[Antrax]

Partner opens 2♣ (strong artificial) in third seat, and over your 2♦ shows the 22-24 HCP balanced hand. 3♣ shows he has four spades.
♠QT87
♥Q9642
♦K6
♣95

2♣-2♦; 2NT-3♣; 3♠
What is your next move?

[the hog]

4S. Sterile distribution and not a wonderful hand.

[mike777]

pard shows 4 losers.....I dont see 3 winners in my hand.....

[dwar0123]

I think I would prefer
2c-2d-2n-3d-3h-3s

It allows partner to super accept hearts, which means slam is reasonable if he does and probably off if he doesn't. Also I play Texas here so this is a mild slam invite in and of itself, fully describes my shape and leaves it to partner to judge.

[Antrax]

Interesting. We have smolen to show GF 5/4, so I didn't consider to test partner's love of hearts

[dwar0123]

Antrax, on 2012-February-10, 01:21, said:

Interesting. We have smolen to show GF 5/4, so I didn't consider to test partner's love of hearts

Smolen is great for some situations, I don't think this is one of them, you know you are going to be in game and you want to tell your partner your shape regardless of how he responds to your first bid over 2nt.

[mike777]

smolen?



wtf none of this is smolen/

this is beginner bridge u=guys

[dwar0123]

mike777, on 2012-February-10, 02:27, said:

smolen?



wtf none of this is smolen/

this is beginner bridge u=guys

Grats on 12000 posts! Celebration time, looks like you already ahead of us

Beginner and intermediate, I think we would get verbally molested if we had such conversations in the a/e forum.

[BunnyGo]

To answer the original question, I would invite somehow, probably 4♦ (cuebid in support of spades). The reason is that there is a "perfect minimum" (22 pt hand with no extra shape) that makes 6♠ a very good slam:

AK9x, AKx, Axx, Axx

I will say, my first inclination was to just sign off in 4, but I've been trying to think more about what partner could have. There are other really good hands, like:

AKJx, AKJ, Qxx, Axx

[Zelandakh]

Perhaps not really B/I but since this post is clearly aimed at the I-half I thought I would mention a gadget that could be useful on this hand. After 2♣ - 2♦; 2NT - 3♦; 3♥ you can play 3♠ as the equivalent of a 3NT bid (plus some extra hands) and 3NT can show a hand with 5 hearts and 4 spades willing to play 3NT. Opener corrects to the major with a fit but can also show a control-rich hand by bidding 4♣ (for hearts or 4♦ (for spades).

On this hand, if partner were to bid 4♠ here you could happily pass while if partner calls 4♦ then slam prospects look somewhat better.

[jillybean]

Antrax, on 2012-February-10, 00:20, said:

Partner opens 2♣ (strong artificial) in third seat, and over your 2♦ shows the 22-24 HCP balanced hand. 3♣ shows he has four spades.
♠QT87
♥Q9642
♦K6
♣95

2♣-2♦; 2NT-3♣; 3♠
What is your next move?

3♣ was stayman, 3♠ shows he has fours spades? (fyp?)

[ArtK78]

In my opinion, Smolen (which is not an unknown convention in B/I) should be used with hands with game values but no slam aspirations, and transfer to hearts followed by a spade bid should be used with hands with slam aspirations. This is by no means a universally held belief.

On this hand, I would Smolen. Partner, with a good fit and a hand containing all controls, such as the AKxx AKx Axx Axx hand shown above, can still bid a slam, as he can count 12 likely tricks in spades - 4 spades, 5 hearts, 2 minor suit aces and a minor suit ruff in dummy on reasonable breaks. That doesn't mean that there are not two losers on some layouts, but 12 tricks seems likely.

However, unless he has the nuts for his bid, partner is likely to sign off in game.

If I held the monster hand with all of the controls and partner transferred to hearts and then bid spades, I would be looking for a grand. A grand in spades is almost a certainly - how could partner have less than QJxx QJxxx Kx xx? 7NT is possible - add the ♣K or ♦Q to the last hand.

