[1eyedjack]

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MP, Instant, Ver 32

To my mind, 1S, 1N (passed hand), 2D and 3D are all non-forcing bids. How, then, can GIB decide to invite for slam over 3N?

[Bbradley62]

It appears that the problem is that the description of 3N includes "18+ HCP; 18- total points".

[1eyedjack]

I wonder what 3D would have meant instead of 2D, in that case.

[Bbradley62]

I expect it would be 19+ total points, which is why your sequence is limited to 18 total points. I do not at all understand why your sequence should show 18 HCP. GIB's (il)logic is going to be something like: if North might have fewer than 8 HCP and South wants to play 3N, then South must have 18+ HCP.

[iandayre]

Bbradley62, on 2015-April-05, 19:22, said:

I expect it would be 19+ total points, which is why your sequence is limited to 18 total points. I do not at all understand why your sequence should show 18 HCP. GIB's (il)logic is going to be something like: if North might have fewer than 8 HCP and South wants to play 3N, then South must have 18+ HCP.

But if responder had less than 8 HCP it would have passed 2D, not raised to 3D.

[Bbradley62]

GIB chooses whether or not to bid 3♦ based on his total points, not his HCP. The description of 3♦ includes the possibility of only 8 total points, and we know he's short in spades, so he might have fewer than 8 HCP.