[manudude03]

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You land in 4S rather than the superior 5C at IMPs (you may even prefer to be in 6C), but at least it's a decent contract. You get the ♠7 lead.

How do you play? (adv+ hide answers please)

Hint for N/B:

Spoiler

A 4-2 trump break is more likely than a 3-3 break

[Cyberyeti]

Spoiler

I run the spade to the K and hook the 10 on the way back, if this loses, I still have control of the diamond suit in the short hand.

This looks correct even at MPs as 650 is better than anything you're going to get in 5♣, although 3N also comes into the picture.

[Antrax]

I'm guessing the correct answer is

Spoiler

Duck the first round of spades. They can only cash one ♦ before losing the lead, then you play three high rounds of trumps and run clubs.

However, I'm a matchpoints player so I wonder: could it be right to

Spoiler

Play the ♠T (assuming RHO plays his ♠J) and finesse again the ♠9 with RHO?

[edit]
Wait, my second spoiler makes no sense.

[mitsguy]

What is the proper way to bid this hand in SAYC? North wouldn't open 1NT. 1NT shows 15-17 points, and North has 18 points, and there is no reason to downgrade this hand.

North would have to open 1♣. But now South has a problem. South has strong support for clubs, and has more than enough strength to force a game. But SAYC doesn't have a game-forcing minor suit raise. South also has no 4 card suit to bid, and does not have a balanced hand (so he/she can't bid anything NT).

I'm guessing that South would manufacture a bid. I'm guessing 1♥, to keep the bidding as low as possible.

North would now bid 2NT, to show 18-19 points and a balanced hand, and deny 4 card support for hearts.

What does South do now? South knows that there is enough strength for game in clubs, maybe even slam. But South can't bid Blackwood, since North could be missing both the Ace and King of Hearts, and then they'd be in trouble. And there is no way to cue-bid a suit, since no trump suit has been agreed on. South could jump to 5♣, but now they're too high even to use Blackwood, so they would have to just settle for game. It's also very possible that, if they've resigned to being only in game, that 3NT is better than 5♣, but I see no way to figure that out.

However, I do know that although 2NT by North is not a forcing bid, I do know that any other bid by South below game is forcing. So I'm thinking South can bid 3♣ to show game forcing support for clubs, without worrying about being passed by North.

Is this enough to set clubs as trump so that they can start cue-bidding? North can't bid Blackwood, since South could be missing both the Ace and King of diamonds (in reality, South has a singleton, so it's ok).

I'm guessing that after South bids 3♣, north will cue-bid 3♥ to show the A♥ and deny the A♦. Am I correct? South now knows that every suit has at least 2nd round control, and can bid 4NT, Blackwood. Since North has shown 18 points, he must have at least 1 ace, since there are only 16 remaining HCP in the deck without including aces. (In the unlikely scenario that North bids 5♦ to show only 1 Ace, south can bid 5♥ which North will correct to 5NT.)

In the real auction, North will bid 5♥ to show 2 Aces: Hearts, and another suit (either diamonds or spades). South knows that only 1 ace is missing, and has second round control in both diamonds and spades, so South will sign off in 6♣.

Am I correct about this auction? Thanks.

On another note: in the auction that manudude03 posted, what does the 2♠ bid by South mean? I thought that bid meant a weak hand with a long minor suit. South's hand is much too strong for that. If it's natural, it would mean a weak hand with long spades, which doesn't apply either. It's obviously a conventional response, but I don't know what it means.

[Cyberyeti]

mitsguy, on 2013-March-06, 00:12, said:

On another note: in the auction that manudude03 posted, what does the 2♠ bid by South mean? I thought that bid meant a weak hand with a long minor suit. South's hand is much too strong for that. If it's natural, it would mean a weak hand with long spades, which doesn't apply either. It's obviously a conventional response, but I don't know what it means.

If you notice, the 2♠ bid is highlighted yellow, if you mouse over it and left click, it will tell you it's a transfer to clubs.

Most people use 1♣-2♣ as a forcing club raise, so you don't need to invent, but if you're not playing that, you have to decide whether you have a game invite (3♣) or a GF (3♦
splinter).