[kenrexford]

What's this bizarre Smolen discussion? Smolen comes up if partner bids 3♦. He bid 3♠, which means that Smolen is out.

More logical is to simply transfer to hearts (hoping for a super-accept) and then to bid 3♠ (4♠/5♥), after which Opener can presumably super-accept either major with the perfecto.

The question will be how. That's the part where B/I gets hairy.

[ArtK78]

Sorry about the Smolen discussion. The bidding would have been the same anyway.

Over 3♠ I bid 4♠ I don't think the hand is worth a 4♥ slam try.

[wyman]

BunnyGo, on 2012-February-10, 05:35, said:

To answer the original question, I would invite somehow, probably 4♦ (cuebid in support of spades). The reason is that there is a "perfect minimum" (22 pt hand with no extra shape) that makes 6♠ a very good slam:

AK9x, AKx, Axx, Axx

I will say, my first inclination was to just sign off in 4, but I've been trying to think more about what partner could have. There are other really good hands, like:

AKJx, AKJ, Qxx, Axx

Interesting, so how do you show a hand with 4 hearts and 6 diamonds? (edit: btw I hardly think that you can call a hand with 5KC a minimum, regardless of its HCP)

edit2: You can show that you are slammish by bidding 4H now. I would not, though.

[mikeh]

BunnyGo, on 2012-February-10, 05:35, said:

To answer the original question, I would invite somehow, probably 4♦ (cuebid in support of spades). The reason is that there is a "perfect minimum" (22 pt hand with no extra shape) that makes 6♠ a very good slam:

AK9x, AKx, Axx, Axx

I will say, my first inclination was to just sign off in 4, but I've been trying to think more about what partner could have. There are other really good hands, like:

AKJx, AKJ, Qxx, Axx

Most players, absent specific agreements, would take 4♦ over 3♠ as showing long diamonds and denying spades.....if you have no way of showing diamonds directly over 2N, then maybe just diamonds, and otherwise inferentially 4 hearts (because of the stayman call) and 5+ diamonds.

The standard way to show a slam try in partner's major is to bid the other major...here....4♥. It is artificial, and says nothing about controls in the heart suit. It merely invites opener to look at his hand to determine whether it is slam suitable or not.

While constructing hands for partner can be useful, it is important to maintain a balanced view. Thus if one were going negative, one could picture AKJx Kxx QJx AKQ. This 23 count will often fail in 5♠.

Now, of course, if you chose 4♥, that 23 count should imo bid 4♠. So the key is to construct hands on which he would show enthusiasm over 4♥, and now your examples are useful, although a bit generously drawn.

I used to always just signoff here, but I have slowly come to the view that this hand would be worth the general 4♥ try. But I think it very close and not at all clear.

[BunnyGo]

Yes, wyman and mikeh are right...the 4♦ bid is just wrong. It should be a 4♥ bid to make a slam try. I do agree with mikeh that it's close (note my previous comment that before I thought about it, I'd have reflexively bid 4♠)

[quiddity]

kenrexford, on 2012-February-10, 07:13, said:

What's this bizarre Smolen discussion? Smolen comes up if partner bids 3♦. He bid 3♠, which means that Smolen is out.

The question was "why not transfer to hearts and bid spades?"; the answer was "I chose to use Smolen." Hence the discussion.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

I would bid 4S.

Slam is on, if your 5 card heart suit finds partner, but I have
no way to find out.

If you want to make a move, you can bid 4H, which is a forcing
raise for spades, opener can have a look at his hand, and tell
you, if he has a hand with lots of controls, or not.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[ArtK78]

wyman, on 2012-February-10, 10:09, said:

Interesting, so how do you show a hand with 4 hearts and 6 diamonds?

With my usual partner, we play 4-suit transfers over 2NT. So, with 4 hearts and 6 diamonds we would transfer to diamonds and then bid hearts.