[RunemPard]

Teams..NV/V
Partner is a learning beginner...system is rather basic...

♠T
♥KJxx
♦Kxx
♣Qxxxx


1♦*-(1♥)-1N-(3♥**)
4♣-(P)-4♠***-(P)
5♦-(P)-??????

* 3+D
** Weak
*** Control

Are you feeling lucky...punk?

[kayin801]

6♣, sometimes when partner is missing a minor suit honor he'll have the ♠A

[Hanoi5]

Having no aces I'll also settle for 6♣, thiugh I suspect the ♦K is a VERY important card.

[Codo]

Opposite a learning beginner pass may be the last possibility of a plus score.

Opposite a better partner I would bid 6 ♣. Do partner really hold less then Ax,-,AQxxxx,AKxxx? I doubt it, but I do not see any extras which I did not show with 4 ♠.

[mr1303]

Opposite a learning beginner pass is automatic. Even if the slam makes partner is playing it, and might well go off. Better to make a plus score.

[Trinidad]

Pass. I would not fall off my chair if our team mates came back with 4♠ making.

Rik

[aguahombre]

6♣. Are you playing with this learning beginner or playing him? What will he learn about partnership bidding or about you if you pass?

[Trinidad]

removed.

Rik

[RunemPard]

Partner is a learning beginner at bridge bidding, not card play.

[aguahombre]

RunemPard, on 2012-November-15, 12:05, said:

Partner is a learning beginner at bridge bidding, not card play.

One of many reasons to treat him with enough respect to bid 6C. With regard to Rik's "teammates bringing back 4S=", we will have a double digit plus no matter what happens to 6C.

[lalldonn]

We bid 4♠ with a learning beginner? Anyway it's an easy pass no matter what. If partner is good I can trust him. If he was bad then 4♣ was surely an overbid. In fact I wouldn't be at all shocked to go down in 5 opposite with a beginner partner. Would anyone be shocked if he had pretty much any 5-5 hand?

[aguahombre]

lalldonn, on 2012-November-15, 12:16, said:

We bid 4♠ with a learning beginner? Anyway it's an easy pass no matter what. If partner is good I can trust him. If he was bad then 4♣ was surely an overbid. In fact I wouldn't be at all shocked to go down in 5 opposite with a beginner partner. Would anyone be shocked if he had pretty much any 5-5 hand?

You would trust a "good" partner to bid 5D instead of 5C if slam isn't on? A good partner would assume clubs are trump.

[SteveMoe]

Give partner 10 minor cards (55 or 64) and there are still 3 major losers to account for. Pass, hoping we can score our ♥K. Then discuss
1) The difference between X-Y-X and X-Y-Y patterns
2) Playing strength required for a 4-level free bid.
Beginners want learn. I'd dwell on that more than the actual result.

[Zelandakh]

lalldonn, on 2012-November-15, 12:16, said:

We bid 4♠ with a learning beginner?

This is precisely my thought. Most "learning beginners" do not even know what a control bid is, let alone bidding one without first agreeing a suit. Heck, I would not even trust the average "BBO Advanced" to deal with this 4♠ call.

[Trinidad]

lalldonn, on 2012-November-15, 12:16, said:

We bid 4♠ with a learning beginner?

Maybe the learning beginner was playing with a beginning teacher?

Rik

[mikeh]

I bid 6♣

We all tend to extrapolate to others our own characteristics and I'm certainly doing that here.

Partner should have an extraordinary hand for 5♦. There is a good chance that he doesn't, since he is a beginner.

If he has the hand he should hold, then reaching slam and making it will be a positive reinforcement for good bidding.

If he doesn't have the hand, and we fail, then in the (later) post-mortem we can explain why we bid slam...that we were relying on his bidding, and how his bidding indicated the hand he didn't actually hold.

I know that I learn more from mistakes that cost than from mistakes from which partner saved me.

I am assuming here that we have an interest in helping this player improve, and that interest should outweigh any particular one-hand result.

If the problem is about grand, then I will apologize for my underbidding, and argue that some hand are just too tough.....I think he'd bid the same way with Ax void AQxxxx AJ10xx and now grand is not good.

[RunemPard]

Before I post partner's hand...I did not mean learning beginner as lacking thought and logic. Partner has started to learn about negative doubles and told me after she was confused at first, but remembered I could have shown real spades earlier. She has some knowledge about control bidding as well. She mean't for her 5♦ bid to show good shape and understood that clubs were assumed trump. This board would have been interesting if the opponent had not shown hearts. I chose to bid 6♣ and trust my partner's bidding. I thought she did very well. I did explain to her that I would prefer a 5♥ bid, as she cannot be sure that I know about the possible ♥ void.



K7
---
AQ8543
AKT83

[lalldonn]

RunemPard, on 2012-November-16, 12:09, said:

Before I post partner's hand...I did not mean learning beginner as lacking thought and logic. Partner has started to learn about negative doubles and told me after she was confused at first, but remembered I could have shown real spades earlier. She has some knowledge about control bidding as well. She mean't for her 5♦ bid to show good shape and understood that clubs were assumed trump. This board would have been interesting if the opponent had not shown hearts. I chose to bid 6♣ and trust my partner's bidding. I thought she did very well. I did explain to her that I would prefer a 5♥ bid, as she cannot be sure that I know about the possible ♥ void. I could easily hold the ♠A and ♦K.

K7
---
AQ8543
AKT83

I think she should bid a simple blackwood, as you have denied the ace of hearts. Or maybe just slam directly because you can't really have AS, KD, QC, and a heart stopper (I guess Axx Qxx Kx xxxxx is possible, or 3415, so that may be too lazy). Either would be simpler than any cuebid. But well done by your partner nonetheless!

[Lord Molyb]

My partner could have anything from ♠Axx ♥ - ♦ AQxxxx ♣AKxx to ♠ Kx ♥ - ♦ AQJxxx ♣ Axxxx. (And that's a stretch, even for a beginner...) Therefore, I will settle for 6 clubs, although I suspect I could make 7.