[pescetom]

I'm a bit surprised so many would bid the slam after control-bid and RKCB responses.
Using 0314 replies it isn't even possible to enquire for the ♥Q in safety and using 1403 replies I would probably pass the 5♥ negative reply.
Knowing West holds ♠A and ♣K there are just 4-5 HCP unaccounted for to cover ♠K and all four QJs.

[miamijd]

1H 1S
3D 3H
4C 4S
4NT 5X (show one)
5y(Q ask) no Q
End in 6H

Provided you play 4C here as a cue-bid and not a 0544 hand.

Cheers,
Mike

[ahydra]

Tramticket, on 2018-June-25, 05:56, said:

3♥ (in the auction 1♥, 2♣, 3♥) is setting trumps and an invitation for partner to start cue-bidding. If partner signs-off in 4♥ after this start he(she) either doesn't have a control to cue-bid or is very unsuitable for slam with extreme shortage in your heart suit. In these circumstances, you are better off respecting partner and settling for game.

If responder is forced to cuebid, how does opener know whether responder has extras? Recall this is in the context of not playing 2/1, so responder could have Kxx Jx xx KQ10xxx or anything better. He needs a way to tell opener he has a minimum hand lest opener get excited with a 15-count minimum that still might have play for slam opposite, say, 14 with some well-placed cards.

miamjid said:

1H 1S
3D 3H

How does opener know whether responder has 2 or 3 hearts? (Even if you had systems for direct 3-card INV+ raises, surely you would still bid 1S with, say, 5332.)

ahydra

[Cyberyeti]

pescetom, on 2018-June-25, 08:35, said:

I'm a bit surprised so many would bid the slam after control-bid and RKCB responses.
Using 0314 replies it isn't even possible to enquire for the ♥Q in safety and using 1403 replies I would probably pass the 5♥ negative reply.
Knowing West holds ♠A and ♣K there are just 4-5 HCP unaccounted for to cover ♠K and all four QJs.

If you use 4♠ as keycard as we do with hearts agreed you can get round the space issue.

What's more difficult is finding both black kings.

[Tramticket]

ahydra, on 2018-June-25, 19:55, said:

If responder is forced to cuebid, how does opener know whether responder has extras? Recall this is in the context of not playing 2/1, so responder could have Kxx Jx xx KQ10xxx or anything better. He needs a way to tell opener he has a minimum hand lest opener get excited with a 15-count minimum that still might have play for slam opposite, say, 14 with some well-placed cards.

Most 15 counts will not be strong enough to jump to 3♥. My Acol auction would be:

---- 1♥
2♣ 3♥
3♠¹ 4♣²
4♠³ 4NT⁴
5♣⁵ 5♦⁶
5♥⁷ 6♥

1 - Cue-bid
2 - Cue-bid
3 - Cue-bid - West's hand is massive once East shows the ♣A and he can afford to go beyond game and shows extras.
4 - RKCB
5 - 1 (or 4) key cards
6 - Q ask
7 - No Q

[Cyberyeti]

Tramticket, on 2018-June-26, 01:55, said:

Most 15 counts will not be strong enough to jump to 3♥. My Acol auction would be:

---- 1♥
2♣ 3♥
3♠¹ 4♣²
4♠³ 4NT⁴
5♣⁵ 5♦⁶
5♥⁷ 6♥

1 - Cue-bid
2 - Cue-bid
3 - Cue-bid - West's hand is massive once East shows the ♣A and he can afford to go beyond game and shows extras.
4 - RKCB
5 - 1 (or 4) key cards
6 - Q ask
7 - No Q

Unfortunately this gets you to a really bad slam when ♣K is the 2 minor suit Qs instead, and you don't know whether you should be bidding 4♠ or not as partner's hand could be slightly different where that is exactly what he wants.

[nullve]

Is

1♥-2♣; 2♥-2♠

not FG in Acol?

[Tramticket]

nullve, on 2018-June-26, 02:19, said:

Is

1♥-2♣; 2♥-2♠

not FG in Acol?

No F1 in standard Acol. Some may have other agreements.

[Tramticket]

Cyberyeti, on 2018-June-26, 02:15, said:

Unfortunately this gets you to a really bad slam when ♣K is the 2 minor suit Qs instead, and you don't know whether you should be bidding 4♠ or not as partner's hand could be slightly different where that is exactly what he wants.

I would argue that ♠AKT5 ♥98 ♦Q7 ♣Q7432 is not worth going beyond 4♥ to make a second cue-bid in spades.

