[pescetom]

MP

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Your call and agreements here?

[Cyberyeti]

If I had 8 and a stiff K, I might open a bent 3N, not with 9. We are not in a preempting position, we are odds on to have the majority of the points, I open 1♣. 3rd seat 5♣, first and 4th seats are interesting.

[mike777]

1C showing 2+ clubs

Prefer to open 3NT with long major, weakish hand.

[jillybean]

1♣, we've agreed to open opening hands.

mike777, on 2026-May-27, 16:04, said:

1C showing 2+ clubs

Prefer to open 3NT with long major, weakish hand.

I don't have Gambling 3nt on my card, I would like to play Gitelman3nt , I just need a willing partner.

[akwoo]

I'm opening 3N, assuming that gambling no stoppers is in our agreements. Yeah I've got one too many playing tricks.

Yes this is a preempting situation. Not necessarily in the usual sense of needing to take up room to keep them from finding a making game, but combine that with the potential need to take up room to keep them from finding a good sacrifice...

[mikeh]

I expect difficulty in trying to have a good constructive auction on this hand. Since I expect at some point to bid 5C and since partner needs magic cards for slam to be on and since I have little defence I’ll bid 5C now.

Perfect? Not even close. Pragmatic? I hope so.

Nobody knows how to bid freaks, but this is my best guess

The best part of 5C now is that if LHO has a good hand, he’ll often/usually double and RHO will almost always pass…his initial pass makes it unlikely he has the shape to bid at the 5 level.

[Cyberyeti]

mikeh, on 2026-May-27, 16:59, said:

I expect difficulty in trying to have a good constructive auction on this hand. Since I expect at some point to bid 5C and since partner needs magic cards for slam to be on and since I have little defence I’ll bid 5C now.

Perfect? Not even close. Pragmatic? I hope so.

Nobody knows how to bid freaks, but this is my best guess

The best part of 5C now is that if LHO has a good hand, he’ll often/usually double and RHO will almost always pass…his initial pass makes it unlikely he has the shape to bid at the 5 level.

How much does partner need in your book to raise a 2nd seat NV 5♣ with no fit ?

[thepossum]

5 or 6 clubs
5 but could miss 6 - sorry still counting tricks and possible outcomes

[mikeh]

Cyberyeti, on 2026-May-28, 03:04, said:

How much does partner need in your book to raise a 2nd seat NV 5♣ with no fit ?

I doubt very much that he’ll raise. And if he does we may miss a grand.

Bridge is a game of percentages. Yes, 5C may miss a slam that we might get to after 1C.

Otoh, if this is the opps’ hand, and I am aware RHO passed, I will be far better off after 5C than 1C. Plus, on hands on which slam makes, it’s easy to see that we may have trouble bidding it. Of course, some posters here always bid with astounding precision…usually after the whole hand is revealed. Oddly enough, I have no respect for nor belief in what those posters say.

It is my view that opening 5C rates to work better than would 1C more often than the other way around. Obviously I can’t prove it and a simulation would be unlikely to help. Most layouts on which slam is good would likely require some magical bidding to get there. Say a simulation showed 6C made 80% of the time. I know several posters here would proudly show how they’d get to slam….once they see the hands. In real life they’d probably struggle. Of course, I don’t believe that slam is likely let alone 80% likely or I’d not open 5C.

You’re free to disagree with me. Heck, the fact that this hand is posted increases the likelihood that slam makes. If I were the type of player who intends to show off how good my slam bidding is, I’d open 1C just because this is a posted hand. However, I try to be honest in my approach, as if the hand just happened to come up at the table.

[Cyberyeti]

mikeh, on 2026-May-28, 08:40, said:

I doubt very much that he’ll raise. And if he does we may miss a grand.

Bridge is a game of percentages. Yes, 5C may miss a slam that we might get to after 1C.

Otoh, if this is the opps’ hand, and I am aware RHO passed, I will be far better off after 5C than 1C. Plus, on hands on which slam makes, it’s easy to see that we may have trouble bidding it. Of course, some posters here always bid with astounding precision…usually after the whole hand is revealed. Oddly enough, I have no respect for nor belief in what those posters say.

