[mikl_plkcc]

LBengtsson, on 2021-November-01, 21:51, said:

The poll on bridgewinners says it all...

who uses gerber? 33-34 in no trump contract for small slam. what it does not say on the ingredient tin is that with 33 or 34 points you will make 6NT also. north has ♥AK ♦K ♣AJ and east leads ♠QJ10 and his partner has ♠A. not just missing ♥AK 6NT will not make.

I will stop at 3NT is 33 is the max, and bid 6NT if 35 is guaranteed. If the estimated range is between 33 to 35 I will use Gerber.

With 34 I bid 6NT if all aces are held, but stop at 4NT if an ace is missing.

Similarly, the minimum I will consider 7NT is 38; with 37 I will go to 7NT if QJ is missing, but stay at 6NT if a K is missing.

[mw64ahw]

DavidKok, on 2021-November-02, 09:34, said:

Depending on your system there's no need to misdescribe upgrade the hand. You have the boss suit so interference is not a problem, and if partner has a way to show 10-11 balanced over 1♠ you won't miss 3NT. If anything, opening 1NT makes you miss 4♠.

Sticking to MLT with the interior sequence in spades and both red 10s seems a bit too dogmatic. I think the hand is well worth a 15-17 NT opening, but a 1♠ opening is even better.

Dogmatic yes, but I upgrade MLT (non-simple) for the JTs and still too weak.
I prefer systematic/consistent and use as a tiebreak after an invite with 16hcp or in this case to upgrade or not

[mikeh]

mikl_plkcc, on 2021-November-03, 05:25, said:

I will stop at 3NT is 33 is the max, and bid 6NT if 35 is guaranteed. If the estimated range is between 33 to 35 I will use Gerber.

With 34 I bid 6NT if all aces are held, but stop at 4NT if an ace is missing.

Similarly, the minimum I will consider 7NT is 38; with 37 I will go to 7NT if QJ is missing, but stay at 6NT if a K is missing.

Losing bridge imo.

[mikl_plkcc]

Why is it losing bridge? There are 40 HCPs in total, and with perfectly balanced hands, HCPs are a good indicator of trick taking potential. So it translates to 3 HCPs per trick, 35-37 for 12 tricks and 38-40 for 13 tricks.

37 without a K means 50% chance for the K to be on side only, definitely not a good probability for bidding 7. And although 50% is the theoretical break even point for a small slam, you need to consider if other people will be in game or slam anyway - others may have bid a one in a bad denomination which doesn't make - looking at the travellers there are usually a lot of strange contracts which is impossible if done in a classroom.