[mikeh]

Partner deals at unfavourable and passes. RHO opens 1♣. Your call. No matter what you call, there will be more decisions later.... stay tuned

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[kenrexford]

2NT

[pclayton]

1♥. Going to mastermind a little here.

It won't get passed out.

[Echognome]

I would also 2NT. It seems clear to get in 2-suits first, then start showing strength next.

[hrothgar]

2N here as well

[whereagles]

If pard understands this as 11 tricks in the reds: 5NT. Else 2NT and drive the auction to the 5 level all by myself.

[kenrexford]

whereagles, on Feb 18 2008, 01:34 PM, said:

If pard understands this as 11 tricks in the reds: 5NT. Else 2NT and drive the auction to the 5 level all by myself.

The problem I see with a 5NT call is the inability to later indicate 5-6. 2NT, and then even 6♦, gets the pattern right.

[skjaeran]

2NT first. I can double and/or bid diamonds later to show strenght and suit lenght, depending on how the auction develops from here.

[gwnn]

2NT, no problems yet

[cherdano]

2N looks obvious for now, I can't come up with a better plan. 4N then 6♦ is possible, but I would love to be able to cuebid once or twice just to show I am bidding on a strong hand not a VERY distributional one.

[mikeh]

Ok, 2N (which is what I chose at the table) fetches pass by LHO, 4♥! by partner, pass by RHO.

Your methods include:

4♠ keycard
4N: exclusion keycard for ♠

You choose 4♠, because you really don't care and you may as well create the illusion that you hold a ♠.

But before partner gets to bid, LHO asks what 4♠ is and, on learning it is keycard, bids 5♠ (they are white v red). Partner passes, showing no keycard.

Your call: this is the first time you have played with this partner in 8 years and you haven't discussed how to ask for the Q of trump in this situation. Yes, I know that you and your regular partner will have done so, but assume you've forgotten

BTW, partner is an AGGRESSIVE game bidder and you have a reputation of being a conservative 2N bidder.. you won't have garbage for that call.

[Echognome]

If partner has 5♥ I want to be in slam (since we are taking one less trick on defense and the 2-1 splits increase my odds of picking up trumps dramatically). Furthermore, even if we lose a trump trick, we can likely get diamonds going and hopefully partner has xx or x or the Q. If partner has 4♥ then it seems that defending is a better prospect. Right now I just need to work out how wastage partner has in spades and I don't really have a call for that. His no keycards means he's missing the A and our bidding has told the opponents the best way to play the spade suit, so I'm going to go for slam. Also, partner has jumped to 4♥ without much in way of highcards, so I'm going to believe he is likely to hold 5♥ on this auction. I think the opponents have effectively preempted me out of a good auction to investigate grand though, so I'm just going to bid 6♥.

[cherdano]

I go for 7♥. Could be wrong, of course, but the chance that it is cold is too good (especially as partner is unlikely to have much in the black suits, probably he bid on distribution rather than points).

[655321]

(1) 2NT
(2) 7♥

[pclayton]

I'm going to exclusion this. The ♥Q / or a 5th heart are critical, and I presume we have the tools to ask after pard's zero response. If pard has the right holding in hearts, I'll gamble a little that the diamonds aren't a problem and bid the grand.

7♥ is a little irresponsible I think.

[mikeh]

pclayton, on Feb 18 2008, 04:28 PM, said:

I'm going to exclusion this. The ♥Q / or a 5th heart are critical, and I presume we have the tools to ask after pard's zero response. If pard has the right holding in hearts, I'll gamble a little that the diamonds aren't a problem and bid the grand.

7♥ is a little irresponsible I think.

You actually save room via ordinary keycard: partner will bid 4N or5♣. We use 1430 in response to exclusion, which may not be best but is easy to remember, and so he will respond 5♦ to 4N. It makes little difference, but I wanted to be able to queen ask without having to bid 5♠ over 5♦, to avoid a length-showing double on my left (not sure that's what the opps would have understood, but I didn't want to find out)

Anyway, LHO bids 5♠ over any keycard, and partner passes (showing zero not matter what question you asked) and it's back to you.

[skjaeran]

I'll take the low road for now and bid 6♥.

If opps save in 6♠ I'll try 7♥.

[kenrexford]

Partner's 4♥ call cannot logically be total nonsense. Presumably he has two cards for me, or heart length and the diamond Queen.

I could check back with one of 6♦ (asking) or 6♣ (as a cue to allow partner to cue 6♦), depending upon which this partner will likely understand and correctly field.

[cherdano]

pclayton, on Feb 18 2008, 03:28 PM, said:

I'm going to exclusion this. The ♥Q / or a 5th heart are critical, and I presume we have the tools to ask after pard's zero response. If pard has the right holding in hearts, I'll gamble a little that the diamonds aren't a problem and bid the grand.

7♥ is a little irresponsible I think.

While that may be true, noone so far suggested bidding 7♥ before trying keycard...