcps. Did you ever think of playing splinters in terms of the losing trick count instead? If so, you'll realize this is an automatic void splinter with a 7-loser hand.

See how interesting it is to view things from two different perspectives? From the hcp perspective, the void splinter is an abuse. From the LTC perspective, it is a clear-cut bid.

Which is why I say your statement was dogmatic...

[mike777]

that was my thought exactly. void splinter and 7 loser hand...4 card spade support..

[cf_John0]

Y not use the handside tool 3NT-void splinter?If pd is strong,there is a slam in sight.Otherwise 4H is impossible better than 4S.
2H as 2/1 with only 7HCP is too weak!

[mr1303]

What about 2D? Whilst this is good enough to force to game, how much I want to encourage my partner is unclear, and if I take things slowly, this will give opps a chance to stick their noses in. A (natural) 2D bid should muddy the water for them sufficiently to shut them up

[Gerben47]

Don't splinter with AQTxxx side suit even if it is inside your range.
2♥

[Fluffy]

inquiry, on Nov 18 2004, 09:50 PM, said:

Fit points..
One for jack of spades (honor in partners suit)
three for void in diamonds iwth a fourth trump

I knwo nothing about ZAR points, but to me having a lonely J in a 9 card fit suit is nearly as good as having nothing, specially for slam purposes.

[inquiry]

Fluffy, on Nov 19 2004, 10:37 AM, said:

inquiry, on Nov 18 2004, 09:50 PM, said:

Fit points..
One for jack of spades (honor in partners suit)
three for void in diamonds iwth a fourth trump

I knwo nothing about ZAR points, but to me having a lonely J in a 9 card fit suit is nearly as good as having nothing, specially for slam purposes.

Well, Zar needs 62 points for slam.. and you add 1 point for the spade jack.. so, this means you get 1/62 nd of what is needed for a slam. Adding that one point is not going to mean much for bidding slam or not bidding it. But a jack is much better than no jack, imagine playing in a slam where you had to keep your trump losers to one with this trump suit in your partners hand.. AQxx...

Which four card holding would you like to table as dummy?

1) xxxx
2) 9xxx
3) Jxxx
4) J9xx

I think the answer is obvious... maybe that darn jack and even nine is so much more valuable than you give it credit for.... matter of fact, maybe ZAR even under-evaluates it... because here J9xx is almost as good as Kxxx for keeping you to one loser.

Ben

[Fluffy]

I understood somethign liek you added more points for the J being on partner´s suit, and that is the thing I disagree.

For the example given ♠J will save a trick only about 25% of the times, when partner has ♠KQ it saves about 33%, and with others will save even less.