East 2♣ was “inverted” showing at least game-invitational values and denying a 4-card major.  This is a pretty good 14, and worth going to game with.  Which game?  The opponents obviously have at least 9 Hearts which may be a problem for 3NT.  On the other hand, maybe Partner has a concentration of values in that suit and 3NT really is the place to be.  So, to help Partner make the right choice between a No Trump or Club contract, West splinters with 3♥.  East turns out to have Axx in Hearts and naturally enough chooses 5♣.  That’s just as well, as 3NT is down one and 5♣ makes 12 tricks (Partner has the perfect 7-count!: ♠--, ♥ A87, ♦ K9842, ♣ 97432).

East has shown 12-14 HCP, and we have 16 HCP.  Give East a maximum and with 4 trumps and there’ll be a combined 30 HCP with a 9-card fit.  Doesn’t that put E-W in the slam zone?  Speaking in general terms, perhaps it does.  But as 16-counts go, we’d categorize the West hand as quite abominable.  In fact, some players will no doubt count up the HCP more than once, just to make sure that this uninspiring collection really does have 16.  That ♣KQJ is especially dismal, the trumps are mediocre, and 5=3=2=3 is not a great shape (5=4=2=2 or 5=4=3=1 would offer more possibilities).  All in all the hand is just not good enough.

Why not a Negative Double?  North has the unbid suits, for sure, but the hand is good enough to start bidding the suits.  It seems better to bid 2♦ saying “5 Diamonds and 10+ HCP” than to double saying “Something in the minors, 7 or 8+ HCP”.  After bidding 2♦, North’s plan is to bid 3♣ if she gets the chance.  Of course, make the hand weaker by a Queen or so, and the hand is not strong enough for 2♦, and a Double would be the only choice.

No doubt East wishes that he were not Red vs White, switch the vulnerability around and he could have much more fun.  But even though the opponents appear to have the majority of the points, the hand might well belong to E-W.  It’s easy to conjure up layouts where 5♠ makes and where it beats anything that N-S can manage.  And it’s also possible to conjure up other layouts where 5♠ is doubled down two for a disastrous -500 against a non-vulnerable game.  Our suggestion here is to bid 4♦, showing Diamond shortness and leaving the 5-level decision to Partner.  Yes, it’s a bit light in the HCP department, but the extra trump and the void are compensation.

West has shown 20-21, so we suppose that East’s 11 is just about enough to try for slam, that 5-card suit and the ♠T9 must count for something.  So the plan is to transfer to Spades and then bid 4NT, a slam-invitational sequence, showing 5 Spades.

Here are two similar auctions where Responder’s 4NT is invitational:

            1NT     2♥                                2NT     3♥

            2♠        4NT                             3♠        4NT

Both sequences show 5 Spades and invite slam.  That’s all very well, but suppose that Responder has longer Spades and really does want to use Blackwood, with Spades as the “agreed” trump suit..  The standard solution is to use Texas and then bid 4NT, as in:

            1NT     4♥                                2NT     4♥

            4♠        4NT                             4♠        4NT

While we are on the subject, how about these two auctions?

            1NT     2♥                                2NT     3♥

            2♠        4♣                               3♠        4♣

Some pairs play the first auction as a splinter, but there’s much to be said for using 4♣ as a cheap way of invoking Roman Key Card.  You could also use 4♣ as Roman Key Card in the second auction, but that is less appealing, what is Responder supposed to do with a good Heart-Club two-suiter?

Let’s assume that you play Texas Transfers as well as the Jacoby variety.  Let’s next assume that you are all set to make your Texas bid when RHO jumps into the auction with some bid or the other.  Is Texas still on?  Yes, up to a point, and that point is usually considered to be 3♣.  But, if the opponents bid 3♦ or higher, then Texas is off.  On the actual deal, suppose that South (feebly) bids only 2♥.  Now, West can bid 4♥ as Texas, getting the contract played from the right side.

It’s hard to believe that North would want to introduce a new suit at the 4-level as a possible suit to play in.  So, no doubt, 4♣ is a cue-bid in support of Diamonds.  What next?  That being the case, we’d say that East has a pretty good hand, there are good controls and a fit in Partner’s suit.  This hand would be a good one for Minorwood, assuming that your partnership has the agreement that 4♦ here would indeed be Roman Key Card.

But a word of warning about Minorwood.  It has been known to lead to catastrophic misunderstandings!  You could follow this link and find a useful set of rules to avoid such disasters, but in the meantime let’s just say that for the Minorwoodies 4 of the agreed minor is Roman Key Card if the auction is game-forcing.  Does this auction qualify?  We think so.  Even though West has not actually bid Diamonds, he has agreed them inferentially.

Suppose that you do indeed bid 4♦ as Minorwood, and that Partner gives the most unwelcome response of 4♠ (no Key Cards, assuming 1430 responses).  For example, he might have: ♠ K, ♥ KJ72, ♦ T542, ♣ KQJT.  You are missing two Key Cards and clearly 3NT would provide a better matchpoint score than 5♦.  Well, it’s too late to play 3NT but at least you can now bid 4NT which would be natural.  Of course, if you had been obliged to use 4NT as your Roman Key Card bid, then you’d wind up in 5♦ for a poor matchpoint score.

West’s 2♠ was Michaels, showing Hearts and a minor.  Your bid.  That’s a pretty good hand that obviously want to be in at least game, or else will be happy to double the opponents if they get too boisterous.  But let’s not bid 4♠ directly, that’s a bid that might be made with more distribution and less high-card strength.  Better to give Partner the right message immediately, and that message is “I have a good hand” with Spade support.  Partner will assume “game-invitational or better” for the time being.

