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At matchpoints, with both sides vulnerable, my partner opened one club. I bid one heart (one over one) with the following holding: (s) K9 (h) AQ87642 (d) J (c) A62.

Partner then bid one spade (showing at least four), and suggesting that the club might be "short" (it was). I bid three hearts to show my extra hearts. Partner bid four hearts, which I took to be a sign off with a minimum opener and maybe two hearts. We missed a slam because partner had KJ3 of hearts and 18 high card points (32 between us, and 10 hearts).

Did I do enough to show my values, given that partner actually had the more powerful hand? Or should I have done something stronger earlier, like "jump shift?"

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  • 2
    3H is invitational, not forcing (for most partnerships). As you can see from the answers, 4th suit artificial and forcing to game is a pretty necessary convention - it's not so important in this case, but if you have exactly 5 hearts you need some way to force to game at a low enough level that you can tell if you have a 5-3 fit.
    – Alexander Woo
    Dec 12, 2022 at 4:29
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    Would help a lot to know what system you and your partner use. I'm guessing Standard American from the context, but I'm not totally sure.
    – DrPhil
    Dec 12, 2022 at 10:20
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    To answer your last question, your hand isn't strong enough for a jump shift. That should be 17+ HCP, a hand that wants to invite slam opposite many normal openings.
    – Barmar
    Dec 12, 2022 at 13:21
  • I agree with the others in that nowadays most (=nearly all) play 3H as invitational only, meaning that you need to go via FSF (assuming partner is familiar with it). So in that light 3H was a massive underbid. It is dangerous to play partner for perfact cards, but you should not entirely ignore the fact that a perfect 12-count with partner, such as Axxx, Kx, xxx, KQx, makes 6H a laydown. Therefore you can be a bit more aggressive, and partner with extras should co-operate in the slam hunt.
    – Jyrki Lahtonen
    Dec 12, 2022 at 17:32
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    Bid small slam, got grand slam. Everybody said I misbid. Hour long post-game analysis with another player revealed that I got a grand slam because player on my left misplayed and grand slam was settable. Bid analysis is hard and most players I encounter just aren't that good at slam bids. To be fair, neither am I.
    – Joshua
    Dec 12, 2022 at 21:12

4 Answers 4

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I think the first question is, is 3h forcing? I would say the answer is, no; if that's the case in your partnership, then you misbid, as you have a game forcing hand for sure opposite any opener. I'd say your 3H shows something like your hand above minus the outside ace, and one less heart - even with K9 AQxxxxx J xxx I would consider worth a game bid given you have 5-6 tricks in hand even opposite a heart void.

You do have some forcing options, for example see this article; in particular, cue bidding the fourth suit is clearly a force (so, 1c-1h/1s-2d). I might expect the bidding to go:

N E S W notes
1C - 1H -
1S - 2D! - 2D is 4SF
2H - 3C - 2H shows 3+H, 3C shows C control
3D - 3H - D control, 3H is waiting for S control
3S - 4C - S control, 4C is A of clubs
4D - 4NT - 4D shows AD; 4NT is RKCB (looking for KH)
5D - 6H - 5D shows 3 (KH, AD, AS), 6H ends

You could probably keep looking after 5D for the grand, but it seems a bit unlikely even with the distribution given the maximum 33 points (and we already know where most of them are). If partner has KQ clubs, or KC QS, then we miss grand, but I don't think I have the tools to find that.

That's why jumping to 3H is the weaker bid - the above sequence easily finds the slam, but only because you have so much room.

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  • I'm not forcing to game with K9 AQxxxxx J xxx - because that shows some defense against a slam sacrifice by opponents. Probably best to just bid it, certainly Vulnerable and at Teams, but White at matchpoints I think I'd just bid 3H.
    – Forget I was ever here
    Dec 12, 2022 at 2:34
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    Yes, a direct game bid is what I meant, sorry - 4H is a game force after all ;) - NV at matchpoints I could understand the 3H, but I'd probably still prefer 4.
    – Joe
    Dec 12, 2022 at 5:11
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    It's not at all clear to me that 2H by partner sets trumps and thus your 3C is a control bid rather than eg Kx Axxx J Axxxxx. Surely 3H is your third bid
    – ruds
    Dec 12, 2022 at 9:54
  • Why would 3C be anything other than controls? You're not looking for a club game with the hand you posted. NT or slam are the two places you could be going. You know partner is 4-3 in the majors and 3+ clubs. 4-3-3-3 or 4-3-2-4 etc. So, yes, you haven't disclosed trump to partner yet, but YOU know what trump is, and partner knows you know. Now it's just finding out what the right level is.
    – Joe
    Dec 12, 2022 at 16:30
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    Because you don't start bidding controls before both partners know what the trump suit is? My hand wasn't bidding 3C to play a club game but to explore for a club slam. Partner could hold Axxx KQx xx KJxx, AQxx Kxx xxx KQx as minimums that make slam across from the hand that I gave.
    – ruds
    Dec 12, 2022 at 17:40
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Both you and your partner have misbid. As others have mentioned, your 3H call was nonforcing and only invited game.

