[dickiegera]

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We got to 5♠. Made 7 on a cross ruff for next to top. K♦ lead
1♠-X-4NT-P-5♣ [1430]-P-5♠- all pass

Thank you

[mike777]

finding 7 may be tough but with a 4 loser hand and pard opens hard to stop short of 6

btw hate 4nt by north. will start with xx and never stop short of 6.

[sfi]

How about 1♠ - (X) - 2NT (LR+) - (P) - 4♦? Now North can elicit a couple of heart cuebids from South and bidding 7 is simple.

[TWO4BRIDGE]

If you have a way for North to show a void-splinter in Clubs, South may not be timid even with his paucity of points:

South
1S - ( X ) - 3NT! [ void splinter somewhere ]
4C! [ asks ] - 4S! [ ♣-void ]
5S! [ asks for trump quality ] - 5NT! [ Josephine = 3 top trump honors ]
7S

[lowerline]

dickiegera, on 2012-September-03, 17:02, said:

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We got to 5♠. Made 7 on a cross ruff for next to top. K♦ lead
1♠-X-4NT-P-5♣ [1430]-P-5♠- all pass

Thank you

1♠ - 4♣ (1)
4♥ (2) - 5♣ (3)
5♦ (4) - 5nt (5)
7♠ (6)

(1) Splinter
(2) ace or king (if shown only one suit, the first cue shows strength)
(3) void (repeat of splinter suit)
(4) single/void (because 4♦ was skipped)
(5) grand slam try but denying heart control (so must have good trumps)
(6) ♥AK is enough to bid the grand (if still in doubt about the trumps, 6♥ bid will work too)

Steven

[mike777]

geez posters have such easy ways to show voids.

[Fluffy]

dickiegera, on 2012-September-03, 17:02, said:

We got to 5♠. Made 7 on a cross ruff for next to top. K♦ lead
1♠-X-4NT-P-5♣ [1430]-P-5♠- all pass

The 4NT bidder needs a couple of lessons about blackwood

Blackwood is used when you know you are going to play slam, to make sure you don't miss 2 aces (or 1 if you are looking fot grand)

Using blackwood wiht a void is wrong by definition, since the answer to blackwood will never help you to know how many keycards you miss since one of them is useless.

If you use blackwood, you should never ever stop short of slam if only one is missing, only when 2 keycards are missing should you stop in 5 (or 1 and trump queen).

If you use blackwood, and later find out that you don't want to play slam when 1 ace is missing, then you shouldn't have used blackwood the first time, there are good alternatives to blackwood for reaching slams, splinter, cuebids, or even just bidding 5 of the suit directly. I you don't care about aces don't lose your space askig for them.

[ahydra]

lowerline's auction looks pretty natural and I think that's how my partner and I would have bid.

ahydra

[TWO4BRIDGE]

I think any of these auctions, including mine in post #4 , should stop in 6S.

Void auctions tend to solicit a trump lead, thereby reducing the number of X-ruff tricks .

[Cyberyeti]

TWO4BRIDGE, on 2012-September-04, 06:00, said:

I think any of these auctions, including mine in post #4 , should stop in 6S.

Void auctions tend to solicit a trump lead, thereby reducing the number of X-ruff tricks .

True, the problem is that you need to be absolutely sure you have a 5-5 trump fit to know 7 is on, which N knows but S doesn't.

Interesting question whether N should show the diamond suit (with a 3♦ fit bid) or club void.

I can see 1♠-(X)-3♦-3♠-4♣-4♥-5♣-5♦(skipped diamond cue last time, so shortage)-5N(no heart cue, still interested)-6♥-7♠

[Zelandakh]

mike777, on 2012-September-04, 03:48, said:

geez posters have such easy ways to show voids.

Methods which have been posted here many times and are not at all uncommon. 1♠ - 3NT as a void splinter with 4♣♦♥ as singletons is something I also use. I believe some top pairs play the reverse of this too, 3NT as an unknown singleton and 4♣♦♥ as a void splinter. Or do you think everyone should be forced to play your methods? Being able to show voids in fit auctions is often rather useful; perhaps you should consider the merits rather than simply making a disparaging comment as if they are only used for certain (double dummy) hands and something different played at other times.

As it happens, I think the North hand is too strong for an immediate void splinter even if these are being played (they are sometimes off after a double even if normally on). What alternatives are available depends on system. Some of these will allow showing the club void below 4♠, some won't. To some extent that depends on whether you want to make space for fit jumps after a double or if you prefer to keep system on, as well as how much complexity you want to incorporate.

[RunemPard]

Have not read every post...but am I crazy for trying to set ♥s as trump?

(Now I just need to try and show my ♣ void and find a singleton/void ♦...)

Eh...splinter will be fine I guess.