[AL78]

MPs, playing 5CM, strong NT, Benji 2 level openings (2♣ = 8PT or strong balanced, 2♦ = Acol style GF).

♠JT3
♥KJ4
♦KQJ6
♣873

Partner opens 2♦ GF, opponents are silent. Your agreement is 2♥ is a relay, saying nothing about your hand, giving opener a chance to clarify theirs. A discussion on what new suits and 2/3NT mean hasn't come up. Your bid.

[Cyberyeti]

What is the minimum strength of balanced hand partner can have for 2♦ ?

[AL78]

 Cyberyeti, on 2022-February-18, 07:18, said:

What is the minimum strength of balanced hand partner can have for 2♦ ?

24 HCP.

[Douglas43]

If in any doubt about the meaning of other bids, I'd bid 2♦.

FWIW our agreement on 2NT is an aceless 8-10 with at least Jxx or Qx in each suit, so I wouldn't use 2NT on this.

[Cyberyeti]

 Douglas43, on 2022-February-18, 09:23, said:

If in any doubt about the meaning of other bids, I'd bid 2♦.

FWIW our agreement on 2NT is an aceless 8-10 with at least Jxx or Qx in each suit, so I wouldn't use 2NT on this.

Difficult as opener already bid 2♦.

I would bid 2N as partner will have at least 5 points in clubs or 4 points in spades if balanced, and I have 3 card support for him if he isn't

[P_Marlowe]

2H, wtp?

Given that you have discussed nothing else, what is wrong with 2H,
anything else leads to uncharted territory pretty fast.
If you are lucky, partner will bid 2NT, any you wil play your response
structure, if he bids a suit it will be natural.

[LBengtsson]

 P_Marlowe, on 2022-February-18, 11:54, said:

2H, wtp?

Given that you have discussed nothing else, what is wrong with 2H,
anything else leads to uncharted territory pretty fast.
If you are lucky, partner will bid 2NT, any you wil play your response
structure, if he bids a suit it will be natural.

Yes, agree. If partner has GF hand himself, then you will take bidding beyond game level with this hand. I would prefer for him to be boss in bidding, but on plus side is that he will probably play hand and keep his hand closed as declarer. Use relay and raise him after his next bid. If he has ♥ suit and bids 3♥ next then there is small problem. You will play the hand, and what do you bid next as a bid, 4NT RKCB? You might have a better fit in ♦s.

This type of Acol does stop wonderful Kokish convention being used so I am not quite liking it.

[apollo1201]

The fact that « a discussion on what new suits and 2/3NT mean hasn't come up » just means that this discussion should take place soon.

However, it will be after this hand, so you are stuck for 2H.

Which, btw, is not a bad thing with your hand. Partner will have all space available to show their hand and you’ll be able to make a forcing raise or sth to show your extras (worrying about aces later).

[AL78]

I responded 2♥ (I wondered if anyone would consider 2NT). The auction proceeds:

---

What now?

[paulg]

I would raise to 3♠, aware that this will go very badly if partner has a 4441 distribution. Anything else looks too contorted.

[Cyberyeti]

 AL78, on 2022-February-18, 14:24, said:

I responded 2♥ (I wondered if anyone would consider 2NT). The auction proceeds:

---

What now?

3♠

[AL78]

3♠ is what I bid, this should show some slam interest (at the very least better than minimum) and invite partner to cue bid. Partner responds with 6♠.

---

Over to you.

[DavidKok]

I pinch myself to wake up. We do not jump three levels on constructive slam auctions. I'd pass, wait for the opening lead, table the hand and request to leave the table for a few minutes.

[Cyberyeti]

 DavidKok, on 2022-February-18, 16:17, said:

I pinch myself to wake up. We do not jump three levels on constructive slam auctions. I'd pass, wait for the opening lead, table the hand and request to leave the table for a few minutes.

This is about right. Partner has assumed you don't have positive values, you're probably making 7 but could be off a cashing ace.

[AL78]

Expecting a constructive slam investigation, I was surprised by the unilateral decision by partner that 6♠ was the place to play knowing little about my hand other than it isn't rubbish. I had a think about what partner could have to place the contract like this, and thought about bidding the grand, but eventually decided that if 6♠ was there, 6NT should be there as well, so bid it. This was the complete board:

https://tinyurl.com/y9o4s47a

I won the opening lead and claimed the rest. I couldn't help thinking it would have been better to probe in the auction and maybe find out the grand is good, but 6NT got us a decent score with all but one other in spades. Strangely, the two who found 7♠ went off although if South plays it I can't see how.

[helene_t]

If 6♠ means anything, it is asking us to bid slam with one keycard. We don't have that, so pass.

[DavidKok]

And here I thought it was exclusion

Your partner bid the hand horribly. Perhaps they forgot that they already showed a game forcing hand, so there was no need to jump around. This is something that pickup partners sometimes do if they don't trust their partner, out of worry they'll get passed in 4♣ or something. Or maybe they didn't know what tools were available for investigating slam.

In a serious partnership, bidding anything over 6♠ is a breach of discipline, in my opinion. If partner was interested in our hand they would have asked, instead of jumping 3 levels. Trying to infer what partner has for this bid is madness since it is clearly a wrong bid. Trying to improve the contract is also madness since all our bidding space has been consumed. I would pass in a heartbeat, and after the session have a discussion on how slambidding works.

[paulg]

My juniors, and club members, are prone to this type of bidding and their explanation is normally, "I could not work out what to do".

My initial response of "Not that!" is probably not helpful but it is an auction caused by a lack of confidence in their partner, who might pass a cue bid, and a lack of sophistication in their slam bidding methods: they know how to respond to Blackwood or RKCB, but are not confident in the continuations.

My second response is that making the lowest forcing bid gives you space and is often the best approach on a hand. It gives partner the opportunity to bid something that might better describe their hand. This philosophy works on a lot of hands.

[apollo1201]

I’d have taken 6S as a huge gamble, eg a AKQ to 7, A to 5 and sg A or something similar, where partner can’t / doesn’t know how to / won’t be sure to intelligently ask and find if all things that matter are here.

So I’d have passed in a flash.

Of course the given hand could try sth like 3NT, please cue, to discover that the CK is not here. And only because D provided 3 discards that you could make grand. Hard to find at the table…

[Cyberyeti]

 apollo1201, on 2022-February-19, 02:42, said:

I’d have taken 6S as a huge gamble, eg a AKQ to 7, A to 5 and sg A or something similar, where partner can’t / doesn’t know how to / won’t be sure to intelligently ask and find if all things that matter are here.

So I’d have passed in a flash.

Of course the given hand could try sth like 3NT, please cue, to discover that the CK is not here. And only because D provided 3 discards that you could make grand. Hard to find at the table…

I think playing with my partner the auction would go:

2♣-2N (really good 9 or better bal, 22 is our minimum balanced for 2♣ and our structure requires 4N to be invitational opposite this, F4N unless suit known open)
3♠(this shows 6 as we play 3♣ as art or clubs which we use with 5)-4♦(cue)
4♥(cue)-4♠
5♣-5♥
5N(still interested in grand, all keycards held but no sensible way of asking)-7N (6+4+2+1 = 13)

More awkward with pickup partner, I think I'd have assumed void(s) rather than this sort of hand from your auction