[Oceanss]

Playing 2/1 basic, IMPs, you get:
♠KT432 ♥KT5432 ♦-- ♣T2
How slam ambitious you get? And how to reach it?
I choose Xfer to H, planning to bid spades later, I wonder if that's right..

---

With N holding:
♠AJ98 ♥AQ67 ♦A82 ♣AQ
and no bad breaks, any 7M is cold, but how to reach them?
And if it was MPs, should one venture to 7N?

Thanks : )

[Cyberyeti]

7 is not cold, you have to find Q♠ so you probably don't want to be in it.

It's difficult with simple methods, you can find out partner has 4 aces and the Q♥ with no other K, but you don't know which other Q if any he has.

[Cascade]

Drive to slam, try for a grand if the auction develops favourably.

I imagine most methods won't guarantee that you would always get to the best slam as there are not efficient standard methods to show 5=6 in the majors.

Transfer and then bid spades is a start but you may not be able to show your shape if partner shows a good fit and even if you do it will be uncomfortably high often.

[mr1303]

After partner super- accepts, I will try 4D. Hopefully this is a control rather than a suit (it should be)

[Cyberyeti]

mr1303, on 2013-September-30, 03:01, said:

After partner super- accepts, I will try 4D. Hopefully this is a control rather than a suit (it should be)

5♦ exclusion is not silly either, but you certainly won't find Q♠ that way.

[rmnka447]

You have a big playing hand opposite a big hand so slam should be in sight. When that's the case, you should ask yourself:

"What's necessary to make slam?"

With a small doubleton ♣, your first concern is whether or not you have 2 quick ♣ losers. So, you need to know whether partner has a ♣ control. (It's just possible that partner might hold something like ♠ AQJx ♥ AQJx ♦ AQx ♣ xx and slam might not be there.)

Normally, when you need to know about a specific control, cue bidding is the way to go. Unless you have some specific agreements, the simplest way to initiate cue bidding is to bid your cheapest control -- 4 ♦. Without a ♣ control (like the example above), partner can sign off in 4 ♥ and you'll be well placed. If partner cooperates with a further
cue, it implies a ♣ control.

Your auction might be something like --

2 NT 3 ♦
3 ♠ 4 ♦
4 ♠ 4 NT (1430)
5 ♣ 6 ♥


I agree with previous posters that 7 isn't a really good deal although it happens to make. Normally, when you bid a grand slam you can count out 13 tricks or be pretty sure it's at least 66% or greater chance. Here, as others said, you have to find the ♠ Q which is more or less a 50-50 guess.

Transferring to ♥, then bidding spades is the right way to bid this hand.

In a normal field at MPs, any slam is normally an about average result. The time to consider NT versus a suit is when you judge that virtually everyone in the field will be there. Then the additional 10 points for playing in NT are important. But with distributional hands, playing in the suit is normally right.

[TWO4BRIDGE]

What is the 3S super-accept supposed to mean other than 4 cards ♥ ?
Does it normally mean 4 cards ♠ as well , or a ( worthless ) doubleton ? or other ??

[Zelandakh]

Cyberyeti, on 2013-September-30, 03:42, said:

5♦ exclusion is not silly either, but you certainly won't find Q♠ that way.

There is just enough space, no? After 5♦ and a 5♥ response, 6♦ should be an SSA for spades.

TWO4BRIDGE, on 2013-September-30, 08:27, said:

What is the 3S super-accept supposed to mean other than 4 cards ♥ ?
Does it normally mean 4 cards ♠ as well , or a ( worthless ) doubleton ? or other ??

One way is to play 3♠ as the only super-accept but much more common is for it to show a good suit in a hand with good controls. AJ98 is probably not really good enough but I can understand the choice.

My method of bidding major 2-suiters over 2NT is to bid first 3♦ and then follow with 4♦ over 3♥. That gives both right-siding and flexibility. This is a lovely hand for direct key cards, although take the ♦A away and it turns itself into a nightmare, a common theme for the method when a void is in the same hand as a blanko side suit. So one possibility might be:

...
2NT = 21-22
... - 3♦ = 5+ hearts
3♠ = 4-5 hearts
... - 4♣ = serious, asks for club control
4♠ = controls in both minors, 1 or 4 key cards
... - 5♠ = SSA
6♥ = no third round spade control

There is space for a king ask too but that does not seem to bring us further - the ♠Q is the key card for a grand.

[Cyberyeti]

Zelandakh, on 2013-September-30, 10:26, said:

There is just enough space, no? After 5♦ and a 5♥ response, 6♦ should be an SSA for spades.

