[DWM]

Last night my partner held a nice 17 count 2-3-6-2

Bidding went

1D - 1H....

When we looked at the options for further bids we found a little hole

2D/2H these both show a lot weaker hand
3D - this hides a possible 5-3 heart fit
3H - This could get us in trouble with a 4-3 fit, also how do we distinguish between strong hands with 3 or 4 card support

Any suggestions on dealing with these sort of hands? I can see one option is to open it 1NT but looking for other possibilities as well.

We are currently playing a 2/1 system strongly based on the ML CD

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

one option is to play 3D as showing a 6
card suit and promising 3 card support,
... I have seen this mentioned somewhere.

The usual way is to play 3H over 3D as forcing,
promising a strong 5 card suit, and 3S instead
of 3H should also show some interest in playing
hearts.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Gerben42]

This is a known problem hand.

Quote

one option is to play 3D as showing a 6
card suit and promising 3 card support,
... I have seen this mentioned somewhere.

This methods requires having the 2NT rebid free for 1-suited hands with ♦ without 3-card support. Normally this sequence is NOT free, however, you have to adapt your system.

For the moment I'd choose between 2NT and 3♦ as rebid.

[ArcLight]

>The usual way is to play 3H over 3D as forcing,
promising a strong 5 card suit, and 3S instead
of 3H should also show some interest in playing
hearts.


Is this standard?
I never heard of 3♠ over a 3♦ rebid showing heart interest in this auction.
I would assume pard is looking for 3NT and showing a spade stopper.
Or asking for one?
Would you bid 3NT with ♥ and ♠ stoppers and hope 3NT makes?
Does 3♠ show a good 4=5 hand?


I would bid 3♦ in general.

BUT

It would greatly help if you would display the exact hand.

>Last night my partner held a nice 17 count 2-3-6-2
xx
KQJ
KQJxxx
AQ

Spades are a concern in 3NT


Kx
Qxx
AKQTxx
Kx

3 NT can work out well.

[FrancesHinden]

This is a problem hand-type in standard methods.
With a 17-count 2362 you are too strong to open 1NT, even if you are happy to have a 6-card minor.

I agree with you that raising to 3H on 3-card support and a balanced (ish) hand is unlikely to be right.

Assuming the hand is not so good that you wish to force to game, the two best options are to rebid 3D (over which partner's 3H is natural and forcing, showing five cards only) or to rebid 2NT. Which you choose depends on the nature of the hand:

Qx
AJx
AQJxxx
Kx

looks like a 2NT rebid

xx
AKx
AKQxxx
Jx

looks like a 3D rebid (and a pretty maximum one, at that)

[Apollo81]

2NT or 3♦ depending on the location of your high cards.

[skjaeran]

Apollo81, on Apr 12 2007, 10:28 PM, said:

2NT or 3♦ depending on the location of your high cards.

Ditto.

[Stephen Tu]

These are variations of what is known as the "Bridge World Death" hand, since it is a common problem that stumps the experts in that magazine.

It's even worse with some 6331 shape hands where rebidding 2nt is unpalatable. If you need 2nt to be able to show 18-19 bal, there's no great way to do it in std methods. With non-std methods, possibly utilizing semi-artificial or wholly artificial forcing 2c/2s rebids, there's somewhat more room to find out whether partner has 4/5/6 hearts, still maybe stop in 3d if that's the last sensible contract, and sort out the black suit stopper question.