[whereagles]

Matchpoints

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4♥ is to make (not pree, obv).

Proceed or skid? Standard tools apply here.

[Fluffy]

Can see only 4♠ and pass as options. Its easy to see hands that produce slams and hands where 5♥ is down so all in all its tough.

My father taught me this rule long ago: if you can produce a perfect minimum that makes 7, you should try for 6. That was when I was advanced, and now I know better (or so they say), but I am going to follow it this time since I have no idea. There is no way to make cold grand without extras, so I am gonna pass 4♥ and hope he doesn't have a perfect 14-15 count.

[WesleyC]

Clear pass. With weak trumps and only an 8c fit, the 5 level isn't safe.

The other side of the coin is that with strong trump support and lots of controls, partner should take a stronger line than jumping to 4H.

[whereagles]

Thx all. Hands:

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I decided to pass. Slam is not too bad. In practice it ♥K is offside, but it still makes, courtesy of the spade ruffing finesse.

[RunemPard]

You didn't mention bidding methods..
Was 4sf not available?
I see east's hand as worthy of 15 balanced and opposite an unlimited partner why jump?
1h-1s
2d-3c
3d/h-bid hearts

[whereagles]

4SF was available, but East decided to bid 4♥, which showed more or less what he had: 12-14, heart fit, 4 spades.

[mcphee]

Bidding again is not wise, unless the bid is pass.

[WesleyC]

East might only have 14 HCP, but he has great texture in the red suits and aces in the black suits, which is the exact recipe for a skinny slam. Better to start with 3C, and support hearts on the next round to show a mild slam.

[neilkaz]

 WesleyC, on 2014-December-05, 11:07, said:

East might only have 14 HCP, but he has great texture in the red suits and aces in the black suits, which is the exact recipe for a skinny slam. Better to start with 3C, and support hearts on the next round to show a mild slam.

Yes...exactly this! Then on the given bidding sequence West has a trivially WTP pass.

[rhm]

 whereagles, on 2014-December-05, 05:34, said:

4SF was available, but East decided to bid 4♥, which showed more or less what he had: 12-14, heart fit, 4 spades.

You should brush up your evaluation capabilities
As the bidding went East is worth much more and intermediates count too.

Rainer Herrmann

[mikeh]

As Rainer says, responder needs to learn how to value hands better. J10x in hearts is a good holding. Compare it to Jxx, let alone xxx.

The diamond holding is wonderful.

The black suit holdings are Aces opposite shortness. x AKQxx Axxxx xx makes for a wonderful slam, in part because of that heart J10, yet why should opener move when responder might hold KQJxx xxx Qx KQx?

As it happens, the slam seems poor to me. The club lead is marked. Now what? We could win, unblock spades, cross in diamonds, cash the spade A, run the J, covered and ruffed and now what? We have to play diamond A and ruff in order to get back to dummy and now we need spades to be 4-4, altho we can slightly improve our chances by cashing the trump A early, so that maybe someone ruffs the spade with the now-stiff K?

We need a reasonable diamond break. We need either a spade miracle or very good luck, and we need the spade finesse.

Seems to me, we win the club, we cash the spade, cross in diamonds, take one pitch to limit our losses and then hook trump, and down we go.

So on the hand, opposite reasonable defence, I am happy partner misbid.

[gszes]

You should not move over this bidding sequence which should deny
a club control. Your p should have a hand similar to
AQJx KJx Kx xxxx.

With the hand given instead of 4h a 3c (fsf) followed by 3d then 4h
which shows a hand similar to the problem hand but, even more important,
also a club control.

[whereagles]

I think East's hand does justify trotting out 4SF. But it won't be plain sailing from there on...

1♥ 1♠
2♦ 3♣

and now this could happen:

3♦ 3♥ <-- this is fine.
3NT 4♥ <-- and so is this.

3♥ 4♥ <-- does look like a slam try, but can't this be made on e.g. a 5233 with like Jxx clubs instead?

3♠ 4♥ <-- sure it's a heart slam try? Can it never be a cue with spade fit?

4♣ <-- and what's this?

4♦ <-- or this?

Etc. In other words, are you 100% sure you know your agreements in a situation like this? Personally, I am. But I'm not totally sure pard will be on the same wavelength in all cases.

[kuhchung]

1H 2C
2D 2H

[whereagles]

That's probably the best way to bid it yes. May not be totally orthodox, but it does solve the problem.

[FrancesHinden]

 mikeh, on 2014-December-05, 12:21, said:

As it happens, the slam seems poor to me. The club lead is marked. Now what? We could win, unblock spades, cross in diamonds, cash the spade A, run the J, covered and ruffed and now what? We have to play diamond A and ruff in order to get back to dummy and now we need spades to be 4-4, altho we can slightly improve our chances by cashing the trump A early, so that maybe someone ruffs the spade with the now-stiff K?

Dummy has two diamond entries. But even then I agree it's not great.

[WesleyC]

FWIW, my modern 2/1 sequence would start:

1H - 2C* (*multi, invite+)
2D^ - 2H" (^Accept invite - "Slam interest, natural)

After which you have plenty of room to get to the fairly neutral EV slam