[NickB50014]

Im the Dealer and I look down at

♠ A x x
♥Q x x
♦ x x
♣A J 10 x x
I open 1♣, LHO passes, my partner responds 2♥ showing a strong hand good hearts, RHO passes. As I opened a little light Im not very interested in much past game, so I say 4♥, LHO passes. Partner says 5♣. RHO passes. What do I say here??? If he was interested in slam I would have thought he would have used 4NT and it wasnt an Ace cue bid as I had the A♣. I passed then when he dropped his cards as dummy he sighed and said wish you didnt pass, how am I supposed to bid 5♥ from my side? Did I err or was I correct in passing the 5♣?

Partners hand was:

♠ Q x
♥ A K J x x
♦ K x
♣K Q 9 X

[aguahombre]

You preempted the partnership by bidding 4H. Now, you can't cue 5D over 5C and you can't pass up 5H to cue the spade Ace (in case partner has no diamond control. Your only choice is to bid 5H.

Just bid 3H over his strong 2H bid. Then, if he bids 4C you have an easy 4S cue.

BTW: try the effect of showing the suits in order from spades down thru clubs...or use the hand edit feature.

[MrAce]

NickB50014, on 2012-May-29, 23:20, said:

Im the Dealer and I look down at

♠ A x x
♥Q x x
♦ x x
♣A J 10 x x
I open 1♣, LHO passes, my partner responds 2♥ showing a strong hand good hearts, RHO passes. As I opened a little light Im not very interested in much past game, so I say 4♥, LHO passes. Partner says 5♣. RHO passes. What do I say here??? If he was interested in slam I would have thought he would have used 4NT and it wasnt an Ace cue bid as I had the A♣. I passed then when he dropped his cards as dummy he sighed and said wish you didnt pass, how am I supposed to bid 5♥ from my side? Did I err or was I correct in passing the 5♣?

Partners hand was:

♠ Q x
♥ A K J x x
♦ K x
♣K Q 9 X

When your side agreed on a trump, which was hearts in this case, 4NT is not the only way to go to slam. After agreeing in asuit, bidding another suit at 4 or 5 level, even if this is opener's first suit, is a cue.

I agree with you that 5 level cuebids show 1st round control, Ace or a void. But you are the one who was wrong, your pd may have void in clubs.

Now look at the bidding again, over your 4♥ pd will either bid 4NT or will cue. People start cueing when they are scared of 2 quick losers in a suit and they start scanning by cueing their cheapest cue available. In your auction your pd SKIPPED 4♠, hence he doesnt have any ♠ control. You do. You already showed a bad hand upto your agreement, pd knows you are broke, still seeking slam, now you have a giant because

a-You have the control that he was looking for (he cant be missing both spade and diamond control and seek slam when u bid 4 hearts)
b-You have 2 Aces + trump Q.

Now you can simply bid 6♥, or you can bid 5♠ to show you have 1st round ♠ control, or you can bid 5NT or 6♣ bids to give him more info. All of these depends on how well oiled ypur pdship is and your level. But passing 5♣ is NOT an option.

EDIT: I would not have made another move with your pd's hand if 4♥ by you showed a bad hand for slam, if my 2♥ was showing a big hand. Otoh eventhough your hcps tells you that you do have a bad hand, i dont think you do when pd says he has a big hand. ( 2 aces and Qxx trump support + AJTxx side suit.)

[NickB50014]

My partner has a history of being very optimistic and bidding slam at the first chance, so I took that into account tbqh. He doesnt play cuebids for controls and gerber is over NT only for him, I could not have a clue in the world what his 5♣ meant and neither did the opposing pair who actually came in first!

[Cyberyeti]

NickB50014, on 2012-May-30, 00:45, said:

My partner has a history of being very optimistic and bidding slam at the first chance, so I took that into account tbqh. He doesnt play cuebids for controls and gerber is over NT only for him, I could not have a clue in the world what his 5♣ meant and neither did the opposing pair who actually came in first!

IF you're going to make a move (and I'm not sure you should, but I can see why he did), 5♣ is the right bid (if you have A♦ rather than A♠ then there are 2 spade losers off a slam, so Blackwood doesn't tell him what he needs to know).

Most experts will cue any control (A, K, singleton, void) although not initially a shortage in partner's suit. Not sure what system you're playing and whether you've actually shown a club suit or could have a 4432 11 here.

Your hand in context of the 4♥ bid is enormous as MrAce said. 2 side aces, the 5th club and ♥Qxx is pretty good (compare KJx, Qxx, QJx, AJxx, 3 points more but slam is no play).

You should bid 6♥ here for the reasons MrAce gives. Partner has basically bid the hand he has plus the Q♦.

