[whereagles]

At 'red' (V vs. NV) you hold as dealer:

♠ x
♥ KQ8xxx
♦ --
♣ AKQxxx

Playing 2/1, what do you open?

[Gerben47]

1♥ seems obvious. What happens?

[luke warm]

1♥

[nikos59]

Indeed, 1H -what else?

nikos

[daswallow]

I bid 1♥, no way this will be passed out and we can bid the clubs later. The opps will likely bid spades anyway so opening 1♣ wouldn't save much bidding space.

[bearmum]

whereagles, on Nov 23 2004, 11:30 PM, said:

At 'red' (V vs. NV) you hold as dealer:

♠ x
♥ KQ8xxx
♦ --
♣ AKQxxx

Playing 2/1, what do you open?

1♥ is there ANY rational reason for for opening ANYTHING else (at 2/1 that is)???

[whereagles]

Well, one might consider this 2-loser hand is "just strong enough" to open 2C

[inquiry]

whereagles, on Nov 23 2004, 09:15 AM, said:

Well, one might consider this 2-loser hand is "just strong enough" to open 2C

The problem with 2♣ is the bidding might be at 5♦ before you have a chance to show either of your suits.... 2♣-(3♦)-Pass-5♦, or worse yet, 4♠ from partner on 2♣-(4♦)-4♠-Pass-?

It is much better to introduce your suit naturally at the one level. I start 1♥ and for me, this would not be a stretch for my 2♣ requirement, experience has shown this is not a good way to start such hands.

Ben

[Flame]

The previous question of 2 suiter was a 5-5 hand with not too many losers and many prefered 2c to 1h, here a 6-6 is different, your hand is weaker on hcp, so you dont have much diffence, your 6-6 need more time to show then 5-5, and 6-6 give less chances of being passed out. so even if you add the J10 of heart making this look like an easy 11 tricks hand, still 1h will be better.

[whereagles]

Well, since everybody is clearly geared towards a 1♥ opener, I might as well give you the rest of the story. I also opened 1♥, mostly with an eye on vulnerability, expecting the auction to come back to me in anything from 3 to 6 spades, lol

But pard surprised me by bidding a natural 3NT (13-15, usually no heart fit). No problem. I bid 4♣ (nat 55, slamish). And it goes..

1♥ 3NT
4♣ 4♥
??

now what?

[scoob]

anything but ♥?

i don't have very strict cue-bidding agreements with my reg. partner, so i might very well bid 5♠ here

with a pickup i probably bid 5♦ though

[Flame]

Id bid ♣ which should be natural i think

[Fluffy]

Opening 2♣ with less than 20 HCP is simply nuts.

after natural 3NT and 4♥ this is just a guess, you cannot ask for specific aces there is even a great risk of 2 ♥ losers, so I would just bid 6♣.

[inquiry]

whereagles, on Nov 23 2004, 10:31 AM, said:

But pard surprised me by bidding a natural 3NT (13-15, usually no heart fit). No problem. I bid 4♣ (nat 55, slamish). And it goes..

1♥ 3NT
4♣ 4♥
??

now what?

Partner only needs.. ♠A and ♥A to have great play for 7♣. He might raise to 4♥ here on doubleton heart ace. We know his 13-15 hcp are outside of clubs, and we really do expect he has Ax of hearts.

The only bid here is 5♦ Exclusion blackwood (assuming you play this).

I am not sure what your response skeme is, but if it is 0,3 - 1,4 you will be alright. If he shows two key cards (the major aces), bid 7♣. At matchpoint you should try 7♥ maybe, as it scores more, and 4-1 ♥ is only 16%, but I am not risking vulnerable game and grand slam bonus at imps. If partner corrects 7♣ to 7♥ will have three hearts (and I hope they don't get a club ruff on the get go).

Ben

[whereagles]

5♦ would NOT be exclusion blackwood, but would definitely be some sort of diamond control with hearts as trumps.

[inquiry]

whereagles, on Nov 23 2004, 11:14 AM, said:

5♦ would NOT be exclusion blackwood, but would definitely be some sort of diamond control with hearts as trumps.

Well, for you it would not be.

Fred use to suggest that all five level bids not be cue-bids. He has softened this view obviously if you have seen his latest bidding. I never followed his original suggestion on bids above our game suit. My rules are (and have always been), jumps above game are Exclusion, and if no cue-bidding has occurred (as in this auction), then a new suit above our fit at the four level IS EXCLUSION blackwood. In this hand, there has been no cue-bidding, so for me, 5♦ is exclusion blackwood...

If 5♦ isn't exclusion blackwood you have two choices.

1) you can assume that 4♥, by passing 4♦ denied diamond ace or else you would have gotten a cue-bid on the way to 4♥, then you can use regular blackwood. (this would be a nebulous cue-bid as we haven't formally agreed trumps.

2) If you play 4♦ as some kind of last train, agreeing by inference hearts, then of course, blackwood is out, as partner may or may not have the diamond ace, so a leap to 6♣ is in order, giving up chances for grand slam.

Ben

[PriorKnowledge]

So what is 3N? No 5-card suit (else 2/1), no 4s, and exactly 13-15. So must be 3334, 3343, 3244, or 2344... Have I missed any?
But after 1H 3N 4C 4H, must have 3h. Resp would not take a preference with 2h and 4c.

I can't think of any other meaning to 5D except exclusionary RKC.

[whereagles]

Allright, so are the hands:

Scoring: IMP

---

Me and pard produced the following auction:

1♥ 3NT
4♣ 4♥
5♦ 6♦
6♥ pass

Duly made. I bid 5♦ intending to show a void (not voidwood, though). Pard realized correctly the spade ace was the key, and bid 6♦, just in case I meant 5♦ as a 3rd suit. From pard's failure to bid 5♠, I knew 6♥ was the limit. A bit primitive, I agree, but effective

[xx1943]

whereagles, on Nov 24 2004, 12:45 PM, said:

Allright, so are the hands:

Dealer: East Vul: E/W Scoring: IMP

♠ x ♥ KQ8xxx ♦   ♣ AKQxxx ♠ Kxxx ♥ Ax ♦ KQxx ♣ J9x

Me and pard produced the following auction:

1♥ 3NT
4♣ 4♥
5♦ 6♦
6♥ pass

3NT is a horrible bid with 4243 distribution and deserves a bad score.

[Gerben47]

1♠ would be normal but 3NT got you there quickly