[sheilafran]

North South hands no one vulnerable imp scoring

♠xxx
♥AQxxx
♦xx
♣Qxx




♠J
♥Kxxxx
♦AQxxx,
♣Jx


Bidding as follows 3 passes to south hand, double by west, 3 spades by north - what do you think this means

[EricK]

Does it mean "I only have 12 cards"?

[Badmonster]

EricK, on Jun 24 2006, 08:51 AM, said:

Does it mean "I only have 12 cards"?

People ask me this all the time when I post hands too. I think people get too excited about that thirteenth card.

[EricK]

Seriously though, 3♠ must show some sort of fit. It would either be a splinter or a fit jump depending on agreements.

[blackshoe]

On the hands shown, it means that North has either misbid, or mispulled (using bidding boxes).

[Winstonm]

I think it means bid game if you have a singleton spade; otherwise, just bid game.

Winston

[matmat]

north: p!!! i forgot to open, you'll never believe the goodies i have!

[mikestar]

Bidding boxes: North was reaching for the 3♥ card and grabbed 3♠ and didn't notice.

Spoken bidding: North misheard, didn't ask, and thought the opening was 1♠.

[kenrexford]

This is an amazingly rare example of the Empathetic Splinter. Here's how it works here. Normally, a jump to 4H by a passed hand in this auction shows five-card support and shortness, right? 4C or 4D would be understood as Splinters, identifying the shortness. 4H would imply a short spade, the remaining shortness. Spades is the default "implied" shortness, because you reserve the cheapest available double jump (3S) for any alternative meanings, applying the Useful Space Principle. Thus, 3S shows "something else."

The "something else" is presumed to be the most useful meaning otherwise available. The context of the auction defines this. 1H was doubled. The "best holding" for slam in this context is when Opener's LHO holds an ELC (Equal Level Conversion) pattern, meaning spades and diamonds. This makes clubs the "most likely" secondary suit on a strong 5-5 for Opener. Responder has a good slam holding for that pattern when he holds great trumps and a club feature (Qxx or better). Thus, 3S shows Qxx or better in clubs, as Responder has.

Even with Qxx or better in clubs, though, a Splinter usually works best, unless Responder cannot Splinter. This occurs when Responder has something like 5332 or 5422 pattern. With each, he needs an "empathetic" holding opposite partner's assume shortness when partner does have something like a strong 5-5. Responder, then, has the ability to identify the no-wasted-values fragment by either jumping to the lowest available Double Jump Shift (here, 3S) or to 3NT, the latter showing the unavailable weak fragment (here, diamonds).

Thus, the 3S jump shows precisely five trumps (good ones), Qxx or better in clubs, that his three-card (or xxxx) fragment is spades (and honorless -- suitable opposite an empathized stiff from partner), and, by elimination, a doubleton diamond. This is precisely what Responder holds, and therefore he obviously understood this simple concept.





Actually, 3S was just nonsense. LOLOL