[Chamaco]

Hi all.

I have read in Danny Kleinman's "The Notrump zone" that he suggest using the 4m response to 2NT as natural single suited slam try.

Now, regardless of whether you like this approach or not (say you are forced to play this with a gun pointing at your head ), what should be the logic of the following auction ?

E.g.
2NT:4D
?

Now what are the obligations of opener ?

a. cuebid if he likes the minor suit ? What shd he bid in case he does not like the suit ? 4NT to play ?

b. say opener cuebids and responder cues again.
.... b1. How do you ask for keycards and how do you ask for trump queen ?

.....b2. How do you deal with voids by responder ? E.g., How do you deal with voidshowing keycards responses and can you use Exclusion keycard BW ?

c. Besides, WHO should be asking for keycards ?
1- both should have the option;
2- only opener because he is the strong hand
3- only responder because he is uinbalanced and he is likleyt to have shortness
4- Neither player :-)



Thanks !

[Free]

Imo, opener should either cuebid or show his strength in the minor suit. The way I used to play (we went through 3♣ to get our slam try in the minors):

step 1 = doubleton (=> next step is a relay asking for keycards)
step 2 = 3+ cards, 4/1 keycards
step 3 = 3+ cards, 3/0 keycards
step 4 = 3+ cards, 2 keycards without the Q
step 5 = 3+ cards, 2 keycards with the Q

I can't give any feedback on this, since it's too rare. Even in the 4 years I've played this it only came up once or twice.

[Fluffy]

there are 2 ways you can play it:

A: tjhe natural, 4♥/♠/5♣= cuebid, 4NT is negative

B: the reversed cue: 4♥/♠/5♣= anti-cuebi (the suit you do not control), 4NT = negative.

[Chamaco]

Fluffy, on Mar 21 2005, 09:00 PM, said:

there are 2 ways you can play it:

A: tjhe natural, 4♥/♠/5♣= cuebid, 4NT is negative

B: the reversed cue: 4♥/♠/5♣= anti-cuebi (the suit you do not control), 4NT = negative.

Ty Gonzalo,
this is more or less straightforward.

What I was confused is the following:
in both case A (4NT negative, new suit, cue) and B (anti-cue), how should the bidding proceeed after opener's rebid ?

1. how do you ask for Aces, Keycards and the trump queen after opener shows slam interest ?
2. How does responder inquiries if he has a void ?
3. If opener bids 4NT (negative), how does responder ask for aces if he still wants to bid the slam ?

Thanks !

[Fluffy]

1. 4NT still used for aces, as you can supose it is more 7 level oriented, a modified range that lets you bid 1-2-3-4 instead of standard 14-30 may let you stay in 5♦ when 2 key cards are missing, but that is too complicated to consider.

2. I don't know any way to show voids except bidding the suit at the 5 level, again it is looking for 7.

3. Obviously yet again no space to ask about playing 6, but you may want to investigate 7, never though of this sequence, probably bidding the other minor should be used as key card blackwood, again too much to remember for a sequece that might happen once every 5 years.