[BunnyGo]

I held white vs. red in first seat:

A63, JT54, AKJT2, A

The auction:

1D-(2C)-X-(P)
??

How do I show heart support and a forcing hand? The options seemed to be:

3 or 4 hearts
3 or 4 clubs

Comments on any of those (or other bids) are welcome.

[ArtK78]

3♥ seems sufficient. If partner passes this, it is quite possible that we have no game. I do not consider the 3♥ call forcing.

If I want to force to game, I can bid 3♣. With a strong distribution game bid, 4♥ would be the call, and it would not be forcing.

Personally, I am not thrilled with the idea of reversing on this hand. Perhaps my standards for reverses are higher than yours. The heart suit is terrible.

4♣ would be a self-splinter. Ideally, I should have 4441 shape for that bid (and a strong hand). I don't like spintering on a singleton A unless I have compensating values outside. The Ace is far more valuable outside of clubs.

[bluecalm]

Quote

Personally, I am not thrilled with the idea of reversing on this hand. Perhaps my standards for reverses are higher than yours. The heart suit is terrible.

So what do you bid if it goes:
1D - p - 1S - p
?

As to OP, I like 3C now. I think 3H should be more distributional and weaker, like 6-4 13-15hcp or something.

[han]

lol at the idea of not reversing with this really prime 17-count. Did you miss that the singleton club is the ace ArtK?

[bluecalm]

Splintering ? I mean.. we don't have established fit yet, partner could be 4-3 in majors, right ?

[TWO4BRIDGE]

3H should be enough.
How often does partner guarantee 4-4 on this auction ?
He might only be 4s/3h with enough values .

[Phil]

han, on 2012-February-21, 15:31, said:

lol at the idea of not splintering with this really prime 17-count. Did you miss that the singleton club is the ace ArtK?

Through the forums, I have learned that 4 level splinters by opener show really good hands. If we opened 1♦, and partner responded 1♥, I would not bid 4♣ on this, and I don't think I will now. I would much rather have Axx AJTx AKJTx x for a splinter.

However, not bidding game is bizarre to me. So this looks like a slightly heavy 4♥ call.

[whereagles]

3♣ followed by 4♥ should get the message across.

[BunnyGo]

Ok, so a wide range of answers. I'm interested to hear further, but let me continue the sequel. I decided to bid 3♥ (after pondering these options) and partner raised to 4. Do you make another move after partner couldn't do more than raise?

[gnasher]

4♣ here is presumably a splinter for one of partner's assumed suits, though it's not clear what the continuations should be - one could play 4♦ as asking for the major, 4M as pass-or-correct, or both. I don't agree that this particular splinter shows an unusually good hand. I can't see any reason to play it differently from all other splinters, ie a hand that's bidding game and has a shortage.

I think this hand is worth game. Kxxx Kxxx xx xxx might be enough. To make life simple, I think that an unbalanced game-force with one major should bid to the four-level, so that the 3♣ cue-bid implies that 3NT is in the picture too.

Hence I'd bid 4♣. If it turns out that responder doesn't have four hearts, he should have a bit more in high cards or some king of diamond fit, so 4♥ or 5♦ will probably be playable.

[Fluffy]

BunnyGo, on 2012-February-21, 16:31, said:

Ok, so a wide range of answers. I'm interested to hear further, but let me continue the sequel. I decided to bid 3♥ (after pondering these options) and partner raised to 4. Do you make another move after partner couldn't do more than raise?

If I decided to make a non forcing bid and partner raised it to game with a cuebid avaible I wouldn´t ask me many more questions.

[gnasher]

BunnyGo, on 2012-February-21, 16:31, said:

I decided to bid 3♥ (after pondering these options) and partner raised to 4. Do you make another move after partner couldn't do more than raise?

If I thought my hand was worth a non-forcing 3♥ on the previous round, what has changed to turn it into a slam try?

[whereagles]

BunnyGo, on 2012-February-21, 16:31, said:

Ok, so a wide range of answers. I'm interested to hear further, but let me continue the sequel. I decided to bid 3♥ (after pondering these options) and partner raised to 4. Do you make another move after partner couldn't do more than raise?

Since 3H is an underbid by about 1 mile, I'll definitely push through. Hope pard understands the strange bidding as "oh I skipped an ace in my previous bid. Pls carry on."

[nigel_k]

3♣. I am playing in game but I don't know if I want to insist on hearts. Some of us have partners who might double on KQxxx Kxx xx xxx.

[MrAce]

Great topic imo, +1

I agree with the majority that bidding only 3♥ is an underbid.

On the other hand i really dont like the idea of splintering without an established fit. Its a selfish bid imo to ask pd both evaluate his hand vs our stiff and find out what our trump is at the same time without having an accident which suit will be RKCB on. Yes an artificial relay as Andy suggested can really help but i double 2♣ with 4♠+4♦ too, so i'd like to be able to bid 4♦ as setting trumps, not using as relay and then when i see our majors dont fit bidding 5♦. Imo it is probably workable one way or another but it gets way too complicated.

[benlessard]

3C. Too strong for 3H and I hate splintering with a stiff A.

[paulg]

Like MrAce I am concerned about continuations after four clubs. Partner may have doubled with a 5=3=3=2 eight count or 4=3=3=3 ten count and we are taking up a lot of room with the splinter. I'm not saying it is any easier when you start with three clubs but you do retain the ability to use four clubs later in the auction!

[gnasher]

My preference for 4♣ is partly caused by fear of the unknown, in that I don't know what anything means if I bid 3♣.

Suppose you bid 3♣ and partner bids 3♥ or 3♠. What will you do?

[han]

I meant reversing instead of splintering (obviously?), I corrected my post.

[han]

I would bid 3C. 3H is too little (unless you play this as forcing) and 4H puts too much emphasis on the hearts. I don't like 4C because I have a stiff ace and because it gets too messy when partner doesn't know my major.