[thepossum]

Hi all

In a recent IMP tournament I missed bidding two consecutive small major slams. In this hand either major will make 6 but arguably hearts is easier. Sadly due to "competition" between north and south we ended up in spades and missed the slam.

I have a few questions about what to do here if you are N or S. Surely when I show six hearts, north should support hearts rather than continue spades. Or alternatively what can I bid instead of 4 spades to navigate to slam. Very few bid 6H via a direct jump to slam or via a 3NT after 3S. As far as I know nobody bid 6S since it is harder to navigate.

Sadly missed two consecutive 10+ points

Thanks P

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[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

we are talking about Robot (GIB) bidding, and your experience is better than mine.

The key card ask does not solve the problem for North, he may (or may not) miss 2 relevant
KCs, South on the other hand, needs to see the void, ..., I am not certain, if GIB plays KC
answers, that show voids, this could be.
My experience with GIB Cue Bidding is, that it usually gets out of control, and the outcome
is quite often random.
A human auction may follow your auction, but instead of 3S, which should be 6+ (not 5+),
North should bid 4C, a cue showing either Ace or Kind (GIB treats the first cue as Ace,
which works fine), South bids 4H, denying add. value or a diamond control by not bypassing 4D.
Now North may or may not push on, if South is missing AK in diamond, that is good news, so he
most likely should, if he does, he should bid 5D, and over that, South will bid 6H.

North needs to start the slam investigation, South has a min. hand for his bidding, I am fine
with 3H, but some would view the bid as borderline.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[gordontd]

The robot is out to lunch here, both in rebidding spades rather than supporting hearts by way of a 4C cue-bid, and in bidding RKCB when holding a void.

[Cyberyeti]

Slams are far from cold but decent.

You can see that if the ♠A is in the other hand, a heart lead will beat 6♠ via a ruff, and because you can't draw all the hearts before knocking out A♠ if they're 3-1 in 6♥ (or they can cash diamonds), you can run into a trump promotion if E has ♠Axx♥x and ducks the first spade.

Gordon is right, 3♠ is a hideous hog bid.

[pescetom]

P_Marlowe, on 2019-January-07, 07:09, said:

North needs to start the slam investigation, South has a min. hand for his bidding, I am fine
with 3H, but some would view the bid as borderline.

I am one who would view 3H as borderline and encumbering.
I would prefer (with a human partner) 1NT, which is equally borderline but leads onto XYZ which enables us to explore the situation from a much lower level with much better tools.

[thepossum]

Dear all

Thankyou for your replies

regards P

[smerriman]

pescetom, on 2019-January-07, 14:21, said:

I am one who would view 3H as borderline and encumbering.
I would prefer (with a human partner) 1NT, which is equally borderline but leads onto XYZ which enables us to explore the situation from a much lower level with much better tools.

I find that pretty strange - the hand is worth 17.9 points according to K&R, and you want to describe it as 12-14 without 6 hearts? Rebidding 2NT seems much better if you don't mind giving up a potential heart fit. If you think it's worth less, then opening 1NT seems closer than a 1NT rebid.