Vinoths BBO-table presence?

This deal came up on BBO when I was playing Vinoth. We were playing Polsih Club, with 2/1 style over 1M opening. (rebid non-forcing).

Scoring - IMPs; Red on white.

LHO as dealer passed and Vinoth opened 1S. I held
AT87 AK974 87 Kx
I responded 2H.

Q1) Playing 2NT as artificial raise with 4 trumps, do you think that should be used here? Since there is an outside source of tricks in Hearts, is it recommended to bid 2H (establishing a GF, but hiding the support)

Over partners rebid of 2S, I raised to 3S. I hope you will agree its the right bid. (2S; is our catch-all bid, doesn't deny extras, doesn't promise 6 carder) The partnership also agreed on playing 3NT as frivolous and cue bids as serious. The auction went. 1S-2H; 2S-3S; 4C - 4H; 5C* - 5S; 6S - end 4C was a cue bid, showing slam interest. 1st or 2nd round control. 4H is 2 of the top three honours in Hearts, denying 1st or 2nd round control in D. 5C - I understood it (rightly) as voidwood and responded (honestly) two key cards w/o the Q. Q2) Do you think the treatment of 5C as exclusion blackwood is good? Q3) Do you think in response to keycard ask, I should respond 2 with Queen, (lying about the Queen) because partner will expect only 3 card support from me ... etc Vinoth's holding was: KQ943 Q85 KT632 void

Yes, partner doesn't have any extras. infact, I think in terms of high cards he has a minimum. Q4) Do you think he can sort of upgrade, looking at his Q of Hearts? and bid 4C? ( playing serious cue bids) Q5) This is a general question, do you think its a good % to bid slams with one key card and the Q of trumps missing? on 8 and 9 card fits, in MPs and IMPS. Q6) Also, you might ask why opener did not bid 3D over 2H, we were taught to play crossing 2NT as showing extras ( atleast a King more than normal opening) Hence the D suit stayed buried. Do have any suggestions on how to handle these situations generally? ******************************

KQ943 Q85 KT632 void

AT87 AK974 97 K4

Our friendly opponent lead a D. Hearts and spades broke evenly too. so, did not pose a play problem.

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All readers are encouraged share their views on this (blog needs some action?)

My views;

A1) 2NT is not cool. with a good 5 card suit, I prefer to bid it. Reserve 2NT for more balanced hands, 4432 and 4333(?)

A2) 5C as voidwood is cool. (and not 5-5)
A3) I think its cool if we lie about the Queen of trumps in this position.

A4) The 4C I think is not good. but then, had he bid 3NT/ 4S, I would have passed, and never bid the slam. So, it worked.
A5) I don't think in 8 card fits is a good idea at any vulnerability. in 9 card fits, I think slam should bid bid, especially when red. (Waiting for Ashok to give me the numbers associated with it ;) )

A6) Some one needs to detail full fundaes behind crossing 2NT barrier. Vinoth does is all the time with just 13 point hands. As he understands in, only sub minimum openings like this, should not cross 2NT.

Once he bid 3C after I made a 2/1 (1H-2D) holding x JTxxx Kx AKJxx. He wanted to show his good clubs.

(Post your answers as comments, I'll add them into the post later)

Adios
Guthi

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JP said:

1. Personally, I would have made a 2N call to begin with, considering that all my values are controls. A 3C response showing shortness followed by 3H shows your hand quite well (whether you play it as a control bid or a good side suit).

In your particular auction, I agree with 3S. I am ok with 4C, but certainly not with 5C as voidwood. Vinoth is not strong enough to push for slam by himself.

2. I dont like 5C as voidwood as it seems to assume captaincy and does not have the flexibility that cue-bidding has in terms of involving both partners in the decision process. If you had a cue-bidding auction, you would have figured that you have two potential losers in diamonds and stopped short of slam (I think 5S is the right place to be).

3. I agree with 2 without Q. If I had a 5th spade I would have responded with Q. With a 9 card fit, it is less that 50% that you are going to drop the queen.

4. Yes, the Q of H is an awesome card to have.

5. No. Thats precisely why the queen of trumps is included in keycard asking responses. It is anti-percentage to bid slams missing a keycard and the Q of trumps, when you don't have a 10 card fit.

6. I like to play anything more than 2N to show extras (after a 2 over 1 game forcing response), even while playing precision with 11-15 HCP openers. It really helps to limit the hand. Its fine to not show the diamond holding. Going with the philosophy of precision, opener shows his point range as narrowly as possible within the first two bids.

Cheers,
JP.


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Manoj (joemanjo) said:

1) NO. If your suit were say Qxxxx or Kxxxx where your values are primarily outside that suit, then you may employ 2N in lieu of 2H. Here, 2H shows a real source of tricks and concentration of values.


2) Usually, to avoid confusion, direct jumps to 5 level are used as EKCB. What is direct jump to 5C over 3S? What does it mean if partner does not use the direct jump but goes slow? He certainly expected your 4H cue over his 4C (perhaps wanted to hear 4D but you could not oblige), so in effect he has not gained any valuable information after 3S where he could not have employed a direct jump to 5C as RKC. Is it good?

3) When you know with assurance that your partnership has ten trumps, but your partner may not know that, you can lie about the Queen. What is your partnerships expected rebid after 1S-2H with KJTxxx, Qx, AKxxx, - or Kxxxxxx, xx, AKQx, - or KQJxxxx, xx, AQxx, - Would you rebid 2S with both these? If so, then the 5C bid shows a void in partners hand and is more gainfully employed to find out secondary controls needed for GS.

4) Yes and No. Not enough for a serious slam try. Not even enough for courtesy cues from his side.

5) Nope. It is only in 10 card fits.

6) I will question not about 3D but the more obvious 3H. Both of you need to reevaluate your hand after each round of bidding. After 1S-2H, partner can give near full value for his hand. I would reevaluate this hand at about 13 hcp. Still not enough to bid 3D.