[dsLawsd]

For sure a tough hand to bid, especially for us bad guessers.
Playing the Polish Club would help and the revised version of K/S.
But we just deal with the system and partner we have- so we bid what we think will make. Many pairs would play that 1♦- X- 3NT shows a solid suit. At IMPs the opposite hand could try for slam with their 2 aces knowing that 5♦ is a fairly safe parking spot.

At matchpoints, what kind of field are you playing against?

[maartenxq]

1 ♦and if p responds 3 NT describes more or less what I have. This bidding allows p to pass or to go on, maybe even for slam.

Maarten Baltussen

[Vampyr]

I held this hand. In retrospect I wish I had opened 2♣. Not sure I would do it next time, though, since the black-suit holdings are king of dubious, so not actually good enough for a 2♣ opening with a primary minor.

[MinorKid]

Guys, do you have some suggestions on aftermaths beyond 1♦ 1♥ 3NT ?

For example
QJ
Axx
AKQJxxx
K

AKx
KQJxx
xx
Ax

how would you continue?

[cherdano]

mikeh, on 2019-September-30, 12:21, said:

2. open 1D: then over 1M? [Followed by 3N]

3. Open 2N. This has the beneficial effect of showing a good hand: partner will respond on hands where he might pass 1D, but that is not necessarily a good thing. If he is passing 1D, then in the modern style he will have a terrible hand, and is unlikely to be able to shore up both black suits...one, ok, but both? Possible but unlikely.

We are taking diamonds out of play. We might be cold for 6D and fail in 3N...imagine Axxx KQJx xxx xx.

But are we getting to 6♦ after 1♦-1♥-3N? If I was responder with Axxx KQJx xxx xx I'd consider passing 3N (surely partner could be KJ x AKQJxxx Kxx), or inviting 6N - but I don't think I would have considered playing 6♦, given that partner seems to need a double club stopper for both 6♦ and 6N, and given that we clearly have enough tricks in 6N via hearts opponents don't get two early tricks. Yes, on BBF I would obviously always respect partner's jump to 6♦ after 1♦-1♥-3N-4N, but in practice it wouldn't occur to me not to correct to 6N with such strong hearts.

I am more and more tempted to just sell such hands (7 running tricks + stuff) as a "balanced" 2N opening whenever they seem remotely in range - difficult for me to see the missed slams making up for stolen games.