[broze]

Spoiler

I will stick the T♠ in at trick one then? If this wins then I can pull trumps. If not then I'll win with the K♠ and duck a round of trumps! This should win against any 4-2 break because on any return you can just pull the remaining trumps and run the clubs. EDIT: Ok, late to the game but a satisfying problem nonetheless.

[Free]

Spoiler

Let it run to your K85 and finesse on the way back. This gives us the best chance to score 4 trump tricks while we still keep control (= we still have a trump to ruff a 2nd round of ♦). Only when RHO has both ♠J and ♠9 will we lose a trump trick (making +1), in any other case we make +2 (or maybe even +3 on a squeeze).

Cashing ♠AKQ is dangerous because trumps usually split 4-2 or 2-4. When that's the case, you can only switch to ♣ until opps ruff (usually the 2nd or 3rd round) after which they can cash 3 ♦s unless LHO has ♦AK.

[gordontd]

Cyberyeti, on 2013-March-06, 00:34, said:

Most people use 1♣-2♣ as a forcing club raise, so you don't need to invent, but if you're not playing that, you have to decide whether you have a game invite (3♣) or a GF (3♦
splinter).

I'm not sure how this relates to the given situation when partner has opened 1NT.

[Cyberyeti]

gordontd, on 2013-March-06, 03:50, said:

I'm not sure how this relates to the given situation when partner has opened 1NT.

Because he's opened 1N on an 18 count that's not a 1N opener so he should have opened 1♣

Opposite 1N you have to either:

Play 2♠ as a transfer to ♣
Agree that either an immediate 3♣ or 2♣ Stayman followed by 3♣ is forcing
Play something more complicated that's not really N/B like Walsh relays.

[mitsguy]

Is the auction that I posted correct?

If you do decide to start with 1NT as the OP did, and south bids 2♣, and then ignores North's ♠ response and then bids 3♣ to show interest in slam, how exactly does the auction go from there?

First of all, if you wanted to ask for Aces (not saying it's appropriate here, just asking a question), would North use Blackwood 4NT or Gerber 4♣?

In any case, North would not want to ask for Aces, since North's concern is whether or not South has at least 2nd round control in diamonds. Does South's 3♣ bid absolutely set clubs as trump, so that north can cue-bid a control? Or would a new suit bid by North be suggesting a new trump suit?

Assuming that clubs are absolutely set as trump, North could cue-bid 3♥ to show the A♥ and deny a diamond control. Would South return to 4♣ to show no first round controls that can be bid. Or would South bid 3♠ to show a 2nd round control?

In either case, what would North bid? North is still unaware of South's diamond singleton and had no other bid available, as far as I can tell.

Am I missing something here?

[Cyberyeti]

mitsguy, on 2013-March-06, 11:16, said:

Is the auction that I posted correct?

If you do decide to start with 1NT as the OP did, and south bids 2♣, and then ignores North's ♠ response and then bids 3♣ to show interest in slam, how exactly does the auction go from there?

First of all, if you wanted to ask for Aces (not saying it's appropriate here, just asking a question), would North use Blackwood 4NT or Gerber 4♣?

In any case, North would not want to ask for Aces, since North's concern is whether or not South has at least 2nd round control in diamonds. Does South's 3♣ bid absolutely set clubs as trump, so that north can cue-bid a control? Or would a new suit bid by North be suggesting a new trump suit?

Assuming that clubs are absolutely set as trump, North could cue-bid 3♥ to show the A♥ and deny a diamond control. Would South return to 4♣ to show no first round controls that can be bid. Or would South bid 3♠ to show a 2nd round control?

In either case, what would North bid? North is still unaware of South's diamond singleton and had no other bid available, as far as I can tell.

Am I missing something here?

Some expert pairs will bid very much as in the actual given auction 1N-2♠-3♣-3♦ to show clubs and a diamond shortage which pinpoints the diamond issue.

If your forcing method is 1N-2♣-2♠-3♣ then N would bid 3♥ and again the diamond problem is highlighted.

A lot of decent pairs that use Gerber only use it directly over 1N/2N/2♣-2♦/♥-2N, but a variety of other ace asks are then used in other auctions.