[sceptic]

1♥ 2♦ 3♦ 3♠

This was item four in another post,

I had this exact bidding the other day, and I elected to take 3 spades as a cue for diamonds (I am not sure why, sometimes I try and over complicate things and try to think like an expert with disasterous consequences)

can some one explain in detail, how you know which it is

either asking for stop in spades

telling stop in spapes asking heart stop

or cue for slam

I just have some confusion here and would appreciate knowing what the correct way to continue is or peoples personal way of dealing with this

Thank you

[sdoty]

Game before slam.

After a minor suit raise the best game is often 3NT, so partner should assume that 3♠ is angling towards that contract.

If responder happens to have one of the less common hands with interest in a diamond slam (and is cuebidding) he'll clarify that at his next turn. That's easily done by not passing 3NT if opener bids it.

As to what 3♠ shows, without discussion I would comfortably assume that it shows values in the spade suit, expecting partner to bid 3NT with club values. When there are two unbid suits in an auction where 3NT is a likely goal, we tell partner where we have values. There's a lot to be said for keeping default agreements as natural and descriptive as possible. This isn't a perfect solution, but we're short on room and have to make due as best we can.

We tend to ask for a stopper when there is only one unbid suit (or one enemy suit). In those auctions if we had a stopper ourselves and were interested in playing 3NT, we would up and bid it. Since in those circumstances we could tell partner about the stopper by bidding NT, if we instead bid the suit we ask.

Do some pairs opt for more complex agreements in auctions like these? Yes. :-) And for some this may be a strongly diamond-oriented auction, with 3NT not particularly in the picture (that would depend largely on the nature of the 3♦ raise, and is also influenced by whether the 2♦ bid is game forcing). But since you didn't specify a system or a particular bidding style, the above is what I would default to. Playing a vanilla SAYC-type system, 3NT is very much in the picture since in practice many will raise to 3♦ without any extra values.

Susan

[Badmonster]

Susan Doty is an amazing teacher. Not only because of her deep pool of knowledge, but because she makes you feel smart even when you're not perfect.

[Walddk]

Jlall, on Feb 8 2006, 04:44 PM, said:

I wish I had had Susan as my teacher when I first started playing

Why do I suspect that you have seen a picture of her?

Roland

[sdoty]

*chuckles* thanks for the compliments (bridge and otherwise. )

[Gerben42]

Well, guess you have to watch out for incognito youngsters in your future courses Susan! It might be Justin in disguise, starting over again.

Quote

I wish I had had Susan as my teacher when I first started playing

I support this by the way