[nikos59]

Hi all

In this hand from Estoril, Fantoni and Nunes got carried away:

Scoring: IMP

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The bidding went:
W N (Fantoni) E S (Nunes)
1C 1H
3C dbl pass 3D
pass 4C pass 4H
pass 4S pass 5C
pass 6D all pass
This was not a success; down two after a club lead. Mind you,
they actually gained on the board (other room at 2nt-3) but since they
are world champions we are a bit more demanding towards them,
hence I wonder what went wrong. I don't know well their system,
but when one has to make a bid, like South here over the double of 3C,
what is the "nothing to say" bid? It seems to me that 3D was
interpreted by North as showing four cards, so the game (at least)
seems a good bet. Hence 4C. Then 4H is trying to apply the brakes
but is interpreted as a cuebid, not a place to play.

If 3H is the "nothing to say" bid, then North passes and perhaps
this contract makes. Or perhaps South should not have overcalled
in the first place if any strong noise by North has to end in game
(or slam). How do you end at 3D or 4D?

TIA
Nikos

[kenrexford]

I agree that they seem to have lost their minds. It seems logical, after 3D, to now bid 3H. This seems to suggest some variety of snapdraggon-like holding, meaning a doubleton heart, values, and something out there. This might stop the auction at 3H, which is not so bad.

Alternatively, suppose 4C is the call. Why not 4D in response to this? 4H to "put the brakes on" assumes partner will find bypassing 4D to show two of the top three heart honors, and slam acceptance, discouraging. This is odd. 4D, on the other hand, at least stops the partnership below slam.

I can understand the excitement of Kx in hearts, stiff in their suit, a six-card suit just raised, and a nice King of spades. 4C may convey this interest. So, why is South fooling around? Accept partner's decision and sign off at 5D -- this is safest. Sure, it fails. But, switch the diamond honors (logical on the bidding) and 5D has play.

[Robert]

Hello everyone

kenrexford rightly points out that bidding 3H over 3D could have been passed out.

I suspect that a version of CGQ(choice of game cuebid) is responsible for this disaster. Advancer made a 4C CGQ and later 'forgot' their agreement when his partner bid 4Hs...

Unless 4C was intended as some sort of CGQ, the 4C was a huge overbid. If 4C was a CGQ, opener does have a 4H bid.

If 4C was a slam cuebid rather than a CGQ, partner could have bid 4Ds to at least try and stop this runaway train.

The 4S bid was worse than his previous 4C bid. Why does he think that he has 'extra' values 'after' his 4C cuebid?

I can understand the 5C call after partner cue bid both 4Cs and 4Ss, partner is showing a huge hand(which he simply does not have!)

The jump to 6Ds continued his mad charge to slam 'without' holding anything like slam values.

Regards,
Robert

[SchTsch]

Well, Fantoni has a reputation of overbidder so it is nothing unusual that they drive to unmakable slam. They do it now and then Of course, they find a lot of good slams that are hard to bid.

The biggest problem is 4♥.
After 3♦ bid, Fantoni sees 6-4 fit and it looks tempting. If pard is stronger slam can be laydown. 4♣ is normal cuebid on his way to 5♦. Now 4♥ is obvious misunderstanding because Fantoni took it as cue. After 4♠ Nunes' 4NT would show even number of aces so bidding 5♣ shows odd number of aces and first round control. Put it all together from Fantoni's perspective pard has ♥A, ♦A, ♣A, and 2542 or 1543. This looks for me as enough for 6 ♦.

Why there was misunderstanding about 4♥ i do not know.