6-6 bidding problem

[agh]

You hold
AKQ98x
9
K76543
-

V at IMPs.

You open and the auction goes, uncontested
1S-1N(forcing)
2D-3N
?

What's your bid/plan?

You are playing 2/1 with intermediate jump shifts.

Comments

[csg87]

Do I trust partner? In every partnership where I've discussed this sequence, 4D is a forcing slam try.

[agh]

Good question. This sequence was undiscussed and I did not particularly trust partner with that call. One could imagine 4d meaning "I have an 11 count" opposite a call presumably of at most 12 HCP and not wanting to play 3NT.

If you bid 4d in a partnership where it's a slam try, partner will bid 4h.

[csg87]

I think the 4H bid makes it easy. A follow-up of 5H here should guarantee first-round control of all outside suits, 2nd round heart control, and interest in grand.

[skydiamonde]

Hm. Is no one else bidding 3D instead of 2D? If p bid 3NT over my 3D I'm bidding 4D and I don't see that being misinterpreted.

[agh]

True, but I think it's a huge overbid without a known fit. One time in fifty it will pass out but I'm willing to pay off to that for the extra bidding space.
Results posted.

[csg87]

In my experience, there is definitely a philosophical divide about whether one should jump shift rebid with medium-strength distributional hands that are very powerful if they find a fit, but very weak if no fit is found. I'm definitely in Drew's camp on this: with a 6-6 12-count, the non-jump rebid will almost never be passed out, and saving the space now will almost always simplify matters later with good, normal agreements that allow for slam tries even when you didn't jump before a fit was found.

Losing trick count only makes sense when a good fit is known. Giving partner a hand like x Qxxxx xxx AKQx or x Qxxxx xx AKQxx might put this into perspective. These are very powerful hands that are close to game-forcing themselves, and I've even given you the expected diamond fit. But what game do you want to play now?

Result

[agh]

I don't consider the result to be typical, because I think most people would bid 2c GF with partner's hand, (or jump to 3N depending on agreements) but here it is.

Partner had
Tx
ATxx
T9x
AKQx

I was expecting better-fitting honors in the pointy suits and less values for the auction. Ironically, if partner had chosen the game-forcing bid we might have stopped in game. The whole auction was
1s-1n
2d-3n
4c-4h
6s

Not pretty, I know.
Lefty led the J of diamonds to her partner's A, and he returned the diamond 8. I despaired that it would be ruffed, and I am embarrassed to say, I was nearly duped into playing low. But I correctly rose with the K and dropped the diamond Q. The spades split 3-2, so the roughly 14% slam came home.

Re: Result

[csg87]

Hey, my slam was going to be 20%. Neat! (Or at least I hope partner gags a bit and bids 6D when I show first-round club control.)

I also think partner's hand is completely unexpected for his 1NT and 3NT bids.

Re: Result

[nobleshore]

I think the auction should be:
1s-2c-2d-2n-3d-3s-4c-4s-p

Re: Result

[csg87]

I also think this should be the auction.

[nobleshore]

I don't have a strong feeling between a 2d and 3d rebid with this hand, I think either one is OK.

If the hand was 6061 then I think it's clear to bid 4h over 3NT. I am not sure 4c shows a void in this auction. Clearly 4d is a forcing bid; anytime you pull a 3NT that was bid to make to 4m, that is forcing.

Normally the auction 1s-1n-2d-3n shows a good diamond fit too (besides being "to play") because you shouldn't have had a GF hand to bid 1n. I think the actual hand should have just bid 2c over 1s.