awm, on Jan 10 2008, 07:55 PM, said:
What exactly does Ken's cuebidding method do beyond 4♠? Show jacks? Isn't pattern more important than jacks?
You are not understanding the approach.
Take a simple auction hat starts as suggested (1♠-2
♣-2
♥-2
♠).
Opener's first cue possibility is 2NT. This would deny good trumps. Bypassing 2NT would show good trumps. A later cue of 3
♠ by either party would show good trumps within the context of what is known so far. Bypassing would show poor trumps within the context of what is known so far. The result of all of this is that I find out about a critical part of RKCB before bypassing 4NT, namely truymp strength.
Opener's next cue possibility is a club cue. That shows a top club (A/K/Q). Because a later cue of 4
♣ would show a second top club, not possible with pattern bidding, I can fill in partner's one-honor-high suits. Notably, Responder can do that for my hearts, as well. Pattern bidding and high cues fill in two-honor-high suits, but not one-honor-high suits.
Opener's next cue possibility is a diamond cue. That shows control. He can later re-cue 4
♦ to show first-round, which is not possible with pattern-first. He can later cue a third-round control if he denied a 1st/2nd, which is also not possible without this approach.
So, I can show more useful cards, or deny useful cards, and more about trumps, weak or strong, below game. Whereas RKCB is sometimes unsafe for folks, I will already know that answer before entering the five-level.
As to cues above game, they don't exist in this auction. Five-level calls generally ask for unknown last issues in side suits. For instance, Opener might be able to check on a heart or club Queen.
On rare occasions, Jacks actually can be sought.
But, the question was whether pattern is more important. Keep in mind that half of the pattern story is always known to half of the partnership. The person who makes the ultimate decision will not be better placed if his partner knows his shape. He, as the ultimate decision-maker, already knows his own shape and is not comforted by partner's equal knowledge. Further, the person with the greater shape probably needs to know about critical cards more than shape.
If you have AQJx in clubs, do you care more whether partner has two, three, or four cards in that side suit or whether partner has the King, whether K, Kx, Kxx, or Kxxx?
That said, shape often becomes known. If Opener lacks a control in diamonds, for instance, then he must have two or more diamonds, and thus at most two clubs. If he lacks a tertiary diamond control, then he has three diamonds and a stiff club.
Take the thing to its extreme. If partner opens 1
♠ with 10-20 HCP's and rebid 2
♥, you know that he has 10-20 HCP's and 5+/4+/?/? pattern. So, after 2
♠ by you, he could bid 3
♥ to show 5+/5+/?/? pattern, and 10-20 HCP. You could then bid 3
♠ to ask for more, and hear 4
♠ to show precisely 5-5-3-0 pattern and 10-20 HCP's. That's a lot of pattern development, but you have no clue what he has. If you yourself have five trumps, a stiff heart, and xxx in diamonds, you have no clue what to do.
"Gibberish in, gibberish out. A trial judge, three sets of lawyers, and now three appellate judges cannot agree on what this law means. And we ask police officers, prosecutors, defense lawyers, and citizens to enforce or abide by it? The legislature continues to write unreadable statutes. Gibberish should not be enforced as law."
-P.J. Painter.