[helene_t]

https://www.bridgeba...s6%7Cpc%7Cc3%7C

I am not sure what is going on here. Jumping to 3♠ with a 6-card spades seems like it was intended as a natural bid, although it doesn't make sense (with length in opps' suit plus strength it makes more sense to pass), and the hower info is just 13-16 points.

[smerriman]

Very strange. I don't think it's trying to bid spades naturally.

The old version has a rule that says in this situation, if you've ruled out 4♥, then you must cuebid their suit at the 2 level if your total points + the minimum total points partner has shown is at least 25 - ie hands with 12+ total points.

The next highest priority rule it looks at says you must cuebid the opponent's suit at the 3 level if you have at least 13 total points.

So here it bids 2♠, and it's impossible to reach that second rule since any hand with at least 13 would have matched the first (the latter is designed for situations where the bidding is higher and you can't cue at the 2 level).

But if you replace the ♠A with the ♠K, GIB these days passes, while the old version again bids 2♠ (since it still has 12 total points).

So I'm guessing BBO added some rules about when you're allowed to pass a penalty double, and then tried to exclude these situations from the 2♠ bid. But this introduced a gap for this hand, where it was excluded from 2♠ but not included for pass, so it falls back to the old 3-level cuebid rule.

[steve2005]

3♠ is just silly.
GIB counting the K♣ as a King and a singleton as usual
Even if the hand was worth 13 bidding 3♠ is just silly, is obvious the hands aren't fitting and there is no game unless doubler is very strong