[eagles123]

ok so after my P's opening 2NT bid (20-22) I held

♠KJTxx
♥Jxx
♦Jx
♣ xxx


So my questions here are

1 - Would it be better to try some kind of 5 card stayman to try and establish if partner has a 5 card heart suit or should I just transfer to spades and then bid 3NT game choice (which i did)
2 - if we establish that we have both a 5/3 spade fit and a 5/3 heart fit where is it preferable to play? I.e. is it better for my partner to have the length in trumps or for me to have it? (obviously my partner would be declarer on both)
3 - if the answer to the above is better to play in 5/3 spade fit then how do we get there whilst still finding 5/3 heart fit

Cheers

Eagles

[Phil]

Great questions - but for reference, try to make your thread titles a little more specific.

1 - Would it be better to try some kind of 5 card stayman to try and establish if partner has a 5 card heart suit or should I just transfer to spades and then bid 3NT game choice (which i did)

Playing normal Puppet Stayman, you could ask for a five card heart suit, but if partner gives you the wrong answer, its very difficult to sensibly look for spades. There are some advanced versions like Romex Stayman, but they are beyond the scope of this subforum, so I agree with just transferring and bidding 3N.

2 - if we establish that we have both a 5/3 spade fit and a 5/3 heart fit where is it preferable to play? I.e. is it better for my partner to have the length in trumps or for me to have it?

Overall its better to play the with the long trump suit in the weak hand. If you play this in hearts, its quite possible that partner can never use your spade suit, but in spades, partner's heart suit will have plenty of entries. Imagine partner with ♠Qxx + ♥AKxxx. In hearts, the defense holds up on spades twice, and dummy's spades are dead. If I had a weaker spade suit, I would be more concerned, because in spades, its possible the defense may make you ruff with dummy's high trump which could be a problem.

3 - if the answer to the above is better to play in 5/3 spade fit then how do we get there whilst still finding 5/3 heart fit

Same as #1 - you don't

[Cyberyeti]

If you have two equivalent 5-3 fits, you normally play in the weak hand's suit, to give you more entries to lead up towards the strong hand.

You have a choice as to what you wish to do without special agreements.

You can bid 3♥ to show 5 spades then bid 3N.
You can bid 3♥ then 4♠
You can enquire about 5 card majors, show 4♠ and play 3N
You can enquire about 5 card majors, show 4♠ and play 4♠ (via a 4♥ retransfer if you've agreed it as part of your puppet)

None of the above are stupid, you just pay your money and take your choice.

[eagles123]

thanks for the answers guys, makes perfect sense about wanting the weaker hand to have the trumps... also I'll be sure to make more topic specific thread titles in the future

Eagles