[mohitz]

♠AQxx ♥- ♦AJx ♣AKJTxx

Teams, we vul, they NV. They open 2S weak. You are next.

[whereagles]

Pard is quite short in spades, but may be quite weak as well. We should bid now and I like a mere 3♣ bid here.

[gwnn]

3♣ for me

don't double.

3NT is a little sick with a void and 4♣ even if natural is undesirable with only 6 clubs and we just passed our most likely game.

[655321]

3NT

[CSGibson]

6 clubs. If I'm going to guess, I'm going to make the guess with the most upside

[gwnn]

Maybe 655321's post should be UI but I am changing to 3NT, it's 19 after all.

[Phil]

3N.

[Fluffy]

3♣

[jdonn]

Definitely 3NT for me.

What I don't understand is 3♣. That is way too big of an underbid when you could bid 4♣ (I couldn't but most could) or 5♣. If the point is to avoid missing 3NT then bid 3NT!

[aguahombre]

Here is my problem:

If I bid 3C, it seems that I can later bid 3NT. But I can't.

There probably won't be a "later". Partner knows about "approach forcing", and knows that 3D or 3H cannot be passed when bid by an unpassed hand. So, even if advancer bids 3H, we are in slam zone and 3NT will be a gross underbid.

At least a direct 3NT shows the strength of the hand. Will advancer use restraint with a lot of hearts? I try 3NT, and cross my fingers.

[pooltuna]

jdonn, on Aug 9 2010, 10:45 AM, said:

Definitely 3NT for me.

I want to choose an action that suggests the least tolerance for a ♥ contract and this is certainly a major contender. Just not sure if X followed by 3NT shows even less tolerance for ♥. Now the 3♣ bidders are going to say this should be a contender. Perhaps you can, since they won't like it from me, address why 3♣s hoovers.

[gwnn]

pooltuna, on Aug 9 2010, 03:57 PM, said:

Just not sure if X followed by 3NT shows even less tolerance for ♥.

X shows 3 hearts and will have them 99+% of the time.

X then 3NT shows a fragile spade stop that was looking for other contracts. Partner will and should pull with 5 hearts.

[ArtK78]

I don't understand. This seems like an obvious 6♦ call, playing pard for as little as x xxxxx Kxxxxx x

Clearly, if you double, pard will never figure out that he isn't supposed to bid hearts, and if you choose then to bid 4♣ or 5♣ he may decide to pass rather than show his second suit. So, you have to take the bull by the horns and bid the best contract yourself - 6♦.

By the way, when you bid 6♦, pard will of course pass as Kxxxx with a singleton in their suit can't possibly be enough for a grand.

I am sure that a simulation will show that 6♦ has at least a 38.746% chance of making. The fact that the expected result may be down 6 doubled is not relevant.

On the expected spade lead, you will have no problem wrapping up 6♦ when diamonds are 2-2 and clubs 3-2 with the club Q offside third, of course.

Really, is this a problem?

[aguahombre]

Will it ever end?

[gwnn]

no

[pooltuna]

aguahombre, on Aug 9 2010, 12:41 PM, said:

Will it ever end?

no I suspect not as we now have a new adjective and a new verb in our bridge vocabulary i.e. "I piltched the hand", "a piltch bid"

[jdonn]

aguahombre, on Aug 9 2010, 12:41 PM, said:

Will it ever end?

Why should the most amazing bid in the history of recorded bridge ever end?

[mohitz]

okay, let's say we bid 3NT.

Part 2: Partner had the perfect ♠x ♥Qxxxx ♦KQTxx ♣Qx. Will he make a call over 3N? If yes, what? How will the auction proceed with your favorite gadgets?

PS: 6♦ is a great call and might be the only way to get us to 7♦

[whereagles]

jdonn, on Aug 9 2010, 03:45 PM, said:

What I don't understand is 3♣. That is way too big of an underbid when you could bid 4♣ (I couldn't but most could) or 5♣.

If the point is to avoid missing 3NT then bid 3NT!

Pard rates to have like a 1444 and a bad hand. If he can raise 3 to 4, I'd rather take my chances with 5♣ thankyouverymuch.

[gwnn]

we are 0-6 in the rounded suits and partner rates to have 4-4?