[WellSpyder]

I was dealt this little collection last night (MPs):

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[billw55]

Not sure what your 4NT opening shows/asks, or how it would help in this situation.

I will use my strong opener / trump setting combination, whatever that is. For me, 2♣ then jump in diamonds. Then partner either cuebids the ♥A or he doesn't.

[WellSpyder]

billw55, on 2013-May-01, 09:16, said:

Not sure what your 4NT opening shows/asks, or how it would help in this situation.

In Acol-land, at least, 4N is typically used as a specific Ace ask (not sure how common this is elsewhere), and I think would normally be taken as such by an expert partnership even without discussion. Responder cue-bids an Ace if he has one, bids 5♣ with none (and therefore has to cue 6♣ with the Ace of clubs), or 5N with 2 Aces. As you can imagine, it doesn't come up all that often, and I've never seen a hand better suited for it than this one, but I was pleased to be able to solve all possible problems on the hand in one go. (Maybe "all possible problems" is a slight exaggeration - I did once discuss with a partner how to deal with intervention over this 4N opening, but I've no idea how this partner would have expected it to be handled.)

[billw55]

WellSpyder, on 2013-May-01, 09:24, said:

In Acol-land, at least, 4N is typically used as a specific Ace ask (not sure how common this is elsewhere), and I think would normally be taken as such by an expert partnership even without discussion. Responder cue-bids an Ace if he has one, bids 5♣ with none (and therefore has to cue 6♣ with the Ace of clubs), or 5N with 2 Aces. As you can imagine, it doesn't come up all that often, and I've never seen a hand better suited for it than this one, but I was pleased to be able to solve all possible problems on the hand in one go. (Maybe "all possible problems" is a slight exaggeration - I did once discuss with a partner how to deal with intervention over this 4N opening, but I've no idea how this partner would have expected it to be handled.)

I learned something today

[gszes]

i would use 2c bid 3d then 5c exclusion setting for 6/7 diamonds
on the theory it will be difficult for the opps to hold 4 hearts on the run
of the diamonds aside from the easy ones where its cold off the top

[Free]

I use 2♣-2♦-4NT as specific Ace ask (2♦ is positive). A 4NT opening is an extreme minor two suiter for us.

[Cyberyeti]

At MPs if he shows the A♥, are you bidding 7♥ ? If he shows 2, are you bidding 7N ?

Would be funny to bid 7N and get a spade lead with partner having xxxxxx, A, void, Axxxxx, even funnier if some hearts get let go and you get away with discarding the A♥ on the diamonds.