[jillybean]

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Matchpoints

Perhaps you would start 4♦

[mike777]

5NT over 2H

[mikeh]

mike777, on 2026-August-07, 23:22, said:

5NT over 2H

That or 5D over 2H. 3D is one of those bids tyat never tells you what you need to know. It simply postponed the correct action for a round, and risks confusing partner.

[pescetom]

5D as ERKCB would have been neat here. But I'm happy with 3D so long as it is Inv+, in our style at least. Now partner can bid 3H with a hand that would decline an invite or control bid with more.
3N puts a real stick in the works. 4D probably should get hearts back into the picture, but not sure what current partners would make of it: probably just punt 6H instead.

[harikannan]

 mike777, on 2026-August-07, 23:22, said:

5NT over 2H

Can someone please explain what it would mean? Thanks.

[Cyberyeti]

harikannan, on 2026-August-08, 02:43, said:

Can someone please explain what it would mean? Thanks.

Grand slam force - How many top trumps (AKQ) do you have

[bluenikki]

mike777, on 2026-August-07, 23:22, said:

5NT over 2H

That was my thought.

[jillybean]

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I’m south, trying to show the diamond control and keep the auction going. This is a slam we should have found.

The Grand Slam Force (GSF) is an artificial contract bridge convention used after a trump suit has been agreed. It asks partner about the quality of their trump holding to determine if a grand slam is possible.
1. The RequestBid: 5NT (when it is not Blackwood or another natural bid).Meaning: "Partner, do you hold top honors in our agreed trump suit?"
2. Standard Responses (The 6/7 Rule)6 of agreed suit: Holds 0 or 1 of the top three honors (Ace, King, or Queen).7 of agreed suit: Holds 2 or 3 of the top three honors.

3. Alternative Responses (Detailed Steps)Many modern partnerships use a "step" system to give more precise information:6♣: Holds the Queen only (or no honors)6♦: Holds the King only6♥: Holds the Ace only6♠: Holds two of the top three honors (e.g., A-K, A-Q, K-Q)7 of the suit: Holds all three top honors (A-K-Q)

[pescetom]

What happened to my spades Queen?
I'm a lot happier punting 6H now.

[jillybean]

Oops First hand posted, late, in the dark. This is now the correct hand.
Let’s hope for a better session today.

[mw64ahw]

I would have thought that having removed from 3N to 4♥ you are now in a slam try - slow arrival

In this case I'd treat 3♦ as a control bid rather than a stopper ask once 4♥ is bid.

I think most people I play with would Pass 4♥ and this would likely cause me to bid 4♠ even KCs or Kickback from the start assuming all suits controlled.

[jillybean]

3♦showed a good heart raise, not a stopper ask.
That’s as far as we have progressed in system discussions.

[mw64ahw]

jillybean, on 2026-August-08, 07:53, said:

3♦showed a good heart raise, not a stopper ask.
That’s as far as we have progressed in system discussions.

If that's the case
a) let us know,
b) how good is good?,
c) if slam going then South shouldn't pass 4♥,
d) if not slam going North shouldn't be signing off.

[jillybean]

3♦ was a limit raise, 4 cards, 8-10 type of range.
We have agreed North should not sign off, we have not agreed to an alternative auction.
I hope we get another one like this today.

[Cyberyeti]

I don't know if anybody else does this, but we "kickback" our GSF, so would bid 5♠ to allow a full set of responses.

[mikeh]

pescetom, on 2026-August-08, 02:16, said:

5D as ERKCB would have been neat here. But I'm happy with 3D so long as it is Inv+, in our style at least. Now partner can bid 3H with a hand that would decline an invite or control bid with more.
3N puts a real stick in the works. 4D probably should get hearts back into the picture, but not sure what current partners would make of it: probably just punt 6H instead.

Try constructing a hand that would overcall 2H, and has at least AKxxx, that doesn’t rate to make 7H. Hint…you won’t find one. Oh, and don’t give us an example where hearts are 4-0, since tyat is unlikely, may be impossible…sometimes partner has AKxxxx or as here AKJxx. The point isn’t that 7H will always be cold…it’s that 7H will always be high percentage and often a claim on the opening lead. Imagine Qx AKxxxx Kxx xx as on obvious example, with 14 or more top tricks absent a spade ruff on the opening lead.

