Example for players playing 2/1.
East South(12 HCP/7.5LTC) West North(11 HCP/5.5 LTC)
Pass 1♦ (1) Pass 1 ♠ (2)
Pass 2 ♠ (3) pass 4 NT (4)
(1) Have 12+ HCP without 5+ cards Major and 7.5 LTC or better
(2) Have 4+ ♠ and 6+ HCP and 9.5 LTC or better
(3) Have 4+ ♠ suits
(4) I have 4+ ♠ but 5.5LTC or better. Give you your Key Cards
South opened so with 12-13 so MLTC should be around 7.5. North takes 7.5+5.5 and subtracts from 25= 12 tricks.
You have a Grand Slam with 23 HCP together. Could you bid it playing regular American Standard ?
Now change this hand a little bit:
East South(12 HCP/7.5LTC) West North(11 HCP/5.5 LTC)
Pass 1 ♠ (1) pass 4 NT (2)
(1) 5 ♠+ 12+ HCP/7.5 LTC
(2) I have 5.5 LTC with support in your ♠. 1430 asking for keycards. Spades are already agreed suite
And the last one:
East South(12 HCP/6.5 LTs) West North(16 HCP/6.5 LTs)
1 ♠ (1) pass 2 ♦ (2)
Pass 3 ♣ (3) pass 4!♠ (4)
Pass 4 NT (5)
(1) Have 5 ♠ + and 12+HCP/7.5 LTs
(2) Have 12+ HCP and forcing to the game. Possible 7.5 - 8.0 LTs. 2 ♦ doesnt show necessarily suite of 5 just strong hand with values in first control in♦ . We play 2 over 1
(3) 4+ in ♣ forcing for one round
(4) Have 6.5 LTs (not 7.5) and support of 3+ in ♠
(5) Asking for key cards
MLTC gives the real strength of the hand - including distribution. Like everything in the bridge is based however on probabilities assuming Normal Distribution. If you have an option to go for slam missing 2 Kings - would you go. MLTC can give you 12 tricks providing one of the finesse will work. You might take under consideration potential interference from your opponents when looking for missing Kings/Queens.
Any Input based on your Knowledge/Experience ?
Anybody looking to play like that on BBO (I'm new to computer games) could drop me a note
With ♠ trumps ...
North has 7.5 winners
(♠K = 1, ♦A = 1.5, ♣K = 1, ♥ singleton = 2, ♦ singleton = 2).
South has 5 winners
(♠A = 1.5, ♠Q = 0.5, ♣A = 1.5, ♣Q = 0.5, ♥ doubleton = 1).
Total winners = 13.5
(including 1 winner for Trump control).