You don't give partner's exact hand, but with 18 hcp, 4 spades, 3 hearts, and "short" clubs, I suspect it was something like Axxx KJx KQx KQx. 1 spade is a terrible second call by this hand. It is nonforcing and has a limit of something like 17 hcp. It also conceals the balanced nature of the hand. This hand is a clear 2NT rebid.

The SAYC booklet has little to say about followups after a 2NT rebid, but luckily you have a reasonable 6H rebid: 1C-1H; 2NT-6H.

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  • Your hypothetical was close to the actual hand, of Axxx KJx AKx QJx.
    – Tom Au
    Dec 12, 2022 at 10:50
  • Agree that with 18 partner should bid 2NT after 1H, but nothing really changes if partner is missing that club jack (which they might be ignoring and acting as if their hand is 17 points, though I wouldn't do that).
    – Joe
    Dec 12, 2022 at 16:33
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    @Joe - then they should open 1N!
    – Alexander Woo
    Dec 12, 2022 at 21:35
  • @TomAu - Most people play that a 1S rebid promises 8 black cards; in fact I play that it promises 9 black cards. Rebid (or open) no-trump with 4333 hands. (Then I hope you're playing some form of new minor forcing!)
    – Alexander Woo
    Dec 12, 2022 at 21:36
  • @AlexanderWoo Perhaps they're 4-3-1-5? But yes, they certainly could be (and probably should be) bidding NT here. I don't think it's nearly as extreme a misbid as the 3H is, though.
    – Joe
    Dec 13, 2022 at 0:21
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Other than my one comment to the answer by @Joe I agree with his analysis. Here is an alternate bidding sequence using a variant cue-bidding style where each Partner's first and second cue-bid in a suit shows either first or second round control, and denies both in any suit skipped over though one generally denies a short-suit control in any denomination bid naturally by Partner. It frequently, as here, signals more clearly when Blackwood is safe to bid against two fast losers in a side suit.

N E S W notes
1C - 1H -
1S - 2D! - 2D is 4SF
2H - 2S - 2H shows 3+H; 2S shows either A or K (suit shown by Partner
3C - 3D - C control (Clearly K as looking at A in hand); 3D no double fast loser in Diamonds
3S - 4C - The other S control; 4C is A of clubs
4N - 5S - 4NT is RKCB; 5S is 2 with the Heart Queen, now evidently HA and CA with a short diamond control.
6H - P - 6H is to play (or with the Diamond A could chase 7 with 5NT instead)
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    Seeing yours I realize that my sequence is slightly off - probably ought to bid 2S initially for that king as you do, I just spaced on it - though I don't know that I'd bid the 3D, but it certainly makes sense.
    – Joe
    Dec 12, 2022 at 5:13
  • It's not at all clear to me that 2H by partner sets trumps and that 2S is a control bid instead of agreeing spades. Surely 3H is your third bid.
    – ruds
    Dec 12, 2022 at 9:52
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First of all, you underbid, or to put it another way, you had "too much" for the calls that you made. A sequence of one heart followed by a jump to three hearts shows something like 14-15 high card points with a six card suit, or, alternatively, 11-12 high card points and seven of the suit. You had both the longer (seven card) heart suit and the higher point count range.

Still, given the (mis)information that she got from you, your partner could have bid more strongly with her 18 high card points and three hearts. She could (on your actual bidding) infer that your combined resources were something like 32-33 high card points and nine hearts, or 29-30 high card points and ten hearts, both of which put the two of you in the slam zone. So her next step could have been to use Blackwood to ask for controls. She would have been pleased to hear that you had two aces and one king, and bid six hearts on that basis.

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