[han]

You hold xx AKJxxx AJxx x, vulnerable at IMPs. Partner opens 1C, you respond 1H and partner raises to 2H. What's your plan?

I have ranked all possible strategies that I could think of from pessimistic to optimistic. What do you choose?

BTW you are playing online with a good player (but no star). You have almost no agreements but you seem to mesh well.

[Gerben42]

Well too many of your options have "blackwood" in it directly. I need a ♠ cuebid from partner, no way around that. Before that I cannot bid Blackwood.

[mikeh]

I voted for 'other'.

Blackwood will rarely tell you what you need to know. If done before partner cues in ♠, you deserve to see the opps cash the ♠AK. If done later, knowing the number of Aces and the possession or lack of the ♥Q really doesn't help a great deal.

I bid 3♦ (which is forcing, and not an attempt to improve the partscore).

This should be interpreted as 'initially a game try, but may be a slam try: if the latter, then 3♦ shows the A'

So opener will bid 3♥ with a hand that is minimum and disappointing in ♦. That tells you that slam is unlikely, but not out of the question: maybe he has AQx xxxx Q10xx Axx: slam is still reasonable.

I would make one more try over 3♥, by bidding 4♣. This should be second round control (likely but not always a stiff) and allow him to bid 4♦ with at least one black Ace and the ♦K. Now 4♥ by me is non-forcing and allows him to picture my ♠ holding. He may be able to upgrade enough to drive to slam, but I would not go beyond 5♥ myself after this start.

If he likes his hand over 3♦, he should cue a black A on the way to game. Any bid by him beyond the signoff 3♥ shows an acceptance of the notional game try. He must cue an ace to cater to my possible slam try variant.

So 3♠ by him would be very nice to hear. I would now bid 4♣ and again over 4♦, bid 4♥. He knows I have mild slam interest with both minors controlled and hence almost certainly xx or xxx in ♠. he should be able to evaluate.

If he bids 4♣ over 3♦, I am going to be concerned about his ♠ holding. I am declarer, so Kxx is inadequate and it seems unlikely that he could hold the (probable) ♥Q, good ♦, ♣A and the ♠KQ or a stiff (where are the opps with 10 good ♠ between them?). So I am going to bid 4♥ over 4♣.

[mike777]

6-1(10 card trump fit)=5 lTC hand, must make some slam tries. 12-7-5=12 tricks.

13-3+2=12 tricks. Again must make some slam tries.
13=total tricks, minus 3 equals two shortest suits, 25-27=plus 2.

May I suggest if both LTC and FTL says try for slam, you go for it and pull out old blacky at some point if partner can cooperate with you. 3D for now.

Axx=Txxx=x=Axxxx gives us some play.

[whereagles]

My 'nose' tells me 4♥ is the limit.

However, if I'm feeling lucky, I might try a semi-psychic 2♠. If pard bids 3♣ now, showing club values, I'll devaluate my hand and sign-off in 4♥. But if pard bypasses the club cue, I might trot out ol'black or continue cueing.

[hrothgar]

I'm bidding a direct 4♥.
Slam is possible opposite a perfect minimum, but seems unlikely...

If I were to move forward, I would bid 3♦ intending:

1. To rebid 4♥ over 3♥
2. To rebid 4♥ over 4♣
3. To cuebid 4♦ over 3♠

Note that I don't cuebid shortage in partner's first bid suit.
It might be reasonable to relax this rule opposite a standard 1♣ opening, however, I don't have that agreement with any of my partners

[Walddk]

whereagles, on Sep 11 2005, 10:35 PM, said:

However, if I'm feeling lucky, I might try a semi-psychic 2♠.

hmmmm (hope my post isn't too long).

Roland

[Walddk]

Too many Blackwood's, one 3♦ too few among the options. I need a spade cue bid before I can venture any kind of ace asking bid. Good hand for any intermediate player to see that Blackwood is no good if you are off a first or second round control in a side suit.

So 3♦ for the time being, usually a game try. However, can be the beginning of a slam try.

Roland

[whereagles]

Post too long? What do you mean?

[Free]

Start with 3♦, continue with 4♦ (cuebid, 1st round control) after a signoff. We need controls for this slam, even if partner is minimum we might have slam.

