[jillybean]

Kibitzing EBU European Senior Trial

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As the title says.

[DavidKok]

I struggle to follow the auction. The hand shown is presumably held by South, and I suppose that this partnership agreed to bid 3♣ rather than 2♠ with the 6-4 distribution (perhaps 2♠ could be a five card suit, and 3♣ shows extra values?). Then 4♣ is probably a control now that trumps have been set, but I have no clue why North is jumping around. Presumably partner has almost all aces, so why deprive us of the ability to ask for them?

Perhaps this pair has specialised agreements for these auctions. If we want to optimise communication, these rapid auctions to a high level with strong hands should be very rare - most of the time we'll take it slow. I can't judge what's going on without knowing what specific hands would take this extraordinary route.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

he could have shown a diamond control, he could have shown a heart control,
he choose 5S.

The bid is too deep for me.
I guess it asks for trump quality, ..., and he happens to have a void, otherwise
he could use RKCB, the void being likely in clubs.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[pescetom]

Post deleted, I assumed that when you say North you mean North

[mike777]

South really loves their hand, wow, they must make up for their overbidding by playing the heck out of the hands..

[jillybean]

fixed, north / south. sorry!

[mikeh]

Strange auction. As David says, maybe the partnership has agreed upon this sort of sequence, in which case we’re unlikely to guess what it is.

Having said that: if he wanted a heart control he could have bid 4D. Unless they play last train in which case maybe 4H by us over 304D might not promise a control. I don’t play last train (I play something analogous in minor suit auctions but not in the majors) so I’m not sure of this.

In any event, if 4H is last train over 4D, I could and would bid again if partner then ‘signed off’ in 4S if I did have a heart control.

So I don’t think north is specifically asking about hearts, as is often the case in cue bidding sequences…an unnecessary jump asks for control in the suit nobody’s yet cued, which makes no sense when it’s possible to elicit that control via further cues, as here.

He’s also not using keycard, so I’m guessing he has something like AJxx Axx AQJxxx void. Some might use J2N with that hand…I’m torn because I usually like to show my side source of tricks before raising partner when I’m distributional but this hand is so spade oriented that I’d use J2N (not if I only played old fashioned H2N but few plaits playing in an international championship would play something that bad).

Anyway, ignoring the guess as to his hand, I infer he’s asking for trump quality…I wish I’d rebid 2S because, if I’m correct, he’d have used exclusion over that. I’m bidding 6D to show the diamond King and good, in context, trump.

[pescetom]

I imagine this is board 11 here.

I don't blame South for stretching a bit to bid 3♣ with no Aces and a singleton fit.
After that, hard to imagine why it should not go:
1♠ - 2♦
3♣ - 3♠
4♣ - 4♦
4♠ - P

Before defining any fancy jumps I would like my methods to ensure hearts control.

[DavidKok]

I agree with mikeh's analysis, though I expect exactly 3-card support rather than the 4.

pescetom, on 2026-March-13, 15:59, said:

I imagine this is board 11 here.

I don't blame South for stretching a bit to bid 3♣ with no Aces and a singleton fit.
After that, hard to imagine why it should not go:
1♠ - 2♦
3♣ - 3♠
4♣ - 4♦
4♠ - P

Before defining any fancy jumps I would like my methods to ensure hearts control.

If this is the actual deal I have little to comment. Both partners misbid, though North really messed up.

On the bright side, it shows just how powerful it is to not preempt on your own strong auctions. I think that's a good lesson for anybody aspiring to improve their slam investigations.

[jillybean]

pescetom, on 2026-March-13, 15:59, said:

I imagine this is board 11 here.

I don't blame South for stretching a bit to bid 3♣ with no Aces and a singleton fit.
After that, hard to imagine why it should not go:
1♠ - 2♦
3♣ - 3♠
4♣ - 4♦
4♠ - P

Before defining any fancy jumps I would like my methods to ensure hearts control.

Yes, that's the board. It's a shame we can't see the auctions.

[Zelandakh]

jillybean, on 2026-March-13, 17:25, said:

Yes, that's the board. It's a shame we can't see the auctions.

The actual auctions are available on the linked site but I don't see one with a 5♠ jump:
1♠ - 2♦; 2♠ - 3♠; 4♣ - 4♦; 4♠ - 5♣; 5♦ - 6♦ (for -12 to Mossop as all ♠ contracts made 11 tricks)

1♠ - 2♦; 3♣ - 3♠; 4♠ - 5♠

1♠ - 2♦; 3♣ - 3♠; 4♠ - 5♣; 5♦ - 5♠

1♠ - 2♦; 3♣ - 3♠; 4♣ - 4♦; 4♠

My auctions are:
2/1 and standard cues/serious:
1♠ - 2♦; 2♠ - 3♠; 3NT (serious) - 4♣; 4♦ - 4♠
(or if you really must commit the 3♣ rebid, the last auction seems fine assuming 4♣ is frivolous)

Z Club (relays + denial cues/asks and frivolous):
1♠ (10-17) - 1NT (INV+); 2♥ (4+♣ gf) - 3♠; - 3NT (frivolous) - 4♥ (serious ask); 4♠ (no ♥ control)

It seems shocking, with all of the game and slam-bidding tools available these days, that only 1 of 4 expert pairs (apparently Shields-Chamberlain) can reach the right contract here and an experienced international (Gunnar Hallberg) gets both strain and level so catastrophically wrong. Maybe this is indicative of why England never seems to feature in the final stages of international bridge events any more...

[TMorris]

I don't think Gunnar got anything wrong. He signed off in 4♠ having denied a heart control and his sponsor continued bidding. This clearly showed a heart control so he cooperated.

[Zelandakh]

TMorris, on 2026-March-15, 08:24, said:

I don't think Gunnar got anything wrong. He signed off in 4♠ having denied a heart control and his sponsor continued bidding. This clearly showed a heart control so he cooperated.

...and passed 6♦?

The site incidentally does not make clear who is North and who South, so it is new information that Gunnar was the opener. I think to get a hand this wrong though, in what I assume is a relatively simple system, takes some effort from both sides of the screen...

[TMorris]

Well one might make a guess based on the auction and participants. As it happens I was watching the vugraph so I know. I wouldn't want to second guess Gunnar who from what I have seen doesn't make trivial errors of this sort (or indeed many errors at all).

I note that he amd his partner have not played in any other sessions.

[pescetom]

jillybean, on 2026-March-13, 17:25, said:

Yes, that's the board. It's a shame we can't see the auctions.

It's a shame that we saw the auctions
National level pairs should do better.