So far, so good, let’s roll the auction forward:

            North   East     South   West

                                     1♠        2♠

            3♥        4♥        4♠        Pass

            ??

Those vulnerable opponents are bidding a lot with not many HCP, no doubt they have a bunch of Hearts and Partner is short, quite possibly void.  Given that your 3♥ cue-bid promised no more than game-invitational values, does Partner’s 4♠ show extras by bidding 4♠?  Not really, he’s merely saying that he would rather declare than defend, perhaps because of that aforementioned Heart shortness.  So the question is “Should you make a slam try?”  No!  The Spades are weak, and there is too much stuff in Hearts opposite Partner’s presumed shortness.  A Pass is called for.

Let’s look first at that opening bid by South.  If you are a Rule of 20 disciple then you will have noticed that 10+5+4 comes to less than the magic number.  But it’s awfully close, and surely that void must count for something.  It’s worth pointing out that the Rule of 20 arithmetic would have come up with the same total of 19 if the South hand had the same high cards and a distribution of 5=2=4=2, whereas the actual 5=0=4=4 shape is vastly better.  So, 1♠ it is!

After your wise 1♠ opening bid, West bids Michaels, North cue-bids 3♥ (Spade support, at least invitational values) and East bids a vulnerable 4♥.  You liked your hand enough to open 1♠, how do you like it now?  Well, the more they bid Hearts the more you like your hand, so it seems clear to bid 4♠ here.  Maybe it will make, maybe it will be a good save, who can say?

After South’s 2♣, most pairs play that Double is Stayman and that the rest of the system is on.  So, West’s 2♦ was a transfer.

Back on Board 8 we had a potential super-accept situation, and suggested that we don’t have to super-accept just because we have 4 cards in Partner’s major.  On Board 28, though, East has a clear super-accept by any standards, and the question is “How does your partnership super-accept?”  This subject came up in last month’s Wednesday Game, and we make no apology for recommending the same method again:

-         Opener may decline to make a super-accept if she has a truly rotten hand.  “Rotten” is characterized more by square shape and quackiness than it is by HCP.

-         Opener bids 2NT with a good hand and 4 Hearts (now 3♥ is a “re-transfer”)

-         Opener bids 3♥ with a middle-of-the-road hand and 4 Hearts.

The benefit of this method (other than being really easy to remember) is that it doesn’t offer the defenders any gratuitous information about Opener’s hand.  For example, with the East hand, after 1NT 2♦, some would rebid 3♣ showing a doubleton.  Not a good method in our view, that information is of interest to Responder 1% of the time, but is of interest to the defenders all of the time.

What would be your choice of opening bid with the North hand?  With the Clubs being stronger and longer than the Hearts it may seem a trifle odd to open 1♥.  But the danger with opening 1♣ is that Partner (or one of the opponents) will bid 1♠.  Now, is the hand really good enough to reverse with 2♥?  It’s way short in terms of HCP, but it does have good playing strength and only 5 losers.  Others may have stronger opinions on this, but speaking for ourselves, we could go either way.

Are you one of the ever-expanding throng who have no qualms about opening 1NT with a 5-card major?  That’s excellent news, but this is not the hand for it.  East is too good for a 15-17 1NT opening, don’t you think?  Not only is it a maximum 17-count, but there is also the 5-card suit.  For some, that alone would be enough to disqualify the hand from 1NT, but this one is better yet, it also has those powerful fillers in the long suit.

What should East do the second time around?  Here are some options:

-         Bid 3NT? This is usually played as showing 15-17 HCP.  But the bid would be too space-consuming and might preempt E-W out of their own slam.  Also, bidding 3NT would be inconsistent, as East had already decided that the hand was too good for 1NT.

-         Bid 2NT: This purports to show 12-14, but East would take one more bid later on to show around 18-19.  For example, if (over 2NT), West happened to bid 3NT then East bids 4♦ showing 18-19 with a Diamond fit.

-         Bid 3♦: For this bid we would certainly prefer a 4^th Diamond, but the hand has such excellent slam potential it seems like a good idea to show a fit right away.  So, 3♦ would be our choice.

Do you agree with the earlier 2♦ response?  It looks right to us, this hand is plenty strong enough for the pattern of the hand to be bid out.  That means bidding the Diamonds first, even though there is a 5-card major waiting in the wings.  The 2♦ response brings immediate dividends when the suit is raised by Partner.  What next?

If ever a hand was right for a Roman Key Card inquiry, this is the one, it’s rock-solid, except for the small matter of a few missing Key Cards.  Let’s suppose that your Roman Key Card bid is 4NT.  If you bid 4NT and Partner bids 5♥ (showing two Key Cards without the ♦Q) you will find yourself silently saying “Oops!” (or maybe something worse) when you realize that your auction has gone overboard and that a minus score is in your future.

There’s a solution!  Try playing Minorwood or Redwood.

-         Minorwood: With this method, 4 of the agreed minor is used as Roman Key Card.  The auction has to be already game forcing.  So, in the above auction, West bids 4♦ over 3♦, and now if East were to show only two cards E-W can escape in 5♦.

-         Redwood: In this case, the asking bid is 4 of the suit above the agreed minor.  However, that wouldn’t work on this hand as East has bid Hearts naturally.  So, West would have to bid 4♠ as Roman Key Card.