[jillybean]

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A hand from the club, what is your plan?

[whereagles]

5♦, hoping to play there.

[manudude03]

If 5D is to play, I bid that, if it is exclusion, I bid 2D followed by 5D.

[ArtK78]

4NT - Ace asking (not key card). If partner bids 5♣ (zero or 4) I bid 5♦. If partner bids 5♦ (one) I pass. If partner bids 5♥ I bid 6♦ and hope there are 12 tricks.

The only problem is if partner bids 5♠ showing 3. Now we may have a grand. If I bid 5NT, I might get a response that causes a problem (possibly just confusion, but who needs confusion at this level?). So I may just bid 7♦ hoping that two things happen:

(1) I can bring in the diamond suit for no losers; and
(2) Partner has a 13th trick for me or there is a squeeze (running 9 trump tricks will provide a challenging defensive problem).

The 4NT bid does not agree on hearts as trump. It just states that I need to ask how many aces partner has and then I can place the contract.

If you are going to bid 5♦ anyway, you might as well ask for aces. The fact that RHO did not bid with so many cards missing in the black suits could mean that RHO is very weak, and partner may have a strong hand. So slam is not out of the question.

[the_clown]

Also 5♦ for me

[jillybean]

5D is exclusion, Shirley?

[Cyberyeti]

jillybean, on 2014-September-24, 09:32, said:

5D is exclusion, Shirley?

For a number of people, but not all, 4♦ is optional exclusion for us (singletons go thru the inverted raise) so 5♦ would be natural.

[mycroft]

I too play 4NT round 1 is straight-ace; I therefore like Art's answer.

Nobody else around here plays 4NT as straight-ace; but most of them also play 4NT as "we might have slam", and as that's the most important thing to tell partner, we'd better tell them now rather than next round.

Biased, me? No, never.

[jbaptistec]

Isn't [1♥ - 4NT - 5♣ - 5♦] an ask for the ♥Q ?

I like 2♦ followed by 5♦ (or by 4♦ if slam hope)

[mike777]

as other point out afraid 5d might be taken as exclusion. so chicken 2d then 5d

[Trump Echo]

I'd respond 2 Diamonds followed by straight blackwood.

[ArtK78]

jbaptistec, on 2014-September-24, 14:56, said:

Isn't [1♥ - 4NT - 5♣ - 5♦] an ask for the ♥Q ?

I like 2♦ followed by 5♦ (or by 4♦ if slam hope)

No.

As stated above, when responder bids 4NT directly over 1 of a suit, it is straight old-fashioned Blackwood, and responder names the contract over opener's answer. It is not RKCB, and hearts is not agreed as the trump suit. This is an agreement that many (but not all) players have.

If you want to bid RKCB in hearts, make a forcing raise first, then bid 4NT (or whatever bid you use for RKCB).

The only exception to responder naming the contract over opener's answer is 5NT, asking for kings. And that is quite rare, because usually when responder bids 4NT ace asking, all that he needs to know about is the number of aces.

[jillybean]

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Does anyone get to the slam?

[Wackojack]

Yes playing my partner's strong club system.

2♥ 10-15 5♥+ 5 minor or 6♥+5♠ 2NT Ask
3♥ 14-15 5♥ =5♣ 3♠ shortage ask
3NT 1st step = 1 ♦ 4♣ 6 key card ask
4♠ 3rd step = 2 or 5 where A=2, K=1 6♦ assume 5
pass

Sorry to be so nerdy. But I put some work into learning the system particularly the follow-ups to 5-5 opening bids, so I like to test it at every opportunity.

[ArtK78]

jillybean, on 2014-September-25, 08:16, said:

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Does anyone get to the slam?

Obviously yes, since I said that I bid 4NT over 1♥ and bid 6♦ over 5♥.

[fromageGB]

5♥
As we have no natural meaning for this, it is ace asking in diamonds !
Joke.

[Nabooba]

Wackojack, on 2014-September-25, 11:09, said:

Yes playing my partner's strong club system.

2♥ 10-15 5♥+ 5 minor or 6♥+5♠ 2NT Ask
3♥ 14-15 5♥ =5♣ 3♠ shortage ask
3NT 1st step = 1 ♦ 4♣ 6 key card ask
4♠ 3rd step = 2 or 5 where A=2, K=1 6♦ assume 5
pass

Sorry to be so nerdy. But I put some work into learning the system particularly the follow-ups to 5-5 opening bids, so I like to test it at every opportunity.

Mr. Jack, the opponents happen to have a 10 card spade fit. Do you seriously think that your beautiful sequence might not be subject to some opposition bidding?

[MrAce]

5♦ is enough for me.

[buha]

As far as I know
1. Most people play 4♦ as a splinter bid
2. Many would play 5♦ as exclusion
However, it is my first time to hear serious people considering Blackwood with a small doubleton they know nothing about.
Myself, I prefer missing this slam by biding a direct 5♦ (hoping it's not exclusion) than biding 2♦ and wondering what to do over opps' quickly bid 5♠ (noticed the vul? maybe even 5♦ will be contested)

[lrussell]

After 1♥ - 4NT I can see a few possible disasters

If 4NT is RKC
1♥ - 4NT - 5♣ - 5♦ - 6♥
(yes partner I have the ♥Queen) - how nice!
1♥ - 4NT - 5♦ (0-3 or 1-4)
do I bid 6♦ or pass?

When 4NT isn't RKC:
1♥ - 4NT - 6♦ (1 ace + ♦void)
this won't be a success!
1♥ - 4NT - 5NT (2 aces + ♦void)
will partner pass 6♦? will it make?
1♥ - 4NT - 5♥ (2 aces) DealMaster analysis shows
partner has ♠A and ♥A then 6♦ makes 27%
partner has ♣A and ♠A then 6♦ makes 57%
partner has ♣A and ♥A then 6♦ makes 76%
So that gives a combined probability of roughly 53%

After all that I'm NOT bidding 4NT - I'm bidding 5♦
1. If partner has 0 or 1 ace I'm not too high
2. If partner has 2 aces I've missed a 53% 6♦ (no big deal)
3. If partner has 3 bullets he might just bid 6♦ by himself
4 I've avoided a possible RKC or non-RKC disaster