If your partner never cuebids then he's showing a potential double fit and telling you to choose between the available contracts, I'd bid 6♥. At IMPs, 5♣ is no disaster, at pairs you want to play in 5♥ if you don't bid a slam as 5♣ will always score badly so partner's bid is effectively forcing. His reason for making the 5♣ bid could be that if Axx, Qxx, Qxx, AJxx was your hand, 6♣ makes but 6♥ doesn't on 3-2♣, so you know your 5th club is a big card for playing in ♥ as it will provide a discard.

[Fluffy]

NickB50014, on 2012-May-30, 00:45, said:

My partner has a history of being very optimistic and bidding slam at the first chance, so I took that into account tbqh. He doesnt play cuebids for controls and gerber is over NT only for him, I could not have a clue in the world what his 5♣ meant and neither did the opposing pair who actually came in first!

Nick this is very simple, affter 4♥ was bid you know that the final contract will be 4♥, 5♥, 6♥ or 7♥ with the only possible exceptions of 6NT and 7NT

So anything your partner bids higher than 4♥ is telling you that 5♥ is safe, and that we should explore 6♥ or higher.

You hand is wonderful in context: You have made a super minimum bid of 4♥ wich should be an awful hand, yet you have ♠A, ♣A ♥Q, 3 Keycards your partner is lacking (not to mention a good 5 card suit). Looking at them you have a hand that must force to at least 6♥.

The correct rebid over 5♣ is 5♠ showing ♠A so that partner has a chance of reaching 7.

[billw55]

The OP issue seems more basic:

NickB50014, on 2012-May-29, 23:20, said:

Did I err or was I correct in passing the 5♣?

When partner bid 2♥, he announced a strong hand with a primary heart suit. You have Qxx. You must understand that this absolutely sets hearts as trumps, and you cannot pass out any other suit.

For intermediate level issues:

NickB50014, on 2012-May-29, 23:20, said:

... As I opened a little light Im not very interested in much past game, so I say 4♥ ...

I think this bit is the problem.

By 2♥, partner has announced a strong hand with a primary heart suit, forcing to game and interested in slam. Opposite this message, your hand is not at all light, I think it is quite good. You have Qxx of trump and two outside aces - this offers good prospects for slam. So I think 3♥ is better than 4♥. You don't want to be in slam looking at both hands, but perhaps this can be worked out in the subsequent bidding.

[Statto]

billw55, on 2012-May-30, 07:25, said:

By 2♥, partner has announced a strong hand with a primary heart suit, forcing to game and interested in slam. Opposite this message, your hand is not at all light, I think it is quite good. You have Qxx of trump and two outside aces - this offers good prospects for slam. So I think 3♥ is better than 4♥. You don't want to be in slam looking at both hands, but perhaps this can be worked out in the subsequent bidding.

Interesting. I see I am the only one besides the OP opting for the 4♥ bid to show a minimum hand with little slam interest, though I do see it as borderline. But perhaps that's because for me 2♥ is not necessarily a fit jump; it could be a strong single-suiter with no ♣ fit, or even possibly a very strong balanced hand. And short of the trump support and two bullets, with a balanced hand I have little more than the opening bid promised (assuming none of the spots are 8s or 9s). Criticism invited...

(After 5♣, I will cue the ♠.)

[phil_20686]

Statto, on 2012-May-31, 02:48, said:

Interesting. I see I am the only one besides the OP opting for the 4♥ bid to show a minimum hand with little slam interest, though I do see it as borderline. But perhaps that's because for me 2♥ is not necessarily a fit jump; it could be a strong single-suiter with no ♣ fit, or even possibly a very strong balanced hand. And short of the trump support and two bullets, with a balanced hand I have little more than the opening bid promised (assuming none of the spots are 8s or 9s). Criticism invited...

(After 5♣, I will cue the ♠.)

4H should be an "unsuitable minimum". After bidding 3H you still have the serious/non serious distinction to come, where you can show/deny extras.

If partner has AKxxxx hearts and a fitting club card, then slam could be completely cold and he wouldnt really have much extra. x AKxxxx AQx Kxx is just a totally minimum SJS and slam is almost completely cold.

I think passing 5C is completely absurd. You showed an unsuitable minimum, and then partner made a slam try anyway, and you have a decent five card suit a fitting trump honor and two bullets. You clearly must have thought 5c showed a suit, but I think that is totally wrong: could you not just have been some 44(32) shape? It if you think partner can have only four hearts and long clubs x4x6 and v strong for example, then bidding 4H is completely wrong, but this would be a very strange system if partner could have that. He has bid a suit that you might not actually hold - how can that really be natural? clearly he has a slam try with no spade control, so it is obligatory for you to continue with 5S to show that (a) you are accepting slam (b) you have the spade ace, and © grand is very much in the picture.