[kgr]

Scoring: IMP

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I was East and saw opps did have above hand.
(1♠)-2NT-(Pass)-3♦
(3♠)-5♦-All pass
 
If you start with DBL then it will go:
(1♠)-DBL-(P)-1NT
(2♠)-??
 
How would you bid?

[Fluffy]

certainly not double, 2♦ would be an option without the ♠A if that's your style (avoiding being stuck when partner bids 3m over your 2NT).

with the given hand NT and then cue, you need very little for slam.

[mtvesuvius]

I bid 2NT, then over 3♠ I see no harm in trying 4♠. As Fluffy said, not much is needed from partner for slam.

[ArtK78]

I don't understand.

Why can't I just overcall 2♦ and bid clubs at any level after that?

Bidding 2NT is just wrong. If partner has a competitive decision to make he will never get it right.

[rogerclee]

ArtK78, on Jan 14 2009, 07:20 PM, said:

Bidding 2NT is just wrong. If partner has a competitive decision to make he will never get it right.

lol no

[whereagles]

mtvesuvius, on Jan 15 2009, 01:14 AM, said:

I bid 2NT, then over 3♠ I see no harm in trying 4♠. As Fluffy said, not much is needed from partner for slam.

I would probably do something like this as well.

[kgr]

Scoring: IMP

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After East opened 1♠ opps did reach 5♦ and made +2.
Disadvantage of 2NT is that it is more difficult to know partners ♦-length then after DBL (except if partner bids 1NT after DBL).
Risk of 2♦ is that it will be passed out?
How to bid to 7♦?

[JLOL]

kgr, on Jan 15 2009, 05:09 PM, said:

How to bid to 7♦?

LOL

[keylime]

2NT for me, clearcut. Need to show the shape immediately. Get partner involved.

Would want pard to do something over 3S other than 5D, since the Qx is of good value now. At least take the push to 6D here - good two way bid situation.

[MFA]

2NT over 1♠, and then 4♠ over 3♠. Should get us to 6♦.

[jdonn]

I would just bid 4NT over 3♠. Blackwood seems quite uncommon to want to bid here, but what else would it be?

Agree with 2NT of course, anything else seems very silly. On most auctions when partner bids some amount of clubs I can bid diamonds, showing the shape and the extra strength very nicely.

[JLOL]

My initial reaction was blackwood also Josh, but the more I thought about it the closer it seemed. If partner is 21 obviously it's a disaster (but hey we got life!), but obviously thats a very small part of his range and pretty pessimistic.

If partner is 31 though slam is not actually that great and will depend on his exact diamond spots a bit. Let's take the case first where he has the DK: after ace and ruff a club we have to guess what to do. If clubs are 33 we can pull trumps, but if clubs are 42 with 22 trumps we need to ruff a club with the king and pull trumps. And if we judge that RHO is 12 in the minors we have to cash the DK and then ruff a club small but that would be a big view to end up taking. This doesn't even start to account for the fact that we are down already on 51 clubs or 40 trumps (not terribly unlikely on the bidding). Slam is actually looking pretty bleak. Of course the diamond ten would help a lot, and the DJ also. Another possible pitfall is getting overruffed in spades if there is a stiff over us and we can't get to our hand. Again unlikely, but again a possibility.

When partner has the HA we are in much better shape but still lose when the diamond king is off most of the time (even with 22 trumps we will often suffer an overruff in clubs), and we are down on 51 clubs. Even though RHO rates to have more high cards, LHO has more empty spaces for diamonds and could easily have the DK. Again the DJ helps our cause a lot here.

Now let's say partner is 32. If partner has the DK we basically just need clubs to split and not 40 trumps. the CJ would give us a little bit of equity against stiff queen of clubs and 22 trumps, the DJ would help on 40 trumps. A problem here though is that we lose when our LHO has 3 diamonds and 2 clubs (unless we double dummy it and play ace of diamonds, AK and a club, but that is a terrible line since if LHO FOLLOWS we have to guess whether RHO has 2 trumps or 1), as well as the unlikely case of RHO having 2 clubs and 3 diamonds. This slam is not that great.

If partner has the HA then slam is pretty poor: When the diamond hook is on you need 22 diamonds OR 32 clubs, when the diamond hook is off you need 22 diamonds AND 32 clubs. The DJ would help a lot, the DT would help some.

Overall getting to slam opposite that range is pretty bad but not horrible. So the question is when partner has 4 diamonds and a keycard or the CQ+a keycard are we always getting to slam? I would expect partner to make a move with a keycard, 4 trumps, and a doubleton club, or a keycard and the club queen if we bid 4S over 3S, so I think if that's the case 4S is the right call. You have to be quite certain of this though since youre going to miss VERY good slams otherwise which is not worth it to avoid these thin but not hopeless (and sometimes good wiht the DJ) slams.

It's quite close though imo.

[Fluffy]

The first thing that comes to mind when seeing north's hand is to bid 3NT over 3♠.... bad boy, bad boy .

Althou ♣Qx is a small duplication with the 4th trump, I think the north's hand is worth 4♥. Blackwood can't get us too high since we are not to worry about 5 level safety this time.