[hokum]

All vulnerable:

LHO passes
Your partner bids 2♦ (weak 2 in a major or 22-23 bal)
RHO passes
You bid 4♥

What does your bid mean?
What should your partner do with the big hand?
What hand do you have to bid 4♥?

After hearing your thoughts I'll show you the hand and ask how you'd bid it. Thanks

[gwnn]

He promises a long heart suit. Opener should keycard with the strong balanced hand most of the time, I guess.

You may or may not know this convention,but it is nearly universal on the higher levels:
2D-4C=transfer to your major (i.e., 4♦=♥, 4♥=♠)
2D-4D=bid your major

[whereagles]

I don't know what the bid means for the person who invented multi, but I used to play it, all bids in a major were for correction:

2♦ n♥ = pass/correct
2♦ n♠ = pass/correct

Big hand now bids nNT and hopes for the best. Obviously, if responder has a weakish hand and 44 majors he should anticipate opener being strong and bid a simple 2M.

If responder has a major of his own, he bids it twice, starting with 1 level below the intended. Example:

2♦ 3♠ = pass/correct
4♥ 4♠ = cancel previous message. I really have spades. Pls pass

[Cyberyeti]

gwnn, on 2014-July-03, 01:02, said:

He promises a long heart suit. Opener should keycard with the strong balanced hand most of the time, I guess.

You may or may not know this convention,but it is nearly universal on the higher levels:
2D-4C=transfer to your major (i.e., 4♦=♥, 4♥=♠)
2D-4D=bid your major

It's fairly well known, but I wouldn't say it's anywhere close to universal.

I'd add that 2♦-3N showing a hand that would want to play game but not invite slam opposite the big balanced with 4-4M is quite useful here.

[gwnn]

I was trying to look at the first 10 pairs in the European Championships who play Multi and discuss follow-ups properly, and it turns out that a lot of them do not discuss it There were some cc's just saying that 2M and 3M are p/c but nothing about higher bids, I did not look at them. But out of pairs that do have detailed follow-ups on their CC, it is universal (10 out of 10 so far). There was a pair in Estonia who play 4D as bid your suit but probably forgot to mention 4C requesting a transfer. I checked 21 CC's so the % of people who play 4♣=trnf, 4♦ bid your major is somewhere between 47.6% and 100%. I think of the 11 pairs who don't have the agreement on the CC, most of them actually do play it but just didn't think it was important to put on the system card. I guess you will say that most of them actually don't play it/never discussed it -- fine. However, I did not see even 1 pair write 4♥ as p/c, that should tell us at least something.

[hokum]

Cyberyeti, on 2014-July-03, 04:07, said:

...I'd add that 2♦-3N showing a hand that would want to play game but not invite slam opposite the big balanced with 4-4M is quite useful here.

gwnn, on 2014-July-03, 05:14, said:

...I did not see even 1 pair write 4♥ as p/c, that should tell us at least something.

Thank you very much for the detailed responses! I like the 3N non-slammy, and other suggested 4-level responses.

The actual hand was:
♠T9xxx
♥QT9xx
♦x
♣xx

Gwnn you're probably correct that the undiscussed 4♥ bid was dangerous. I was playing with an ex-Australian rep, and he presumed I had roughly Kxxx,Kxxx,xx,Axx and so bid 6♠, two off.

I thought my bid was a two-way shot, thinking that partner probably had the big balanced hand, but on the off-chance he didn't, I wanted to make sure RHO's next decision was at the 4-level (many partnerships pass a 2♦ multi initially with 16+ for better or worse).

[Zelandakh]

gwnn, on 2014-July-03, 01:02, said:

You may or may not know this convention,but it is nearly universal on the higher levels:
2D-4C=transfer to your major (i.e., 4♦=♥, 4♥=♠)
2D-4D=bid your major

Although this is good for a mini-multi, a strong alternative that is arguably better for a mixed opening is for 4♣ to show 5+ hearts and 4♦ to show 4 hearts and 5+ spades. That enables Opener to make a better decision on going forward with the strong hand types.