It is my view that opening 5C rates to work better than would 1C more often than the other way around. Obviously I can’t prove it and a simulation would be unlikely to help. Most layouts on which slam is good would likely require some magical bidding to get there. Say a simulation showed 6C made 80% of the time. I know several posters here would proudly show how they’d get to slam….once they see the hands. In real life they’d probably struggle. Of course, I don’t believe that slam is likely let alone 80% likely or I’d not open 5C.

You’re free to disagree with me. Heck, the fact that this hand is posted increases the likelihood that slam makes. If I were the type of player who intends to show off how good my slam bidding is, I’d open 1C just because this is a posted hand. However, I try to be honest in my approach, as if the hand just happened to come up at the table.

The reason I asked is that I felt that partner doesn't raise with 3 bare aces and a club void, so nothing more complicated than kickback would be needed later. The problem is if he shows 2 where I'm hoping to get some more info from the auction.

[pescetom]

mikeh, on 2026-May-28, 08:40, said:

You’re free to disagree with me. Heck, the fact that this hand is posted increases the likelihood that slam makes. If I were the type of player who intends to show off how good my slam bidding is, I’d open 1C just because this is a posted hand. However, I try to be honest in my approach, as if the hand just happened to come up at the table.

The title of the post suggests slam might not make
But thanks for being honest, I appreciate it as always.
You also give me solace because I did think long and hard about 5♣, unlike the rest of the field who chose between 1♣, 3NT or a strong 2♣ (Italians hear a different drum).
But I chose 1♣ (even though we were not playing my favourite toy to show a strong minor single suit after a manufactured reverse) because I had a good partner for once and I wasn't quite as pessimistic as you about the perfecto needed, rightly or wrongly.

[pescetom]

MP

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Somewhat predictably, the opps had a major fit and made it known.
Your call now?

[Cyberyeti]

pescetom, on 2026-May-28, 12:37, said:

MP

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Somewhat predictably, the opps had a major fit and made it known.
Your call now?

Is 3♠ a heart raise or a stop ask ?

If I'm not sure I may have to bid 5♣, I have a get out with an artificial GF 2N and we'll see if partner helps me, but most won't have this.

[jillybean]

5♣, partner will know what to do if we have more.

[pescetom]

Cyberyeti, on 2026-May-28, 13:26, said:

Is 3♠ a heart raise or a stop ask ?

Bella domanda
In my regular partnerships, stop ask has priority at 3 level.
I'm not a fan of playing without agreements, but this was the first time with partner who is expert: I crossed my fingers and hoped it was a generic force or stop ask, couldn't see a better call.

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What's going on now?

[DavidKok]

Partner is kindly informing you of their first round club control, now that you've raised the hearts?

I am not sure what is going on.

[jillybean]

pescetom, on 2026-May-28, 13:56, said:

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What's going on now?

5♣ , neither of us have anything more to add.
This looks like a good auction for a forum post.

[mike777]

pescetom, on 2026-May-28, 12:37, said:

MP

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Somewhat predictably, the opps had a major fit and made it known.
Your call now?

5c



will pass 5s

[pescetom]

 DavidKok, on 2026-May-28, 15:29, said:

I am not sure what is going on.

Relieved to hear that, nor was I.

But it looked like some kind of forward going move and it seemed time to inform partner we were off the rails: I bid 6♣.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

we play 3S as forward going, asking for add. description, among others a stopper in their suit,
it does not promise a fit for p, but it will be based on tolerance.

Due to this I am not happy with the 3S bid, ..., either bid 3C or bid 4C / 5C, but opener has to
start telling p, that he has a real suit for his opening, not a bal. hand, which is still the normal
holding in the given auction.

Over 4C you have to bid whatever, ..., I would go with 5C, but 6C is ok as well, I hate to go down
at the 6 level.

With kind regards
Marlowe

PS: I also prefer the pragmatic 5C bid, because the way the auction went, was predictable.
The only thing we can do as opener is repeating our club suits again and again, unless you have a way
of setting clubs and asking for KCs at the 4C level.
And this way needs to be able to different to the way you handle the same hand with 3 clubs less, distributed
among hearts and diamonds.