[dickiegera]

What is 3 Spades?

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[silvr bull]

My partnership agreement is that a jump que below 3NT asks partner to bid 3NT with a stopper in their suit. I might have xx xx Kx AKQJxxx, or a variation around that theme.

[broze]

For us it is a transfer to 3NT. (Yes, I expect "standard" would be to play it as a splinter)

[kenberg]

1♥-Pass-3♠ is a splinter and, as far as I know, 1♥-(1♠)-3♠ is still a splinter. No doubt there could be other useful meanings, but the splinter usage seems normal enough.

[helene_t]

I think most play it as a splinter

[MrAce]

Splinter.

[Trinidad]

Another vote for splinter

Rik

[hrothgar]

Splinter

[gszes]

Playing 2/1 (sans neg free bids) with a hand similar to
xx xx AKQJxx Axx I can start with 2d there is no need for
me to waste so much bidding space merely to ask for a stop
in the opps suit for 3n since we still have lots of room
to investigate.

splinter seems like the correct interpretation.

[MrAce]

silvr bull, on 2014-May-10, 06:54, said:

My partnership agreement is that a jump que below 3NT asks partner to bid 3NT with a stopper in their suit. I might have xx xx Kx AKQJxxx, or a variation around that theme.

Interesting. This method seems to have a bad and good feature.

Bad- You probably will end up in wrong contracts when pd bids 3 NT.

Good- It will probably never come.

[the hog]

MrAce, on 2014-May-10, 08:06, said:

Interesting. This method seems to have a bad and good feature.

Bad- You probably will end up in wrong contracts when pd bids 3 NT.

Good- It will probably never come.

rofl. This is the post of the month. What's more, I agree with you for a change.

[silvr bull]

MrAce, on 2014-May-10, 08:06, said:

Interesting. This method seems to have a bad and good feature.

Bad- You probably will end up in wrong contracts when pd bids 3 NT.

Good- It will probably never come.

That's pretty funny. Our jump que treatment does not come up often, but it is very useful when it does appear. We haven't got to the wrong spot with it yet, though we find too many other ways to do that on many other deals. You will not get an argument from me if you say that other treatments for the jump que are more efficient or frequent, but this method has the advantage of KISS for us where any jump que below 3NT asks for a stop. With my example hand, I would bid 3♠ after RHO opened 1♠. As I get older, simple and consistent KISS rules are increasingly valuable to me.

So, how would you handle my example hand above? After partner opens 1♥ and RHO overcalls 1♠, your objective is to tell partner that you have a solid 6 or 7 card suit that needs only a stopper to have a good play for 3NT. And you need to do that before your LHO raises to 3♠, then P P back to you. If partner has the right stuff for a slam, he will know how to bid something more constructive than 3NT after my descriptive jump que, but if he has a minimum opener with a ♠ stop, how else will you convince him to bid 3NT after your LHO bids 3♠?

[kenberg]

KISS? If you are going with KISS, using 3♠ to show a stiff spade, heart support and gf values seems pretty KISSy to me.

[neilkaz]

Splinter for me and I've played it both ways and clearly prefer splinter noting that there's often a chance to sort out stoppers later if your looking for 3NT with a good minor or perhaps after you bid your minor, opener can bid NT anyhow.

[razorsharp]

AHA - just ask that to Grue, Woolsey, et alii - 3S is a relay to 3NT, (defaut) showing a typical balanced opener with ONE spade stopper! (i.e. Axx,Qx,KQxx,Kxxx) that may gain a positional advantage from opener declaring 3NT - like holding SQxx, even maybe Jx!

razorsharp

[steve2005]

gszes, on 2014-May-10, 07:46, said:

Playing 2/1 (sans neg free bids) with a hand similar to
xx xx AKQJxx Axx I can start with 2d there is no need for
me to waste so much bidding space merely to ask for a stop
in the opps suit for 3n since we still have lots of room
to investigate.

splinter seems like the correct interpretation.

Agree, even with other hands if you have enough to play in 3N opposite a mere stopper you will have enough to make a forcing bid and then cuebid 3♠ if still want to

[wank]

you're missing the point. it's not to ask for a spade stop. it shows a spade stop, but a potentially anti-positional holding, such that you want partner to play it to protect whatever modest holding he has. think something like aqx. if you have aqx it's very unlikely partner will bid no trumps unless you force him to, but if partner has something like 10xx or jx it's better from his hand.

[steve2005]

wank, on 2014-May-12, 16:00, said:

you're missing the point. it's not to ask for a spade stop. it shows a spade stop, but a potentially anti-positional holding, such that you want partner to play it to protect whatever modest holding he has. think something like aqx. if you have aqx it's very unlikely partner will bid no trumps unless you force him to, but if partner has something like 10xx or jx it's better from his hand.

that's the old east coast/west coast thing two different meanings for same bid lol

[monikrazy]

I use it as a western cue bid., asking opener to bid 3NT with a stopper in enemy suit.

Yes, it uses more bidding space than some other auctions available. But that's normally a good thing when it makes it harder for opponents to discern the best way to defeat 3N.

[Phil]

Definitely prefer this as a transfer to 3N but that might not be I/A stuff except for JillyBean