[Stephen Tu]

WasWinM, on 2025-July-14, 12:26, said:

I don't "want" 3S to "mean" anything but "partner, this bid best describes my hand". It caters to an exchange of information to try to find the best contract. If responder bids 4D over 3S it becomes obvious 2s was an advance cue bid for diamonds.

I see this as a choice of styles, one side preferring a bidding style based on captaincy while the other side looks for an exchange of information.

3s best describing your hand wouldn't apply unless you gave something like the very specific restrictions I proposed in my last paragraph in my prior response. Just raising every time you have 3 card spades does not facilitate exchange of information. The style the rest of us are advocating *is* looking for exchange of information, it allows setting diamonds at 3 level more often, and it also allows responder showing 6+ hearts forcing at 3 level more often, and prioritizes showing some club stopper by opener more often. These are all way, way more frequent than responder having 5-6, and as I pointed out you don't really gain on those hands either. You are advocating for prioritizing much less useful information (opener holding 3 cd spades), at the expense of needing to exchange the more frequent and way more useful information at the *4 level*, which is really bad because you've bypassed 3nt. There are lots of hands where responder might want to say show 6 hearts and gf, and let opener choose between 4h and 3nt. If opener has already bid 3s, *you can no longer do this*. You can also sometimes show diamond support and still stop in 3nt later. Again after direct 3s by opener you can no longer do this either.

You want your most expensive bid (3s) to be very infrequent and show very specific useful information, not to be among most frequent and show information that responder will very infrequently find useful.

[WasWinM]

 Stephen Tu, on 2025-July-14, 18:10, said:

3s best describing your hand wouldn't apply unless you gave something like the very specific restrictions I proposed in my last paragraph in my prior response. Just raising every time you have 3 card spades does not facilitate exchange of information. The style the rest of us are advocating *is* looking for exchange of information, it allows setting diamonds at 3 level more often, and it also allows responder showing 6+ hearts forcing at 3 level more often, and prioritizes showing some club stopper by opener more often. These are all way, way more frequent than responder having 5-6, and as I pointed out you don't really gain on those hands either. You are advocating for prioritizing much less useful information (opener holding 3 cd spades), at the expense of needing to exchange the more frequent and way more useful information at the *4 level*, which is really bad because you've bypassed 3nt. There are lots of hands where responder might want to say show 6 hearts and gf, and let opener choose between 4h and 3nt. If opener has already bid 3s, *you can no longer do this*. You can also sometimes show diamond support and still stop in 3nt later. Again after direct 3s by opener you can no longer do this either.

You want your most expensive bid (3s) to be very infrequent and show very specific useful information, not to be among most frequent and show information that responder will very infrequently find useful.

If you play with robots or idiots you have to define bids for them. For we who trust and rely on partner’s good judgment, it’s unnecessary.

[Stephen Tu]

WasWinM, on 2025-July-14, 21:36, said:

If you play with robots or idiots you have to define bids for them. For we who trust and rely on partner's good judgment, it's unnecessary.

If partner thinks frequent raises to 3 spades to show 3 cd spades on this auction is a good idea as a high priority bid, I don't trust their judgment and will probably soon find a new partner.

[Cyberyeti]

A question mainly aimed at MikeH

If you're playing a very high class pairs competition and have the choice of 6♦ and 6N(S), which do you choose ?

Down the club, 6♦ will be fine, you have a combined 30 count, plenty will not bid slam.