nekthen, on 2019-September-04, 04:47, said:
After 3
♠ 3N, I do not believe we can pass. Surely, partner could have bid 2N instead of 3
♦ or even 3
♣.
BTW would 3
♣ show or deny a stopper or is it a GF
♦ raise?
Partner could also have bid 4
♣ as a splinter
So slam does seem to require a bit of luck, but I agree with those who bid 3
♠ and 4
♦ after 3N
This seems consistent with partner's bidding and 4
♦ is the limit
Of course I do wonder why opps have not bid
♠, but maybe East has all opps points and West does not feel able to bid his 6 card suit. However, passing 3N is still too rich for my taste.
I do not believe that it makes any sense at all to allow for a contract of 4D. Yes, one can construct hands where 4D is the limit. Btw, on the example you gave, 4D has no play: on a club lead they get 3 clubs and a spade or, in the unlikely event they can't cash 3 clubs (say LHO has the stiff A or K), they get 2 clubs, and a ruff and the spade Ace. Meanwhile, ironically in light of your post, 3N is almost surely making.
It is wrong in principle to pull a voluntarily bid 3N to play in a partial. 4D over 3N would be a slam try, and since one did not pull to 4C, it implies something like Ax Ax KQxxxxx Qx...note that we expect safety in terms of the club suit, since partner won't be bidding 3N with less than Kx(x)....now, if he has Kxx, we are at risk for a club ruff, but when we pull to 4D, we can still play 4N (at least, we should be able to play 4N but I suspect a lot of pairs would unthinkingly take 4N as keycard)
Now, in the examples I gave I overlooked that opener denied a weak 1N, but some weak 1N bidders don't like opening with a chunky 5 card major, and many (including me) would never open 1N with 5=4 in the reds, since there is no rebid issue to worry about. Thus xx KQxxx AJxx Kx is eminently reasonable, and once again one wants to be in 3N...even more so if partner has Qx KQxxx AJxx Kx, and so on.
The point is that pulling 3N is correct only when partner has the club Ace. On no other club holding is pulling 3N logical.
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari