[gwnn]

It's difficult to assert what these non-bunnies thought about 2♦. North definitely forgot. But then isn't 1♣-1NT-2♦-p; 2♥ a reverse? So North should bid game with his wonderful 7 count. If North didn't forget, then he is competing 3/2 in a possible 4-2 fit.

What about South? He has 4 card support but a very bad spade holding. So he doesn't appear to have a superaccept. And of course he didn't promise a balanced hand so probably no weak NT should superaccept. Only if you have a singleton and a non-minimum. So South bid well, if indeed they play transfers!

[kenberg]

i guess that it's an interesting hand. Playing W, with my clone sitting E, I would overcall 1{Sp] (so I said before the hands were shown), I presume there would be a negative X, and my cone would, I think, settle for 2♠. Easy to say after seeing the hands of course, but I generally am wary of the pre-emptive jump to 3 on little else beyond the presumed nine card fit. I suppose 3♥ by S would be the final contract.

Switching me and my clone around to the NS seats, suppose it goes 1♣-1♠-X-3♠. Do I, at mps, hit this? Probably I don't, call me chicken. Do we beat it two tricks? Down 1 seems easy, down 2 seems highly obscure (Edit: OK, while chopping berries for a cake I worked it out, maybe it even happens). So if EW get to play 3♠ against me and my clone, it's likely down 1, undoubled by may chicken-hearted soul.

I suppose, since the hand barely makes 2♠ when partner supplies four spades and the king of diamonds I might consider rethinking my earlier comment that if I had overcalled 1NT (I wouldn't) then I would bid 2♠ at my next turn. But I am a slow learner so I am not yet ready to change my view.

[kenberg]

gwnn, on 2011-March-18, 05:50, said:

It's difficult to assert what these non-bunnies thought about 2♦. North definitely forgot. But then isn't 1♣-1NT-2♦-p; 2♥ a reverse? So North should bid game with his wonderful 7 count. If North didn't forget, then he is competing 3/2 in a possible 4-2 fit.

What about South? He has 4 card support but a very bad spade holding. So he doesn't appear to have a superaccept. And of course he didn't promise a balanced hand so probably no weak NT should superaccept. Only if you have a singleton and a non-minimum. So South bid well, if indeed they play transfers!

Upon reflection I think that, maybe anyway, the alerted 2♦ was just badly explained. It's not a transfer in the sense of strongly requesting partner to bid 2♥ but rather a way of showing four hearts. Using language this way, a negative double, as in 1♣-(1♠)-X could be called a transfer bid since it shows four hearts without bidding hearts. I think I would be a little ticked if my lho bid 2♦, my rho explained it as a transfered to hearts, and my lho showed up with six diamonds and four hearts, but maybe it's a local dialect.

[Lurpoa]

the hog, on 2011-March-18, 05:33, said:

Insurance against what? 3H? Spare me!
3S is at least 1 off and probably 2.

Indeed difficult to judge...
But this is MP: 3♥= will not be a good score for us. I do not think that they can double 3♠.

and indeed in IMPS, vul, I might not bid 3♠.

Could you be little bit more explicit on your answer ? and explain when to bid or not ?