[rduran1216]

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Matchpoints

No xyz.

How do you proceed from here?

[billw55]

2♦ (4sfg) then spades on the cheap.

[Hanoi5]

You want to play game in spades so you bid that, 4♠.

[Siegmund]

If you open reasonably light, and you consider your HQJ to be worth a bit less than face value since they are liable to be opposite shortness, I think it's fair to treat this as only an invitation.

But once you decide if you have a game force in spades or an invitation in spades, your bid is easy: one of these hands jumps to 3S immediately, the other of them bids FSF and rebids spades. Which is which depends on your agreement (having the jump be invitational seems to be the more common way but IMO things work much better if 1-1-1-3 is forcing and FSF handles all the invitations. Hehe... almost like playing XYZ, but without giving up the natural 2C bid.)

[jogs]

Hanoi5, on 2011-December-02, 21:12, said:

You want to play game in spades so you bid that, 4♠.

Agree 4♠. What's the problem? Fast arrival.

[jogs]

rduran1216, on 2011-December-02, 19:53, said:

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No xyz.

How do you proceed from here?

After more thought. What happened? Was 3NT a better contract than 4♠?

1♣ - 1♥
1♠

This auction should guarantee four clubs.

9xxx, Kx, Kxx, AQJx

With 'bad' spades, 1NT may be a better rebid than 1♠.

[jmcw]

jogs, on 2011-December-02, 23:47, said:

Agree 4♠. What's the problem? Fast arrival.

♠KQxx
♥KTx
♦xx
♣AKxxx

I wonder if there are others who consider fast arrival one of the most abused bidding principles.

IMO FA should not be used when you have an outside control (more like this).

♠AT82
♥AJ95
♦Q2
♣J92

[rduran1216]

when you bid 2D (agreed game force) partner will bid 2H, so 4S now?

I edited the original post for why we're even talking about this

[gnasher]

jmcw, on 2011-December-03, 09:49, said:

♠KQxx
♥KTx
♦xx
♣AKxxx

If that's meant to be be KQxx K10 xx AKxxx, slam is quite poor. If it's KQxx K10x x AKxxx, I think partner has a move over 4♠.

Having said that, I agree with the argument that we should avoid jumping to game when there might be a slam on, but only if we can later distinguish between a minimum raise to game and a stronger raise. That's probably not a problem if we play serious/non-serious 3NT - we bid FSF followed by 3♠, and see if partner shows extra values.

[FrancesHinden]

This is not a difficult problem.

(i) If we play a very light style of opening bid, I bid 3S natural invitational.
(ii) If the hand is worth a game force in the partnership style, I bid 2D fourth suit forcing (not sure what xyz has to do with this?). Over partner's next bid I bid spades at the minimum level.

[dake50]

When do I show my double stop in the unbid suit?
Now, I think: 2NT. Partner can still show really
shapely/strong by his next bid to find 6S/6NT.

[Cyberyeti]

dake50, on 2011-December-04, 09:07, said:

When do I show my double stop in the unbid suit?
Now, I think: 2NT. Partner can still show really
shapely/strong by his next bid to find 6S/6NT.

Except that you'll play in 2N on some hands you want to play 4♠.

[whereagles]

The heart holding is wrong for a shot at 4. I'll try 3S instead.

[Cascade]

This hand is an invite for me so 3♠.

Second choice is 4♠.

Fourth suit and then spades shows a hand too strong for a direct 4♠.

[S2000magic]

I like 3♠.

[Free]

4♠