gnasher, on 2011-February-26, 13:25, said:
Sorry Ken, but I'm having trouble keeping up. Of the hands that have "a strong holding in hearts" which would bid 2♥, and which would bid 2NT?
I mean, this is a tad silly of a response, but it kind of boils down to that you bid 2NT with a strong holding in hearts if you want to suggest notrump as a viable strain because you have hearts well-stopped, whereas you would bid 2
♥ with a strong holding in hearts when you are heading toward a suit strain even if partner (unexpectedly) bids 2NT.
Partner will not bid 2NT if you bid 2
♥ unless he also has some help in hearts. So, you would never bid 2
♥ as a means of trying to get to 2NT if you have hearts well-controlled.
However, suppose that you had a hand like
♠Axxx-
♥AKx-
♦void-
♣Kxxxxx. That's a powerful hand where you might in this sequence bid 2
♥, perhaps planning on bidding 3
♥ next. You might consider whether 3
♦ as a splinter works on this hand, but that seems more like
♠AQxx-
♥Axx-
♦x-
♣Axxxxx. Focusing the hearts in this way might let partner recognize that a doubleton in spades, the heart Queen, and Ace-fourth in clubs (6 HCP) is HUGE. Clubs splitting 2-1 means an easy slam.
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-P.J. Painter.