[inquiry]

I will post a few of the swing hands from a recent league match, not that any of them deserve any consideration for the prize for great play.
BBO LEAGUE Team Game.

You are playing with an excellent player, but you are filling in for a missing team member and were thrown together as partners at the very last minute with no partnership experience. Your total bidding agreement was "2 over 1" (remainder of discussion was on carding) after the first hand was dealt. You have a modest lead in the match at this point, with this the last board of the first half.

Do you figure that if partner had good four card fit he would have super accepted over 3♦? Dp you suspect, that undiscussed, 4♣ would not be gerber, but rather cue-bid slam try? IF so, partner would have a club control, three card support and probably 21 hcp or 20 hcp with some other redeeming feature (five card suit, lots of tens, something like that).

So the question is would you cooperate with a 4♦ bid, take control with blackwood, or signoff with a 4♥ bid, or get creative with some other call? And undiscussed with a partner that (to give reference) is better player than me, would you think he would take 4♦ as last train? Cue-bid? (heaven forbid, answer to gerber?).

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[mgoetze]

4♣ is never Gerber, and especially not when bid by the 2NT opener. Sheesh.

For me this must be a cuebid in support of hearts. I mean, not everyone agrees what to superaccept with and I'm sure it makes sense to do it less in a pickup partnership where you are on shaky ground even on questions such as when is 4♦ a retransfer. There is no reason partner can't have Ax AKx AJx ATxxx, which would be an excellent slam.

So, I think we should cooperate, I'm just not sure what the best way to do that is. 4♦ looks like a nice blame transfer bid.

[CSGibson]

To me, this is a clear cue bid in support of hearts. I think partner either has 4 hearts and chose not to super accept, or has 3 hearts and a great hand for hearts (prime, or a source of tricks, something like Ax AKx xxx AKQxx would be a clear cue, I think, but lesser hands might also work.)

Anyway, I would probably bid 4D. I expect that to be a real cue as opposed to last train because partner's hand is pretty tightly defined already - a good hand in support of hearts within context of a 20-21 balanced hand - so last train doesn't make as much sense to me. If partner signs off, I'll probably trot out a 4♠ cue also, and respect further sign offs.

my partner and I had a similar auction today in a practice bidding room. I held

xx AKQ AQ9xxx Kx,

and in the bidding I showed 18-19 balanced, and partner (a passed hand) gave me a choice of games between NT and hearts, after showing 5 (or a bad 6) hearts. I cue 4♣ on the way to 4♥, and partner bid 4♦, after which I had a 5♥ call asking for a spade stop & getting us to a nice 6 ♥ when partner had

Kx 9xxxxx Kxx Ax

Anyway, I think these cues on the way to game really have to be hands where there is extra slam potential because you have a potential source of tricks/primeness/working values beyond what partner can normally envision without the help.

[Fluffy]

to me this is a clear source of tricks, we are off many keyucards but partner can probably handle them. Bid 4♦ now, 6♣ is our best spot probably.

Ax
Kxx
Axx
AKQ10xx

would be too perfect, but maybe we can get something like

AQx
Axx
Ax
AQ10xx

[inquiry]

I certainly agree that 4♣ can not be gerber. I also think 4♣ shows three card heart fit, and a maximum in the form of hcp (21) or a five or six card side suit (source of tricks). I think fluffy's constructions are along the lines of what I was expecting. Anyway, as you can see, partner managed to bring this slam home. The question is, would my hand be suitable to cooperate. I thought yes and I did bid 4♦. I did this even knowing we had a maximum of 30 hcp, and my singleton was not as valuable (I thought) as it was in the hand with the long hearts and partner clearly would not have four trumps. BUT here it was valuable as partner can play for a dummy reversal winning 5♠ (counting ruffs as tricks), 3♦, and three hearts. So he needs to decide how to play for a 12 trick -- diamond jack falling, diamond jack finessee, or club up to the king. As you can see two out of the three work right away, and the third (trying to drop the diamond jack in three rounds) can be followed by a working club up to the king, so no real way to go down.

West at the other table, reasonably perhaps, simply bid 4♥ over 3NT ending the auction. This picked up 11 imps for us,

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[Zelandakh]

4♣ should show a 3 card super-accept of hearts. It may or may not show a control but I would expect it to without agreements, for simplicity. I would bid 4♦ over this without much idea of what I was showing. If partner now bids 4♥ I will assume they took the 4♦ bid as a re-transfer and make a further move. If they bid something else then I will assume partner took my bid as a diamond cue. Either way I am happy.

[kenrexford]

Sometimes experiencing something right in front of you should reveal secrets. There is a hand type where slam is a good bet, but where Responder would not make a try on his own. It is not the hand where you need 21 and not 20. It could be the trick source, but the more common is the unbalanced responder with a 5-piece being practical. Here, Responder has a 7-loser hand with a stiff. 20-21 HCP can easily fill the spaces of needed cover cards for slam. So, IMO, a super cue here says that Opener has a hand that may produce six covers opposite this unbalanced hand potential. As the unbalance usually features a stiff in the other major, that makes it even easier, btw. When spades are agreed, you have even more space to unwind this. But, my meaning for 4C is a hand suitable for slam opposite,the 5431 max, showing cards,in clubs (not right if this is your stiff, pard). A sort of anti-Bluhmer, if you will, of an anti-empathetic-splinter.

[gwnn]

Your partner played this hand like a complete dufus, for what it's worth. I think also that 4♣ then 4♥ is a much more sane way to bid this hand as opener. 4♦ is not a retransfer because opener has already bid hearts. I'm not sure if you should move again over 4♥, I think probably not. It's not such a great slam, we your partner and you were lucky.

[gszes]

Pretty much all of the example hands show a ton
of aces and kings and a side suit as well as good
rumps. They would almost be considered miracle
hands they are so good. The cue bid telling p we
have such a miracle hand is a great idea and on
this occassion I would bid 4d (deleted dumb comment)
and over 4h bid 4s. The resulting 6h contract is ok
but it would be a ton better if that pesky spade Q
were the spade K instead.

I admit I would not have made the 4c cue bid just
because of the spade Q:))))))))))))))))))))))