[apollo1201]

AQJ
x
AQJxxx
Kxx

I dont remember the vul, IMPs, but form of scoring (and vul) probably irrelevant.

You deal and bidding goes 1D 2H (weak) 2S (not GF, 5+ and 10+ HCP) 4H.

I bid 4S and partner had of course the pointed kings and club ace (and nothing more).

Could I have done more or just bad luck?

[mikeh]

apollo1201, on 2015-June-21, 07:23, said:

AQJ
x
AQJxxx
Kxx

I dont remember the vul, IMPs, but form of scoring (and vul) probably irrelevant.

You deal and bidding goes 1D 2H (weak) 2S (not GF, 5+ and 10+ HCP) 4H.

I bid 4S and partner had of course the pointed kings and club ace (and nothing more).

Could I have done more or just bad luck?

One useful idea to keep in mind is to picture reasonable minimums for partner and then ask yourself:

1. is slam a reasonable contract on at least a good number of these?
2. are we likely to get too high on at least some of these if I push on?
3. if slam is going to have good play on a good number of these, and we are unlikely to get too high if I push here (assuming we can stop at 5), then how likely is it that partner can make a move over my 4♠?



Note that in your methods, logic suggests that you don't have a forcing pass here, so you are under pressure and will/should bid 4♠ on a lot of minimums, so partner needs a pretty good hand to push.

Your spades and controls tell you that he will almost never be able to move, so if slam is there, you need to be the aggressor, and this brings questions 1 and 2 into focus


Kxxxx xx Kx Axxx is a good slam, and give him either an extra spade or the 10 and it becomes a great slam. Give him any 10 hcp outside of hearts, and that seems reasonable, and you cannot come up with a hand on which the 5-level is clearly unsafe. Even if he lacks the diamond K, he'll be finessing into the weak overcaller.

Btw, I think that bidding aggressively here is clear, and that almost every poster would agree. However, giving the responding hand and pointing out that slam was good is a sure way to guarantee that everyone will post that bidding on is clear. If you want to get a semblance of objective input, either leave out the responding hand/result or fake it...maybe you already did and partner held a horrible hand and you went down at the 5 or 6 level

[WesleyC]

Its very hard to come up with hand for partner where slam isn't at least on a finesse through the 4H bidder and it will often be close to 100%.

I would simply take control and force to slam if we have enough keycards.

[cherdano]

I would bid 5H and respect a 5S signoff from partner. I think keycard is also ok.
Still, I think WesleyCs comment is an overbid. Kxxxxx Kx xx QJx is hand where everyone would bid. Kxxxx xx xx AQJx also, and slam needs spades 3-2 and the diamond finesse.

[nige1]

apollo1201, on 2015-June-21, 07:23, said:

♠ A Q J ♥ x ♦ A Q J x x x ♣ K x x
I dont remember the vul, IMPs, but form of scoring (and vul) probably irrelevant.
You deal and bidding goes 1D 2H (weak) 2S (not GF, 5+ and 10+ HCP) 4H.
I bid 4S and partner had of course the pointed kings and club ace (and nothing more).
Could I have done more or just bad luck?

Perhaps, in hindsight, you could have tried 4N (RKC)?