[msjennifer]

 2L8, on 2020-May-03, 12:59, said:

I am surprised that no one has said that opener missed. With 20 hi card its and a void I would have opened 2 C

Sir,
Pardon me (1) As depicted there are NINETEEN and not 20 HCP. (2) Three suited hands with 5044 are not opened 2C as it lacks 22(some players require 23)HCP, as also they are difficult to handle in order to depict correctly one's actual hand.(3)The hand lacks the minimum number of QUICKLY establishable tricks required for a 2C opener.(4)The spade suit is not a self sustained suit. (5)Lack of 5+ defensive tricks in the event opponents overcall and partner has a misfit passed hand.(6)The 1S opening permits the opener to come into auction on next round just in case partner passes and opponents come in with ,a normally expected, 2H call either overcall or a balancing one. THANKS and GOOD LUCK.

[miamijd]

I think either 2S or 4S is OK. 2S may allow you to buy the contract for 2 or (more likely) 3S, and 3 may well be the limit. On the other hand, you might miss an occasional game if partner has the right hand.

As for slam, you'll get there after 4S (I would just blast 6).

After a raise to 2S, I suppose you could accept a 3C try (but I don't know that I would), in which case you'll get there.

All in all, big club methods like Meckwell Precision have a huge advantage on hands like these.

[werge]

No problem - actually best bidding would have been:

1 S 2 S

3 C 4 C

- and no way to mis 6 S

100% Quilty: Opener - 2 S is the only possible bid with that hand

[marklaf]

This is a good hand for partnerships to discuss. It is more a matter style than right or wrong. I do not want my partner to jump to six spades with the hand he holds--so I would close my eyes and bid 2 spades---If you believe that opener can bid again with his hand after 4 spades then 4 is fine. I also want partner to splinter over my 2 spade bid---.

[ibm386]

2 ♠is good.
With a minimal hand (11-12PO) of the partner and with distribution 3-0 and with k in the wrong position it's hard to do and 2♠.
If the partner has a stronger hand over 14-15PO he can say 2 clubs forsing an the auction can grow with 2♥-good hand or 2♠-minimal.
Slam are hard with bad distribution.

[mycroft]

Flat, trump rich hands are a pain to bid no matter what.

"I should just bid 4, eh?" A more normal "aggressive" third seat 1♠ is off 2 if we're lucky and have no trump losers. If either of those don't apply, -150 into nothing isn't -200, the Matchpoint Death Score, but it's certainly just a slightly squarer zero. And with this hand, how does he know you don't have ♥KQ75 ♣54? And when he bids 4♠, you feel like you've underbid your hand, but do you bid 5♣? Oops, partner's got a flat 18 and 4♠ is the limit. Oops, partner's got this hand, but with 12-ish; 4♠ is -1 into 4♥ cold even on the bad break, but 5 is going to get doubled. (and yes, in some of these scenarios, we have to wonder who added Sominex to fourth hand's tea, but it still happens).

I'm not saying that opener shoulders all the blame; responder had choices at both opportunities to make a more aggressive call. I've just been burned many times by raising to 4 without the singleton even without partner being a third-seat opener. But Opener definitely had choices on his second call, and "a more descriptive call" would have helped.

You're just not going to get to all the 24-point slams you can make.

[blackshoe]

 mycroft, on 2020-May-05, 11:49, said:

You're just not going to get to all the 24-point slams you can make.

True. OTOH, you don't want to avoid getting to all the slams you don't make. That slam bonus is pretty shiny.

[arepo24]

No question in my mind. I'm with your partner. You didn't bid enough.
I would immediately go to 4 spades (law of total tricks)

[AL78]

 arepo24, on 2020-May-09, 12:59, said:

No question in my mind. I'm with your partner. You didn't bid enough.
I would immediately go to 4 spades (law of total tricks)

That is normally applied in a competitive auction when deciding whether to bid 3 over their 2 or 3, or when trying to shut out an opponent who has yet to bid but could hold a decent hand. I can't see why it would apply when neither opponent can say anything. It is losing trick count that is used as a guideline on how high to bid.

[John_H]

 120248, on 2020-May-02, 14:57, said:

I am south

Partner open 1♠ in 3rd position.
I respond 2♠ and partner jump to 4.


