[rhm]

Yesterday I had the following hand

---

1NT was 15-17

What would be your bidding plan?

Would your plan differ between Matchpoints and IMPs?

Rainer Herrmann

[Fluffy]

I would splinter with 3♠ after transfer if that is avaible, my plan is to bid 4♠ later to show my void, sting cuebids in clubs might work against certain opponents but don't feel imaginative today.

[Codo]

I would bid 2 Diamond / 3 ♠ which shows a heart one suiter with Spade shortness. This can go wrong in several ways, but I would like my chances that it does not.

[MrAce]

If pd has something like

KJxx
Jx
KQxx
AJx

then we are supposed to find our ♦ grand and if he has

AKxx
Jx
KQx
QJxx

then we are supposed to stay away from slam. If pd has something like

AKJx
Jx
KQxx
Kxx

then we are supposed to avoid ♦ slam and play 6♥ in order to not go down due to wrong siding...

How am i gonna satisfy all the concerns ? I have no f...ing idea

EDIT: i took off the ♣ AK and ruff part, it was nonsensical

[phil_20686]

MrAce, on 2012-September-10, 05:40, said:

If pd has something like

... and if he has ...

... If pd has something like...

You worry too much. My partners always have the right cards for slam.

Transfer and splinter for me. Best way to balance the conflicting concerns. I would expect 6H to be good almost always. After 3S I cannot play 3N, so partner will be forced to cue a club if non serious, or show serious interest, so avoiding missing a club control should be trivial.

[rsteele]

rhm, on 2012-September-10, 05:14, said:

Yesterday I had the following hand

---

1NT was 15-17

What would be your bidding plan?

Would your plan differ between Matchpoints and IMPs?

Rainer Herrmann

[rsteele]

I transfer to diamonds and then bid 4S (exclusion KC) if pd shows the KQ of diamonds and the club ace I take my chances and bid 7 hearts, although if pd super accepts aover the diamond transfer (4+ D) I will now bid 7 Diamonds.

[aguahombre]

O.K., Timo. Silently and diplomatically allowing you time to edit seems to have paid off

[MrAce]

I don't know how splinter can help in this hand, i know people love splinter in the forums and i use it too with correct hands but this ?

Splinter would be the last tool that i would use to be honest. When we hold this pd will almost always hold wasted spade values and will reject costing us valuable space, having learnt nothing. We can bid 4♠ again to show void and i don't know how is this supposed to help. Ironically we can make grandslam when he has KQxx in spade suit and we may not even make slam when he has the same holding in spade.

Does splinter tell pd that our trumps are solid and 7 piece and that he doesnt need to worry about his ♥ holding ? Cant we splinter also with

void
QTxxxxx
KQx
AKx

?

I dont play kickback for example. If you also dont play it these 2 auctions needs to be discussed imo

1nt--2♦
2♥--4♠

1nt--4♦
4♥--4♠

but this wont help when it is right to find another fit when he have solid 7 card major suit over 1NT by pd.

[TWO4BRIDGE]

1NT - 2D!
2H - 3S! ( splinter )
??
Now I need a ♣-cue and if I get one, then I'll use Meckwell for RKC:
...... 4NT = Voidwood for ♥, excluding ♠Ace
...... whereas 4S would be ordinary kickback RKC for ♥.

[gszes]

in my system I would start with transfer followed by 3d to show red suit
2 suiter and game forcing. I have no intention of stopping at 3n.

how the bidding proceeds from there depends on what opener bids.

if opener bids 3s (showing spades stopped but not clubs) (unless they are cuebidding
with a max where they will cue bid some more) i will bid 4h as a sign off try.
if opener bids 4c showing clubs stopped but not spades (responder may still be
able to bid 4n as an invite to 6n). I have sufficent values to bid 7h.

if opener bids 3n i will follow with (4s or 5c) --in this case 4s- to show my 0652
hand slam invitational (10-13) 0553 (14-16) and let opener decide where to play (though i
will convert dia contracts to hearts). (opener will usually place contract at proper level
or bid 5n to encourage 7 if responder is near the top of their range)

The key is letting p know about the 2 suited nature of your hand. This allows them to
make a much more intelligent decision on how high to go. Sometimes it is best to let
the player looking at their cards decide how well they fit with yours instead of your worrying
about all the possible great vs horrid fits available.

[Phil]

I can see myself blasting to 6♥. I don't expect it to be cold, but I doubt I will get the information or cooperation I am looking for with a slower route, which risks tipping off the club lead, or maybe even the diamond lead when it is right.

There's a few cutesy sequences we could try: transfer to diamonds and bid exclusion, or even transfer to clubs and bid exclusion.

