Posted 2013-September-19, 15:46
One of the advantages of 2/1 is that one needn't jump over partner's 2/1 since the partnership is committed to game and can (in my view: should) use the resulting bidding space to prioritize strain, and then, if either side has significant extras, explore level. There are exceptions, but in my partnerships, for example, we'd use 3♥ as a splinter raise in diamonds (thus allowing 3N as a contract when responder has a lot of heart wastage).
What 3♣ means is a matter for partnership agreement, but as jeff implies, for many it is the catch-all default noise that simply denies the ability to support spades or hearts, or to bid notrump, or to rebid diamonds.
xx Axx AKQJx xxx looks like a 3♣ call to me, playing this style.
My own style leans more to faking a preference to 2♠. I can't construct a hand on which my 3♣ call would not show at least 4 cards in the suit. 2=3=5=3, I bid 2♠.
There are obvious reasons why many would disagree. However, my 'rule' is that when I am under pressure and have to have a 'mark-time' bid available, I like to use the cheapest logical alternative. By faking a 2♠ preference, I get 2N open to partner, not to mention his own 3♣ call, and my experience is that, so long as partner plays the same style, we have ample room to sort out the degree of spade support.
I'm not claiming this to be superior to what I take to be jeff's approach and I suspect his view is probably more widely-accepted than is mine.
So: for me, the natural 4N is 'obvious'...sure, partner may be xxxx in clubs, but he rates not to be, especially given my diamond holding.
If I didn't have that, I'd have to bid 3♦ over the punt, and then presumably hear either 3N (which seems wrong to me) or 3♥ (why not? This may play well in a moysian if partner commits to 4♥).
In either event, I bid 4N and there we are: back where I would have been a round earlier.
Is S worth a slam? I'm not at all convinced. We have no fit better than 7 cards and about 31-32 hcp. We have a void in partner's main suit and may have transportation issues. I'd probably miss the slam.
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari