[mgoetze]

---

3♦ showed a non-minimum (Lebensohl), the bids after that were undiscussed (but we play neither minorwood nor kickback). ATB and how would you have bid it?

[lalldonn]

To me the 3♥ bid shows 5-6. Some will argue (what would you do with 1453 and no club stopper etc.) but certainly it at least could be 5-6 and the 4♥ bid seems to confirm it. These bids seem most responsible for the wrong strain being reached.

The 4♣ bid is weird to me. Having already shown values with 3♦ and with so much of the hand wasted in the black suits and no aces, I would just have bid 3NT. But I think 4♥ is the bid most responsible for what happened.

I would have bid
1♦ 1♠
2♥ 3♦
4♦ 5♣
6♦
or something like that (I hope)

If you start
1♦ 1♠
2♥ 3♦
3♥ 3NT
Then I definitely think north should keep bidding, 4♦ probably. Slam is too likely, especially when partner shows something in clubs.

[Fluffy]

I don't care what 3♥ shows (its a style thing), 4♥ must be definitelly wrong. PArtner's 4♣ have told you all you need, he doesn't have ♠A nor ♠K so use damend blackwood, or cue spades if you think blackwood doesn't help you.

[MrAce]

I am definetely with Gonzalo. 3♥ is what it is in your pdship, and imo it should be more flexible bid than defining it as "6-5" However i would also think pd has 6-5 after 4♥. I basically like the auction untill the 4♥ bid.

[Codo]

yes blackwood after 4 ♣ looks obvious...

[kayin801]

Looks like S took 3♥ as 5-6 and tried to cue in clubs with hearts confirmed, then N tried to cue twice in hearts with diamonds confirmed, but S took 3 and 4♥ as a natural bid and a signoff. I actually don't think this sequence is so bad as some others have said if that was the miscommunication. North is trying to find a way to discover club controls with partner and can't effectively find a bid to do it since 3♥, 3♠, and 3NT all have naturalish meanings. But 4♦ should be forward going and probably show no club control (and its unlikely there's no spade control on this bid) so S can show his control and I think we end up with lalldonn's auction.

[FrancesHinden]

lalldonn, on 2012-October-06, 12:05, said:

To me the 3♥ bid shows 5-6. Some will argue (what would you do with 1453 and no club stopper etc.) but certainly it at least could be 5-6 and the 4♥ bid seems to confirm it. These bids seem most responsible for the wrong strain being reached.

The 4♣ bid is weird to me. Having already shown values with 3♦ and with so much of the hand wasted in the black suits and no aces, I would just have bid 3NT. But I think 4♥ is the bid most responsible for what happened.

I would have bid
1♦ 1♠
2♥ 3♦
4♦ 5♣
6♦
or something like that (I hope)

I'd certainly want to start that way up to 5C, but 6D over 5C is obviously silly: partner is unlimited, why couldn't he have something like QJ10xx Jx Kxx AKx ? surely he'll worry we're off a major suit ace if you jump to 6D over 4C.

[PhilKing]

I would bid Four Spades over Three Diamonds.

For me this is void showing but not RKCB. Perfect! If partner has AKxx xxx Kxx xxx, that's just too bad - I was never getting to 3NT.

[mgoetze]

kayin801, on 2012-October-07, 10:31, said:

Looks like S took 3♥ as 5-6 and tried to cue in clubs with hearts confirmed, then N tried to cue twice in hearts with diamonds confirmed,

Actually both took 4♣ as a cuebid for diamonds, but then South took 4♥ as an offer to play there anyway, what with 10 tricks being easier to take than 11 and all that.

North said he would bid 4♥ rather than 3♥ with 5-6. South did not think this precluded 3♥ then 4♥ being an offer to play.

[ArtK78]

4♥ is what I call a "maximum confusion bid." It accomplishes nothing but gives partner a chance to go horribly wrong by giving him a totally wrong impression of what is going on in the auction. It appears to have worked remarkably well in this case.