[SimonFa]

This came up playing against a computer. I won't say which one, but it wasn't GIB. I think its a bug but I thought I would crowd source the answer to this one in case I missed something.

Teams R v W, Opps silent.

♠AJT875 ♥T9852 ♦2 ♣9

What do you do over partner's 1st seat 1NT (15-17)?

I used Texas to 4♠

Other table transferred to 2♥ then offered a choice of games by bidding 3NT.

As always, thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Simon

Edited: should be 9♣ not 9♥ twice. Reminder to self again, proof reading is my friend, not my enemy.

[bd71]

SimonFa, on 2013-November-11, 03:28, said:

This came up playing against a computer. I won't say which one, but it wasn't GIB. I think its a bug but I thought I would crowd source the answer to this one in case I missed something.

Teams R v W, Opps silent.

♠AJT875 ♥T9852 ♦2 ♥9

What do you do over partner's 1st seat 1NT (15-17)?

I used Texas to 4♠

Other table transferred to 2♥ then offered a choice of games by bidding 3NT.

As always, thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Simon

Does partner have any significant tendency to open NT with a singleton? If not, I like your Texas transfer. If so, AND I have a method to show a 5/5 GF hand, I might use it. For some, this would be a 3S response to 1N. For us, we can transfer to spades, then bid a GF 3H, and bid 4H over a 3N response by partner.

But I'm probably just bidding the Texas transfer.

The other table approach seems like a bug.

[SimonFa]

bd71, on 2013-November-11, 09:26, said:

Does partner have any significant tendency to open NT with a singleton?

It can open 5422 hands 1NT but NOT singleton.

Edited

[Lorne50]

SimonFa, on 2013-November-11, 03:28, said:

This came up playing against a computer. I won't say which one, but it wasn't GIB. I think its a bug but I thought I would crowd source the answer to this one in case I missed something.

Teams R v W, Opps silent.

♠AJT875 ♥T9852 ♦2 ♥9

What do you do over partner's 1st seat 1NT (15-17)?

I used Texas to 4♠

Other table transferred to 2♥ then offered a choice of games by bidding 3NT.

As always, thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Simon

Its a bug in the computer program. As to the best way to bid it I like stayman intending to play in hearts if partners has 4 but spades if he does not. I know I may play a 5-4 fit when there is a 6-4 one but I doubt that will matter much a lot of the time whereas a heart ruff might be your downfall if you play in spades when there is a 9 card heart fit.

[the_clown]

I would just texas as you did. If you have some gadget to bid stayman and then sign off in 4♠ if partner doesnt have a 4 card major you should use it.
Transfer + 3N is completely insane IMHO.

[FrancesHinden]

Someone programmed the computer to bid using an decision tree that includes something like

...if you have 5 hearts and values for game, transfer to hearts and bid 3NT
...if you have 5 spades and values for game, transfer to spades and bid 3NT

where the first of these is reached, then the computer stops and executes it.

[lowerline]

SimonFa, on 2013-November-11, 03:28, said:

This came up playing against a computer. I won't say which one, but it wasn't GIB. I think its a bug but I thought I would crowd source the answer to this one in case I missed something.

Teams R v W, Opps silent.

♠AJT875 ♥T9852 ♦2 ♣9

What do you do over partner's 1st seat 1NT (15-17)?

I used Texas to 4♠

Other table transferred to 2♥ then offered a choice of games by bidding 3NT.

As always, thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Simon

Edited: should be 9♣ not 9♥ twice. Reminder to self again, proof reading is my friend, not my enemy.

I would start with Stayman and sell this hand as 6-4.

Steven

[Zelandakh]

the_clown, on 2013-November-11, 16:18, said:

I would just texas as you did. If you have some gadget to bid stayman and then sign off in 4♠ if partner doesnt have a 4 card major you should use it.

You need a gadget for this? What do you play a 4♠ rebid over partner's 2♦ as? I am pretty sure even a rank beginner would work out what to do there.

[mr1303]

This hand may well play better with partner as declarer. Therefore some sort of delayed Texas, if you play that, would be good.

E.g.

1NT 2C
2D 4H - Delayed Texas to 4S
4S

All pass is better than

1NT 2C
2D 4S

[Zelandakh]

mr1303, on 2013-November-12, 08:39, said:

This hand may well play better with partner as declarer. Therefore some sort of delayed Texas, if you play that, would be good.

I don't think my hypothetical rank beginner is going to get this one right...

Incidentally, do you also play 1NT - 2♣; 2♦ - 4♣ as pick a major? That seems like a natural extension if you use an immediate 4♣ as Gerber.

[jeffford76]

Zelandakh, on 2013-November-12, 09:21, said:

Incidentally, do you also play 1NT - 2♣; 2♦ - 4♣ as pick a major? That seems like a natural extension if you use an immediate 4♣ as Gerber.

Why is this a natural extension? Mightn't you want to locate the fit before blasting Gerber?

[Zelandakh]

jeffford76, on 2013-November-12, 11:22, said:

Why is this a natural extension? Mightn't you want to locate the fit before blasting Gerber?

It is a natural extension in as much as many pairs use it instead of Gerber as a direct response. In that case, doing as you suggest and making the delayed 4♣ Gerber would also be an option. That said, I gave up on Gerber many years ago. If you read old books about the convention, it was specifically to be used on hands where you already knew what the trump suit was going to be after the NT opening. In an era before transfers and RKCB this made good sense. These days there are so many other possibilities for setting a trump suit it is no longer of great benefit to go directly to aces and is often a detriment. So no, playing classical Gerber you would not want to locate the fit first - but there is no reason why it could not be done that way if desired, in which case switching the direct 4♣ to a meaning of both majors seems like a very good idea, even more so over a weak NT.

[JLOGIC]

No reason not to start with stayman, I understand not wanting to play a 5-3 heart fit but a 5-4 heart fit should be nice and will often do better than a 6-2 spade fit.

[SimonFa]

Thanks, I hadn't thought of Stayman and like the 4♣ as pick a major.

I suspect it will be a long time before this sort of hand comes round again, by which time I will have forgotten