[Gerben42]

Partner opens 2NT, your bid with:

Scoring: All

---

[jtfanclub]

I'd bid 3♣ in MPs.

[P_Marlowe]

3D, wtp?

Game may not be cold and the safest
game is usually 4M.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[scoob]

3N with my regular p, 3D with anyone else

[gwnn]

3♦?

[Free]

3♦, wtp? If p has 5♠ and only 2♥, he'll bid 3NT, so I really don't see the problem...

[bid_em_up]

3♦, although I might bid 3♣ if it is puppet stayman.

[cherdano]

P_Marlowe, on Jun 11 2007, 11:09 AM, said:

3D, wtp?

TP is that it is hardly clear where you want to play if you have a 5-3 heart fit, with such bad trumps and so many quacky honors. If you transfer you will end up in 4♥ even if partner is 3=3=3=4...

I would bid 3♣, regular stayman, although a direct 3N is tempting...

[Al_U_Card]

Guess it depends on how resilient pard is and what the field is like. Hard to explain 3NT down something when 4H is a lock.

[Halo]

3D

Less optimistic than most here, but it is what I do. 3NT is a valid alternative.

[Apollo81]

I think that if I were playing Puppet Stayman or if the ♥J were the ♥10 or lower then I would bid 3♣. I'd transfer in the position given.

[mikeh]

3♦.

There are some players (the ones I know are not experts) who think that the sequence of 3♥ then 3N asks opener to bid 4♥ with 3+ support. For me, it asks opener to bid 4♥ with 4 card support or 3 cards and a suit-oriented hand. So I am quite happy to describe my hand as 5 ♥s, game values and willingness to abide by his decision.

The alternative call is stayman followed by 3N if he doesn't show 4♥s, but I open 2N with AKx AQx AQJxx xx...don't you? I have found that allowing partner to exercise his or her judgment, after I have described my hand within system, keeps partner happy... and, yes, I understand that my hand is reasonably suited for notrump

[jdonn]

Transfer then 3NT, I hate stayman on this though I admit a number of experts do it. My personal experience is the 5-3 is way better in the suit the times partner chooses it, which should be usually.

[mikeh]

Jlall, on Jun 11 2007, 04:21 PM, said:

mikeh, on Jun 11 2007, 03:21 PM, said:

There are some players (the ones I know are not experts) who think that the sequence of 3♥ then 3N asks opener to bid 4♥ with 3+ support. For me, it asks opener to bid 4♥ with 4 card support or 3 cards and a suit-oriented hand. So I am quite happy to describe my hand as 5 ♥s, game values and willingness to abide by his decision.

Do you have a system to show an unbalanced hand with 5 hearts and a choice of games? Maybe you do but I think if you don't partner should absolutely be bidding 4H with 3 hearts. What do you bid with xx Kxxxx x Jxxxx? I bet most people would have to bid 3D then 3N. This auction is not analagous to 1N 2D 2H 3N

I do not have a method to show an unbalanced 5 card major as opposed to a balanced or semi-balanced, so I would be stuck with your example hand: I'd reach 3N rather than 4♥, unless my partner overruled me: I'd estimate that partner will overrule me, at imps, about 50% of the time holding 3 card support. That is clearly a cost, when 4♥ is superior, but we don't have a lot of room over our own 2N openings, and my experience (yours may differ) is that the semi-balanced or 5332 hands are far more common than minimum range 5-5 hands.

That same experience suggests that there will be more hands on which a good partner will pass a good 3N instead of pull to a poor 4♥, on 5-3 fits, than there are hands on which he will pass a bad 3N instead of pull to a good 4♥ on the same degree of fit. Since I cannot cater to every 'game force but no extra' responding hand with a 5 card major, and since my experience suggests a significant frequency edge for the choice of games sequenceN, my transfer and then 3N sequences invite, and will continue to invite, partner to use his discretion. I will absorb the occasional disaster.... and should my accumulated experience begin to tilt the other way, I hope I will recognize it (cognitive dissonance is a terrible thing) and change accordingly

[jgo]

3D.
Then 3NT.

"Don't be brilliant, partner; it makes the rest of us look bad."

[Gerben42]

I watched this hand being played by two forum regulars. The player with this hand shot 3NT, which was a much better contract than 4♥ even with the 5 - 3 fit. I think 3♣ would have been better than just shooting 3NT.

To add insult to injury, one opponent had ♥KQTxx and could double 4♥ for an 1100 point swing opposite 3NT making.

[gwnn]

and any one hand doesn't prove anything...

AKxx
KQT
AJxx
Kx

[skjaeran]

I voted "other", since I'd not be playing the poll alternatives.
My choice would be either 3♦ (Jacoby) or 3♣ (Puppet Stayman). I'd go for 3♣, hoping for 4♥'s or 5♠'s in partners hand. Failing that, I'd bid 3NT.

[Fluffy]

I play forcing transfer, wich means that after

2NT-3♦
3♥= 3+♥
3NT= 2♥

Before reading this post I would had bid

2NT-3♦
3♥-4♥


but now I have changed my mind and saw why offering 3NT is a good idea.