[pescetom]

Partner's bid of 3♥ was a surprise but on reflection also a relief, not only is he still there but also forcing to game. Yes my diamonds are vestigial and 6-card spades looks unlikely, but I'm comfortable to bid 3♠ which invites a control-bid.

In the meantime discussions here are diverging, so I guess it's time to take a step back and show both hands.

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Partner has some tasty ingredients too
How would bidding proceed in your partnership and to what contract?

[Cyberyeti]

1♣-1♠
2N(GF unbal)-3♥(5+5)
3N(at most 2-2 majors, either single suit clubs or secondary diamonds in a (12)46 or similar)-4♦(cue, but in the nature of a tell me something sensible)
4♠(partner could be 6-5 but not 5-6)-4N(KC, bid like this, it's very difficult to visualise a hand that doesn't have 3 aces, but we'll check)
5♣(0/3)-5♥(K)
6♣(K)-6♦(Q)
7♠

You can write partner down for AKQxx(x), Kxxxx, KQ(x), (x)

He may or may not have ♠10, ♥/♣Q (although he prob bids the grand with either of those)

If he has ♠10, the grand is on both majors 4-2 or better and you might get away with N having 2 hearts and 5 spades depending on the lead. If he has a 6th spade with the 10 it's almost cold, 6 without the 10 it's more than decent.

If he doesn't have any useful extras it's not so good, and you will need to guess well, but it's far from terrible

[gszes]

The_Badger, on 2018-December-03, 11:48, said:

Apologies, George, but I normally agree with your posts, but the problem I feel with bidding 2♦ here is when partner has 5♠s + 5♦s. Is he going to respond 1♦ to 1♣?

Fake reverses are fine as long as you don't become unstuck later. I agree with the other commentators that either 3♣ or 3NT are the only rebids depending on style.

We have the entire 2 and 3 level to discover where we want to play. If p does not care for NT after 2d it is almost always going to be wrong and we have lots of exploration space to discover where and how high we want to go. If partner is exactly 55 !S!D we can always convert any dia contract to spades and wont often be worse off.

[pescetom]

Our bidding went:
1♣ - 1♠
3♣ - 3♥
3♠ (fit, invites control bid) - 4♣ (control - must be void; interested)
4♦ (control) - 4♥ (control - must be K)
5♣ (control; 1 or 3 keycards) - 5♦ (control - must be K)
5♥ (control) - 6♦ (control - must be Q; have remaining keycards; have Q trumps)
7♠

Much like cyberyeti, I can write partner down for AKQxx(x) Kxxx(x) KQ(x) void, and the same risks. I can stop in 6♠, correct to 6NT or go for the grand. I expect most of the field to be in 6NT, but 7♠ has a fighting chance and partner deserves his moment of glory.

[pescetom]

The_Badger, on 2018-December-03, 11:48, said:

Is he going to respond 1♦ to 1♣?

Another partner of mine (less steeped in italian natural bidding) said he would have responded 1♦ rather than 1♠ - It has its merits in this situation.


I'm a bit surprised that nobody is bidding to 6NT in more traditional ways here. I'd bet at least one pair in my club bid
1♣ - 1♠
3NT - 6NT

[pescetom]

If anyone's still interested, here are all four hands.

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The distribution is benevolent and both 7♠ and 6NT make with no problems.
All the rest of the field was in 6NT=, except for one of each of 6♣=, 3NT+3, 7NT-1.