[dickiegera]

Is it best to play 3 ♥

as splinter in support of spades


or


As a heart preempt

---

[Stephen Tu]

Consider invitational with 6+ hearts, particularly if you are playing 1s-2H as absolutely GF (not style where 1S-2H-2S-3H is NF).
If you are going to use it as splinter, make it be a splinter in any suit, and differentiate it in some way from your other, higher splinters. (Perhaps 1S-3H is some weaker range than 1s-(4c/d/h), 1S-3nt shows void somewhere, or other such scheme).

[nige1]

dickiegera 'Is it best to play 3 ♥as splinter in support of spades or as a heart preempt'
++++++++++++++++++++
I like to play 2N as a balanced raise, and 3♣/3♦/3♥ as mini-splinters. All showing a 4-card raise to at least 3♠. Then 3N by either partner is a serious slam try. In theory, this agreement may not be optimal but it's simple, consistent, and has high frequency. Also, in practice, it's fun and works well

---

[pescetom]

dickiegera, on 2020-October-29, 10:38, said:

Is it best to play 3 ♥
as splinter in support of spades
or
As a heart preempt

No.
I agree with StephenT that 6-card INV is better when 2H is an unconditional game force.

[blackshoe]

Presumably 1NT is forcing, so what's the difference between 1♠-1NT-2♣-3♥ and 1♠-3♥ if the latter is 6 cards invitational?

[mycroft]

I've played strong jump shifts (which never come up), weak jump shifts (and this one's almost the worst), Bergen (unspecified limit splinter, in the version I played); fit (limit, 5+♥ and 4♠); full mini splinters (so, limit or huge, heart shortness) and probably one or two more.

The one agreement I'm seeing more of now is the "mixed raise" - say 8-bad 10, 4 card support; in conjunction with a "real limit raise" 3♠ call. Don't know the rest of the system, have never had room for it in my world, so I've never looked; but it definitely has merit.

[sfi]

blackshoe, on 2020-October-29, 17:22, said:

Presumably 1NT is forcing, so what's the difference between 1♠-1NT-2♣-3♥ and 1♠-3♥ if the latter is 6 cards invitational?

There’s no great advantage to giving up the option of playing 1NT. If you can take the problem hands out of the bid then it’s fine to play it non-forcing. Invitational single-suiters are the major ones. You can also find other ways to handle 3-card limit raises, and then you get to play 1NT rather than 2 sometimes.

[Zelandakh]

I like:-

1♠
==
2♠ = weak raise
2NT = mini-splinter or maxi-splinter, any suit
... - 3♣ = relay
... - ... - 3♦♥ = mini-splinter
... - ... - 3♠ = mini-splinter, clubs
... - ... - 3NT = void maxi-splinter, any suit
... - ... - 4♣♦♥ = singleton maxi-splinter
3♣ = GF raise
3♦ = limit raise
3♥ = mixed raise
3♠ = preemptive raise
3NT = void splinter, any suit
4♣♦♥ = singleton splinter
4♠ = preemptive raise
--

...but in a 2/1 context, possibly natural invitational is more useful.

[Vampyr]

sfi, on 2020-October-29, 19:03, said:

There’s no great advantage to giving up the option of playing 1NT. If you can take the problem hands out of the bid then it’s fine to play it non-forcing. Invitational single-suiters are the major ones. You can also find other ways to handle 3-card limit raises, and then you get to play 1NT rather than 2 sometimes.

A jump in the other major has become popular around here. Of course, our solution to show invitational single-suitors is to bid 2/1. If this is not available, 2♣ could be a catch-all, or 2/1 could be GF only when it is minor over major, which some very good players do.

[mikeh]

In one partnership, I play that 1S 3D is an invitational hand in hearts (obviously, since opener isn't supposed to pass, one could also have a huge hand in hearts, but our agreement is 6+ length, invitational) with 3H as a 4 card limit raise in spades.

In my other serious partnership, we play 1S 3H or 1H 3S as a splinter in an undisclosed suit. This can be very useful since opener simply bids game unless he has a hand that has slam potential opposite the 'right' shortness. The next step asks (1S 3H 3S and 1H 3S 3N). Responses are up the line: 1st step = clubs, 2nd = diamonds and 3rd = other major.

Splinters are limited to about a bad 13 count at most, and generally 11-12.

4C and 4D are void splinters. There is a huge difference in how hands mesh for slam purposes when responder has a void as opposed to a stiff.