[jillybean]

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Matchpoints

[akwoo]

What's your agreement on 2♠? If the answer is "none", what might you be expecting?

[mike777]

3S

[mw64ahw]

2♠ would be unassuming usually showing 3-card support.
3♠ would be a control bid
Mod. losers suggest a small slam absent opener having extras.

[pescetom]

3S, now if partner surprises me with 3N showing spades control I bid 4H and we are off to the races. If she can only manage 4C I put the brakes on with 4D, if she's looking at hearts Ace or two spades and clubs AK she can always give it another try.

[Cyberyeti]

pescetom, on 2026-February-13, 03:08, said:

3S, now if partner surprises me with 3N showing spades control I bid 4H and we are off to the races. If she can only manage 4C I put the brakes on with 4D, if she's looking at hearts Ace or two spades and clubs AK she can always give it another try.

Partner can have a massive hand with ♠Jx and east will lead his singleton spade and you'll go down. Although opps have an overcall opposite a free bid, so his hand is probably not massive.

You need to bid this in a way that allows partner to cue a stiff spade, and I assume this doesn't qualify as a 3N bid, if he bids 4♣ and you bid 4♦ you are a bit stuffed if he has something like x, Axxx, KJx, Axxxx (add extras), because now he bids 4♥ and you don't know about spades.

For us, 2♠ would just be a good raise and could be 4 card support

[pescetom]

 Cyberyeti, on 2026-February-13, 05:08, said:

You need to bid this in a way that allows partner to cue a stiff spade, and I assume this doesn't qualify as a 3N bid

Partner certainly would bid 3N with either a singleton or void. But you're right about the spades ruff all the same, it might be wiser just to bid 5D over 4C.

[mike777]

 pescetom, on 2026-February-13, 07:35, said:

Partner certainly would bid 3N with either a singleton or void. But you're right about the spades ruff all the same, it might be wiser just to bid 5D over 4C.

Wiser

Saggezza

[Cyberyeti]

pescetom, on 2026-February-13, 07:35, said:

Partner certainly would bid 3N with either a singleton or void. But you're right about the spades ruff all the same, it might be wiser just to bid 5D over 4C.

Really ? Why, doesn't partner bid 3N with a spade STOP, not a singleton, 3N+1 scores better than 5♦ or 5♦+1

[jillybean]

akwoo, on 2026-February-12, 22:39, said:

What's your agreement on 2♠? If the answer is "none", what might you be expecting?

2♠ is forward going, apparently but perhaps not, a diamond raise.

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[mikeh]

Really can’t answer this without knowing what agreements you have, if any, as to 2S.

Logical alternatives include:

Game force with good diamond support. In which case we’re heading towards slam though the threat of a spade ruff has to be kept in mind

Game force with running clubs. That’s not necessarily great for us, though our club support and heart control may make slam or grand slam viable. Consider 0=3=3=7, say void Axx Kxx AKQJxxx. Our spade holding makes that feasible, spades being 6=5=2=0 around the table.

Traditionally when we’ve shown values and the OPPs have bid two suits, bidding one of them shows a stopper and asks for a stopper in the other. Even if I thought that partner might know that, I’d bet that’s not what’s happening, lol. So I won’t cater to it..
Besides which I don’t seem to,hold a heart stopper


Ok, I suspect that all we know is that we’re guessing.

Since I like my hand no matter what partner thinks his bid means, I’ll bid 4H. Obviously, as in any but the most fine tuned partnership, disaster lurks but what can one do? Sure, pass is forcing but we don’t want to hear the opps bid 4H!

[jillybean]

mikeh, on 2026-February-13, 15:23, said:

Really can’t answer this without knowing what agreements you have, if any, as to 2S.

Mike, I think we were posting our replies simultaneously.

[mikeh]

I don’t understand 3S. IMO this is an easy 4H. I want to hear 4S from partner so that I know they’re not leading a spade to the ace and back for a ruff