[Cyberyeti]

IMPs

Dealer S

---

Interested to see what decisions people make about how to bid these hands.

To have the same problem as we did, I started with 2♣ and we play the old fashioned 2♦ negative, 2♥ natural method of responses.

[gszes]

2c
2d
2s
3c with 2n = 0-2 and no spade fit this bid show length and 3+
3d intending to bid spades later which will reveal this as a cue bid
3n hate this bid sort of but misfit in spades no club fit if p cannot invite sobeit
4c surprised by 3n taking opportunity to show club fit and slam interest can always
convert to spades later if needed
4d cue
4s unwilling to proceed further since still unsure about heart control
4n rkc (spades)
5c 0-3
5d queen? promising all
6c yes and either K or Q of clubs not much else
pass

once could argue for bidding 6s or 6n instead of 6c since responder really cant have more than 2 aces and
still bid 3n. This is imps though so 6c would appear to be safer even if it loses some imps to 6s or
6n along the way.

[Cyberyeti]

I quietly fell off the planet on this board but it didn't matter.

2♣-3♣(nat positive)
4♦(KC clubs)-4N(2 without Q)

Now I failed to notice that I would be playing a club contract due to the 2♣ opener and deciding I was quite likely to get a diamond lead into the tenace if I declared, I resolved to play in spades if I was playing in 6, but how many clubs does partner have ? He's missing the AKQ, is J10xxxx enough for a positive ? I gave serious consideration to 7N thinking he might well have 7 clubs but settled for 6♠.

They found the heart lead, fortunately clubs were 2-2 and all 4 tables in our match were in various small slams.

[jmcilkley]

Cyberyeti, on 2015-February-09, 05:06, said:

IMPs

Dealer S

---

Interested to see what decisions people make about how to bid these hands.

To have the same problem as we did, I started with 2♣ and we play the old fashioned 2♦ negative, 2♥ natural method of responses.

For me there are 2 possible auctions depending on what view N takes of his club suit. Assuming 2c is your only strong bid you need to show a positive with 2 aces so N will either bid 3c to show his long suit or else if N decides the suit is too poor to bid he can bid 2h to show a positive hand with no biddable suit. (It is better to use 2h for this and let 2nt reply show a positive hand with 5+ hearts - it allows a 2nt or 2s rebid by opener)
In the first case it will go 2c-3c-3s-4c-4nt-5h and then maybe 7c.
In the other case 2c-2h-3s (a jump to show a suit that can play even opposite a void) then probably 4nt-5c (3 keycards) - 7s

[Zelandakh]

If South starts with 2♣ I think taking up an entire round with 3♣ is abominable; it is the kind of bidding that gives control responses a good name. Just start with 2♦ and show the clubs over 2♠. I am also not convinced everyone would open 2♣ if given this hand in the real world. It has 8.5 PTs so is essentially a maximum Acol 2 opening. It does make reaching slam easier of course, although a start along the lines of: 1♠ - 1NT; 3♣ - 4♣; 4♠ - 4NT (LTTC, right?) should manage to get there too. In any case, there are certainly many more auctions than 2 possible here!

[Free]

Strong 2♣ opening with Kickback Turbo when a minor is agreed:
2♣-2♦ (value of 22+ ; GF)
2♠-3♣ (natural ; natural but not a good suit)
(3♠?-3NT)
4♣-4♦ (sets trumps ; even number of keycards)
5♣-5NT (expects 0 keycards ; 2 keycards, no K, no ♣Q)
6♣-pass

[Cyberyeti]

Zelandakh, on 2015-February-11, 08:47, said:

If South starts with 2♣ I think taking up an entire round with 3♣ is abominable; it is the kind of bidding that gives control responses a good name. Just start with 2♦ and show the clubs over 2♠. I am also not convinced everyone would open 2♣ if given this hand in the real world. It has 8.5 PTs so is essentially a maximum Acol 2 opening. It does make reaching slam easier of course, although a start along the lines of: 1♠ - 1NT; 3♣ - 4♣; 4♠ - 4NT (LTTC, right?) should manage to get there too. In any case, there are certainly many more auctions than 2 possible here!

The problem with your second auction is that you might well bid 7♣ as after 1♠-1N-3♣ the small hand might find it difficult to determine whether partner has AKx or AKxx to decide whether to bid the grand.

[mikeh]

Cyberyeti, on 2015-February-11, 17:01, said:

The problem with your second auction is that you might well bid 7♣ as after 1♠-1N-3♣ the small hand might find it difficult to determine whether partner has AKx or AKxx to decide whether to bid the grand.

which is why one should play science after the jumpshift to clubs. I suggest, and have played for years:

3♣ is gf, artificial and includes 3 hand types:

5+ spades, 4 hearts. Reserves 3♥ jumpshift to promise 5, which makes responder's task easy with, say, x xxx in the majors

6+ spades....a very strong one suited hand, just under a 2♣ opening

5+ spades, 4+ clubs.

Responder usually temporizes with an artificial 3♦ enquiry.

Now, as it happens, this won't work well on this hand, but I wouldn't have adopted the 1♠ 3♣ plan, since the opening hand is, in my opinion, a tad too strong.

If I'm allowed to use a common method, probably far more common amongst good players than the OP method, which is abysmal (I know, all of us sometimes play methods we don't like, so that isn't a shot at the OP), it would go:

2♣ 2♦ where 2♦ is a semi-automatic gf response with at least a K
2♠ 3♣
4♣ 4♦ where 4♦ is kickback


Responder will find out that the club Queen is missing. Imo, opener with AKxx in clubs should show the Q, since it is extremely unlikely that responder would introduce Jxxxx as a trump suit over 2♠, so responder need not worry about that holding of AKxx.

Responder will place the contract in 6♣.

Using the OP constraints, well...I think the 'system', if we can dignify it with that description, forces a 3♣ response, and now we're all just guessing, but I would expect opener to drive to 6♣, remembering that he opened 2♣. Of course, people who play this method may not play keycard and so can't find out that the club Q is missing and may just gamble a grand....if so, it should be 7N, of course. Sometimes science just gets in the way....7N is unbiddable by any good pair, yet has, apparently, 15 top winners as the card lay

[helene_t]

No way I will stay out of slam with two aces opposite a 2c opener.

2c-2d
2s-3c
3s-4d
4h-4n
5c-5d
6c-6s

The heart lead is marked on this auction so we will go down.

[chasetb]

2♣ - 2♦
2♠ - 2NT (positive, 0-2 Spades, balanced or 5+ ♣)
3♣ (asking) - ???

Since I haven't ever played a decent system over 2♣ (not by choice), I can't do the rest, but I would hopefully end up in 6♣ making 7.

[Fluffy]

If north starts with 3♣ I think opener should raise to 4♣, it is a matter of controls and keycards now, and you can rectify 6/7♣ for pades later.

But if north starts with 2♦ south should aim at 4♠ rather, so no club support.

[keithhus]

Interested to know what the experts would say about my thinking viz;

S. 2C
N. 3C
S. 4NT
N. 5 H
S. 5NT
N. 6C
S. 6NT

Be gentle

[runewell]

I don't know why people are talking about bidding 7c and 15 top tricks missing four clubs to the QJ

I'm thinking
2c 2d (not a bust) 2s 3c 3s 5nt (pick a slam) 6s