[thad3]

Partner and I had a misunderstanding in an online game. 1c-p-1h-2s(weak)-3s. 3s by opener is, of course, forcing. Opener considered it a splinter, while responder thought it was Western cue, asking for a spade stopper. Responder bid 3nt (4 spades with JS). Opener then bid 4H, which was passed.

It made 4H, although double dummy was 5H. No harm, but we wonder whether the 3s bid should be better played as splinter or Western cue. Given the actual bidding, should responder reconsider after the 4H bid?

[DavidKok]

I think neither suggested use is best. Instead I would play this as a game forcing heart raise.

The strong hand needing a spade stopper can double and potentially bid 3♠ the next round.

The splinter hand is lost in my approach, but I gain when I have a non-splinter good raise that I want to show. This happens more often, so I think it's a better use on average.

[mikeh]

I agree with David that it’s best played as something other than a splinter or a western cue. I don’t agree that the best usage is that it’s absolutely always a heart raise, but that is (for me) the most common case.

Say you hold xx Kx AQx AKQJxx. Ok…maybe you’d open 2N but let’s not nitpick…if you’d open 2N, then change it to xx x AKQ AKJxxxx

1C (P) 1H (2S)

No number of clubs is good. 3C isn’t remotely this hand, and 4C is a nothing bid…it takes you past 3N which will often be the best/only game and who knows whether it’s forcing…or whether you’d like it to be?

So I think 3S is simply a game force, unable to bid 3N but either seeking a stopper or showing a gf heart raise, wrong for a 4H bid.

Don’t worry too much about this. If responder has a spade stopper his correct bid will almost always be 3N…the only exception is when he has a good hand such that he doesn’t want opener to pass 3N.

If responder lacks a spade stopper (and his RHO hasn’t bid or doubled 3S…in the latter case pass is available) then responder will usually bid an ambiguous 4C…since opener hasn’t promised hearts, responder needs a long heart suit to bid 4H. If opener has the heart raise, he’ll pull 3N. Also, he’ll bid 4H over 4C.

Now, when opener has the big hand with neither a stopper nor hearts….so always long clubs….the partnership may be over its head since the auction has forced to game. But that’s just the cost of doing business and why people preempt.

[DavidKok]

I think it is a poor idea to play this 3♠ as sometimes containing support and sometimes failing to contain it. If the opponents are silent we can wait for partner to bid 3NT or bypass it, and we'll be fine most of the time. But if LHO raises to 4♠ we really need to have communicated shape information, in particular degree of fit. For that reason I put strong non-fit hands in double, and can then double again after a raise or complete the description with 3♠ if the opponents fail to raise.

As an additional point, and hopefully for clarity: it is extremely rare for opener to have neither hearts nor spades (to bid 3NT by themselves) in an 18-19 NT. For this reason double-then-double or double-then-bid practically always shows an unbalanced hand with primary clubs, and in my system denies 4-card heart support. This shape information helps responder even if the preempt is raised.

[awm]

For me, double is more takeout-oriented with extras (so like 1336 or 1345 or 2335) and promises at least Hx in hearts (usually 3-card support). With a strong four-card raise I can bid 4♥ or 4♣ or 4♦. So 3♠ is primarily a stopper ask with game values and no clear direction, like xxx A KQx AKQJxx for example. While it's possible to bid 3♠...4♥ with a raise that's too slammish for a direct 4♥ (better than 18-19 balanced), this is a pretty rare sequence.