[eagles123]

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Bid this freak, starting with South! For arguement's sake, no interference.

[smerriman]

I would start:

1♥ - 1NT
3♦ - 3♠

which surely has to show the great diamond support and spade control. Whatever version of minor keycard you play after that, you're stopping in 6♦ due to the missing queen.

[mikeh]

I have Jeff’s magic elixir in my tool bag, so I have a choice of emphasizing hearts or showing diamonds.

It’s impossible to know how I’d decide at the table…any pretence to objectivity disappears as soon as we see responder’s hand, which makes 1H 1N 3D ‘obvious’

I have the ability to bid 1H 1N 3C as either a huge one suiter or a gf hearts-clubs two suiter. If I chose to use it, responder bids 3D (on most hands) and I bid 3H, forcing. What happens thereafter is a guess…north has two Aces, which argues for optimism, and the heart 10 might, but usually won’t, be useful. I’d expect to miss slam.

I like to think I’d reject 3C and show diamonds. In one partnership we use 1H 1N 2S as multi purpose, including a heart- minor gf, with 1H 1N 3D as 5-5 strong but not forcing.

So in that partnership I think I do that..responder asks with 2N, I bid 3D and responder drives to slam….we don’t gf on less than gf values so opposite this sequence, north is thinking grand more than he’s worried about going down in six.

In all other partnerships, 3D over 1N.

I reject 3S since that suggests a probe for 3N…fine if he bids it, since I pull, but what if he unsurprisingly doesn’t have a club stopper or is otherwise not prepared to bid 3N.

I raise to 4D.

Opener bids 4H as an offer to play there, and now responder can just bid 6D…that’s what I’d do.

[mw64ahw]

Playing Kaplan inversion and a bespoke approach for strong hands.
1♥-1♠ F1
2NT (4+♦ or 3523) - 3♣ Which?
3♥ 4♦6+♥ - 3♠ SI ctrl
4♣ ctrl - 4♦
5♣ void 1/3/5 keycards - 5♥ no Q♦
6♦

[Cyberyeti]

We are fortunate not playing 2/1 so we start 1♥-2♦ after which no skill is required to bid 6♦

[bluenikki]

Cyberyeti, on 2022-June-26, 01:30, said:

We are fortunate not playing 2/1 so we start 1♥-2♦ after which no skill is required to bid 6♦

OK then, give opener a diamond void and KQJx of clubs.

From responder's point of view, would 1♥ - 2♦ ; 3♣ promise a good 4+ club suit. Mightn't it be KQx with no full spade stop?

Really, bidding a terrible suit works great when a strong holding turns up opposite. Otherwise, it creates an impression that will be impossible to erase in the subsequent auction.

[Cyberyeti]

bluenikki, on 2022-June-26, 07:41, said:

OK then, give opener a diamond void and KQJx of clubs.

From responder's point of view, would 1♥ - 2♦ ; 3♣ promise a good 4+ club suit. Mightn't it be KQx with no full spade stop?

Really, bidding a terrible suit works great when a strong holding turns up opposite. Otherwise, it creates an impression that will be impossible to erase in the subsequent auction.

If partner has that hand, he's under zero pressure to bid 3♣ as 2N is GF and not necessarily balanced

[pescetom]

For us it might well go:
1H 1NT
3D 4D
4H 4S
5C 5N
6D P
where 5C also denies even keycards and 5N also denies the trumps Q [note for al78: see how a singleton opposite top honour was intentionally not shown here. Some partnerships leave this up to choice, some never show and some always show in any case. Even if shown with 5H, it wouldn't have been an issue].

[bluenikki]

Cyberyeti, on 2022-June-26, 08:20, said:

If partner has that hand, he's under zero pressure to bid 3♣ as 2N is GF and not necessarily balanced

even with no spade stop?

[AL78]

bluenikki, on 2022-June-26, 15:05, said:

even with no spade stop?

Yes. If you play Acol weak NT and hold 15-17 balanced, you might open a suit and bid 2NT opposite a 2/1 with a suit unguarded.

[AL78]

pescetom, on 2022-June-26, 09:23, said:

For us it might well go:
1H 1NT
3D 4D
4H 4S
5C 5N
6D P
where 5C also denies even keycards and 5N also denies the trumps Q [note for al78: see how a singleton opposite top honour was intentionally not shown here. Some partnerships leave this up to choice, some never show and some always show in any case. Even if shown with 5H, it wouldn't have been an issue].

Assuming you mean the choice to bid 5N instead of 5H, I can see cueing a singleton opposite opener's primary suit probably isn't a good idea, you want honor cards opposite suit length, not shortages. The other hand which initiated my separate thread was about cueing a singleton first time round in an unbid suit.

[Cyberyeti]

bluenikki, on 2022-June-26, 15:05, said:

even with no spade stop?

It's completely artificial, it is not a no trump bid in the normal sense of the word, it's GF and not necessarily balanced. This is a logical extension of what AL78 points out about playing a weak no trump.

It also means you have 2 ways to make some bids, 1♥-2♣-2N-3♣-3♥ for us is stronger than 1♥-2♣-3♥