[Winstonm]

Does anyone else view 3C as at least reasonable?

[mikeh]

I’m pleased to say that I had not seen the actual band when I made any of my posts. Of course the fact that we could make 3N on the particular hand should carry very little weight and in fact 2N would lead to missing game anyway.

[Winstonm]

mikeh, on 2018-October-02, 10:14, said:

I’m pleased to say that I had not seen the actual band when I made any of my posts. Of course the fact that we could make 3N on the particular hand should carry very little weight and in fact 2N would lead to missing game anyway.

An argument in favor of 2NT is that if partner has a hand unsuitable for NT then the pictured hand is much less impressive without the KQ pulling full weight.

[ggwhiz]

Winstonm, on 2018-October-02, 09:58, said:

Does anyone else view 3C as at least reasonable?

Yes, in fact better than 2nt imo but I mentioned on the other page that my partnership would open 1♣ on most 3-3-4-3 hands as well as the standard ones. In a pick up partnership it would be my choice.

[dokoko]

Raising to 3NT is ridiculous, even if it costs only an imp.

As others pointed out, responder has a difficult decision and may be forced to bid 2NT on shaded values. If he was happy to play 3NT opposite a minimum he would have bid it himself.

So in fact you bid partner's hand and then blame him for overbidding. wd - typ

[rhm]

mikeh, on 2018-October-02, 09:38, said:

Again, if the argument were about a risky 2N (which I agree rates to lead to a minus more often than a plus) or a safe 3C, (the only downside of which would be missing the occasional game), I'd opt for 3C. But that is a false comparison, because 3C is not a sure thing. It is definitely much safer than 2N, but that isn't the point. As soon as one allows that 3C can lose by failing as well as by missing a game, the analysis becomes more difficult and less clear-cut.

I dealt out some hands given the South hand on the assumption that East would have 6-7 spades including the ace or headed by the JT with a maximum of 9 HCP.
If North (opener) has less than 4 clubs he must be either 4♠-4♥-3♦-2♣ or 4♠-4♥-2♦-3♣ or 3♠-4♥-3♦-3♣ with 12-14 HCP.
This occurred 13.6% of the time (where 2NT may be superior to 3♣).
If North has more HCP he would either not have opened 1♣ with these distributions or will not pass 3♣.

Otherwise North has 4 or more clubs. I assumed at most 19 HCP for North but excluded balanced 15-17 HCP.
Under those conditions North will have four or more clubs 86.4% of the time.

Bidding 3♣ does not preclude 3NT (except when North has a weak notrump where 3NT will often fail).
3♣ will often pave the way to a high level club contract when North is unbalanced.
An extreme example in one of my 10 000 deal generations North held ♠A92 ♥- ♦K876 ♣KQJ865 with West holding a 7 card heart suit.
After 3♣ further bidding would be easier for North South than after 2NT.

Rainer Herrmann