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Onwards and Upwards?

You have 18 hcp and a decent 6 card suit and your partner opened the bidding at the 1 level. With opening bids seemingly getting weaker and weaker, should we give up at the Game level? After all, we have no fit established. Yet, we do have a decent hand. There’s minimum openings and then there are “sub-minimum” ones unless you find a fit.

You could not bid 3 as that would not be forcing. Any advance on 3NT?

“Enough” say:

Nigel Kearney “Pass: Partner couldn't give preference to diamonds or bid hearts a third time. Even 4NT may not be safe, e.g. Axx AQ10xxx x Jxx.”

Bruce Anderson  " Pass: Partner has length in hearts and something in spades. He/she will not have a 5332 shape with 3 diamonds, including the king. And with 6 hearts and 3 diamonds, I would have heard 3 over my 3, even with 3 small diamonds.  The only forward going bid is 4 hoping to hear 5, indicating Kx; then I could bid a slam hoping I am not off two aces and that the diamonds break.  I prefer not to do that."

But others put their toe into the water once more:

Matt Brown “4NT: Just a quantitative invite to slam. Partner’s minimum could be QJx AKJxxx xx xx, or it could be AQx Axxxxx Kx xx. He should know to value highly any diamond honours he has, or if his hearts are solid enough and I doubt 4NT is ever going down.”

Let’s hope Nigel never has to put his dummy down in 4NT for Matthew!A diamond rebid is the way forward for our other panellists:

Kris Wooles” 4: No rush and it’s unclear where we might end up and without some sort of fit in ’s,it might not be very far.  However a slam in ’s may definitely be on the “cards”. 

Michael Cornell  " 4  must make 1 try even though this could be a total misfit. Still room for partner to have Kx .

Peter Newell  “4: I feel I need to make one more try as my diamonds and playing strength are so good.  Partner’s failure to bid 3 suggests that he probably doesn’t fit which isn’t encouraging (though it may be that he just thought 3NT looked right) – but xx, or singleton jack would likely make slam good.  If partner really has a poor hand with no fit, he will bid 4NT to play.”

Stephen Blackstock  “4: We have enough to try but not force to a slam that would be remote if my short hearts are opposite something similar in diamonds. 4NT (natural) is plausible but seems to have no advantages while understating the diamond intermediates. I will bid 4NT (still natural!) over 4 and pass 4NT.

If, as it appears, we are playing basic Acol, it would perhaps have been more practical to begin with a strong 3 jump-shift. True, they don’t come up often but are valuable when they do – a lot more so than a weak jump that pre-empts a strong partner and says “happy days, we are too high already!” when he is not.”

So, it seems the key to making a slam will be partner’s diamond holding. A singleton in your partner’s long suit is not a great holding. Your partner had a singleton your long suit, too, and quite a useful one, too. It was not the day for South to get too excited about that card as, you, North, were not the only one at the table to hold a six-card diamond suit!

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