[cencio]

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Is it wrong a 3 d instead of 3 h reply?

[steve2005]

One of Kantar's rules is with 5-5 when opening, responding or overcalling bid the highest suit first
So, yes is clear to rebid 3♥.
You can later bid diamonds if necessary but likely you would show your doubleton spade honour.

Also, it is standard to require 8 hcp and a good suit to respond 2♠ to 2♣

Notice how much smoother the auction can go if west responds 2♦ waiting
2♣ - 2♦
2♥ and then can rebid 3♦ if necessary showing suits below 3NT

[cencio]

steve2005, on 2026-November-05, 15:35, said:

One of Kantar's rules is with 5-5 when opening, responding or overcalling bid the highest suit first
So, yes is clear to rebid 3♥.
You can later bid diamonds if necessary but likely you would show your doubleton spade honour.

Also, it is standard to require 8 hcp and a good suit to respond 2♠ to 2♣

Notice how much smoother the auction can go if west responds 2♦ waiting
2♣ - 2♦
2♥ and then can rebid 3♦ if necessary showing suits below 3NT

I thought that bidding diamond give space for bidding heart to partner.
the auction was 3d- 4sX. Made and a top 96%

[pescetom]

cencio, on 2026-November-05, 14:49, said:

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Is it wrong a 3 d instead of 3 h reply?

I think it is pointless to introduce the minor... you can afford 3H which happens to work out well, if not you have 4S available.

[pescetom]

steve2005, on 2026-November-05, 15:35, said:

Also, it is standard to require 8 hcp and a good suit to respond 2♠ to 2♣

Notice how much smoother the auction can go if west responds 2♦ waiting
2♣ - 2♦
2♥ and then can rebid 3♦ if necessary showing suits below 3NT

I find it wooden to hide this spades suit because of some bean count... but to each his own.

[mikeh]

steve2005, on 2026-November-05, 15:35, said:

One of Kantar's rules is with 5-5 when opening, responding or overcalling bid the highest suit first
So, yes is clear to rebid 3♥.
You can later bid diamonds if necessary but likely you would show your doubleton spade honour.

Also, it is standard to require 8 hcp and a good suit to respond 2♠ to 2♣

Notice how much smoother the auction can go if west responds 2♦ waiting
2♣ - 2♦
2♥ and then can rebid 3♦ if necessary showing suits below 3NT

It may be your idea of standard but I’ve literally never heard nor read of this 8 hcp requirement. And I’ve played a lot of bridge over the past 50 years, read hundreds of bridge magazines and books, and played at every level of the game from rookie-mentor to the Bermuda Bowl, so I think I have a pretty good grasp of ‘standard’ in terms of methods based on standard bidding, perhaps not as good outside of NA.

The one point I’d like to make to the OP is that I doubt many good players would open 2C with the east hand. It is very often going to prove impossible to show both red suits. Now, if you are playing opps who prefer to be passive, you might get lucky with a 2D response and then get to bid 2H and, next time, 3 D if partner hasn’t raised hearts. I think you’d find that, leaving aside string club methods and the like, the vast majority of good players would open 1H, intending if possible to jump to 3D next time, showing 5=4 or better and the values to drive to game opposite a minimum response

[mikeh]

cencio, on 2026-November-05, 15:53, said:

I thought that bidding diamond give space for bidding heart to partner.
the auction was 3d- 4sX. Made and a top 96%

Don’t confuse good luck preceded by bad bidding as reflecting good bidding. I promise you, without seeing their hands, neither opponent had a legitimate double of 4S. Gifts are wonderful and should be gratefully accepted: just don’t confuse getting a gift with you doing the right thing

[steve2005]

cencio, on 2026-November-05, 15:53, said:

I thought that bidding diamond give space for bidding heart to partner.
the auction was 3d- 4sX. Made and a top 96%

partner can only bid hearts with 4 of them
You have a good 5 card heart suit.
You only need 3 card support for partner to raise them.

As i said it is a rule with 5-5 always bid the highest ranked suit first, in this case hearts

[steve2005]

mikeh, on 2026-November-05, 17:15, said:

It may be your idea of standard but I've literally never heard nor read of this 8 hcp requirement.

from Larry Cohen
When would I not respond with the catchall/waiting 2♦? Only with a good hand and a good suit. By good, I mean 8+ HCP and a decent (2+ high honors) 5+ card suit

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

it makes life simpler, if you start with 1H.

Anyway, your first suit is usually as long as your second suit,
if you start with diamonds and follow up with hearts, the most
likely shape you will have is 6+/4+, so yes starting with diamonds
is wrong.

The West hand certainly qualifies as a 2S bid, the 6th card is
certainly worth 1-2 points (discounting the Jack), which makes it 8.

It starts to get interesting, if you should make the 2S with only
5 spades, e.g. without the spade 2, or if you are not better of with 2D,
hoping for a 2NT rebid by opener.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[mikeh]

steve2005, on 2026-November-05, 22:58, said:

from Larry Cohen
When would I not respond with the catchall/waiting 2♦? Only with a good hand and a good suit. By good, I mean 8+ HCP and a decent (2+ high honors) 5+ card suit

I’m not going to argue bridge theory with Larry Cohen! And, while I prefer a very different response structure to 2C, if I were forced to play a more ‘standard’ sort of approach I do think that making the requirements for a positive suit response higher than is actually ‘standard’ makes sense. But the fact that I like his approach (given the assumption that I can’t play my preferred complex structure) doesn’t mean that his approach is standard. There’s a big difference between what one expert…not matter how great he is as a player and theorist…recommends and what the bridge playing public uses. So go ahead and play as LC suggests…I think it better than what most people play…but I’m still pretty sure you should discuss it with partner rather than assuming that it’s ’standard’.

[steve2005]

mikeh, on 2026-November-06, 10:51, said:

I'm not going to argue bridge theory with Larry Cohen! And, while I prefer a very different response structure to 2C, if I were forced to play a more 'standard' sort of approach I do think that making the requirements for a positive suit response higher than is actually 'standard' makes sense. But the fact that I like his approach (given the assumption that I can't play my preferred complex structure) doesn't mean that his approach is standard. There's a big difference between what one expert…not matter how great he is as a player and theorist…recommends and what the bridge playing public uses. So go ahead and play as LC suggests…I think it better than what most people play…but I'm still pretty sure you should discuss it with partner rather than assuming that it's 'standard'.

Well looks at this hand. opener has Ax of spades
so Bob's your uncle everything is great
But give him a singleton spade and opener cant get to partners hand to cash the spades
If he has 8 points hopefully he would have an outside Queen or King and maybe the spades will be useful