[mgoetze]

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[Cyberyeti]

What did 3♣ show ? did it guarantee spades, was there a transfer to clubs available ? What is 1N-2♣-2♥-2♠ for you ?

[mgoetze]

Cyberyeti, on 2015-November-16, 08:00, said:

What did 3♣ show ? did it guarantee spades, was there a transfer to clubs available ? What is 1N-2♣-2♥-2♠ for you ?

Transfer to clubs was available, yes. I have been recently surprised to find that a lot of people play 1NT-2♠-3♣-3banana as natural bananas, rather than a shortness of bananas which I have always played. 1NT-2♣-2♥-2♠ shows 5 spades INV.

[billw55]

Diamond lead seems certain and probably effective against 3NT. I will try to show partner something useful, 4♣ and see what follows next.

[mgoetze]

billw55, on 2015-November-16, 08:49, said:

Diamond lead seems certain and probably effective against 3NT. I will try to show partner something useful, 4♣ and see what follows next.

With which heart holdings do you expect partner to bid 4♥ over that?

[billw55]

mgoetze, on 2015-November-16, 09:07, said:

With which heart holdings do you expect partner to bid 4♥ over that?

Assuming I have shown five hearts, then partner should at least consider raising with any three, or perhaps with Hx. Although with three, he might have done so already. It sounds like he has an abnormal hand, and hence his decisions may not easily fit in any particular box. So I should not have firm expectations.

[mgoetze]

billw55, on 2015-November-16, 09:16, said:

Assuming I have shown five hearts

I don't know have you? I'm posting here to get answers, not to give them.

[rmnka447]

Partner has shown ♣ and no more than 4 ♠. With 5+ ♠ and 4+ ♣, partner could transfer to ♠ and follow up with a 3 ♣ bid. IMO 3 ♥ should show 5 ♥, 3 ♠ probably show 4 ♠, no ♦ stopper, and no more than a doubleton in ♥. With a ♦ stopper, ♣, and ♠ partner ought to bid 3 NT after the 2 ♥ rebid.

I'm bidding 4 ♣.

[mike777]

mgoetze, on 2015-November-16, 07:23, said:

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no alert so I assume 3c is natural and gf...so 4c now over 3c not 3h


given OP 4c now

[PhantomSac]

I think 5C is a good bid, it shows good trumps, no diamond control, and not much else. It is biasing when the title is "choice of games," since often partner is trying to get to 6C and holding AKQ of trumps might be useful to him.

As far as choice of games: 5C is obviously a bad bid if we belong in 4 of either major. However, I thought about this a lot and I am never sitting for 4H with K9xxx. If partner is 4216, we almost definitely want to play 5C not 4H.

Is it possible partner is 4225? It seems very unlikely unless he has a hand that is quite good (Where 6C might make in his mind) given that we have AKQ of clubs. Like would KQxx Ax xx JT9xx really bid this way? I doubt it, that hand would just bid 3N over 2H (though that hand is irrelevant as no game has any play). A hand like AKxx Ax xx JT9xx would have done well to bid this way on this hand, since 5C is easily the best spot. Even that hand, surely over 4C it will bid 4H on Ax and if we pass we are in easily the worst spot. Etc Etc. So I think I am only playing 5C and jumping there now is a very good description, if partner has AKxx Ax x xxxxxx and bids 6 we might win challenge the champs!

[mike777]

must admit after 3c I did not put pard on a worse hand than:

Ax..AX..Axx...JTxxxx

often more

[lycier]

It seems that responder is telling a story about 6-4 distribution on ♣ and ♠ with almost of hcp,so 4♣ would be a better choice.

[gszes]

majors nt minors

the auction pretty much shows a 8+ major suit fit is not available and diamonds appear to be very suspect for 3n. This means clubs or (gasp) play a 43 or 52 major suit fit. Despite the AKQ of clubs our hand is overvalued since the dia Q rates to be worthless. This makes 5c even harder than usual to make. Are there any alternatives? The spades are only 43 but our doubleton dia means declarer will not easily be pumped with dia leads. The 4 level major game is also one trick less which might make a huge difference if p is near minimum for their previous bidding (AQxx Ax xx JTxxx for ex). While we do not know partners intentions with hearts we can at least try to settle in our most likely game and if p goes slamming at least they will know we have nothing much in diamonds.

4S

[cherdano]

mgoetze, on 2015-November-16, 09:29, said:

I don't know have you? I'm posting here to get answers, not to give them.

3♥ certainly suggests five; if not it will be a very good 4-card suit as it must show interest in playing hearts opposite 3-card support.

Partner's 3♠ denies 3 hearts - he has already shown four spades with 3♣, so rebidding 3♠ with 4315 or 4306 would be very weird. Hence sitting for 4♥ seems out of the question as Justin said.

I really think this is very easy: we have basically the weakest possible heart holding, we have no diamond stopper, and we have AKQ in partner's longest suit versus JTx in partner's 2nd-longest suit. I think I know which of these I want to be trumps!

[nige1]

mgoetze's choice:

Partner has say ♠ A K 9 x ♥ - ♦ x x ♣ J x x x x x x
(Without discussion, IMO, partner's 3♣ is natural and forcing probably 6+ ♣s and his 3♠ confirms 4+ good ♠s, evincing worry about no-trump) Your red suit values seem worthless but this means only 5 HCP are written-off. Hence, I rank calls as
1. 4♦. Blame transfer: You choose
2. 5♣ . The most likely game.
3. 4♠. Club blockage might cause problems. Paradoxically, in 4♠, ♣AKx might be better than your actual holding.
4. 4♣. A sixpence.
5. 3N. Might work against gullible opponents,

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[Zelandakh]

mgoetze, on 2015-November-16, 08:03, said:

Transfer to clubs was available, yes. I have been recently surprised to find that a lot of people play 1NT-2♠-3♣-3banana as natural bananas, rather than a shortness of bananas which I have always played.

You can also play 1NT - 2♠; 3♣ - 3bananas as a transfer. If you then bid the one-suiter by 1NT - 3♣, you have not lost much and (arguably) get cleaner auctions generally. In any case, I think this is a clear choice between 4♣ and 5♣. If 5♣ means what Justin says it does then that is clearly the right bid but without any special agreements I think I would go the slower route unless worried partner might pull out a green card.

[mgoetze]

Zelandakh, on 2015-November-18, 11:55, said:

You can also play 1NT - 2♠; 3♣ - 3bananas as a transfer. If you then bid the one-suiter by 1NT - 3♣, you have not lost much and (arguably) get cleaner auctions generally. In any case, I think this is a clear choice between 4♣ and 5♣. If 5♣ means what Justin says it does then that is clearly the right bid but without any special agreements I think I would go the slower route unless worried partner might pull out a green card.

Is the 5♣ card in your bidding box not green?

[Tramticket]

My preference is that a transfer to a minor followed by a new suit to show 6-4. Stayman followed by 3 clubs shows 5 clubs only. I place partner with 4225 shape. 5 clubs is probably safest. I'm tempted to try the Moysian fit at pairs.