Possibly a difficult auction to get to slam. 1D - 3NT 4NT - 6C
3NT shows 13-15 and denies a 4 card major, and hence must have at one minor. 4NT is marginal, a combined 30-32 hcp, with one poor feature the KQ. However pard has at least seven cards in the minors, and therefore there is a certain fit. With a 14hcp and a 5 card suit South should accept the invite. Good partnerships have methods over 4NT to show minor fits, eg here, 6C shows a 5 card suit. 5NT is sometimes used to say "pick a slam" or "show me your minor". Needs partnership agreement.
I don't like 3NT. In general it is bad as it cuts out so much bidding space if partner has a distributional hand. Even if you can put up with that I think this is the wrong hand for 3NT. You have KTx in partner's suit which might be great opposite any five-card suit with some extra values. You have a five card suit of your own - although it is not great. Your holdings in the majors - your weak suits - are aces which are better suited for suit play and are great cards if there is any slam aspirations.
1D 2C 4C ...
Is a much better start to the auction. South now using the techniques I discussed at the training days can start to imagine a grand slam. For example place partner with dAQxxx and cAKxx and you have 12 likely tricks without any ruffs. And partner will have more than that.
As it happens it turns out to be difficult from there to get the information you want precisely. But you get to slam without any pushy quantitative raises.
Of course it helps to know that partner is raising clubs (and not bidding Gerber etc).
Wayne, at MPs I think there is always reluctance to go over 3NT. Playing in 5m is usually a disaster (assuming pard has a heart stop). Thus u need to be confident of being able to bid slam or being able to stop in 4NT. Can North be confident? Pard has already shown at least 10 but probably he neesd a 13hcp at least to start feeling confident, Assuming that the remaining unknown hcp (13, 40-17-10) are divided equally between the 3 hands, then pard's expected hand is ~14hcp (ignoring vacant spaces type arguments). So I guess there is reason to be confident. However, how does one stop in 4NT. Does 4NT over 4C say "I've got a shitty hand"? Presumably 4D/4H/4S by South are cues, with 4NT by north then presumably RKCB. So the decision to cue by South is the critical action.
Yes there is. However you have to do something with extra values and a fit. There is not much alternative.
However it helps if you have some good agreements after the raise to 4m. I would play that an immediate bid of 4NT was an offer to play. This isn't completely ideal but at least you can get back to NTs sometimes and you are better placed for bidding slams.
Possibly a difficult auction to get to slam.
ReplyDelete1D - 3NT
4NT - 6C
3NT shows 13-15 and denies a 4 card major, and hence must have at one minor.
4NT is marginal, a combined 30-32 hcp, with one poor feature the KQ. However pard has at least seven cards in the minors, and therefore there is a certain fit.
With a 14hcp and a 5 card suit South should accept the invite. Good partnerships have methods over 4NT to show minor fits, eg here, 6C shows a 5 card suit. 5NT is sometimes used to say "pick a slam" or "show me your minor". Needs partnership agreement.
I don't like 3NT. In general it is bad as it cuts out so much bidding space if partner has a distributional hand. Even if you can put up with that I think this is the wrong hand for 3NT. You have KTx in partner's suit which might be great opposite any five-card suit with some extra values. You have a five card suit of your own - although it is not great. Your holdings in the majors - your weak suits - are aces which are better suited for suit play and are great cards if there is any slam aspirations.
ReplyDelete1D 2C
4C ...
Is a much better start to the auction. South now using the techniques I discussed at the training days can start to imagine a grand slam. For example place partner with dAQxxx and cAKxx and you have 12 likely tricks without any ruffs. And partner will have more than that.
As it happens it turns out to be difficult from there to get the information you want precisely. But you get to slam without any pushy quantitative raises.
Of course it helps to know that partner is raising clubs (and not bidding Gerber etc).
Wayne, at MPs I think there is always reluctance to go over 3NT. Playing in 5m is usually a disaster (assuming pard has a heart stop). Thus u need to be confident of being able to bid slam or being able to stop in 4NT. Can North be confident? Pard has already shown at least 10 but probably he neesd a 13hcp at least to start feeling confident, Assuming that the remaining unknown hcp (13, 40-17-10) are divided equally between the 3 hands, then pard's expected hand is ~14hcp (ignoring vacant spaces type arguments). So I guess there is reason to be confident. However, how does one stop in 4NT. Does 4NT over 4C say "I've got a shitty hand"? Presumably 4D/4H/4S by South are cues, with 4NT by north then presumably RKCB. So the decision to cue by South is the critical action.
ReplyDeleteYes there is. However you have to do something with extra values and a fit. There is not much alternative.
ReplyDeleteHowever it helps if you have some good agreements after the raise to 4m. I would play that an immediate bid of 4NT was an offer to play. This isn't completely ideal but at least you can get back to NTs sometimes and you are better placed for bidding slams.
I have some other tweaks on these sequences but they are probably best not discussed in an intermediate forum.
ReplyDelete