[kuhchung]

r/r MPs, 1st

-- 83 AK83 AT97642

1C (1S) 2H (p)
3C (3S) 4H (p)
?

now what

[monikrazy]

4S as a control-showing bid with slam-interest in hearts seems reasonable

we can imagine making 6 across as little as KJ AQJxxx xx x and hopefully partner will have better

[billw55]

Pass and glp. If partner makes six, I think it will still be ave+. Not sure yet what I will do if ops bid 4♠.

[kenrexford]

Imagine a pie-in-the-sky best case for partner of A-K-Q-x-x-x in hearts and a stiff club. If clubs and hearts split 3-2, you probably take 13 tricks. For example, ruff a spade lead, pull trumps, club to the ACe, ruff a club, diamond top the King, ruff another club, diamond to the Ace, cash all the club winners.

So, the hand has powerful potential. In fact, in most layouts 12 tricks is within reach.

However, the issue will be whether (1) the opponents can mess up your transportation (e.g., by attacking diamonds on lead), (2) things do not split well as hoped for, and (3) partner does not have solid trumps. If you have a trump loser coming, a spade lead might cause problems with the opponents getting in too fast and cashing a spade winner before your clubs can be used for pitches. Partner probably has some spade length; maybe he has ♠Qxxx ♥AKJxxx ♦Qx ♣x, which is problematic.

On general principles, this auction suggests bidding the slam, IMO. You could get all sexy with cuebids and the like, but I would probably be practical and just blast a zooming 6♥.

[monikrazy]

my biggest concern in blasting to slam is a trump lead - especially MP

how do we feel blasting to 6 when partner shows up with

xxx KQJTxx x Jx

and the first 2 tricks go A of hearts and another

[kuhchung]

monikrazy, on 2013-December-16, 14:27, said:

my biggest concern in blasting to slam is a trump lead - especially MP

how do we feel blasting to 6 when partner shows up with

xxx KQJTxx x Jx

and the first 2 tricks go A of hearts and another

12 cards, probably not good enough for 2H

[ahydra]

monikrazy, on 2013-December-16, 14:08, said:

4S as a control-showing bid with slam-interest in hearts seems reasonable

we can imagine making 6 across as little as KJ AQJxxx xx x and hopefully partner will have better

Hopefully partner will have thirteen cards rather than eleven!

I think I agree with 4S though. 5H (asking for good trumps) is another alternative, though I guess the real catch is partner's club holding. If he has xxx that's terrible; if on the other hand he has Kx that's golden. We don't have a way to find that out, so going via 4S is best to save space. Perhaps partner cues 5C and then you're in luck.

ahydra

[Vampyr]

monikrazy, on 2013-December-16, 14:27, said:

my biggest concern in blasting to slam is a trump lead - especially MP

how do we feel blasting to 6 when partner shows up with

xxx KQJTxx x Jx

and the first 2 tricks go A of hearts and another

I don't think the OP mentioned NFB.

[kuhchung]

In case anyone wants the result of this, I thought about it for a while and then chickened out and passed. The slam goers are right, partner is x AKQJxx Jxx Qxx

The story isn't really over though. LHO still wasn't done and bid 4S, and partner came back with 5C, I shrugged and bid 6C, got hit, and made only 1 overtrick. Better to be lucky than good I guess.