Not in my book, not clear what it is, but that would be low down the list of possible meanings.

[Oceanss]

TWO4BRIDGE, on 2013-September-30, 08:27, said:

What is the 3S super-accept supposed to mean other than 4 cards ♥ ?
Does it normally mean 4 cards ♠ as well , or a ( worthless ) doubleton ? or other ??

This hand was played in Jack Bridge. Computer alerted 3S as "CueBid with 4 hearts". 4C would have same alert, while 3N would be 5♠ and 2♥.. no idea why to be honest.

mr1303 said:

After partner super- accepts, I will try 4D. Hopefully this is a control rather than a suit (it should be)

Jack would take 4D as re-transfer

Thanks for all answers, very useful to me.

[ggwhiz]

I don't like the initial transfer and would bid 3♣ instead.

Once opener shows a four card major you are away to the races but if they deny one with 3♦ you can bid 4♦ asking for 3 cards. If the answer is still none of the above I would shoot 6♥ and wouldn't get to a grand on any sequence I can think of.

[gszes]

try to avoid worrying too much about how a hand turned out (this is called
"resulting"). The fact that this hand made 7 does not mean your side would
want to be in 7 before you saw the outcome. Missing 4 spades to the Q makes
any 7 level contract a poor idea.

When it comes to slam it is always better to be able to show 2 suits if possible
and IMO 4c 4d 4s should all be a 2nd suit this will enable the 2n opener to much
better define how well their hand stacks up with yours. While I do not know what
your 3s bid meant exactly (unless it showed all super accepts--IMO not a great idea)
you still have a 3n bid that serves no practical purpose (surely you are not going to
guess to play 3n with a 9+ card heart fit). You can use that 3n to show slam
interest but a hand w/o a 2nd suit and an inability to take over the bidding.

This hand might be bid
2n normal
3d transfer
3s your bid to show super accept
4s 2nd suit spades
4n rkc 1430 when hearts trumps 0314 better in all other cases
5c one
5s (the poorly named GSF but centers on the spade suit.
6h only 1 spade honor

[gnasher]

rmnka447, on 2013-September-30, 07:38, said:

I agree with previous posters that 7 isn't a really good deal although it happens to make. Normally, when you bid a grand slam you can count out 13 tricks or be pretty sure it's at least 66% or greater chance.

Where did the figure of 66% come from? With the opponents known to be in a slam, the required odds for bidding seven are 57% vulnerable at IMPs, 56% non-vulnerable at IMPs, and 50% at matchpoints. With the opponents known not to be in a slam, they are 76%, 79% and 100% respectively. The threshold in practice is always somewhere in between, but it varies with the hands and the opponents.

Quote

Here, as others said, you have to find the ♠ Q which is more or less a 50-50 guess.

I make 7♥ about 57% (thanks Mr Pavlicek) if you follow the mechanical strategy of playing the hand with short trumps for ♠Q, or a bit better if you can learn anything by looking at their discards.

This post has been edited by gnasher: 2013-October-01, 03:50

[Zelandakh]

Cyberyeti, on 2013-September-30, 12:03, said:

Not in my book, not clear what it is, but that would be low down the list of possible meanings.

Really? To me it is clear that:
5♠ = Q ask
5NT = K ask
6♣ = club SSA
6♦ = spade SSA

I think giving up on the spade SSA for some general or nebulous try is great for DD bidding competitions but poor in practise. There are not many other alternatives that come leaping into my mind. As always when the SSA is 1 step below 6 of our suit, the question is open on whether you allow partner to bypass 6 with a low doubleton. I would actually have expected that to be more controversial than the meaning of 6♦.

[Cyberyeti]

Zelandakh, on 2013-October-01, 05:51, said:

Really? To me it is clear that:
5♠ = Q ask
5NT = K ask
6♣ = club SSA
6♦ = spade SSA

I think giving up on the spade SSA for some general or nebulous try is great for DD bidding competitions but poor in practise. There are not many other alternatives that come leaping into my mind. As always when the SSA is 1 step below 6 of our suit, the question is open on whether you allow partner to bypass 6 with a low doubleton. I would actually have expected that to be more controversial than the meaning of 6♦.

I play a different general style here which doesn't work that well in this particular auction. 6♦ would be closer to "we have the controls but not sure we have the tricks" looking for an unexpected source of tricks not "do you have Q♠" but "do you have AQJx so I can pitch my clubs or ♣AKQx so I can pitch some spades or ♦AKQ so I can pitch either".