[Kapi Blas]

1♥ - 1♠
2♣ - 2♦
2 NT - 3♣
3♦ - 3♥
3 NT - 4♣
4 NT - 5♣
5♦ - 5♥
6♥

2♣ - 11-15 5+♥4♣ or any 16+
2♦ - 8-11
2 NT - 18-21 6+♥
3♣ - 4+♣, denies 3-card support
3♦ - waiting
3♥ - 2 card fit
3 NT - non-serious
4♣ - cue
4 NT - RKCB
5♣ - 1
5♦ - Queen?
5♥ - no Queen

[maartenxq]

ahydra, on 2018-June-24, 01:26, said:

I think the E hand is too good for a 3H rebid (unless he feels like "catching up" after a 4H signoff). Look at all those controls!

Indeed, not playing gazzili you should therefore open 2 ♣.Partner says 2 ♦(me) or 2 NT and is strong anough to go for slam in some way.

Maarten Baltussen

[PhilG007]

shevek, on 2018-June-23, 23:56, said:

Dealer East, IMPs

---

12 out of 14 pairs played 4♥ in a recent, decent club game, IMPs.
Presumably after

1♥ - 1♠ - 3♥ - 4♥

East was dealer.
Can you do better?
(Okay, it's a good hand for a strong club system)

I don't really like bidding 70% slams I prefer 90% or better. Usually when I bid 70% slams I find something always goes wrong such as finding I have two inescapable losers,
the trumps divide badly,partner has had a sudden rush of blood to the head or some other thing that wasn't in the script. No I will stay true to my beliefs so when I bid a slam in future,
there won't be any nasty surprise lurking at the end of the bidding

[Cyberyeti]

PhilG007, on 2018-June-26, 07:23, said:

I don't really like bidding 70% slams I prefer 90% or better. Usually when I bid 70% slams I find something always goes wrong such as finding I have two inescapable losers,
the trumps divide badly,partner has had a sudden rush of blood to the head or some other thing that wasn't in the script. No I will stay true to my beliefs so when I bid a slam in future,
there won't be any nasty surprise lurking at the end of the bidding

This one is much better than 70% with you holding the ♥987, you stand a load of chances on 4-1 and 5-0 trump breaks.

If you stick to 90% slams it's losing bridge.

[masse24]

PhilG007, on 2018-June-26, 07:23, said:

Usually when I bid 70% slams I find something always goes wrong . . .

around 30% of the time?

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

the question, how confident we are, that slam is at least 50%.
If West sees 6-4, and the king of clubs, he sees his useful doubleton,
and can move. But do you have an auction that tells this to West below 4M?
If you have, go ahead, if not, stay low, trump quality can be check with RKCB
I failed to do this in a convincing manner.
With kind regards
Marlowe

[subbaroow]

playing polish club with 1c--1d artificial reply
1c----------------------------------1d
2h- shows 18-20 pts-5h+4 other suit or 6 cards h-6331/6322--------2nt-relay
3h--6331/6322----------------------------------------------------3s-to know no of cards(opener assumes 5 cards)
3nt--no 3 cards-s------------------------------------------------4nt(rkc for-s)
5d--(1403)--------------------------------------------------------5nt
6h--2 kings-------------------------------------------------------pass-he knows all aces and kings
if opener shows one king -luck to prevail

[PhilG007]

masse24, on 2018-June-26, 08:07, said:

around 30% of the time?

I'm a firm believer in Murphy's Law

[ahydra]

Tramticket, on 2018-June-26, 02:22, said:

No F1 in standard Acol. Some may have other agreements.

I thought a "responder's reverse" was GF - at least that's how I've always played it. When the second suit is below the first, like 1C-1H; 2C-2D, it's only F1 (with less than INV, responder can pass opener's 2H).

@PhilG007: a slam with two inescapable losers is a 0% slam. We're talking a posteriori odds here, i.e. seeing both hands. Even at teams you only need just over 50% odds on a slam to break even vs 4M+1 at the other table. Your 90% rule is more suited to grands, particularly those where the other table might not even reach 6.

ahydra

[pescetom]

2C - 2S is not a reverse in my book.
That's what nullve was asking about.

[Kapi Blas]

subbaroow, on 2018-June-26, 11:29, said:

playing polish club with 1c--1d artificial reply
1c----------------------------------1d
2h- shows 18-20 pts-5h+4 other suit or 6 cards h-6331/6322--------2nt-relay
3h--6331/6322----------------------------------------------------3s-to know no of cards(opener assumes 5 cards)
3nt--no 3 cards-s------------------------------------------------4nt(rkc for-s)
5d--(1403)--------------------------------------------------------5nt
6h--2 kings-------------------------------------------------------pass-he knows all aces and kings
if opener shows one king -luck to prevail

The only problem is that there won't be 1♦ but 1♠ instead. In polish club 1♦ is either 0-6 any, 7-11 without 4 card major or 16+ balanced.