[SoTired]

4C splinter. If partner has little wasted club honors, then must have spade controls. There are many hands with a spade controls that don't make 6H, like Ax Qxxx xxx AQxx. Here we have all 6 keycards and the SA, but have little hope of making 6H. So Blackwood and q-bidding are worthless. Only the 4C splinter helps us find slam when partner holds AJ Qxxx KQx xxxx

If I am worried that 4C will not be recognized as a splinter, then I bid 4H and forget about slam. There are many more hands where 5H is hopeless (because of the 1C opening bid) than have a shot at 6H.

[mike777]

SoTired, on Sep 11 2005, 09:12 PM, said:

4C splinter. If partner has little wasted club honors, then must have spade controls. There are many hands with a spade controls that don't make 6H, like Ax Qxxx xxx AQxx. Here we have all 6 keycards and the SA, but have little hope of making 6H. So Blackwood and q-bidding are worthless. Only the 4C splinter helps us find slam when partner holds AJ Qxxx KQx xxxx

If I am worried that 4C will not be recognized as a splinter, then I bid 4H and forget about slam. There are many more hands where 5H is hopeless (because of the 1C opening bid) than have a shot at 6H.

Great example hand..Please note the key point with this hand is opp have 9 spades and 15 hcp but did not overcall 1club or 1H....we will pay off to silent opp.

[SoTired]

I agree... good bidders may find/avoid 6H starting with 3D. But I think the 4C splinter finds/avoids more easily even for poor bidders.

My "simpleton" rule for replying to a splinter (Please experts, tell me what you think of it, because this is what I teach students):

Quote

1) Take out all value of KQJ in the splinter suit and 1/2 the value of an ace in the splinter suit
2) If you still have your original bid, then you are slam positive. If you now fall below the minimum for your previous bid, then you are slam negative and should immediately sign-off.

Example (1C 1H 2H 4C):
Axx Qxxx Qx AQxx - 14 less 2 (♣Q) less 2 (1/2 ♣A) = 10 = Less than an opening bid, so sign-off in 4H.
AJx Qxxx KQ Qxxx = 14 less 2 (♣Q) = 12 = Still have opener, so bid 4D Last Train or just bid RKC since you have 1st or 2nd in all side suits.

[han]

I started with 3D and got excited when partner cued 3S. I tried 4D, but partner signed off in 4H. Perhaps I should have made another try, but I didn't. Thought this was quite close.

I won't post the result or partner's hand as I don't think that it hurt the discussion.

[awm]

I like 4♣ splinter, because this gives partner more information right away. If I start with 3♦, likely partner will accept a game try with a hand like:

Kxx Qxxx KQ KJxx

After all this is a total max with four trumps and two honors in diamonds. The problem is, when partner accepts she will either bid 4♥, or perhaps cuebid 3♠. In either case it seems unlikely that I will get to play the hand in 4♥ (in the first case I'm committed to either keycard or cuebidding 5♣, in the second partner could easily have the spade ace instead of the king and slam is fine opposite Axx Qxxx KQ Kxxx of course). With the above hand, even 5♥ will be too high if the spade ace is offside.

The point is, if I splinter and partner signs off, I feel confident that it is right (partner has at least some wastage in clubs so we probably don't have slam). If I splinter and partner cues, I feel confident that at least 5♥ will be safe. Over a 3♦ try I have no such confidence.

[Winstonm]

I had to vote for other as well. The hand is too slammish to not make a try but too weak to get overly excited. I start with 3D to see if that gives partner's hand a boost - if partner can bid only 3H game is enough. The really hard part is what to do next if partner cooperates.

For me, if partner bids 3S we still aren't committed to slam and I will cooperate at this point with 4C - this is a much different auction than one in which partner makes a 2/1 and I cue bid his suit - the 1C opening doesn't show anything more than xxx in the suit so the control may be critical to get partner to bid 4D with something like AQ, Qxxx, KQx, xxxx.

Winston

[helene_t]

I'm not sure if 4♣ is a splinter. I have the agreement that we don't splinter in partner's suit. So 4♣ would be a picture bid. On the other hand, maybe a picture bid could go via 3♣. Is it obvious to everybody that 4♣ is a splinter here?

[SoTired]

helene_t, on Sep 12 2005, 12:05 AM, said:

Is it obvious to everybody that 4♣ is a splinter here?

I think so, using the rule, "If a bid is forcing, then a jump in that suit is a splinter." (There are a few exceptions).

But 3C is not a new suit.

So is 3C forcing? I think it is, but some could argue that 3C could be made on an invitational hand with 4 hearts and 5 clubs. Opener with a min and only 3-card heart support is allowed to pass. That makes 4C the forcing version of that hand and not a splinter.