My hand : ♠109632 ♥Q754 ♦ 82 ♣ K7

Partner : ♠ AQJ74 ♥ --- ♦ AK53 ♣ AJ93

After the hand, partner said i was too conservative. Should bid 4 instead of 2.
I said that opps are 2 passed hands and p open in 3rd position. If he has a minimum opening hand
he will perhaps go down. The fact of bidding immediately 4 is like i was prempting partner.

What do u think of that ? ty

The extra trump in a passed hand offsets the HCP weakness, but the hand isn't especially good, so 2S is reasonable. The extra strength and shape is in opener's hand and, having now settled on the suit, he/she needs to show more imagination with the rebid. 3C - showing the Ace - would be forcing and make responder's hand look better (KC now looks like it's good). Responder could then bid 4C, rather than 3S, to show a bit extra and the Club control, and then it's down to opener to decide whether to keep exploring or close out in game.

[blackshoe]

Opener could do that if their agreement is to do that. Mine with my regular partners is not.

As opener I think I would bid 4♥ over 2♠. As responder, on that auction, I'd bid 5♣, showing the club control. Now it's up to opener. With four losers, I think he should go on. With more than 4 losers he should perhaps sign off in 5♠, although given the club control it's close.

[macb423]

I agree with 2s. Would your partner feel you were too conservative if the king of clubs were the king of hearts?

[coliecam]

 120248, on 2020-May-02, 14:57, said:

I am south

Partner open 1♠ in 3rd position.
I respond 2♠ and partner jump to 4.


My hand : ♠109632 ♥Q754 ♦ 82 ♣ K7

Partner : ♠ AQJ74 ♥ --- ♦ AK53 ♣ AJ93

After the hand, partner said i was too conservative. Should bid 4 instead of 2.
I said that opps are 2 passed hands and p open in 3rd position. If he has a minimum opening hand
he will perhaps go down. The fact of bidding immediately 4 is like i was prempting partner.

What do u think of that ? ty

[helene_t]

It's difficult to construct a South hand that would bid 4♠ and not give any play for slam. It would have to be almost specifically Kxxxx-KJx-xxx-xx, but a balanced hand might not bid 4♠. And even that hand can make slam if ♣T is onside with ♣Q and/or ♣K. If ♣KQ are offside, a club lead is likely so you basically just need ♣T onside. Besides, with North being void in hearts he expects South to have some hearts length.

[pilowsky]

You now have more opinions than there are cards in the deck. That should answer your question

[FelicityR]

 pilowsky, on 2020-June-21, 20:46, said:

You now have more opinions than there are cards in the deck. That should answer your question

I couldn't agree more. An experienced partnership would have more understanding, more technique, probably a lot more bidding agreements and arrangements to cope with a hand like this. Especially when a bid is made third in hand with the opponents silent on the first round which suggests that your partner has a better than minimum hand when you have ♠109xxx ♥Qxxx ♦xx ♣Kx and 5 card support for his suit. (If you have a good fit in one suit, then the opponents should have a good fit elsewhere. And why haven't they come into the bidding? Lack of HCPs obviously. That's logical)

I think this hand is more awkward to deal with if partner is opening the bidding first in hand as one opponent hasn't entered the bidding yet. Third in hand lends itself to possibly the Drury and Bergen conventions, albeit in modified forms, and as miamijd indicates a strong club opening system may handle this type of hand better but as none of these technical bidding options are available to you then there's no point in discussing them further.

Irrespective of the losing trick count, my bridge grounding taught me to bid pre-emptively to a major suit game when you hold good trump support but little else outside. You are not pre-empting partner as the bid sequence 1♠ - 4♠ suggests the hand you have but I am not totally keen on the balanced(ish) 5422 shape as others have indicated. The raise is pre-emptive by its nature. I particularly like the 1♠ - 4♠ - 6♠ sequence miamijd suggested. It's a bit point blank, but it gives nothing away.

But I am not apportioning blame for missing the slam, because as others have indicated your partner was unimaginative just raising your 2♠ support bid to 4♠ without investigating the possibility of slam. And, also, the question that needs to be asked is what exactly does your 2♠ bid show? Three card support with up to a poor 10 HCPs - for many - or five card support with 5 HCPs and a balanced hand for you on this specific hand. You made a decision adjusting your values accordingly.