[m1cha]

Three days ago I faked a splinter bid.

I am not proud of this but I had a good hand with trump support and wanted to show support beyond game. Scrolling through the GIB commands, I found the only way of doing this opposite partner's rebid of 2♥ was a splinter bid of 4♣ or 4♦. Robot partners so far had been quite patient about occasional lies, so I thought I might bid 4♣ now and if I hear 4♦ just hope for a ♣ control and head for a slam. Well, my 4♣ bid got doubled but I went on as planned with the deserved result of losing 8.14 IMPs because those players who just jumped from 2♥ to 6♥ made their slams after a ♠ lead!

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OK, OK, I got the message: Next time I fake a splinter and get doubled, I will not assume my partner has a control . Anyway, this is not my point. My point is: Does it make sense to play splinter bids at all?

Let me add a few words to make this point more clear. In my home country's official bidding system a splinter in a simliar situation shows exactly 17 - 18 points. A splinter bid directly over a 1M opening bid shows exactly 14 - 15 points AND 4-card support of the 5-card major AND, of course, a singleton or void. As you can imagine, these hands come up less than once a year. Isn't that a waste of a wonderful bid? I mean, in the board above if a jump to 4♦ simply were a second-level cue bid with trump support and a slam-going hand, my partner would have KNOWN that a slam can be beaten by leading clubs, and we could have won 2 - 3 IMPs by peacefully playing 4♥ ...

(By the way, although successful here I don't believe that jumping to 6♥ is the winning action in the long run.)

[manudude03]

The reason for splinters is to let partner know how good his hand is, particularly in reference to the splinter suit. If it is just a random cuebid which might be a high card or a shortage, how good is KQxx? Also, without a way to show shortage, how do you know how many losers you have in a suit that is xxxx?

I would say your requirements for a splinter are too strenuous, maybe a "1-under" splinter (like 1H-4D) should be tightly defined, but usually there will be space to cater for the responder to show min or max.

[m1cha]

manudude03, on 2016-September-10, 20:03, said:

The reason for splinters is to let partner know how good his hand is, particularly in reference to the splinter suit. If it is just a random cuebid which might be a high card or a shortage, how good is [1]KQxx? Also, without a way to show shortage, how do you know how many losers you have in a suit that is [2]xxxx?

[1] opposite a cuebid is great, opposite a splinter it is horrible. With [2] a splinter is exactly what I hoped to hear. I don't doubt splinters are useful. I just think they may not be useful enough if, for example, a splinter is the only way to show a slam-going hand or if the point range for these wonderful bids is too narrow.

By the way (inspired by [2]): If opponents bid splinters, does that mean I should lead a trump?

[Kaitlyn S]

m1cha, on 2016-September-10, 19:10, said:

(By the way, although successful here I don't believe that jumping to 6♥ is the winning action in the long run.)

Indeed. There are some hands for partner in which 6H would go down against normal distribution on any lead (including "a bad lead even for Kaitlyn."), for example: x, QJ10xxx, QJx, AJx; and many more hands that require a 2-2 heart break plus a favorable opening lead.

Nobody should be making 6 on a spade lead against any kind of defender. Dummy has shown a slammish hand with a heart fit and a spade suit that for some reason thinks 6H is a better bid than Blackwood so the spade suit is probably long. East can see that an attacking lead is needed and should lead either a diamond or a club. Personally I would lead a club, and I'd say that not looking at all four hands. Almost every book or long article written on opening leads would not advocate leading a major suit with this hand on this auction.

[The_Badger]

hi m1cha,

I am sometimes surprised - and I'm not talking about your experimental bid with GIB - how inaccurately splinters are used. A partnership should have set guidelines when to use the bid, but I find many deviate when they have a fit for partner and a singleton/void. [Personally, I'm not keen on using splinters with voids.]

And as you have found out yourself, splinters give the opponents the opportunity to double, and also, assess an opening lead better. All in all, a useful tool, but a tool, like all tools, that has to be used correctly for it to be effective

[Cyberyeti]

On which planet is this a 2♥ bid ?

7 playing tricks is 3♥ in my book, -4♦-4♥ to the right spot and a poor score.

[m1cha]

Cyberyeti, on 2016-September-11, 10:08, said:

On which planet is this a 2♥ bid ?

7 playing tricks is 3♥ in my book, -4♦-4♥ to the right spot and a poor score.

That was GIB, can't help it.