[CSGibson]

---

So you have a precision auction that gets jammed a bit. First of all, do the precision players out there have a tool for this type of hand that they prefer, either in comp or not? 2nd, what do you do now over 4♣ (natural, forcing)? Follow-ups possible.

[jwccsllc]

CSGibson, on 2014-January-02, 19:54, said:

---

So you have a precision auction that gets jammed a bit. First of all, do the precision players out there have a tool for this type of hand that they prefer, either in comp or not? 2nd, what do you do now over 4♣ (natural, forcing)? Follow-ups possible.

I would bid 4♥ in that auction.

Without interference we use 3♠ to show a positive response with a 7+ card suit headed by at least AKQ. Then:

• The only allowed contracts then are NT or Responder's suit.
  
• 3NT is to play as are game/slam bids in NT or Responder's suit.
  
• 4♣ is a modified beta ask for outside controls (1st step == 0, 2nd step == 1, ...).
  
• 4♦ asks for Responder's suit (4NT shows ♦).
  
• If Opener bids any suit other than 4{♣,♦} it is a Control Asking Bid (CAB) in that suit.

[akhare]

CSGibson, on 2014-January-02, 19:54, said:

---

So you have a precision auction that gets jammed a bit. First of all, do the precision players out there have a tool for this type of hand that they prefer, either in comp or not? 2nd, what do you do now over 4♣ (natural, forcing)? Follow-ups possible.

Curiously enough after 4♣, this might have very well been a standard auction, with the additional inference about HCPs.

Regardless, I would bid 5♥ rather than confuse the issue with 4♦ (4♥ seems wimpy with this sensational suit).

To answer the original question, I am not aware of any special agreements over 3-level interference. Thankfully, it's been rare enough to not have been an issue.

[DJNeill]

5♥. I am imagining lots of 16+ hands that have slam if partner has the ♦A. Rarely pd can bid 6♣ with similar clubs to my hearts, but ♦K unguarded.

4♦ is sure an available useful step, but I'm not sure what that would mean even in my most regular partnerships (so that is not an option). What should it mean? Stall? Multi? Slamtry clubs?

Thanks,
Dan

[dake50]

First 3H over 3D is a generally exploring GF with a heart suit.
Much better to jump 4H (even 5H) to say "don't need support,
don't consider another suit for trumps, just side control tricks."
To me that starts with a clear message.

***
The problem is to constrain partner without a Diamond control.
Should then jump 4H have OR deny Diamond control???
Then no Diamond control starts 3H? To insist some Heart contract.

[kenrexford]

This might be a good sequence for six-level Super Texas?

[mycroft]

I don't have agreements about this (I, too, play 1♣-p-3♠ "any solid suit"). I, too, would bid 4♥ with this hand over 3♦. I would hope partner would get "I have a game force and can play hearts opposite a small singleton - I won't like a void, but I'm not going to cry over it". Now, I'm going with the field, I guess, and bidding 5♥ - and passing a club bid.

[the_clown]

mycroft, on 2014-January-03, 11:25, said:

I don't have agreements about this (I, too, play 1♣-p-3♠ "any solid suit"). I, too, would bid 4♥ with this hand over 3♦. I would hope partner would get "I have a game force and can play hearts opposite a small singleton - I won't like a void, but I'm not going to cry over it". Now, I'm going with the field, I guess, and bidding 5♥ - and passing a club bid.

Agree with 3♥, now 5♥. Partner should work out to bid 6♣/ NT with Kx of diamonds since he knows I lack diamond control. 4♦ will get us nowhere and 4♥ looks like a huge underbid (though can be right).

I would think that a jump to 4♥ shows a weaker hand- like KQxxxxx and out or + a side card. Basically a hand that doesnt want to play slam and cant play any other contract than 4♥.

[CSGibson]

Ok, after 5♥ (the action I took at the table), partner tables 5N. You?

[DJNeill]

Either partner is playing a deep game trying to get out in 5NT with just Kings in diamonds/spades, or they just don't know what to do other than protect a diamond holding. I am more confident in the random 16+ count making slam than the deep bid, so I bid 6♣ (pd needs to protect ♦K which is why we are not in 5♥ or 6♥ now).

[mycroft]

With no idea what I'm playing, 5NT is pick-a-slam, so 6♣. But I've already shown that my trump suit is self-sufficient by whichever jump I made.

I fully expect that somewhere there's an agreement one of us thought we had GBH GBK. I'm hoping it's the same one :-).

Edit: it's Knowledge, not Harm. Oops. Thanks Chris.

[CSGibson]

mycroft, on 2014-January-03, 15:58, said:

With no idea what I'm playing, 5NT is pick-a-slam, so 6♣. But I've already shown that my trump suit is self-sufficient by whichever jump I made.

