[SimonFa]

IMPs, W v R

♠KQ986 ♥T ♦AQ976 ♣K9

(P) 1S (P) 2NT
(P) ?

As I saw it I had 3 choices:

3H - Shows the singleton and saves bidding space. It doesn't promise extras but does it deny them?

3S - From what I've read I probably need to be a bit stronger but it has the advantage of being more slam oriented as certainly not a minimum

4D - Shows the 5 card suit and therefore nature of the hand.


In the end I went for 3H and we found the slam but I'm not convinced it was the best choice.

What does the panel think?

Edited to change hands round, see gwnn's comment

[hrothgar]

I have a good 5 card suit
I have a response that shows a good five card suit

If I prefer to show shortage with this hand, when would I ever chose to show a 5 card diamond suit?

[eagles123]

surely showing the 5 card suit must be better because by definition we're also showing shortage somewhere anyway

[gwnn]

Show the second suit. Also, please put hands in standard order (SHDC).

[ggwhiz]

The clean route to slam is by showing your 2nd suit. Partner may be able to keycard or cue hearts after which you can.

We show a 2nd suit of quality that includes the Ace (in case responder is short) and don't show stiff Ace or King as shortness in case it turns their hand off with length in that suit.

Not perfect by any means but throw in a 3nt rebid to show a good balanced minimum (control wise) that includes some of those pesky high stiff honors (♥K ♣xx?) and we never have a disagreement on openers rebid.

[kenberg]

I also would bid 4D. I have a good suit and a good hand, that seems right. But it is perhaps worth thinking about how the auction goes from there. Possibly it goes 1S-2NT-4D-4H. Is 4H Last Train (showing general interest but not saying anything specific)? Then I do what? At the other extreme, does 4H show first round control? With my stiff heart and nine card trump fit I have limited interest in second round control.

If I am lucky, after 4D pard will hold the diamond K and just take control. But if he holds, say, Qxx in either clubs or hearts he won't be doing that. Of course I (the opener) have second round control in both hearts and clubs, so I just need pard to have first round control in one of them . So maybe over a Last Train 4H I just bid 4NT?

Yes, I do bid 4D. But there will be some stuff to sort out.

[nige1]

SimonFa, on 2016-February-09, 03:15, said:

IMPs, W v R ♠ K Q 9 8 6 ♥ T ♦ A Q 9 7 6 ♣ K 9
(P) 1S (P) 2NT
(P) ?
As I saw it I had 3 choices:
3H - Shows the singleton and saves bidding space. It doesn't promise extras but does it deny them?
3S - From what I've read I probably need to be a bit stronger but it has the advantage of being more slam oriented as certainly not a minimum
4D - Shows the 5 card suit and therefore nature of the hand.
In the end I went for 3H and we found the slam but I'm not convinced it was the best choice.
What does the panel think?

I rank

• 4♦ - NAT. 2nd suit, for the reasons cited all commentators.
• 3♥ - SPL. With 5+ side-sut you must have a shortage, which you might show when the side-suit is bad e.g. ♠ A K J x x ♥ x ♦ x x x x x ♣ A Q
• 3♠ - INV. You might choose this with a poor side-suit and a singleton honour e.g. ♠ A K Q J x ♥ A ♦ x x x x x ♣ x x

[Winstonm]

4D.

[Jinksy]

Agree with 4♦. But I'm curious whether others think this should be a limit bid, showing approx a minimum on point count (or approx something starting slightly better than min), or whether with a decent 5-card suit you'd normally prefer to bid it regardless?

[hrothgar]

Jinksy, on 2016-February-11, 07:48, said:

Agree with 4♦. But I'm curious whether others think this should be a limit bid, showing approx a minimum on point count (or approx something starting slightly better than min), or whether with a decent 5-card suit you'd normally prefer to bid it regardless?

On a related note, in some partnerships I used to play that a four level bid meant that we were using 6 Ace keycard if opener seized captaincy.