[Rebound]

Scoring: IMP

Auction: you're South
E - S - W - N
P - 1♦ - P - 1♥
1♠ - ?

---

At the time, I bid 3NT, gambling on K109x being a stop and a half. I think this was a mistake but it is not clear to me what the best bid is. 2♦ seems like an underbid and 3♦ seems like an overbid. If it please the court, I am interested in your opinion about this first, then I will post the rest of the hand because I have a further question.

[whereagles]

3NT is fine. Should show just about what you have: 7 solid diamonds, spade stop, no interest in hearts.

[mr1303]

I fail to see why 3NT is less of an overbid than 3D. 3NT is fine if you had a club stop, but without I think 3D is ideal. Then if partner bid 3S you can bid 3NT without worrying

[luke warm]

i think 3nt is often bid on a running suit, usually a minor... the only downside i see here is, it almost forces a club lead.. 3nt could be best, but i think i'd bid 2♦... this bid also has a 'walking the dog' aspect that i like

[Fluffy]

Teh only alternative to 3NT is pass.

[Al_U_Card]

Ah yes, the most underused bid in the book, PASS. Pard might only have Jxxx in H and 5 hcp, but he will strain to reopen knowing that you did open the bidding. Based on his continuation, you will be better placed to properly define your hand and get to the right contract with his help. (Don't be worried about them preempting in S, that might just suit you to a T.)

[Free]

I only see 1 bid for us: 3NT. You don't have ♥ support and you have a running ♦ suit. The only problem that might occur is when we can't reach partner's hand to make the 9th trick...

[whereagles]

Free, on May 18 2005, 03:14 PM, said:

I only see 1 bid for us: 3NT. You don't have ♥ support and you have a running ♦ suit. The only problem that might occur is when we can't reach partner's hand to make the 9th trick...

Well, if pard has a weakish hand, like say

xx
Kxxx
xx
Kxxxx

he'll probably take you out of 3NT anyway.

[PriorKnowledge]

3N, wtp? No other rebid is even on the radar. All bids are "gambling".

Next hand.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

3D, wtp?

You have diamonds and you have compensationg values for
your lack of HCP.

If you bid 3NT, you will go down, if you catch partner with a
void in spades, of course you may survive after a spade
lead, but this is not sure, since you only hold the king.

And since you are weak, in the sense of HCP, there
is a chance that West holds a good enough Clubs
inducing him to atack clubs immediatly.

And if West still attacks spade, most of the time East will
find the switch.

If your partner is interested in aspade stopper he can and
he will ask.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Rebound]

Thanks for your replies. It seems debateable, but not totally unreasonable to bid 3NT. Now for the the rest of the hand and my other question:

Scoring: IMP

---

After 3NT, partner bid 4NT. (In the style of this particular partner,) I judged this to be for aces only and bid 5♦. By this time, partner was rather confused and elected to sign off in 5NT by way of a 5♠ bid (which was doubled by east.) We played it there for a poor score. So, opinions please. Was partner's 4NT justified? If a slam try is called for, is there a better call than 4NT? 4♠ maybe?

Further, I would be interested in opinions regarding handling this hand versus a strong balanced hand of the type that might bid 3NT naturally on the given auction. Clearly, if you could bid 3NT with either hand, partner needs some way to distinquish between them. Could you use 4♠ over 3NT as a sort of Last Train bid ?

[pigpenz]

i think pard has to bid 6♦ with his hand......he should be able to count to 11-tricks and hard to find out about 12 for sure.

[helene_t]

Agree with pigpenz. Partner would have bid 6♦ if he understood 3NT. Apperently he thought you had 18-19 ballanced and bid 4NT as quanti.

Btw, I have no convention to ask partner for half a club stopper so I just bid 3NT.

I like your 5♦ bid, too. If 4NT is quanti then 5♦ is natural. If 4NT is Blackwood, 5♦ is one ace (hopefully it isn't RKC for diamonds?).

[P_Marlowe]

4 NT over 3 NT is quantitative, probably
showing something around the lines of
11-13, with 3 NT you promised already the
equivalent of 18/19 HCP.

Which means, partner, should probbaly bid
6 NT right away.
Asking partner to bid 6D instead of ??? is a
bit unrealsitic, because one did promise only
a 3 card suit.
and nobody knows what 5D as answer to 4NT means,
since 4NT could also be quantitaive ace asking,
i.e. one only answers in case of maximum values.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[helene_t]

P_Marlowe, on May 19 2005, 10:11 AM, said:

Asking partner to bid 6D instead of ??? is a
bit unrealsitic, because one did promise only
a 3 card suit.

No, Rebound promised a 6(7?)-card suit. With 18-19 he would have bid 2NT (or doubled with 3-card support if playing support doubles).

[Free]

Bidding 6 is almost obligated after such an auction imo. Passing the 5♠ bid is suicide, you should RDbl to show ♠s and North can choose what he'll play then (which by now should be 6♦).

[whereagles]

The 3NT rebid shows typically

Kxx
x
AKQxxxx
xx

The club queen is an extra which pard could not know of.

Unless you have bidding tools to find out about extras, a pass to 3NT is a very sensible action (count 11 tricks, maybe only 10 if opener has Qxx instead of Kxx in spades).

[mr1303]

The way I play it, the 3NT rebid shows the solid suit (at worst AKJxxxx) and stoppers in all suits except the one bid by partner. Hence a singleton club is not good enough for a 3NT bid here.

[beatrix45]

Let me offer some old fashioned opinions from the Great White North.
With regard to your first problem.
How can 3NT we considered wrong?
a.) Partner more or less guarantees 5 HCP and has an expectancy of 8 HCP.
b.) You are looking at 8 tricks in you own hand.

The only con is that your hand outside of diamonds is very slow. This generates some extra cases where they can get five tricks before you get nine. Say, spade to the ace, a spade back toward the Q on your left, AND you are off the club AK and the heart A. Another is a club out, and you win, but they cash four clubs and the heart ace when you lead toward the spade K. Remember that your expectancy for combined HCP in your two hands is only 23, not enough to make 3NT on power alone.

If you want to fool around with this hand, you could pass or bid 1NT with the idea of walking the dog to ambush the opponents with your undisclosed diamond runner. IMO 3 diamonds is misleading and tactically worthless.

With regard to your second question.
Partner's 4NT bid should be QUANTITATIVE - no discussion allowed, you either know how to play bridge or you don't. If you play Gerber, she can ask with 4 clubs. With the actual hand, she should assume you have the big balanced hand - after all, she is looking at the spade ace, the one card you would usually have with a long suit runner. She is also looking at 14 top quality HCP and a potential trick source in clubs. The arithmetic is 18+14, 19+14, or 20+14, not enough for 7NT on power alone. Still, with all those controls, it is right to investigate the grand, with the idea of bailing out into 6NT if you don't get enthusiastic. Start with 4 spades.

Now, you can take control by bidding 4NT - Blackwood this time. Missing an ace, you sign off at six diamonds. Now partner should know (or, at least, strongly suspect) you are on a diamond runner, but in that case, she can only count 11 tricks in NT - two spades, two hearts and seven diamonds, plus her club king is not protected on the opening lead. Partner will pass, and you should do OK.