[kenberg]

Matchpoints, no one vulnerable, partner opens 1♠. I have:

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We are playing 2 over 1 and, imo, without a fit this doesn't quite do it for me. Anyway, I bit a forcing NT.


Partner jumps to 4♥.

Huh.

Looks good to me, but what now? Well, I tried 4NT. Partner figured my hand must have gotten a lot better with his 4♥ call, so he took this as rkc for hearts, showed 0 or 3, and I bid 6♥ making.


We both agreed afterward that we were a bit uncertain.

So

Question 1: After 1♠-1NT(forcing) what is the difference between 3♥ and 4♥? Maybe the latter is more shape, less strength?


Next hand: I hold:

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Partner opens 1♦, pass on my right, I bid 1NT. Lho now calls 2♥ and partner bids 2NT.

Question number 2: What is 2NT, competitive or invitational to 3. I bid 3. lho led the ♠ 3 and here is my dummy, with my hand beneath it.

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Well, I almost made the crazy hand. The spade rode to my J, I ran the diamond 9 losing, a heart came back (!) ducked to the K, anther spade led, I came to hand with a heart and ran another diamond. There is a limit to how much a guy can expect in from Lady Luck, and so rho produce the remaining diamond honor, down 1.

Restating Question 2: What should I expect from the 2NT bid? Assume it is not conventional in any way, it's either to play (as pard surely intended here) or it's invitational.

I am sure that the world is full of players who find both of these questions very elementary, but I am asking them anyway.
Thanks.

[PhilKing]

I like 4♥ as a splinter (usually void), so I guess there is a difference with 3♥ ...

[mikeh]

I sometimes play with an ABCL Grand Life Master (who is a fair bit older than I, and I am no spring chicken, but he is a fine player) who uses this particular sequence to show a 5=6 or better hand with good suits, but not huge hcp. With, say, 16 or so and that shape, he'll bid hearts and reverse.

Frankly, I don't like it, and he is the only player with whom I have played that, as far as I know (for all I know, this is standard in Eastern Canada from whence he hails).

I'd personally assume that it was 6-6 with decent suits but not a powerhouse: far weaker than 3♥, which is a great 18+.

AQJxxx KQxxxx x void would be a reasonable construction.

Maybe a void, with a self-sufficent spade suit and a near 2♣ opener would be more frequent. However, I like 3♣ as a multi-purpose jumpshift, which can include, as a hand-type, a near 2♣ opening with a self-sufficient spade suit and I doubt that the extra specificity of showing the void at the 4 level gains a huge amount over showing the general nature of the hand at the 3-level, via 3♠ over the usual 3♦ 'noise' by responder seeking clarification of the nature of the jumpshift.

As for the second: it comes down to agreement. I would not, however, expect many to have the agreement that 2N shows a flat 14 count.

To me, it can usefully be played as a minor 2 suiter with primary diamonds....a 2 card length discrepancy. That allows a natural 3♣ with near equal or equal length. Responder is marked with a 4 card minor, so it will often behoove opener to compete in a minor.

One should also consider the meaning of double. Traditionally, double here is penalty: they stumbled into a chunky 4 card suit in opener's hand. In my experience, such doubles are rare and one could consider using double to show a hand invitational to 3N. This is useful in that it preserves the invite while allowing for the minor suit competition.

If one were reluctant to give up the penalty double, and wanted the utility of the minor-showing 2N, one can always simply bid 3N with the invitational hand.

By the way, using 2N as I have suggested is even more useful if we have opened 1♣ on 4=6 minors or, I suppose especially not vul, 4=5 minors. Once again, we are assured of a fit but we can't be sure which is the better minor for trumps.

[TWO4BRIDGE]

PhilKing, on 2013-February-14, 16:28, said:

I like 4♥ as a splinter (usually void), so I guess there is a difference with 3♥ ...

On the 1st one:
I know ...
1S - 1NTF
3C/3D = game force
and
1S - 1NTF
4C/4D = jump-over-a-forcing-bid ( in that suit ) ; hence a self-splinter for ♠

I would assume the same is true for the ♥ suit rebids .

[Zelandakh]

On the first, I expected 4♥ to be an auto-splinter, that is good long spades and heart shortage. There are some alternatives which show real hearts and I think Fluffy used to play this as 5 spades, 6 hearts a while back. To be honest, I would never make this call without having an agreement with partner (unless I did not care about the result and just wanted to spark a discussion anyway).

For the second, if I did not have any agreement about 2NT being artificial in competition then I would just assume partner has an invitational hand, about 16-17. With a weak NT, your partner should simply have passed here. The main alternatives for 2NT here involve splitting up the minor suit hands in some way, either by distribution (as Mike describes) or by strength.