[ahydra]

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Cross-IMPs. North is a good player, South less so. 3S was a pre-emptive raise.

Your system is weak NT with 5cM, theirs is weak NT with 4cM and three weak twos

Who should bid more?

ahydra

[gordontd]

East

[pescetom]

If 4NT is RKCB♥ then East has more than enough to justify it.

[FelicityR]

Not bidding again as East after partner freely bids 4♥ is decidedly cowardly. You have a couple of more aces than he knows about for your takeout double, with first round control of the opponents' suit and the unbid suit ♣s. If partner had the right cards you could have missed 7♥ let alone 6♥ - assuming a 3-2 break in ♥s which cannot be taken for granted.

[Tramticket]

East has promised about 6 HCP and has 16. East hasn't begun to describe their hand.

West is also a lot stronger than might have been - Wet has a huge four-loser hand in support of hearts. West would probably bid 4♥ with ♠5 ♥KQJ6 ♦AQJT6 ♣863. But it is less clear what more West could do.

I assign 90% East.

[steve2005]

Tramticket, on 2018-June-28, 07:17, said:

I assign 90% East.

Maybe west could do more but what? There is no space. The next forcing bid is 4♠.
Is that the right bid?

[DozyDom]

East's bidding here is so over-the-top in its understatement of the hand's strength that I'm almost suspicious you're posting this as West to attract harsh comments towards your partner...

Tramticket, on 2018-June-28, 07:17, said:

East has promised about 6 HCP and has 16. East hasn't begun to describe their hand.

West is also a lot stronger than might have been - Wet has a huge four-loser hand in support of hearts. West would probably bid 4♥ with ♠5 ♥KQJ6 ♦AQJT6 ♣863. But it is less clear what more West could do.

I assign 90% East.

Given that your example hand for a minimum 4♥ is much better than a 50% slam (unless I'm not paying enough attention), I think the 90% East is rather too kind.

[yunling]

East has two aces more than west's expectation and it is almost a slam force knowing partner holding nothing in ♠.

[eagles123]

does this really require an ATB lol

[gszes]

east 100% considering it takes so little (given the biding) to make a grand, surely there is a large margin of error on the safety side to investigate slam. The A AK in the blacks probably takes care of all side losers but having only the trump ace make grand slam bidding a bit scary. But 4n is such a great bid since any chance we have for a grand can readily be followed by 5n and if opener cannot bid 6d we forget about 7. I say this assuming your partnership does NOT have those ummmmmmmm jumping around wasting space bids that show a void. If partner cared about a void they would have bid differently [programmers take note]. If 4n is not readily useable I would just bash 6h with the east hand and be ready to apologize if it is a 5 or a 7 hand.

[neilkaz]

eagles123, on 2018-June-28, 09:15, said:

does this really require an ATB lol

100% east of course

[rmnka447]

Definitely East 100%.

Sometimes you have to take a second and analyze the bidding. That's what East has to do after 4 ♥ is passed back It should go something like this.

RHO has bid ♠ and LHO has raised, so it is unlikely partner has more than 1 ♠. An inference that goes with this is that partner can't have more than 1 ♠ honor with a singleton and may not have any if void.

Partner on the basis of your negative double has freely bid 4 ♥. Is partner likely to make that bid with a bad unbalanced red suit hand when all you promise is at least 6 HCP with the double?

Looking at ♣, partner cant have more than 2 HCP (♣ Q) there. So with 5 points max in the black suits, the bulk of partner's points must be in the red suits.

East also has 1st round controls in the black side suits, ♥ A and a doubleton ♦. The doubleton is big because with a reasonable ♦ holding you may be able to make the ruffs necessary to set up the suit. With West having as little as ♠ x ♥ KQxx ♦ KQJxx ♣ xxx and reasonable breaks 6 ♥ could be gin. And West is likely to have more than that.

So, it's incumbent upon East to make a slam try.

Some suggest that East can bid 4 NT RKCB, but what good does any information that West provide do you since you really don't know what West's hand is. I'd prefer making a 4 ♠ cue which at this level should be ♠ A. If West decides to use RKCB (knowing you won't go past 5 ♥ with your reply because of holding ♥ Q), after 3 keys are shown, a slam can be bid by West. If West instead decides to bid 5 ♦ cue or 5 ♦ last train, East can carry on to slam.

[perko90]

Sure, West has more than they could have for the action, but bidding 4♥ is all that should be done given the preemption.
But East is sleeping over there! 4 pure cover cards including a beautiful Axxx in ♠'s. Make a move!
100% East.

[ahydra]

DozyDom, on 2018-June-28, 07:58, said:

East's bidding here is so over-the-top in its understatement of the hand's strength that I'm almost suspicious you're posting this as West to attract harsh comments towards your partner...

Damn, you caught me. But actually it was to see whether there was something else sensible I could do with the West hand, which is a very powerful hand on this bidding. I considered 4S but feared that with a minimum opposite the 5-level was not necessarily safe.

After the game partner realised she had not given enough weight to the fact I was going to be short in spades. She also admitted to being very reluctant to bid slams, apparently claiming there is a male/female divide where men bid slams "at the drop of a hat" while women in general are more cautious in the slam zone (?!)

ahydra

[nekthen]

I remember a piece of advice from Andrew Robson.You should make an effort to "switch on" for the first board and the last board of a set. It is all too easy for you to be on autopilot on those two hands.

[nekthen]

Just out of interest what is the difference between 4♥ and a double of 3♠?
You do not have enough to bid 4♠
Either way I will agree that East needs to bid again

[jcreech]

I many ways, this reminds me of a failure to move that occurred back when I had fewer than 50 MPs.

East has first round control in three suits and MUST make a move. 4♠ makes the most sense, and, if West RKB's, will not have to wonder if there is a missing key. Then, if specific king responses are used for the 5NT continuation, then it will be clear that the K♦ is missing.

[ahydra]

jcreech, on 2018-June-29, 08:18, said:

I many ways, this reminds me of a failure to move that occurred back when I had fewer than 50 MPs.

East has first round control in three suits and MUST make a move. 4♠ makes the most sense, and, if West RKB's, will not have to wonder if there is a missing key. Then, if specific king responses are used for the 5NT continuation, then it will be clear that the K♦ is missing.

I'd be reluctant to use RKC with a void. I'd probably bid 5C, and if partner can't bid 5D then we just stop in 6.

ahydra

[Kapi Blas]

East definitely has to move although I feel like double with West's hand is a better option than 4♥. Double isn't penalty if opponents are known to have 9 card suit playing on 3 level.

[bravejason]

Kapi Blas, on 2018-June-30, 06:22, said:

East definitely has to move although I feel like double with West's hand is a better option than 4♥. Double isn't penalty if opponents are known to have 9 card suit playing on 3 level.

East says she has hearts and clubs. Why shouldn’t West name a suit when he has a clear preference? A double asks East to decide and if East bids clubs, then West can only hope that East has great clubs.