[Tramticket]

You (genuinely) pick up:

---

IMPs converted to VPs.

CHO spoils the party by opening 3♥ in front of you. Her pre-empting style is pretty random and often Very aggressive. (For example she is unlikely to have an ace, king or queen outside trumps! )

What do you bid and what is your plan?

[eagles123]

i'll start with 3 spades

[Mkgnao]

eagles123, on 2018-April-08, 03:46, said:

i'll start with 3 spades

Only if it's forcing and unfortunately OP did not mention their methods.

Assuming no forcing 3♠-bid's available or partner might pass that bid, I bid 5NT (pick-a-slam). I convert 6♦ to 6♠.

[eagles123]

i've never heard of 3 spades being non forcing here lol?

[MrAce]

Deleted

[Phil]

eagles123, on 2018-April-08, 04:57, said:

i've never heard of 3 spades being non forcing here lol?

It's not that uncommon if a pair plays very aggro preempts.

[Tramticket]

Mkgnao, on 2018-April-08, 04:30, said:

Only if it's forcing and unfortunately OP did not mention their methods.

Its forcing.

[Tramticket]

eagles123, on 2018-April-08, 03:46, said:

i'll start with 3 spades

Partner will bid 4H ...

[gszes]

the 3h bid has warned us that a grand might be very difficult to bid/make since it is unlikely partner has 3+ cards in both of our black suits. I think 3s followed by 6c (unless partner surprises us after 3s) feels like the best path to reach our best possible slam.

[eagles123]

Tramticket, on 2018-April-08, 07:54, said:

Partner will bid 4H ...

6C I guess

[0deary]

5H

Bidding a pre-empt in 2nd position is a bit special- it must be good otherwise you just mess up partner, and you don’t want to do that surely?

So ideally I’d like to bid 6H with high hopes, and let partner raise to 7 with all top honours

But in view of your description maybe 5H might be circumspect? If so 5H= “don’t worry about outside suits partner- just bid 6 with two top honours, but pass if you have only one”

The alternative is to try to find a fit outside the Hearts. If so then start with the (natural forcing) 3S. The problem is it will go 3H-3S-4H-? If you probe again with 5C you might soon be looking at the green pass card on the table, and a queasy feeling with a 1732 dead creature on the baize

What about if partner tables a 3730 shape? Well North knows there are 8 missing spades, so maybe pencil in 332 amongst the other 3 hands. But South is bagging 7 spaces in Heart so it seems rather greedy to bag 3 spades too. More likely South has 2,1 or even no spades. Then EW has quite a likely 4-1 spade split. So I’d ignore perfect layouts, forget about 7S and play to the odds- as I see it

I’d trust in partner, rely on the heart suit, and simply try to assess quite how good her suit is

[ggwhiz]

4♥?

Scratch that, 3nt is safer.

[rmnka447]

Well, part of what you do on this hand depends on how aggressive partner's "aggressive" preempting style is. If partner is apt to preempt at favorable vulnerability in 2nd seat with ♥ K109xxxx, then any ♥ contract beyond 4 ♥ could be in question.

In any case, I think you start with 3 ♠. If partner happens to raise ♠ like they should with 3, then I think 6 ♠ should have a reasonable play by drawing 2 rounds of trump and trying to ruff a ♣ in dummy if necessary.

If partner rebids 4 ♥, then the next question is "How would partner interpret either 4 NT or 5 ♥?" If 4 NT would be interpreted as RKBC/1430 for ♥, then that might be a possibility. Clearly, 5 ♥ over 4 ♥ has to be a how good are your ♥ question. But what will partner consider as good hearts? ♥ KQJ10xxx, ♥ AKQxxxx or ♥ KQ109xxx?

I think I'd more apt to use 5 ♥ after 4 ♥ and depend on partner to read that as requesting slam if partner can handle ♥ without more than 1 loser. (So partner would pass with ♥ KQ109xxx.)

BTW, I don't think it's clear that an immediate 5 ♥ is a ♥ ask rather than a further preempt.

Where a 4 NT keycard bid might help is if partner answers 5 ♠ (2+Q) and a further bid such as 6 ♣ invites 7 (with something like AKQJxxx.) But other responses to the ask are difficult to interpret what to do.

Finally, IMP scoring is such that not bidding a NV slam is less of an issue. If you don't bid it, but they do and it makes, you're down -500. If you don't bid it, but they do and it is set, you're +500. So bidding it or not is a wash.

[Tramticket]

Partner's second seat preempt was truly awful:
JX
QT8XXXX
XX
XX

After RKCB revealed that she held neither ace nor king I guessed to bail out in 5♥ (down 1). I think that the gszes/eagles123 strategy of 3♠ followed by 6♣ has a lot of merit and will get you to the making 6♠.

North at the other table got over-excited and took the bidding to 7♠ (down 1).

Just another flat board!

[miamijd]

I'd suggest partner adopt a different preempting style.

[bluechip10]

Tramticket, on 2018-April-08, 03:14, said:

You (genuinely) pick up:

---

IMPs converted to VPs.

CHO spoils the party by opening 3♥ in front of you. Her pre-empting style is pretty random and often Very aggressive. (For example she is unlikely to have an ace, king or queen outside trumps! )

What do you bid and what is your plan?

I bid 4 hearts. I'm going to be in slam in something.

[Vampyr]

bluechip10, on 2018-April-09, 10:31, said:

I bid 4 hearts. I'm going to be in slam in something.

4♥ won’t get you there!

[Caitlynne]

The only rational choices are Double and 4H. Since I have a no loser trick count hand - and this especially clear vulnerable vs. non-vulnerable opponents - I strongly favor the more optimistic 4H.

It is standard that the cue bid is either a very strong takeout or two suited. So, if partner bids 5D, I will convert to 6C which is choice of slams for the black suits. If partner persists with 6D, I will raise to 7D since my AKQ of diamonds should be adequate trump support opposite an announced 6 or 7 card suit. I think it reasonable to play partner for JTxxxx or better in diamonds.

[Vampyr]

Caitlynne, on 2018-April-09, 12:53, said:

The only rational choices are Double and 4H. Since I have a no loser trick count hand - and this especially clear vulnerable vs. non-vulnerable opponents - I strongly favor the more optimistic 4H.

It is standard that the cue bid is either a very strong takeout or two suited. So, if partner bids 5D, I will convert to 6C which is choice of slams for the black suits. If partner persists with 6D, I will raise to 7D since my AKQ of diamonds should be adequate trump support opposite an announced 6 or 7 card suit. I think it reasonable to play partner for JTxxxx or better in diamonds.

Your double will be cancelled, and you will have to set the contract now, because if I am not mistaken partner will be barred.

[FelicityR]

Tramticket, on 2018-April-09, 02:20, said:

Partner's second seat preempt was truly awful:
JX
QT8XXXX
XX
XX

There is a big difference between aggressive and awful pre-empts. This one comes in the dog poo category, to put it politely. I might open a multi 2♦ non-vulnerable showing a weak two in a major (4-8 count) the extra ♥ compensating for the lack of shape and nauseous suit but even that is borderline.

One of those hands that qualifies for the "Never pre-empt your partner award."