[henriqued]

In a recent BBO Hornets tournament the followin sequence was produced:
Starting by South: P - 1♦ - P - 1♥ - P - 2 ♦ - P - 2 ♠
My question is: is this last bid (2 ♠) forcing for (at least) one round or not? I Think it is, but my partner (that I did not know) considering himself an Advanced player, has passed!
Both hands were:
My Partner (sitting in West):
♠ K64
♥ K2
♦ KJ10432
♣ Q10
Myself (sitting in East):
♠ AQ
♥ QJ764
♦ AQ876
♣ 7

The intention of my bid (2 ♠) was of course to continue bidding in order to assess the best contract or even slam. Was I wrong?
Another possible option would be a Slinter (4 ♣) on my first bid, but that had gone over 3NT and seemed nonsense to me.
Any other ideas?...
Thank you.

[ahydra]

You can make hand diagrams - click the symbol that looks like a spade symbol between two red lines, on the top row of the tools when editing a post. That produces things like this:

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Anyway, let's look at what happened. 1D is obviously OK and so is 1H and so is 2D. Now over 2D I would not have bid 2S, but 4C splinter. You evaluated the hand correctly as being worth slam interest - but it is always correct to show a major on the first round rather than support the minor directly. After that you have such good diamond support and shortage in clubs, so 4C seems the most descriptive bid. (Side note: try to avoid lying about length in a major suit - it is ok to rebid minor suits on 2 or 3 cards if you need to create a force, but not majors.)

Partner passing 2S though is ridiculous. A new suit by responder is 100% forcing for at least one round; a responder's reverse (here you bid hearts and then spades, creating a "reverse"-type sequence) is normally GF. So your partner should have bid 3D, since he does not have 3-card heart support (else 3H) nor a stop in clubs (else 2NT).

ahydra

[henriqued]

Thank you "ahydra".
Your reply was the best I could hope, including the hand diagram!
You were very helpful and I wish you a Happy New Year with plenty of good Bridge scores!
Best regards from Portugal,
henriqued

[kenberg]

Of course partner might pass 4♣ also.

OP comments on his slam intentions and I agree, except that, as a hydra says, 4♣ is better. But change the hand slightly, say making the ♦ 6 into the ♣ 6. The splinter is no longer available and, much as I hate to bid 2♠ on AQ tight, I see nothing else. Now, if partner bids 2NT over 2♠, I have to decide whether I want to raise to 3 or make a slam try of 3♦. Which you do is a judgment call but at least in my opinion if I make a call that encourages partner to bid NT if he can handle clubs, and if he then does bid NT, a pull by me back to his minor suit is a slam try..

At any rate, 2♠ is very very forcing.

[henriqued]

Thank you both, ahydra and kenberg.
After reading your interesting replies, I have one doubt that I would like to clarify:
In this auction (and I am going to try the hand diagram now...)

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if I bid 4♣ after having bid 1♥ on the first bid, 4♣ over 2♦ would still be a splinter?

If so, I thing I need to revise my splinter's notes or try to find a site (perhaps BridgeHands) where I can see a comprehensive explanation of splinters...
Greetings,
henriqued

[ahydra]

henriqued, on 2014-January-05, 12:53, said:

Thank you both, ahydra and kenberg.
After reading your interesting replies, I have one doubt that I would like to clarify:
In this auction (and I am going to try the hand diagram now...)

---

if I bid 4♣ after having bid 1♥ on the first bid, 4♣ over 2♦ would still be a splinter?

If so, I thing I need to revise my splinter's notes or try to find a site (perhaps BridgeHands) where I can see a comprehensive explanation of splinters...
Greetings,
henriqued

It is an interesting question Normally splinters still apply on the second round - this is important in two cases:

1) you have a major and partner opens a minor, as here. Unless you have a VERY strong hand, you must first bid the major before supporting partner's suit. Hence any splinter will have to wait.
2) partner has opened in a major and you have only three card support. This depends on style, but most people like to play that a direct splinter, 2NT (Jacoby) or similar bid shows 4-card support, while with three cards you would bid something else first. So if you had say Kxx AKxxx x Axxx and partner opens 1S, you could start with 2H, then over 2S jump to 4D to show the three-card support and diamond shortage.

There is also 4th suit forcing to consider and whether you show natural two-suiters using the 4th suit. For example 1S-2D; 2H-4C might be played either as a splinter, or as a natural bid showing GF values with at least 5-5 (probably more) in the minors. I must admit, I've been playing with a regular partner for three years now and I'm not sure we have an agreement on that sequence!

ahydra

[henriqued]

Thank ahidra you for your interesting views.
Yes, I tend to agree with you and I also think that we have sometimes more than one option to convey our signals and should not be limited to one option. In this case, perhaps a splinter could be the best second bid, considering the opening in a minor and a response in a major.
In other (similar) cases however, perhaps a 4th suit forcing may be better...that's why the world of bridge is so interesting and not so easy; regrettably, we simply don't have enough time to absorb it all!

Greetings,
henriqued