[phoenix214]

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Scoring is imps
1D bid is unbalanced with diamonds(1C would be opened with any balanced outside of 1N/2N range)
What is your bid now? And how close?
Note: Im more interested in the point why would you like to make the specific bid - I made a pool on BW as well.

[helene_t]

3NT. Dbl followed by a correction of 4♥ to 5♦ is an option if partner's 4♥ shows spade shortness and hence probably 5+ diamonds. But I am not sure about those assumptions, and there is also the risk that p is 1444. Dbl could of course find a good minor suit slam.

[eagles123]

i think we're a little too good to bid 3n so would start with X.

[TylerE]

The problem with Xing insteading of bidding 3NT is that we then almost never get to play 3NT.

[apollo1201]

Reverse the majors and it is an easy 3NT. Now, Axx facing the likely singleton plus the extra strength (16 nice HCPs) push me towards X, although I'm not confident on how we'll continue, bid slam when it's there or stay out of it when it is not. I don't mind playing 5m at imps, but I hope I didn't skip the last makeable game if partner is just 2452....

[ggwhiz]

3nt and not close in a practical sense in that partner has full license to bid a bad slam over anything else and can still continue over this with an appropriate hand.

I hate being 4 triple when the opponents advertise a lot of shape and unless we have a nine card fit in a minor or partner moves I'm not bullish on the hand.

[bigbenvic]

X and I like to have an agreement where 4nt is to play after any suit bid by partner. If I want to slam try I have to bid 4♠ which is a slam try in whatever his second bid was. Not sure I am strong enough but the x and bid 4nt shows better than a direct 3nt bid so a balanced 15-17 type hand, 16-18 if we open 11 counts with 5 card suits.

[WesleyC]

3NT. We have sharp cards and a nice spade holding so slam could easily be laydown. But we also have sterile shape and no convenient way to try for slam without jeopardizing our positive score so I lean towards the conservative action.

[nige1]

phoenix214, on 2016-May-22, 13:06, said:

Scoring is imps.
1D bid is unbalanced with diamonds(1C would be opened with any balanced outside of 1N/2N range)
What is your bid now? And how close?
Note: Im more interested in the point why would you like to make the specific bid - I made a pool on BW as well.

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I rank

• 4♠ = CUE. Partner's 1♦ is unbalanced, so he is likely to have 0-1 ♠ s; he has 5+ ♦s unless he is 1444 (a rare shape); you are likely to be working with a 34 HCP deck. The pre-empt is a harbinger of bad-breaks but I think you're still worth a slam try.
• 3N = NAT. There's a slight danger that 3N goes down while a ♦ game/slam makes e.g. partner has ♠ x ♥ A x x ♦ K Q x x x x ♣ K x x
• Double = NEG. Risky if partner has 4 ♥s.

[ahydra]

I'll stick with the dull 3NT. Feels too flat to try playing in a diamond contract.

ahydra

[msjennifer]

nige1, on 2016-May-23, 08:27, said:

I rank

• 4♠ = CUE. Partner's 1♦ is unbalanced, so he is likely to have 0-1 ♠ s; he has 5+ ♦s unless he is 1444 (a rare shape); you are likely to be working with a 34 HCP deck. The pre-empt is a harbinger of bad-breaks but I think you're still worth a slam try.
• 3N = NAT. There's a slight danger that 3N goes down while a ♦ game/slam makes e.g. partner has ♠ x ♥ A x x ♦ K Q x x x x ♣ K x x
• Double = NEG. Risky if partner has 4 ♥s.

How can one find out what partners hand is? With the hand that you have given 3NT is also cold.One can not assume a particular hand with P. He may be 1444 eg x,Axxx,KQxx,KJxx I which case perhaps only 5 Clubs is the makeable contract,if you make a TOD now,but
P will bid 4 H with this hand. Considering all this 3NT is a less damaging bid and who knows P with the hand given by you may bid 4 D..It is all ifs and buts !

[Caitlynne]

I like your methods whereby 1D is unbalanced.

While 3NT seems reasonable, the Ace of spades is a prime value that suggests that a suit contract could be more appropriate. What's more, this is a good looking 16 HCP despite the 4333 pattern - the values are slammish in nature with both the aforementioned spade Ace and both Queens supporting higher honors and even the 10 supporting the Jack of partner's suit - so I think Dbl (for takeout) is the superior bid.

Yes, partner could be 4441, but the risk that partner is 4441 and it is bad is neglible. Indeed, and, if partner is 4441, that is almost surely good news for the singleton is almost surely in spades (given the auction - RHO almost always has 7 spades, you have 3, so partner cannot have 4 spades) and playing in clubs seems best.

And Dbl will uncover the club fit.

If partner bids 4H, I will be happy enough correcting to 5D. This has to be viewed as a mild slam try.

If partner bids 4C, I have an easy 4S cue bid in support of clubs.

[forgo]

3nt this is imps bid the game if p has spectacular diamonds and max he may bid!!

[miamijd]

X and 3NT are both reasonable. If 1D was a normal opener (not the unbalanced one you specified), X would be pretty automatic (partner might want to pass). With the unbalanced convention, it's much closer, because partner is likely to be short in spades and thus less likely to want to pass. I would cross my fingers and X.

The main issue at IMPs is to avoid a disaster. On this hand, that means to at least make your game. Each bid has problems here. If you bid 3NT, you might find partner with something like:

x Axx KQxxx KJx

Now if South shows up with the Ad, you are going set in 3NT when 6D was icy.

On the other hand, if you X, partner may bid 4H, in which case you have a nasty guess. Quite likely you can hold up on the first spade, take the A on the second spade, and make 4H, but a 5-1 H split could doom you. Correcting to 5D won't help much if partner is 1444.

The reason I like X is that it is less unilateral and more flexible. There are two things that could go very wrong with 3nt: (i) you could easily go down and (ii) you might have an easy slam (and no, partner isn't going to bid over 3NT with a hand like the one I showed above).

There are fewer things that could go wrong over X. It's unlikely partner will pass, but I suppose he could have short clubs or even short hearts. If he passes, you are happy enough. If partner bids 3NT, you can raise to 4NT. If partner bids 4C, you can bid 4S to show club support and try for slam. The same is true if partner bids 4D. The only thing that could go wrong is if partner bids 4H, and even there, 4H is probably about as likely to make as 3NT.

What happened on the actual hand?

[wank]

opposite an unbalanced diamond i think 3nt is pretty bad. partner's likely to be short in spades, which makes our hand great for slam and dubious for 3nt (we're nowhere near guaranteed to have 9 top ones).

[kenrexford]

When partner has an unbalanced hand and you are thinking suit contract, your shape is somewhat irrelevant. The issue is cover cards. You have 5 clear covers, and any diamond hook is working. Partner obviously has a short spade, so 3NT is silly. If I had to pick one bid, 6D stands out. 4S is perhaps the right call, though.

[phoenix214]

There have been a lot of interesting points made:
Anyhow going to post what happened at the table:
I went somewhat with Ken's logic - that my shape is irrelevent and diamond contract will have more play than 3N, and went with 6D. Funny enough the contract has the same amount of play as 3N with less risk:
Partners hand was:
♠xx
♥AJ
♦AQxxx
♣Jxxx
No info on his spots sadly , but the slam is on about one of two finesses(if the diamond one fails and we are in 3N, we go down more).
Sadly both were off and we went -1(OT was 3N-3).
On the given hand the club suit would be better as trump, hence the problem: I figure i am not sure myself what is better but I figure X/4S are the better bids.

[Phil]

I think you did great and took advantage of your methods.