[awm]

---

Matchpoints, standard methods. What should I do now?

[Trinidad]

I would bid. You can hardly have a better hand, so partner won't play you for a better hand.

I know that partner may have been stretching to bid 4♥, and I know that the 5 level isn't safe, but I think the chances for slam are just too good.

Rik

[cherdano]

I pass - we need too many specific cards (♥AKQ ♦Q ♣A) from partner to make slam good. And partner will stretch to bid here with 1453. And my partners, foolish as they are, usually think of ♥KQ98 as good trump support.

[Fluffy]

Agree with Arend, we lack 6 keycards, playing partner for 5 is too much, and that is assuming partner is short in spades which is far from certain at this vulnerability.

[neilkaz]

I think this is a clear pass. I don't want to hang partner for stretching to 4♥ and need too many cards from him to make slam good. If he lacks a couple of them and also noting my weak trumps, the 5 level isn't safe.

[rogerclee]

I would definitely pass but it's not hard to see how that might be wrong. If I had a bid available to show my hand I would do that, but I refuse to bid blackwood, and 5♦ or 5♥ sound more like this hand with the ♣K in trumps, meaning partner will accept on hands where we lose a spade and a trump. On top of this, the opponents are w/r, it would not shock me to learn that partner is 18-19 balanced with 4 hearts, opposite which the 5 level will very often be too high.

[Mbodell]

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What about on this auction with the same hand?

[the hog]

Pass for me. There are a lot of cards missing and it is expecting too much for partner to have them.

[Cyberyeti]

 Mbodell, on 2013-August-26, 00:31, said:

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What about on this auction with the same hand?

I would be bidding 3♠ not 3♥ (exactly 4 hearts, no spade stop by our methods) and if partner wants to invite me over that I'll cooperate. I'm worried that partner is looking for a hand with more hearts on this auction, 3♠ tells him a lot about my hand, 4 hearts, 9-11 working points opposite a spade shortage.

[aguahombre]

Bodell's scenario is very much different from the original. Here, our range is known by our pass and our non-leb 3H; partner is screaming slam without diamond controls and our given 9-11 points consist of AK K. We must slam it.

Would bid 5D, thinking grand.

[rogerclee]

 aguahombre, on 2013-August-26, 01:51, said:

Bodell's scenario is very much different from the original. Here, our range is known by our pass and our non-leb 3H; partner is screaming slam without diamond controls and our given 9-11 points consist of AK K. We must slam it.

Would bid 5D, thinking grand.

This auction is hard because this auction is consistent with having 3 hearts and no spade stopper. I also think 3♥ is a massive underbid.

Anyway plug for a nice convention here: 3♠ = stopper ask or clubs, 4♣ = strong heart raise.

[Hanoi5]

 Mbodell, on 2013-August-26, 00:31, said:

---

What about on this auction with the same hand?

I'd pass with OP's example and move on with 5♦ on this one.

[Phil]

I pass. In tempo. The auction isn't over.

Sometimes your NV opponents have this annoying tendency of only having 8 trump here.

I will bet Phil King has a neat gadget to show a 'good'4♥ call, or something similar.

[mfa1010]

 rogerclee, on 2013-August-26, 02:26, said:

This auction is hard because this auction is consistent with having 3 hearts and no spade stopper. I also think 3♥ is a massive underbid.

Anyway plug for a nice convention here: 3♠ = stopper ask or clubs, 4♣ = strong heart raise.

The Grue bid

It is already on the card...

[mfa1010]

 Mbodell, on 2013-August-26, 00:31, said:

---

What about on this auction with the same hand?

4♣ on that auction is natural...

[aguahombre]

 rogerclee, on 2013-August-26, 02:26, said:

This auction is hard because this auction is consistent with having 3 hearts and no spade stopper.

 mfa1010, on 2013-August-26, 09:08, said:

4♣ on that auction is natural...

This was why I had dismissed the possibility Roger pointed out. If 3S over 3H was considered by MBodell to conceivably be a continuing search for strain with no spade stop and only 3 hearts, that 4♣ bid on HX could produce an ugly result. Therefore, I assumed 3S was (in their methods) a righteous slam try agreeing hearts.

Of course, 3S could be the NT probe as Roger stated, but it couldn't have been so for Mike and his partner, or the bid would have been 4♦, not 4♣. (Sans the gadget mentioned above.)

[Mbodell]

 aguahombre, on 2013-August-26, 09:39, said:

This was why I had dismissed the possibility Roger pointed out. If 3S over 3H was considered by MBodell to conceivably be a continuing search for strain with no spade stop and only 3 hearts, that 4♣ bid on HX could produce an ugly result. Therefore, I assumed 3S was (in their methods) a righteous slam try agreeing hearts.

Of course, 3S could be the NT probe as Roger stated, but it couldn't have been so for Mike and his partner, or the bid would have been 4♦, not 4♣. (Sans the gadget mentioned above.)

The auction at the table was as included in the post. The partnership agreement is no explicit agreement, and haven't played with the partner in more than a year (semi-regular before that). I agree bidding 4♣ suggests you think 3♠ is a slam try, but maybe you aren't 100% sure.

[aguahombre]

 Mbodell, on 2013-August-26, 13:34, said:

The auction at the table was as included in the post. The partnership agreement is no explicit agreement, and haven't played with the partner in more than a year (semi-regular before that). I agree bidding 4♣ suggests you think 3♠ is a slam try, but maybe you aren't 100% sure.

So, what happened? At 4 You still had to figure it out. You could pass if you decided it was a NT probe, and lament missing the Diamond contract --or pass and be wrong, missing the heart slam.

Or, you could bid 5D and be right or wrong in the converse. Which fun did you have?

[Mbodell]

 aguahombre, on 2013-August-26, 19:11, said:

So, what happened? At 4 You still had to figure it out. You could pass if you decided it was a NT probe, and lament missing the Diamond contract --or pass and be wrong, missing the heart slam.

Or, you could bid 5D and be right or wrong in the converse. Which fun did you have?

This was from the Western Stac Wednesday night game. Looking at the hand record looks like I messed up the auction at our table as it started 2♠ - P - P - X instead of P - P - 2♠ - X, but the rest was the same and it was mostly similar deciding (I hope).

Hopefully it will not spoil Adam's thread too much to say:

Spoiler

At our table we passed and pushed with most of the field (including Adam's table) for a 6 on a 13 top for +710. Partners hand (my hand at the table) is A AKQ2 J9863 AJ8. The opening bidder is KQT86 J65 Q Q742. The advancer who bid 3♠ in Adams auction but not in mine has J542 98 T75 T963. It is board 12 at http://www.paloaltob...ue/C130821E.htm [The B tables are 499er, the A tables are open game]. 6H making would be a cold top. 3 pairs in the open made it to 6D.

[Codo]

I do not know, what partner expected from your double, but if you doubled with a little spade length, so you may hold two cover cards for him.
I had bid the way he did myself, but I guess that he was closer to invite slam then you had been.