[blackshoe]

---

Your call?

[neilkaz]

Whether 4♠ is Exclusion or not, I'll start with that bid on the way to slam and bid the grand if PD has the ace of trumps.

[aguahombre]

If I am driving to 7 opposite the ace of trumps, Josephine will tell me whether she has it.

[blackshoe]

Both seem good ideas, except that neither Exclusion nor Josephine is on the card. 4NT would be 1430.

[aguahombre]

blackshoe, on 2014-July-01, 18:47, said:

Both seem good ideas, except that neither Exclusion nor Josephine is on the card. 4NT would be 1430.

Get another card.

[akwoo]

I would just bid 6♦. If partner has the ace, they know I'm bidding slam without knowing if we have the ace of trump. I can imagine some opening hands with the ace that would pass, but not many.

[blackshoe]

aguahombre, on 2014-July-01, 18:58, said:

Get another card.

As it happens it appears I'll be getting another partner.

[the hog]

I agree with either 4S voidwood or 5NT. Either should be ok. If neither of these is available, I will bid 5S and hope pd gets the message.

[menggq]

5S ERKCB

6♦ in hand,so ERKCB to find ♦A then reach 7♦! as well.

[Cascade]

4♠ should not be exclusion here. The auction is too crammed. You need 4♠ as a slam try without a heart control. Or maybe even with a heart control if 4♥ might be natural.

5♠ should be unequivocally a void though. If you play exclusion it should be that.

[whereagles]

If I'm 100% sure pard would take 4♠ (or 5♠ lol) as voidwood, I'd bid that.

If only 99% sure, I'd just bid 6♦.

[rhm]

whereagles, on 2014-July-02, 01:28, said:

If I'm 100% sure pard would take 4♠ (or 5♠ lol) as voidwood, I'd bid that.

If only 99% sure, I'd just bid 6♦.

But surely 5♠, whether voidwood or only showing a void and suggesting a grand, must be better than 6♦.
7♦, however, will not be such a great contract if partner has three small clubs.
There is something to be said to start with your second suit and bid 5♣.
If partner bids 5♦ bid 5♠
If partner bids 6♦ or 6♣ you can bid 7♦.
If partner bids 5♠ bid 6♣

Rainer Herrmann

[the hog]

I think you are off the planet. If opener passes, and yes that is possible what do you do? Does 6c guarantee the D ace?

[Fluffy]

Bidding 6 diamonds opposite an opener with 4+ diamonds looks pretty hopeless to me. If for some reason we can't expect partner to do something intelligent over 5♠, weshould bid 7♦. Perhaps 4NT in case we can stop if partner somehow doesn't hold any ace.

Jumping to 6♦ before even checking if partner has the 2 aces is ludicrous. But bidding only 6 after he has 1 is not much better.

[PhilKing]

Anyone who think 4♠ is exclusion is basically confused and, for their own safety, should be barred from playing conventions invented after 1970.

My guess is that grand will be cold at least 90% of the time, so if I have no real way of investigating (eg 5♠), I will just punt it via RKCB.

[Cyberyeti]

PhilKing, on 2014-July-02, 06:42, said:

Anyone who think 4♠ is exclusion is basically confused and, for their own safety, should be barred from playing conventions invented after 1970.

My guess is that grand will be cold at least 90% of the time, so if I have no real way of investigating (eg 5♠), I will just punt it via RKCB.

Provided you know the level of understanding of your partner, if 5♠ isn't exclusion then 5N is GSF, I use whichever I think partner will understand.

[gszes]

Betting on the opps bidding is not necessarily a recipe for success
but when they opps fail to do some major preempting with a 9/10 card
suit at favorable the bet is probably a pretty good one. It is easy enough
to imagine the opps hands as something like 6313 3433 since they did
nothing radical and, once we realize this, bidding rkc is a huge standout
since p having the dia ace will pretty much assure us of making 7 with
or w/o the club Q (if p shows one ace).

If p has 1 ace the opps have a 9-4 or 10-3 chance of having the spade
A so that means p is a 9/4 or 10/3 chance of having the dia ace. Not quite
up to 80% standards normally needed for a grand but the free 4d bid should
add enough extra % to offset that deficiency.

Just bidding 6d is plain wrong since 7d should be a walk in the park if
p manages to show 2 aces. This is a game of % and this is a situation where
the odds are hugely stacked in favor of p having the dia ace (if they have
only 1) so go for it. Having some extra weapons for more advanced control
discovery would be nice but we use what we have learned as best we can.

[mikeh]

rhm, on 2014-July-02, 02:37, said:

7♦, however, will not be such a great contract if partner has three small clubs.

Rainer Herrmann

I would give 1000 to 1 odds that partner doesn't have 3 small clubs.

The opps, at favourable, bid only to 3♠ so, unless they are playing a very deep game, they don't have rate to have 10+ cards in spades. Partner holds 5+ hearts, probably 3 spades, and enough diamonds to freely raise. He can't have 3 clubs unless the opps have committed an unusual combination of passive pre-empting at white v red.

[ggwhiz]

5nt is easy if playing graded gsf. 6♣ would show the queen or less and 6♦, 1 of the top 2.

I started playing that way a couple of decades ago and am surprised it hasn't caught on as well as other things.

Without that I'll blast 7 but won't redouble.

[aguahombre]

ggwhiz, on 2014-July-02, 10:09, said:

5nt is easy if playing graded gsf. 6♣ would show the queen or less and 6♦, 1 of the top 2.

I started playing that way a couple of decades ago and am surprised it hasn't caught on as well as other things.

I always assumed graded gsf responses --variable depending on the number of steps available ---were part of it.