I fully expect that somewhere there's an agreement one of us thought we had GBH. I'm hoping it's the same one :-).

GBH is an incomprehensible acronym to me, an experienced bridge player. What does it stand for in your mind?

Oh, and for the rest of you, partner is a very experienced, thoughtful, and talented player. She's better than me, at least (not that she would need all that to hit that benchmark ).

[CSGibson]

DJNeill, on 2014-January-03, 07:42, said:

5♥. I am imagining lots of 16+ hands that have slam if partner has the ♦A. Rarely pd can bid 6♣ with similar clubs to my hearts, but ♦K unguarded.

4♦ is sure an available useful step, but I'm not sure what that would mean even in my most regular partnerships (so that is not an option). What should it mean? Stall? Multi? Slamtry clubs?

Thanks,
Dan

I'm pretty sure if I bid 4♦ then insist on hearts, that I'm showing a diamond control.

[the_clown]

After 5N I would just bid (the obvious?) 7NT (maybe 7♥ if it was IMPS). After 5♥ I think its clear what is trumps, I cant imagine partner bidding 5NT without 3 first round controls, so I cant see how its wrong to bid the grand. I doubt partner will bid 5N with a void, but maybe I should bid 7♥ just in case there is no way to get to dummy.

[awm]

I like 5♥; for me this is just "my hand is too good to just bid 4♥" and does not show or ask for any specific card. A direct 4♥ over 3♦ for me is a weaker hand, something like xx KQxxxxx x xxx where I just want to take a shot at game opposite the (most likely) strong notrump partner has promised. Typically I would not have game force values in high card points for such a call, just a reasonable seven card suit trying to bid the game I think I can make. The slower 3♥...4♥ sequence is stronger, but this hand with eight solid tricks seems too good for that sequence (for example I would bid 3♥...4♥ with AKQTxx of heart and out, or KQxxxxx of heart and a side card).

After my 5♥ bid, I don't think partner's 5NT is necessarily trying to count tricks for a grand slam. It seems more likely to me that he is trying to right-side a contract... in any case I think bidding 6♠ caters to all possibilities. This has the advantage that: 1. spades cannot possibly be trump on this auction, so it is unambiguously a forward-going move 2. it keeps 6nt in the picture in case partner was mostly trying to right-side it 3. it sounds forward-going, unlike 6nt which will almost always be passed 4. it's arguably a cuebid of a suit I actually have second-round controlled.

[akhare]

CSGibson, on 2014-January-03, 13:35, said:

Ok, after 5♥ (the action I took at the table), partner tables 5N. You?

Over 5N, I would punt with 6♣ rather than hazard making the wrong guess. There's plenty of room to explore the grand if that's what pard has in mind and we have already conveyed the quality of the ♥ suit.

[PrecisionL]

Quote

First of all, do the precision players out there have a tool for this type of hand that they prefer, either in comp or not?

Tough hand with competition, I would DOUBLE and bid ♥s later.

With no competition:

1♣ p 3NT (AKQxxxx or longer, no outside A or K) p 4♦ (asking for extra length) p 4♠ (8-cards) p ?

This assumes opener knows the suit, otherwise 4♣ asks for the suit.

[CSGibson]

As it turns out, anything past 5N does not make, partner missing two aces, but having the pointed kings. I did not read 5N as an offer to play, though I think I should - partner "knows" what I have, and could have bid 6 ♣, 6♥ or 6N on her own. 5♥ does not make either, assuming they lead diamonds (both aces are over the kings).

[Siegmund]

Once upon a time, the standard meaning for a free bid of 5M was "go on to six if you have 1st or 2nd round control of the opps suit", and partner's 5NT was specifically to show Kx of the opps' suit, warning you that 6 would make only from his side of the table and not yours.

That still leaves you to choose whether you believe 6C or 6NT is the safer gamble, and I would probably choose 6NT, since there are lots of ways partner can have a slow sure trump loser in his AKTxxxx-or-whatever clubs but still have 12 winners.

If we are off two aces... well... that's too bad. We made our bed when we bid 5M and committed ourselves to six of something if we had only one diamond loser. We knew it was a gamble but believed it to be a 80% (or whatever) shot when we did it.

I believe neither pass nor 7-of-anything is on the table, after 5M-5NT.

[mycroft]

Sorry Chris, I got confused, I must have been reading too much BritFic recently.

GBH = Grievous Bodily Harm (effectively equivalent to U.S. Aggravated Assault).

GB*K* = General Bridge Knowledge (that stuff that you don't have to explain to your opponents, which many people think is "everything")