[lamford]

MrAce, on 2017-February-10, 07:21, said:

Having pd hold Kx♥ may increase the chances of slam.

AQxx Kx KQJx AKx would be more than enough for a claim.

AQxx Kx KQJx AJx would be cold on a finesse (and squeeze/endplay)

AQxx Kx KQx AKJx would be more than enough for claim

You can add the HJ ♥ combinations and 5 card minor hands.
Still you have a valid point for bidding 3 NT. I have no idea how to possibly learn which one of them pd has.

Our 2NT opener is 23-24 and some good 22s will upgrade. I tend to think KQJx puts a 22 count into the 23 count bracket, certainly if you add a ten to it. And the hands you think are more than enough for a claim are actually exactly enough! But you make a good point that partner having Kx of hearts is better than Ax.

And I have just made up some better methods here. Suggest 3D is a transfer to 3H (their suit) and is a stopper enquiry, game forcing. Partner bids 3S with no stopper 3NT with a stopper. Then, over the latter, 4C asks and 4D is QJx, 4H is Kx(x), 4S is Ax(x) and 4NT is more than that.

[FrancesHinden]

I don't understand the need to commit to slam, or even to commit to the 3-level.
Partner's pass of 2H is not exactly 20-22 balanced, it's either that or penalties of hearts (as double is take-out).

This seems a slightly odd agreement, as you can't defend 2Hx when opener and responder are both balanced, but ignoring that for the moment..

Partner passes 2H, and you double "take-out" (it's not really take-out, it's any hand prepared to defend if partner has a penalty double, I assume).
Partner finds the very odd call of 2S (given their hand) - not 3S as you have written above.

Why not just bid 2NT, forcing, and see what he does? If you had a hand that was going to pass 20-22 bal, then you just pass out 2H, so double here then 2NT is game forcing.

You now have lots and lots of room to find out if there is a slam on.

[lamford]

FrancesHinden, on 2017-February-10, 16:23, said:

I don't understand the need to commit to slam, or even to commit to the 3-level.
Partner's pass of 2H is not exactly 20-22 balanced, it's either that or penalties of hearts (as double is take-out).

This seems a slightly odd agreement, as you can't defend 2Hx when opener and responder are both balanced, but ignoring that for the moment..

Partner passes 2H, and you double "take-out" (it's not really take-out, it's any hand prepared to defend if partner has a penalty double, I assume).
Partner finds the very odd call of 2S (given their hand) - not 3S as you have written above.

Why not just bid 2NT, forcing, and see what he does? If you had a hand that was going to pass 20-22 bal, then you just pass out 2H, so double here then 2NT is game forcing.

You now have lots and lots of room to find out if there is a slam on.

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes 3S was a typo, sorry. I agree that a slower approach could work out much better, but I was not that confident of our methods, nor that they were any good, as you point out. We could spend a day before the next major outing on 2C alone! I did (wrongly) jump to the conclusion that partner had to be 4-2-3-4 or 4-2-4-3 for 2S (or perhaps five spades). If partner had bid 3C over the double, I would have been much more confident of slam. I am not sure 2NT would have got the job done, as I would have assumed that if he then bid 3C that would just be another 4-card suit. Lots of room would not necessarily have been of much use to us without methods!

[Fluffy]

I'll just join the chorus that his hand is an ugly 12 count, so many dead heart cards, the doubt should be between setting in game or inviting slam.