[gwnn]

At least the way I understand it is usually 4♣ is based on a strongish balanced hand that wants to declare and 4♦ could indeed be 4-4 weakish, but still usually bidding to make. The super-weak preemptive hands with length in both majors don't come up that often I think.

If you want to accommodate strong options, you can play something like

2♦-
3♦=preemptive raise of either major, 3-3
3M=p/c, promising 4 cards in the other major
4m=as above but maybe have it promise 10+

[gwnn]

Cyberyeti, on 2014-July-03, 04:07, said:

I'd add that 2♦-3N showing a hand that would want to play game but not invite slam opposite the big balanced with 4-4M is quite useful here.

Is this really useful? What kind of hand wants to play game opposite a weak two but has no slam interest opposite 20-21 balanced (not to mention 22-23 which some people instead play)? Lots of distribution I guess but then wouldn't that give it slam interest opposite a 2NT opening, and anyway, with a lot of distribution how come you want to play 3NT opposite a 3NT opening?

[Zelandakh]

I think the archetypal hand for that would be 4-4 in the majors and out Csaba, so 9875 T843 2 6532 or some such rubbish.

[gwnn]

Yes, I guess so. Had some kind of a brain freeze, taking "want to play game" as "expecting to make game." I'm not sure if I'd like to bid to the 4-level with these hands, though, honestly, they will just double us and we will go to 800/1100 and they don't even have to try to find a good game.

[inquiry]

Below is cut-and-paste how I play my multi-2♦ taken directly from my blog post. The only difference is my strong version is 23-24 not 22-23. As you can see, I play 4♥ as "this is my suit" not pass/correct.

Responding to 2♦ is simple. First, you treat it as a weak two in a major, and use paradox responses as defined by Chris Ryall. The basic principle is that if you would not make a game try over a normal weak two in hearts, you BID 2♥ in case that is what your partner has. The responses I like are:

• Pass = almost never occurs. must have lots of diamonds and a complete lack of hcp. Remember, partner can have 24 hcp!!!
• 2♥ = pass/correct. With a weak two, opener passes, or bids 2♠ if that is his suit. Responder may have game try in ♠ but no hope opposite hearts
• 2♠ = game try in ♥ opener can bid 3 or 4♥ with hearts, and pass with weak two in spades. Any other bid shows the opening stronger hands.
• 3♣ or 3♦ = both are natural and forcing
• 3♥ or 3♠ = Pass or correct at 3 level
• 3NT = Preemptive major raise (4-4 in majors)
• 4♣ = 4♠ and 5♥
• 4♦ = 5♠ and 4♥
• 4♥/4♠ = my suit, i don't care what you have
• 2NT = asking bid. If responder is bidding 2NT, and you have one of the big hands, slam is certain, so,
  ----> 3♣ shows minimum 2♥ opening (3♦ then game try in ♥'s)
  ---->3♦ minimum 2♠ opening, (3♥ then game try in ♠'s)
  ----> 3♥ and 3♠ show maximums both suits
  ---->4♣ or 4♦ over 2NT shows the ACOL 2 of a minor
  ----> 3NT shows balanced big hand (forcing after 2NT)
  -----------> 4♣ baron looking for 4-4 fits
  ----------->, 4♦, 4♥, 4♠, 4NT show bid suits
  -----------> 4NT shows clubs,
  -----------> 5♣ is super gerber).

[Cyberyeti]

Zelandakh, on 2014-July-03, 07:26, said:

I think the archetypal hand for that would be 4-4 in the majors and out Csaba, so 9875 T843 2 6532 or some such rubbish.

Not quite, Q10xx, J10xx in the majors and out up to that plus an ace, you expect to make 3N if partner has a 2N opener without 4M, but opps can walk into something really stupid if they X on a random 13 and find opener has the big one 3Nx+1 last time it happened at my table, it's no safer to come in over 2♦-3N-4M as this can be the weak hand or the strong one with 4M. I've also gone 3N-7 or 8 for a good board when opener with the weak 2 decided to pass.