[Codo]

Hey, premepts work.
You do have quite limited space to show different hand types, so you need to bid 4 ♥ with much more different hands.

Whether or not your three examples are still a 4 ♥ bid is debatable, I would double with the first one and maybe bid 5 ♥ with the third, but basically, yes, 4 ♥ can be bid with all three handtypes.

[mikeh]

Zelandakh, on 2012-March-15, 02:12, said:

Whether the hand in the OP should be treated as a one-suited hand is another matter entirely. My vote is still for no with KQJ9 on the side but both approaches have their advantages and Justin being in the 4♥ camp is food for thought. I am interested in what the other senior posters have to say about this decision now.

I'm much, much more 'senior' than Justin, so I'll bite on this one

I learned a different phrase than Justin's: game before slam: it means much the same thing tho.....in sequences where logic suggests that you need to choose between two messages....one is probing for slam and the other is exploring which game is best, opt for the interpretation that one is looking to find the best game, and don't worry about slam. Games are far more common than slams, and with real slam interest, you will sometimes be able to make another move over the game. In the meantime, bidding space is often cramped in preempted or competitive auctions, so you often don't have the luxury of being able to look for slam with one sequence and choose games via another.


When I saw the hand, I thought, as did Art, that this was a wtp 4♥.

We miss defending 3♠ x'd, but our spade length, such as it is, suggests partner won't have the trumps to defend. We miss 3N, but, again, our spade length suggests that he won't be bidding 3N, and our lack of a second Ace means that he might not have 9 tricks in time even if he can bid it. In the meantime, I'm always having to bid 4♥ after any other non-jump bid by partner, and while I agree that that would show a flexible hand, what am I gaining? Do I want partner to feel that he can bid 5minor over 4♥? No.

Since double then 4♥ shows a different hand than an immediate 4♥ (tho the boundary is somewhat vague, and different players will disagree on exactly where the line is on any given hand), and since I have no real desire to suggest another denomination, I choose 4♥...aware that on a bad day, this will not work out.