[Hanoi5]

I recently missed a slam and kept wondering what's the right or best approach on these situations:

a.- (2♥)-4♠

b.- (3♥)-5♦

c.- 1♣-(1♠)-2♥-(3♠*)
5♣

*Pre-emptive

[Zelandakh]

a and b are both the GOSH type. c is also one-suited but could be a little weaker and has some other additional inferences due to double here being somewhat different from the second seat auctions.

[Kaitlyn S]

a.- (2♥)-4♠ Very strong. Overcaller eschewed a jump to 3S which is pretty powerful, and also double followed by various spade bids.

b.- (3♥)-5♦ This time the real options were 4D or 5D or double followed by diamonds if you got the chance. I would think this is a hand that make 5D opposite something like Qxx, Qxx, xx, Kxxxx which might pass a 4D overcall.

c.- 1♣-(1♠)-2♥-(3♠*)
5♣I believe he is bidding what he thinks he can make opposite a typical minimum (or perhaps a bit better than minimum) 2H bid with a doubleton club.

*Pre-emptive

[Zelandakh]

Kaitlyn S, on 2016-November-18, 10:40, said:

5♣I believe he is bidding what he thinks he can make opposite a typical minimum

It is not just what (s)he thinks (s)he can make but more what they do not think they can make, since they bypassed 3NT and 4♥. That makes the range of hands for 5♣ extremely limited.

[WesleyC]

Obviously this stuff comes down to partnership understanding, but I can offer a different opinion to the previous responders.

a) Your side is blessed with plenty of room in this auction. Strong single-suiters can either start with 3S, or a double if they're based more on HCP. So by far the most useful meaning for 4S is to show a distributional hand that is afraid of getting passed out in 2S and wants to put pressure on the opponents. Something like [KQJTxxx x AQxx x] would be typical.

b) Most modern partnerships play 4m in this auction as a non-leaping michaels bid (showing 5m & 5S). With a HCP rich single-suiter they are forced to choose between a gambling (and often offshape) 3NT or starting with double. The jump to 5D is thus reserved for distributional one-suiters, not necessarily super-strong, that only have interest in playing in diamonds.

c) This hand is a little different because after the 2/1 our side is assumed to have the balance of power, and opener does have the option to bid a forcing 4C. On that basis I think 5C should show a minimum strength opening with big distribution and no fit for hearts.

[SteveMoe]

This comes down to communication (and agreement) with partner. I prefer to make these bids very specific - set trump and communicate that we have a specific number of winners in our hand.

Over their weak twos, stronger hands start with double. Simple overcalls show a better hand than a minimum opener. A single jump shows a one-suiter with roughly 2 Kings better than opening (your range here).

3x Jumps to game over their preempts without hearing from partner 1) set trump unilaterally, and 2) asks one specific question - how many outside winners (and losers in their suit) do you have? That is 4♠ and 5♦ in 1 and 2 above show 9 and 10 tricks exactly. With 2 winners, partner stays put in 4♠ (counting 11 tricks) but might bid 6♦ with the right controls. We assume they have a 9-trump fit and bid accordingly.

Example 3 should also show a specific number of tricks. Here partner shows at least invitational values so opener assumes 3 cover cards and bids accordingly. 5♣ in this context is certainly NOT forward going. Change the auction to 1♣-(1♠)-P-(3♠)-5♣ goes to the number of tricks/strength.

Context - these auctions can show:
a) Opening 5♣ == our rule of 234 preempt
b) 2♣ then jump to 5♣ == asks partner to bid 6 or 7, one step for each ♣AK held.
c) 1♣ then jump to 3♣ == typically 15-17/8 and reasonable suit
d) 1♣ then jump to 4♣ == Slam try - strength and sets trump (one loser opposite singleton) no interest in NT. Not trying to play 4m - bad bridge.
e) 1♣ then jump to 5♣ == No NT interest and great shape, with exactly 10 tricks in hand or 11 tricks based on partner's response.

The 3♠ raise (assume partner passed and did not bid 2♥) eliminates option c). With NT interest opener can double (see BoP/cue bid double), so 5♣ here has to be 10 tricks opposite passed partner and 11 tricks opposite bidding partner. Bypassing the double here strongly indicates ODR so high that defending is not a consideration.

[phil_20686]

There are a ton of possible agreements for a but it rarely shows the good one suited hand. Too often you just need to bid 4s with like AKJxxxx and a bit outside which is too good to bid 2s and not quite right for 3s. Its not uncommon to use 4H as the GOSH hand on this auction.

b is usually a typical GOSH.

c is more like an opening hand with 8 clubs. Not dissimilar to a really except that you already opened the bidding and partner has shown some life.