[Chamaco]

I would appreciate feedback on the questions below, referring to:
a. what you think is "standard" in a pickup pship
b. what you think is more effective (e.g., what you would agree with your favourite pard)

Thanks a lot !!

Mauro
-----------------------------

(1S)-DBL-(4S)-?

Say you have a slammish hand with heart fit as advancer and ONLY needs Keycards.

Do you have a method to ask keycards for hearts ?

What would 4NT be ?
.....If it is for minors, what do you bid when you only need keycards to bid a slam ?
.....If it is keycard ask, what do you bid when you have 55+ in minors and slammish ?

What would 5m be ? (to play or cue for H ?)

[mike777]

Marty Bergen recommends in these types of auctions to just try and bid the best game and make reaching slam a very low priority in the bidding.
I have improved my results and have had many fewer bidding misunderstandings since following this advice.

[luis]

When you have 3 parking spaces you can't park 8 cars. This is very simple. So you are not going to find a way to describe all the different holdings that you can have after such an auction.
With my pd I play:

1s-x-4s

X = General values, not sure about where to play, denies 2 suits, generally 4333 or 5332 with a 5 card minor.
4N = Can play in 2 suits. (4-4 or 5-4)
5c,5d,5h = To play.

[Fluffy]

anti-cuebid is probably the best way to handle (bidding the suit you don't stop).

4NT for keycards. 5♠ as just a limit bid.

[FrancesHinden]

a) You can't fit everything in
It is exceptionally rare to have a hand that "just needs keycards" to make 6H. For one thing, the A & K of trumps are not really equivalent as a finesse through the opening bidder is pretty good odds; then the presence of the Jack of trumps makes a big difference. In fact I don't think I've ever seen such a hand in real life.

So I play

x = general non-spade values, partner will pass most of the time he has a doubleton spade and some of the time with a singleton.

4NT = two places to play, often 5-5 (many 5-4 hands would double). As a bonus, 1S x 4S 4NT p 5C p 5H shows a slam try in hearts. Though if partner bid 5D over 4NT you can't show a slam try in hearts.

In general, out of the many uses of 4NT (RKCB, natural, two places to play, encouraging/discouraging, good 5-suit bid) RKCB is the first to go as it's the least useful.

[luke warm]

i'm used to 4nt showing 2 places to play.. is hearts your only suit, mauro? btw, is x responsive? if not, why not?.. i think i'd bid 5♥ and fake a smile if we had slam.. 'course partner can bid on

[Fluffy]

mmmm? I though you were looking to play 6♠ .

ok, the only way I know to get to 6m is to bid it.

X + pull to 5♥ should be a slam trial, but risking it to be passed is really ugly.

more safer is a 4NT-5♣-5♥ bid since you would bid 5♦ with red 2 suiter, 5♥ is an impossible bid and would show slam invitation.

[EricK]

Another vote for 4NT as two places to play.

Slam is quite unusual on this auction. Hands where I am only interested in keycards, but can't blast directly to slam are unheard of (in my experience). Certainly not worth wasting a useful bid over.

And you must leave 5m to play. Just because partner doubled a 1♠ opening shouldn't mean that we are only looking for ♥ contracts!

That leaves double as a good hand without much distribution. Partner will usually pass.

Eric

[joker_gib]

luis, on Jun 6 2005, 11:06 AM, said:

When you have 3 parking spaces you can't park 8 cars. This is very simple. So you are not going to find a way to describe all the different holdings that you can have after such an auction.
With my pd I play:

1s-x-4s

X = General values, not sure about where to play, denies 2 suits, generally 4333 or 5332 with a 5 card minor.
4N = Can play in 2 suits. (4-4 or 5-4)
5c,5d,5h = To play.

Agree with Luis and I think it's fairly "standard", isn't it ?

Alain

[Double !]

In response to "if you have only three parking places, you can't park 8 cars":

Luis, when was the last time you were in New York City?
and you pay through the nose for it!