[VM1973]

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Please suggest improvements on the bidding method.

[wyman]

One way or another, east wants to find out about the ace of spades. He can do this by initiating a cuebidding sequence or by bidding 5C voidwood. Missing the ace of spades, we'll play 6H and hope for the best in diamonds.

6H would be my choice as East if you gave me one call only (after W raises to 2H). But I can't imagine not at least trying for 7.

[wyman]

Also, I'm not sure that this is really an interesting bridge hand. It's more a N/B "how do I proceed with a strong hand once we've discovered a fit" type of topic.

edit: and you ask for "improvements on the bidding method," but you don't give any bidding methods. If you're looking for improvements over a style in which you just jump to the contract you think might make, there are a lot of improvements I can suggest.

[Fluffy]

I think your bidding was perfect, it is better to use exclusion blackwood if it is available so you can play grand opposite ♠A, but other than that I think it is fine. I always consider a side suit of AKxxxx as zero losers when looking for slam with no advanced methods.

[VM1973]

Sorry that you found a 1-6-6-0 hand uninteresting.

[wyman]

VM1973, on 2013-September-11, 10:22, said:

Sorry that you found a 1-6-6-0 hand uninteresting.

This is defensive; I attempted to be constructive.

[fromageGB]

Fluffy, on 2013-September-11, 10:21, said:

I always consider a side suit of AKxxxx as zero losers when looking for slam with no advanced methods.

As this is a request for better methods, how would you find out about the diamond holding when going for a slam in hearts?

[Endymion77]

1♥ - 2♥
5♣ (exclusion RKCB) - 5♦ (no keycards)
6♥

[Endymion77]

Or, if you don't play exclusion RKCB:

1♥ - 2♥
4♣ (splinter) - 4♥ (I don't like your splinter)
5♣ (1st round control - void or stiff Ace) - 5♥ (nothing in diamonds)
5NT (I don't care about diamonds, we're going to 6♥ at least - spade ace?) - 6♥ (no, not even that)

[ilitzroth]

Nobody thinks that opening 1!h on this hand is pretty bad?
Could be slem opposite a partner that passes (he brings Jxxx in diamonds).

[plarq]

ilitzroth, on 2013-September-11, 13:36, said:

Nobody thinks that opening 1!h on this hand is pretty bad?
Could be slem opposite a partner that passes (he brings Jxxx in diamonds).

Unless 1C is forcing, I don't think this hand can bid 2C in SAYC or 2/1 systems.

[ahydra]

plarq, on 2013-September-11, 19:29, said:

Unless 1C is forcing, I don't think this hand can bid 2C in SAYC or 2/1 systems.

Sure you can. After all, you probably want to play at least 4H no matter what partner has.

Assuming 2C-2D is relay:

2C-2D
2H-3H
4S (exclusion)-5C (0 or 3)
6H

ahydra

[wank]

not looking for 7 and punting 6 is fine. if you don't tell them where your void is, you have a better chance of making 6 (club lead, setting up a hypothetical club winner or making the ace for a spade discard then concede a diamond).

you would be quite unlucky to find 7 was actually good.

[fromageGB]

I don't think you have any chance of 1♥ being passed out when you have this sort of hand, not strong, and so distributional, therefore I prefer 1♥ to 2♣. The problem with 2♣ when you have a hand like this is that you may find it very difficult to show both suits later. Permute the other 3 hands and you may find the bidding goes 2♣ (2♠) p (4♠) and then what? At least if you open 1♥ you can rebid ♦, at the 5 level if necessary.

Better to keep the 2♣ bid for hands with overall strength and less distribution.

[ArtK78]

ilitzroth, on 2013-September-11, 13:36, said:

Nobody thinks that opening 1!h on this hand is pretty bad?
Could be slem opposite a partner that passes (he brings Jxxx in diamonds).

I see nothing wrong with opening the East hand 1♥. In fact, that is what I and most other players on these Fora would do playing a standard system. It is often very difficult to describe a strong 2 suited hand after opening 2♣. Furthermore, it is not out of the question that the other side will preempt in one or both black suits, and you really want to start bidding your suits early to find a fit.

The other night, I was acting as a Vugraph operator for the finals of the Charles Solomon Teams, the Philadelphia unit round robin team competition. The hand records are available in the Vugraph archives on BBO. On board 16, Arnie Fisher, a GLM with a bronze medal in the World Senior Teams, opened 1♥ in 4th seat NV vs. V holding:

AQ86
AK852
AKQ
4

Arnie and his partner, Marc Labovitz, play a standard system.

I suspect that very few players would open this hand 1♥. But nothing bad happened. Marc bid 1♠ on his KTxxx T6 42 Q862 and they reached the obvious 6♠.

The funny thing is that they did not open 2♣ at the other table, either. That is because Corey Kranz opened the weak hand 2♠! Of course they reached 6♠ as well.

[ggwhiz]

Not a chance that 1♥ gets passed out and a free run auction on these colors and cards is highly unusual. Any other auction will mark the opening lead, especially poor tactics at matchpoints.

This is just a repeat of what has already been said but imo it's clear cut.

[Zelandakh]

Looks like a nice hand for Ben's MisIry method.

fromageGB, on 2013-September-11, 11:27, said:

As this is a request for better methods, how would you find out about the diamond holding when going for a slam in hearts?

If you were to bid exclusion and hear a 1 key card 5♥ response, you could follow up with 6♣ (or 6♦ depending on agreeemnts) as a diamond SSA. That would tell you if partner held the ♦Q in addition to the ♠A. But there are also quite a lot of bids between 2♥ and 5♣ with which to gather information. For example, if you play 2-way game tries over 2♥, you do not really need 4♣ as a splinter. Instead you might play that as a good side suit; or void showing; or whatever - just depends what structure you are using.

[Fluffy]

fromageGB, on 2013-September-11, 11:27, said:

As this is a request for better methods, how would you find out about the diamond holding when going for a slam in hearts?

The classic scheme I use is this, although I think it is outdated now:

after some form of blackwood and response:

5NT asks for Kings
6x asks for third round control of the suit, queen is always fine, doubleton depends on trumps and context.

[EricK]

If I were to try to bid this scientifically, I would bid 3♦ on the second round, ostensibly as a game try, to see what partner says. For one thing, if partner has ♠A and a maximum he can cue bid 3♠, which allows me to find out about one key card at a low level. Alternatively he might cue 4♣, denying the ♠A - which is also very useful to know. If he declines the game try with 3♥, I can make a further move thus showing that my game try was really a slam probe, and giving him another chance to cuebid the ♠A.