Something more straightforward like transferring to hearts and bidding diamonds might be the most scientific and honest way to bid the hand.

I do not like transferring to hearts and splintering. That seems like a poor choice.

[ggwhiz]

gszes, on 2012-September-10, 13:53, said:

in my system I would start with transfer followed by 3d to show red suit
2 suiter and game forcing. I have no intention of stopping at 3n.

Diamonds is the most likely grand and on a really bad day might be the only small slam.

I see no reason to take it out of play with a splinter and if pard agrees with a 4♦ bid (or a black suit cue in my partnership) either way you just need a club cue to bid an easy 5nt.

[aguahombre]

ggwhiz, on 2012-September-10, 16:20, said:

Diamonds is the most likely grand and on a really bad day might be the only small slam.

I see no reason to take it out of play with a splinter and if pard agrees with a 4♦ bid (or a black suit cue in my partnership) either way you just need a club cue to bid an easy 5nt.

Yep. FWIW, 3S is the only way for us to show 4+ diamonds on that auction:

1N-2D
2H-3D
3S=agreeing diamonds, but not showing or denying spade control. Then, 3NT is not to play by responder. She started a suit-fit sequence and found one.

[kenrexford]

If playing methods I prefer, I would transfer and then bid 3S, but I play 3S as six hearts, slammish, with spade shortness or no shortness or no shortness that I want to show.

If partner cannot cue spades (3NT is the spade cue) but can cue clubs, I can now bid 5D as RKCB, but with partner showing diamond K&Q as keys, which works wonders.

More likely, he bids 3NT for a spade cue. I will then bid 4H and respect his signoff. If he continues 4S, that should be kickback, so I answer.

[SteveMoe]

If exclusion RKB is a jump to the level above a splinter bid, then 1N-2♦-2♥-4♠. If 4♠ is Kickback then 5♠ eRKB. Either way, if pard shows 1 key, ask for specific kings - in the minors of course...The hand we don't want partner to have is AKxx xx KQx QJxx or similar.

Part of me wants to see 1N-2♦ - 2♥ - 6♥ in case partner has the hand we don't want them to have...

[aguahombre]

SteveMoe, on 2012-September-10, 20:29, said:

If exclusion RKB is a jump to the level above a splinter bid, then 1N-2♦-2♥-4♠. If 4♠ is Kickback then 5♠ eRKB.

Assuming we wanted to do that with the OP hand, and we don't for a lot of reasons (the club holding for instance) ---we could splinter first with 3S and THEN kickback with 4S as EKB, saving a whole level. Or, we could say 4NT is EKB; but that seems a bit wrong, since the whole idea of KB is to save the little bit of room after the reply.

[SteveMoe]

aguahombre, on 2012-September-10, 20:45, said:

we could splinter first with 3S and THEN kickback with 4S as EKB, saving a whole level.

Useful thought, that...

[Zelandakh]

There look to be 3 choices with this hand:
1. Set hearts and show spade shortage
2. Show hearts and diamonds
3. Set hearts and initiate cue bids

I am surprised that so few posters have suggested route number 3. The problem with route number 1 is that the hand is really too strong for a simple splinter, while going direct to Exclusion does not address either of the big questions (trump suit or club control). The problem with route number 2 is that it does not cater to the suit disparity - there are plenty of hands where we need to be in hearts and partner will prefer diamonds - and it might be awkward to unwind everything at the same time as finding our about the club position (depends on system). The problem with route number 3 is locking us into hearts.

In short, if our system is such that we can unwind everything via route 2 then this addresses both questions to some extent, if not ideally. If we are playing simpler methods then route 3 looks to be better than route 1. Phil's suggestion that partner will always show a club control or serious interest seems flawed to me too - is partner not allowed to bid 4♥ with bad trumps and spade wastage? If we are willing to respect this as a sign-off then the splinter route is better; if not then it is surely better to force partner to cue bid. How many of the splinter bidders would pass a 4♥ rebid from Opener over their 3♠?

[Zelandakh]

SteveMoe, on 2012-September-10, 20:29, said:

If exclusion RKB is a jump to the level above a splinter bid, then 1N-2♦-2♥-4♠. If 4♠ is Kickback then 5♠ eRKB.

Playing Kickback, 1NT - 4♦; 4♥ - 4♠ is usually defined as the RKCB route, thus freeing up 1NT - 2♦; 2♥ - 4♠ for something else. Exclusion would be one possibility although marginal since it only gains 1 step over 1NT - 4♦; 4♥ - 4NT which is the alternative Exclusion sequence. Playing 1NT - 2♦; 2♥ - 5♠ as Exclusion seems pretty stupid in any half-decent 1NT structure.