Which means that futzing around with a cute 3D is just plain silly. You have only one question….are we off a heart trick?

I see a lot of players who make silly bids just because they want to tell partner they have a good hand when, given just how good their hand is, they should be taking charge. Of course, I also see lots of players, many the same ones, who take charge when they should be describing their hand. The ability to see the difference between the ‘I can take charge’ hands and the ‘I should describe my hand’ boards is one of the hallmarks of a competent player.

[pescetom]

mikeh, on 2026-August-08, 12:27, said:

Try constructing a hand that would overcall 2H, and has at least AKxxx, that doesn’t rate to make 7H. Hint…you won’t find one. Oh, and don’t give us an example where hearts are 4-0, since tyat is unlikely, may be impossible…sometimes partner has AKxxxx or as here AKJxx. The point isn’t that 7H will always be cold…it’s that 7H will always be high percentage and often a claim on the opening lead. Imagine Qx AKxxxx Kxx xx as on obvious example, with 14 or more top tricks absent a spade ruff on the opening lead.

Which means that futzing around with a cute 3D is just plain silly. You have only one question….are we off a heart trick?

I see a lot of players who make silly bids just because they want to tell partner they have a good hand when, given just how good their hand is, they should be taking charge. Of course, I also see lots of players, many the same ones, who take charge when they should be describing their hand. The ability to see the difference between the ‘I can take charge’ hands and the ‘I should describe my hand’ boards is one of the hallmarks of a competent player.

I just placed 3rd of 40 (60% national) with a pickup partner in a decent field, nothing to boast about but I do think I can claim to be a competent player who does not make silly bids.
Bidding 3D (as we play) is not futzing around, but an economical forcing bid that fixes trumps, which is the precondition for finding out about AK, unless you can assume that a pickup partner will take 5D as exclusion (rare around here) or 5N as Josephine (newer players automatically think pick a slam) and guess what his Josephine responses will mean (I could cite you many different versions).
I can easily imagine that with a US pickup 5N would be reasonably safe ground, just as 3D would be here.

[mike777]

I don't understand starting with 3D, seems very confusing.


If partner thinks 5NT means pick a slam on this exact auction, I have no response to that.

[pescetom]

mike777, on 2026-August-08, 16:23, said:

I don't understand starting with 3D, seems very confusing.


If partner thinks 5NT means pick a slam on this exact auction, I have no response to that.

I have no idea what partner will think 5NT means, more likely pick a slam even if here it makes more sense as Josephine, where we have not even discussed responses... I don't think that's a disaster seeing as we have alternative routes to locate AK in hearts.
3D over here is an evident forcing raise in hearts with at least invitational strength, hard to see how one could be confused or go off the rails. A natural 3N is possible but unlikely (and in this case looks like authorized panic or an unalerted misunderanding about Non-serious).

[mikeh]

pescetom, on 2026-August-08, 16:08, said:

I just placed 3rd of 40 (60% national) with a pickup partner in a decent field, nothing to boast about but I do think I can claim to be a competent player who does not make silly bids.
Bidding 3D (as we play) is not futzing around, but an economical forcing bid that fixes trumps, which is the precondition for finding out about AK, unless you can assume that a pickup partner will take 5D as exclusion (rare around here) or 5N as Josephine (newer players automatically think pick a slam) and guess what his Josephine responses will mean (I could cite you many different versions).
I can easily imagine that with a US pickup 5N would be reasonably safe ground, just as 3D would be here.

So you fix trump. Few, if any, good players in NA would consider 3D as gf. But, if that’s standard in Italy so be it. I do wonder how you distinguish between invitational bids and hands worth only a single raise, but that’s your problem, not mine nor that of anyone I play with.

The more difficult issue must surely be that, having set trump, how do you keycard and know that he has AK of hearts and no ace of diamonds as opposed, say, to the diamond Ace and just one keycard. If you claim you’d use exclusion after setting hearts, then you might want to reconsider what 5D over 2H would mean. Even a (competent) pickup partner wouldn’t think it was to play.