[ahtan]

its in 2/1

after i open 1S, my partner bids 2H (GF and 5+ cards). With a minimum hand and 3 hearts, i bid 4H. My partner then bid 4S.

my partner has 3 spades. She says she felt playing in spades is better than playing in hearts, so she tried to change the trump suit.

anyway, I took it for a control cuebid.

What's the opinion here?

[jillybean]

I would be unsure if partner was giving me a choice of games, or was showing ♠ A, K and a probe for slam.
I do not like your jump to game when partner is unlimited.

Can you share the hands?

[ahtan]

jillybean, on 2026-August-10, 19:10, said:

I would be unsure if partner was giving me a choice of games, or was showing ♠ A, K and a probe for slam.
I do not like your jump to game when partner is unlimited.

Can you share the hands?

The jump is because I have a minimum hand with 6 lousy spades (no honours), AKQ in hearts, j97 in diamonds and a singleton club. Fast arrival no? 7 losing tricks. A tad aggressive but I think ok. My 4H is descriptive as a minimum hand. 3H would say I have extras.

However I view it as irrelevant, as I think that once trump suit is settled in a major, you shouldn’t try to change it. It is also potentially confusing if you make it context dependent. Better used for control cuebids I think.

[jillybean]

ahtan, on 2026-August-10, 20:00, said:

However I view it as irrelevant, as I think that once trump suit is settled in a major, you shouldn’t try to change it. It is also potentially confusing if you make it context dependent. Better used for control cuebids I think.

I agree.

[Gerardo]

ahtan, on 2026-August-10, 20:00, said:

However I view it as irrelevant, as I think that once trump suit is settled in a major, you shouldn’t try to change it. It is also potentially confusing if you make it context dependent. Better used for control cuebids I think.

Agree, but there are exceptions.
You may want to play in 4M but 6m.

I remember such a hand, had 4x6x, partner opened 1!D.

1♦ - 1♠
2/3♠ (don't remember) - cuebid
........................................
4♠ - .....6♦
6♠

World Class opp: ♦A, ruff.

This post has been edited by barmar: 2026-August-11, 08:26
Reason for edit: fix quoting

[barmar]

Gerardo, on 2026-August-11, 05:56, said:

1♦ - 1♠
2/3♠ (don't remember) - cuebid
........................................
4♠ - .....6♦
6♠

Not sure if that's really an exception. 5♦ would be a control cuebid, but jumping to 6 is a choice of slams (although maybe 5NT is a better bid for that).

[bluenikki]

ahtan, on 2026-August-10, 20:00, said:

The jump is because I have a minimum hand with 6 lousy spades (no honours), AKQ in hearts, j97 in diamonds and a singleton club. Fast arrival no? 7 losing tricks. A tad aggressive but I think ok. My 4H is descriptive as a minimum hand. 3H would say I have extras.

However I view it as irrelevant, as I think that once trump suit is settled in a major, you shouldn’t try to change it. It is also potentially confusing if you make it context dependent. Better used for control cuebids I think.

If your jump means that you are _certain_ the partnership must play in hearts, then your hand does not apply.

[paulg]

Unfortunately bridge is not an easy game and you are often forced to make 'poor' bids, or bids that you would prefer not to make, because the other options are unacceptable.

In this case, introducing a weak heart suit when you prefer to play in spades when partner raises, is not ideal. It is not helpful for slam purposes because partner will almost certainly misevaluate their heart holding. I suspect most experts would find a two-level response in a minor if at all possible with such a weak suit; but, as the quality of the heart suit improves, at some point they will respond 2♥.

When you make a bid that you know is not ideal, you have to live with it and cannot double-cross partner. In this case, I believe most experts would treat 4♠ as a cue bid so you have to pass 4♥ even when you believe it is not the best game.

I looked up my old Lawrence 2/1 workbook and he treats 1♠-2♥-3♥-3♠ as a cue bid and slam try too. It is only after the raise of a 2♣/2♦ response that 3♠ is a fit.

The concept that you cannot change your mind in the later auction is a good one and will save some pain in the future; but not all of the pain

[bluenikki]

paulg, on 2026-August-12, 03:12, said:

The concept that you cannot change your mind in the later auction is a good one and will save some pain in the future; but not all of the pain

That's all the more reason to avoid early committal actions. I'm not referring to the response, but to the committal raise with trump honors vulnerable to taps.

[paulg]

bluenikki, on 2026-August-12, 10:19, said:

That's all the more reason to avoid early committal actions. I'm not referring to the response, but to the committal raise with trump honors vulnerable to taps.

I think it is just difficult at times. For example Lawrence recommends 4♥ with the following hand despite only holding three-card support. Not the same as the original hand, as it has no shortage and no minor suit control.

---

With six weak spades, good 3-card heart support and minor suit controls, Lawrence would make a simple raise to 3♥.

ahtan's hand, of course, fails to meet either of Lawrence's criteria for 3♥ and 4♥ and so you need to make the best of a poor lot. Perhaps the advantage of 3♥ is that partner will not go slamming with such poor trumps unless they are very good, but I think either option could work out well or badly.

[bluenikki]

♠

paulg, on 2026-August-12, 12:00, said:

I think it is just difficult at times. For example Lawrence recommends 4♥ with the following hand despite only holding three-card support. Not the same as the original hand, as it has no shortage and no minor suit control.

---

With six weak spades, good 3-card heart support and minor suit controls, Lawrence would make a simple raise to 3♥.

ahtan's hand, of course, fails to meet either of Lawrence's criteria for 3♥ and 4♥ and so you need to make the best of a poor lot. Perhaps the advantage of 3♥ is that partner will not go slamming with such poor trumps unless they are very good, but I think either option could work out well or badly.

Yes, of course, if the single raise simply shows 3+ card support, leaving, say 3NT as a possible final contract, that would be the clear call.

But in the OP's system, that meaning is unavailable. Isn't the 2♠ relay called for?

[ahtan]

paulg, on 2026-August-12, 12:00, said:

I think it is just difficult at times. For example Lawrence recommends 4♥ with the following hand despite only holding three-card support. Not the same as the original hand, as it has no shortage and no minor suit control.

---

With six weak spades, good 3-card heart support and minor suit controls, Lawrence would make a simple raise to 3♥.

ahtan's hand, of course, fails to meet either of Lawrence's criteria for 3♥ and 4♥ and so you need to make the best of a poor lot. Perhaps the advantage of 3♥ is that partner will not go slamming with such poor trumps unless they are very good, but I think either option could work out well or badly.

I did not mention that we are playing precision, but with a 2/1 agreement for 1M openers. So the 1H opener is 11-15 HCP. The jump to 4H is a fast arrival, minimum hand. 3H is supposed to be for extra values (e.g. 14 pts or so). But even if we were in pure 2/1, a 4H bid is also "fast arrival, minimum hand".

[jillybean]

This is nowhere near one of my minimum hands.

[DavidKok]

I think this particular interpretation of 'fast arrival' is not a good idea at all. Don't be so eager to jump on a strong auction - this should be a very rare event. Preserving bidding space for partner to evaluate and describe should be the default action.

[mike777]

Agree easy 3H
Two keycards plus Q of trumps

Plus KS

[mike777]

A