[kenberg]

South deals, silent opps, mps, red v white

---

Agreements:
2♠ over 1 of a red suit is weak, so that's out.
RKC 1430 if trump ever gets established and if you want to do it.

How do you envision the bidding going?

Part 2: Suppose instead you are playing strong jump shifts. Is it better? Specifically:
1♦ or 1♥-> 2♠ is strong, and if North follows this with 4♠ it sets spades as trump and shows a good but not great hand. Bidding 3♠ on the second round shows a very good hand. The jump to 2♠ on the first round and 4NT on the second round would be RKC for spades. Would you do any of these things?

[whereagles]

hmmm.. WJS or SJS is more or less the same. In both cases you can show the strong spades 1-suiter at the 3♠ level. Pard will probably bid 3NT then and you pull to 4♠, which shows an independent suit and slam try. Better leave it to pard to go further since he's the one with the cover cards.

[ggwhiz]

6♠ is not bad with the possibility of a favourable lead (unlikely?).

After 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♦ - 3♣, gf you should fetch 3♦ Not outrageous to KC on ♦ and go back to ♠ after the response.

After a strong 2♠ which I do play, I'm going to bid them a couple more times and play in game unless I take the same leap and KC on ♦.

Note: Not perfect but it's MP's and anything else would give me a time penalty.

[P_Marlowe]

Part2

If you can make the SJS, than make him.
My 2nd bid would be 3S.
4NT as 2nd bid should show a bal. hand,
at least the way I used to play SJS.
Given the control richness opener will show
some live, after 3S.

Part1
1H (1) - 1S
2D (2) - 3C (3)
3D (4) - 3S (5)
3NT (6) - 4C (7)
4D (8) - 4NT (9)
5H (9) - 6S (10)

(1) I would not make a reverse with the South hand,
hence I am starting with hearts
(2) see (1)
(3) FSF
(4) 5-5
(5) 6 card suit, SI, we play either NT or spades
(6) suggestion to play
(7) cue
(8) given the controls, South should show some live
(9) RKCB
(10) ..., hopefully no diamond lead

With kind regards
Marlowe

[mikeh]

SJS might, but only might, make this a little easier, but I don't play them (and generally don't miss them).

I would open 1♦. We've had this discussion before, so there's no point getting into the respective merits of 1♥ or 1♦. There are 5=6 hands I open 1♥, but this one is (just) good enough for me to choose the descriptive sequence.

So

1♦ 1♠
2♥ 2♠
3♥ 6♠

is a crude but plausible sequence for me.

Alternatively, if we have the useful but rarely arising agreement that over 2♥, a jump to 3♠ shows solid spades, then we can bid that over 2♥, but it's far from clear how that leads to anything other than a guess at the end.

[TWO4BRIDGE]

mikeh, on 2011-August-20, 15:44, said:

1♦ 1♠
2♥ 2♠
3♥ 6♠

is a crude but plausible sequence for me.

I've got a similar "crude" one if I felt Opener was not strong enough for a Reverse:

1♥ - 1♠
2♦ - 2♠! ( GF a la Meckwell for the 1♥-1♠-2♦ sequence )
3♦ - 6♠

But since 2S! is a GF it might go slower after 3♦:
3♦ - 3♠ ( sets Sp as trump; asks for cuebids )
4♣ - 4♥ ( denying a Diam Ctrl )
??
But I think South will have "cold feet" to go past 4S with a trump void.... unless he has "ice in his veins".

[Quantumcat]

I play with a few of my partners that a jump shift over a minor opening is invitational (around 9-12 HCP). This means a jump-rebid is setting trumps and forcing. This agreement makes these hands loads easier.

1♦ 1♠
2♦* 3♠
4♣** 4NT
5♥ 6♠

* the spade response makes your hand worse. You're not good enough for a reverse (with a 2♣ response it would be though).
** May as well go along with the slam invite. Hopefully one of your two suits will be a source of tricks in a slam. Plus you have two aces.

Just depends on them not leading a club and then setting up the hearts with a ruff with the diamond finesse in reserve, or else the diamond finesse working.

[kenberg]

I was N and played 6♠ after one of those "I guess I'll give 6♠ a shot" auctions. Making 7. The AQ of diamonds are both wrong but they, somewhat surprisingly, led a trump. Draw, three rounds of hearts with the Q falling, claim.

My feeling was "Well, it worked, but I wonder if anyone has any better ideas about how to handle this". Our auction got completely out of hand but in my early planning stages I was imagining something like 1♥-1♠-2♦-3♣ or 1♥-1♠-2♣-2♦ to get started but I figured sooner or later I would just be taking a shot.

Our actual auction:

1♥ 1♠
3♦ 4♣
4♦ 6♠

The 3♦ seems way overboard, after which I considered 7♠. I decided to try 4♣ to see if anyone wanted to say something about their club holding. Lho thought a bit before passing so I backed down on the grand and took the shot at 6. As mentioned, this got a trump lead, making 7.

I realize this is sort of a shaggy dog story, the headline being "Bad bidding leads to beatable slam that made" but, as mentioned, I thought I would ask for opinions about what might have been. I told pard afterward that I probably wouldn't reverse (I agree with mikeh that it is approximately strong enough) and I definitely wouldn't jump shift (for a whole array of reasons).

[MrAce]

I like

1♦-1♠
2♥-3♠ (dont worry about trump, ♠ it is)
etc ends up in 6♠

If bidding starts with 1♥ we play 2♠ response as invitational so

1♥--1♠
2♦-3♠ Forcing 6+ but doesnt promise a solid suit...
etc may end up playing 4 only but i doubt it.

[Mbodell]

I could see bidding it as:

1♥-1♠
2♦-4♠
all pass

I'm not sure 3♠ is forcing in this sequence, as 3♣ fsf is available and 2♠ is signoff, so I think 3♠ is invitational.

If the opener reverses then I think 6♠ is likely.

[P_Marlowe]

Mbodell, on 2011-August-22, 02:11, said:

I could see bidding it as:

1♥-1♠
2♦-4♠
all pass

I'm not sure 3♠ is forcing in this sequence, as 3♣ fsf is available and 2♠ is signoff, so I think 3♠ is invitational.

If the opener reverses then I think 6♠ is likely.

If you play WJS, it is quite common to play 3S in this seq. becomes forcing.

[Free]

whereagles, on 2011-August-20, 11:04, said:

hmmm.. WJS or SJS is more or less the same. In both cases you can show the strong spades 1-suiter at the 3♠ level.

hmmm.. SJS shows the strong ♠ 1-suiter immediately by bidding 2♠, so not really the same

[whereagles]

Free, on 2011-August-22, 03:30, said:

hmmm.. SJS shows the strong ♠ 1-suiter immediately by bidding 2♠, so not really the same

That depends on how you play SJS. Some like it flexible, others long and strong... [pun intended]

[kenberg]

As with any convention, strong jump shifts (I like them) are not of much use unless you discuss what happens next. Some general principles that I like: After the strong jump shift we will be playing in opener's suit, the jump shift suit, or NT. If strong jump shifter bids 4NT at his next turn, that is rkc for the jump shift suit regardless of what opener did at his second turn. If strong jump shifter rebids his suit at the three level, then it is trump and a slam try, although a 3NT bid by opener is still passable.