[SNTSNT7]

North (Dealer)
S Q4
H ----
D KQ109
C AKQJ1082

South
S AK5
H J10762
D AJ8
C 65

[mike777]

YOU CAN debate 2c or one club

If 2clubs perhaps:

2c=2d
3c=3h
4c=5nt?


3c=long clubs 3 loser hand
now south knows...grand is very very close.

at this point to keep it simple south might bid 5nt as grand slam force.

I fully grant this is a rather simple approach.

[SNTSNT7]

4C just showing long Clubs? What are the following bids?

[SNTSNT7]

How can South know that N is void in Hearts?

[akwoo]

For me, this is just short of a 2♣ opening.

This would mean the bidding goes

1♣ - 1♥
2♦ - 2♠/2N(*)
3♣ - 3N
4♣ - 4♠(**)
5♥(***) - 7♣

The 7♣ bid is a bit of a gamble, but partner was committing to small slam without knowing you have more than an ace and a king, and you have two aces and a king.

(*) Over a reverse, it's common to agree either to play 2N or the cheaper of 2N and the 4th suit as a weakness showing bid (so that all bids at the 3 level can be game forcing). If 2N is the weakness showing bid, then 2♠ (fourth suit forcing) is right here. If 2♠ is weakness showing, then 2N (which would be forcing to game) is the right bid.
(**) Surely this is a cue in support of clubs. 4♦ would be less clear; if certain partner would take it as a cue and not an offer to play, it's a better bid (and makes the subsequent auction better).
(***) Of course this shows 1st round control - it commits to small slam and hence has to be looking for grand. And probably a void - otherwise partner would use blackwood.

[HighLow21]

1C-1H-3C-3NT would be the most likely start to this. From there it's system-dependent, but I would bid 4NT if my partner knew it was not a quant invite to 6NT.

Also, if it starts 1C-1H-3C, South has to feel like 3NT is a massive underbid, so perhaps he bids Blackwood.

Either way this is a good challenge hands for newer/average partnerships to get to 6C and for advanced partnerships to find 7C.

I strongly recommend that beginners never, ever bid 7 of anything unless it's an absolute certainty on simple bidding. This will happen maybe once every 1,000 deals.

An example: your partner opens the bidding with 1H and you hold:

♠AKQJ953
♥K7
♦AKQ
♣7

Partner opened and you're staring at a solid spade suit and 22 HCP. Ask him how many aces he has and bid either 6♠ or 7♠ (or 7NT) depending on his answer.