[apjames]

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[Hanoi5]

I blame South for not reaching 6♠ and North for not reaching 6NT. South's hand should go slower for there are a couple of denominations that should be investigated. North's hand might as well accept the invitation with 16, 6 controls and 3 tens. So South 60% North 40%.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

If 1NT can contain a 4 card major, it is the responsibility of South to locate the 4-4 fit,
so it would be his fault.
If North by passed spades against partnership agreement, it would be his fault.

If you locate the fit, it should be possible to reach 6S, did not think long enough over it,
I am not overly concerned about missing 6NT, although North could sell his hand as max.,
accepting the invite.
But more important is the answer to the question, who was reponsible for missing the spade fit.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[pooltuna]

North should evaluate go after he upgrades his hand....so he should call 5♥ and 5NT/5♠

[jillybean]

Why didn't north open 1nt?

edit|: never mind, I see you are playing weak nt

[kenrexford]

I can understand South's reluctance to bid spades with that lousy of a suit, but, with an unbalanced hand, you just do it.

A reasonable continuation might resolve all issues anyway:

1♣-1♦
1NT-2♠
3♠-cue...RKCB

Ideally, though, the partnership might include some sort of better unwind. For example, after 2♠, perhaps Opener rebidding 2NT should be reserved for agreeing spades. Then, you have lots more space to unwind this thing. But, as this is Beginner-Intermediate, I digress.

[Phil]

South should bid 2♠ over 1N. End of story.

OK... North might decide the good 16 and fitting diamond honor is enough to go on, so North gets 15% of the charge.

Good hand for the system. North bid perfectly by showing the strong NT and not the four spades at the 2nd round.

[nige1]

Why down-vote a perfectly sensible question by a new BBF member with only 15 posts?

Anyway, IMO, the blame on this deal is mostly North's:
North should consider rebidding 1♠ with such concentrated values.
South should not be blamed for failing to introduce a poor suit in a potential slam auction.
North should probably accept South's try.

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[Cyberyeti]

 Phil, on 2011-June-09, 10:04, said:

South should bid 2♠ over 1N. End of story.

OK... North might decide the good 16 and fitting diamond honor is enough to go on, so North gets 15% of the charge.

Good hand for the system. North bid perfectly by showing the strong NT and not the four spades at the 2nd round.

Disagree with a lot of this, play a decent system, S should bid 2♣ asking over 1N. If you're playing crowhurst or similar N bids 3♠ (or 2N then 3♠ depending on which version) to show a maximum 1N rebid with 4 spades.

If I'm not playing this, N can scarcely be bigger for his 1N rebid, AK, A, KQ >> 16 and you have intermediates as well so N should be bidding on over 4N. If it was me, I'd bid 6♠ over 4N which really must be 4 good ones offering choice of contract.

[quiddity]

I can understand not bidding 2♠ with 9xxx. I can't understand passing 4NT with 16 points, 3 tens, no jacks, and the ace in partner's suit.

[kenrexford]

I also agree, by the way, that North has a clear acceptance of 4NT. Personally, though, I don't understand leaping to 6♠ to accept. What's wrong with 5♠? If partner raises to 6♠, you still get there. If partner bids 6♣, you are happy. If partner bids 5NT, THEN you can repeat spades.

[Cyberyeti]

 kenrexford, on 2011-June-09, 15:50, said:

I also agree, by the way, that North has a clear acceptance of 4NT. Personally, though, I don't understand leaping to 6♠ to accept. What's wrong with 5♠? If partner raises to 6♠, you still get there. If partner bids 6♣, you are happy. If partner bids 5NT, THEN you can repeat spades.

Many people give a blackwood response if accepting a 4N, I felt 6♠ was unambiguous.

Also I forgot it was a 2 card club, in my world of a 4 card club, partner won't have 4 in this sequence.

[Phil]

 Cyberyeti, on 2011-June-09, 13:11, said:

Disagree with a lot of this, play a decent system, S should bid 2♣ asking over 1N. If you're playing crowhurst or similar N bids 3♠ (or 2N then 3♠ depending on which version) to show a maximum 1N rebid with 4 spades.

Does it really matter a whole lot if we use checkback or just make a simple reverse? If North has to rebid 3♠ to show a maximum over a checkback, well I guess the South hand is good enough to take control, but on another hand he may not.

[helene_t]

I think South's bidding was ok, somewhat depending on what methods you have to find out which slam is best. It is easy enough to find the spade fit but not so easy to find out if spades is better than notrumps. With RKC you can ask for the queen of trumps but with such a bad suit you might also want to know if partner has the jack.

Also South might consider investigating a diamond fit. At matchpoints I would have bid 4NT also. At IMPs I might have considered reversing into 2♠ and see if opener can support diamonds.

As it happens it is best if South plays the contract so that ♥AQ are protected against the lead, but South can't really see that. If the choice is between a notrump and a diamond contract then maybe North needs to declare in case of a spade lead. So that could be a reason for South to forget about the diamonds and just invite for a notrump slam, as he did.

Anyway, North has a quite good 16 count so he needs to bid 6NT over South's 4NT.

[Cyberyeti]

 Phil, on 2011-June-09, 16:44, said:

Does it really matter a whole lot if we use checkback or just make a simple reverse? If North has to rebid 3♠ to show a maximum over a checkback, well I guess the South hand is good enough to take control, but on another hand he may not.

In a sense yes it does, 3♠ is specifically 4324 which could be vital info (denies 4♥/3♦/5♣) playing crowhurst, so partner can tell immediately which strain to play in.