[mr1303]

...Says that it is impossible to get absolute zero.

I can disprove it. These hands achieved an absolute zero.

AKJ
Axxx
KQx
Axx

Starting with partner.

2C 2D
2NT 4C
4H ?

2C was precision, 2D enquired, 2NT showed a max(13-15 or so), 4C was RKCB, 4H showed 0 or 3. Which your abacus tells you is a lie. How do you proceed?

[PhilKing]

The most likely explanation is that partner usually plays RKCB 3041, so has one key card.

Disclaimer: this may obvious to me because I know the hand.

[Trinidad]

I would say he has 2 without the queen (and confused the reply in hearts with the reply in hearts to RKCB). That I have seen many times before.

I would just bid what I was always going to bid (unless I would find out something good) : 6NT.

Rik

[gwnn]

Great thread title. I don't know what he's got but I'd bid 6NT. Can't be that bad.

[Fluffy]

I have a partner for whoom the escale was:

not 2
not 2
2 without the queen
2 with the queen

lately she has been messing with the last 2 answers as well, so now its totally random.

[PhilKing]

mr1303, on 2013-December-29, 04:41, said:

I can disprove it. These hands achieved an absolute zero...

There was a sit-out pair, so your cold bottom was factored up - you got 0.1% on the board.

[GreenMan]

Is partner more likely to get RKC wrong, or to treat ♠QTx ♥KQJ ♦J ♣QJTxxx as a maximum, or to get the 2NT response wrong?

If the first, disregarding the UI from PhilKing , I agree with Trinidad: Partner most likely has a holding that would respond 5♥ to 4NT RKC.

[kenberg]

6NT sounds right to me also.
If partner really has no keys, we are not dead yet, maybe the club king is onside. Not a completely crazy contract.
If partner meant to show two keys w/o, we can hope that we, and especially those in 7, get the clubs wrong.

[akwoo]

Here is another possibility: partner could have 2 key cards and a void, and not knowing how to show that over 4C RKCB, decided to lie and show 3.

Also - just for clarification, 2N denies a 4 card major and confirms a 6th club in addition to promising a maximum?

[mr1303]

2NT confirms a 6th club (and a max), but does not show or deny a 4 card major. 2C 2D 3H and 2C 2D 3S would show 1435 and 4135 respectively (with a maximum), whereas 2H/S would show any minimum with that 4 card major. I could've bid 3C to ask for the major, but chose not to.

[FrancesHinden]

maybe he upgraded Qx KQJx - QJ109xxx to a maximum?
I would also bid 6NT on the basis that it's more likely he has miscounted than something warped as happened and anyway if that is his hand it's on a finesse. (Although if that is his hand maybe we should bid 6H!)

Another possibility is that he has forgotten 4C is keycard and thinks it has just set clubs as trumps, and he's cuing the heart king. That means we are off the DA and is a more obvious 6NT bid.

[Lord Molyb]

nvm

This post has been edited by Lord Molyb: 2013-December-30, 06:10

[Lorne50]

PhilKing, on 2013-December-29, 11:11, said:

There was a sit-out pair, so your cold bottom was factored up - you got 0.1% on the board.

So the third law of thermodynamics is try after all !

[billw55]

I would stop to consider that it may actually be myself who has forgotten the system.

[kenberg]

mr1303, on 2013-December-30, 00:25, said:

2NT confirms a 6th club (and a max), but does not show or deny a 4 card major. 2C 2D 3H and 2C 2D 3S would show 1435 and 4135 respectively (with a maximum), whereas 2H/S would show any minimum with that 4 card major. I could've bid 3C to ask for the major, but chose not to.

I'm glad that Akwoo asked about this because I had assumed the majors are out of the question. (I don't play Precision so I just went with the low as I understood it to be.)

Still, I think that as it has gone, if partner has four hearts that's just too bad. Now is not the time to explore for that. I am sticking with 6NT.

These situations can put a strain on partnerships. My general view is that it is best to assume partner means what he says, but I think that if he indeed has the no key weirdo and if 6NT goes down while 5♣, and maybe 6♥, is making, he should be forgiving. We should expect our partners to pay attention and think carefully, but we must allow them to be wrong.

[mycroft]

The Three Laws of Thermodynamics, Abridged:

• You can't win.
  
• You can't break even.
  
• You can't leave the game.

I'm still waiting for the passout throughout. I've seen it in a 3-table game, but never higher.

[gszes]

Never worry too much about hands where logical interpretation is impossible. We all make

mistakes so just do the best you can with the known information and take a guess (ackkk)

at what is the best way to proceed. Once you have done this forget about it and move on.

You can always discuss situations where you were "lost" in the bidding later but for now just

go to the bext board and get a top by playing that hand vs this one over and over and overrrrrrrrrr

IMHO I would just bid 6N since using the logic that if I am going to gamble I am going to go for

the best reasonable score I can expect to get:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

[mr1303]

I chose to bid 4S to see what that brought. It brought a fairly unhelpful 5C. I knew 5C was almost certainly no matchpoints, so decided to take a punt on 6C hoping it might roll in on a finesse. (I had no way to get back to NT below 6NT at this point.

Was surprised 6C was no matchpoints either though. There's usually 1 pair who don't bid a slam....

[Mbodell]

So what was the hand and the explanation of partner's calls?

[neilkaz]

mr1303, on 2013-December-30, 15:58, said:

I chose to bid 4S to see what that brought. It brought a fairly unhelpful 5C. I knew 5C was almost certainly no matchpoints, so decided to take a punt on 6C hoping it might roll in on a finesse. (I had no way to get back to NT below 6NT at this point.

Was surprised 6C was no matchpoints either though. There's usually 1 pair who don't bid a slam....

If you're going to bid 6♣ at MP here, I'd just try 6NT instead. You've got a balanced 21 count opposite a good Precision 2♣ opener. It could be that the same finesse that allows 6♣ to make also allows 6NT to make.

I presume you strongly suspected that something had gone wrong with the auction by this point but think back to what your first thoughts could have been at MP when hearing PD's opening 2♣ and looking at your balanced 21 count, and that should be 6NT.