[lycier]

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I promise to open 1♦ with 4 card plus.After my partner's double,no way for me to rebid any suit with some length,I had to rebid 3♣ only with 3 card,however my partner cuebid 3♥,it was western cuebid to ask for a stopper in ♥,now I found I got into trouble! no way for me again,had to bid 3♠ with small doubletons ! the partner bid 5♦ as a final contract at a critical moment.
Do you agree our bidding sequences?

[JLOGIC]

After you go through this a few times, you will realize it's best to just bid 2N over a neg X with a balanced hand regardless of stopper at the 1 or 2 level and take your lumps. Usually your partner has heart help (no raise), even when he doesn't sometimes they don't lead it, or the suit blocks etc.

[gszes]

you had a very sensible auction to 5d and you (your partners) at imps should
be very happy. At Mp is might indeed be better to bid 3n (as per jlogic) at
IMPS this is a highly speculative concept which might cause you to miss
a easily bid slam.

[dake50]

After you go through this a few times, you will realize it's best to just bid 2N over a neg X with a balanced hand regardless of stopper at the 1 or 2 level and take your lumps. Usually your partner has heart help (no raise), even when he doesn't sometimes they don't lead it, or the suit blocks etc.
*** Trade stopper ambiguity for bal description.
Then 3C has 4+clubs, shaping out.
*** Does partner next 3H to ask partial or better H-stop?
So losing the 3H control with extras?

[Codo]

My opps are older and obviously more conservative then Justins, so I cannot bid 2 NT with this shape. If I had less hearts, it would be more likely to work.
I had bid 3 ♦ and 4 clubs instead of 3 ♣ and 3 ♠.

[PhilKing]

Codo, on 2013-March-11, 05:25, said:

My opps are older and obviously more conservative then Justins, so I cannot bid 2 NT with this shape. If I had less hearts, it would be more likely to work.
I had bid 3 ♦ and 4 clubs instead of 3 ♣ and 3 ♠.

You can afford to. Just agree it doesn't promise a stop.

[broze]

QQ: If we have the agreement that a NT bid says nothing about stoppers in the opponent's suit, should we alert it? I wouldn't have thought so but I would feel ethically uncomfortable having an opponent on lead without this knowledge.

[Cyberyeti]

This is a situation which is much more difficult playing strong no trump than weak because you have to cater for the possibility of the weak no trump in the 1♦ opener. Because partner has either shape or points to spare in the weak no trump scenario, we use 2N as Lebensohl style, and would bid the version of 3♥ that showed no stop (not needed to show 4 spades in this type of auction) to show an awkward hand with no clear direction and no heart stop if we decided this was too good for a 1N opener or had an extra point.

We also almost never negative double with 4 card support (our diamond shows 4), so would bid 2N showing a full value raise to 3♦ or better not denying 4 spades.

[mcphee]

I am not bidding a 3 card suit, nor would I consider the S bid (I think that is really horrid). Lets just hope when I bid NT with confidence they try a different lead.

[lowerline]

I would have opened 1nt...
Having opened 1♦ I would rebid 2nt or 3♥ if the minimum values for this negative double are around 10hcp.

Steven

[gnasher]

broze, on 2013-March-11, 05:49, said:

QQ: If we have the agreement that a NT bid says nothing about stoppers in the opponent's suit, should we alert it? I wouldn't have thought so but I would feel ethically uncomfortable having an opponent on lead without this knowledge.

Haven't you answered your own question? You think the opponents might not know about this agreement, you think they should know about it, and the authorities have provided a mechanism for telling them about it. So use it.

Alternatively, it's reasonable to tell them at the end of the auction.

[Phil]

JLOGIC, on 2013-March-08, 11:57, said:

After you go through this a few times, you will realize it's best to just bid 2N over a neg X with a balanced hand regardless of stopper at the 1 or 2 level and take your lumps. Usually your partner has heart help (no raise), even when he doesn't sometimes they don't lead it, or the suit blocks etc.

And it's always fun to watch LHOs expression when dummy's stiff K wins.

They NEVER lead an honor on this auction, unless of course, their suit is solid or maybe AKJ.

[lalldonn]

broze, on 2013-March-11, 05:49, said:

QQ: If we have the agreement that a NT bid says nothing about stoppers in the opponent's suit, should we alert it? I wouldn't have thought so but I would feel ethically uncomfortable having an opponent on lead without this knowledge.

Nah it's just a matter of style. Think of it this way, if you hold this hand then any bid could be considered a "lie", so if 2NT is alertable then every pair should have to alert at least one bid on this auction. Besides, it's a natural bid. It shows a balanced minimum.

[broze]

lalldonn, on 2013-March-12, 11:00, said:

Nah it's just a matter of style. Think of it this way, if you hold this hand then any bid could be considered a "lie", so if 2NT is alertable then every pair should have to alert at least one bid on this auction. Besides, it's a natural bid. It shows a balanced minimum.

Fair enough, but that would not be true in EBU land where 3♣ would not be alertable in the example above because it actually shows a club suit (3+). In practice I probably would do as Andy suggests and inform the opponents at the end of the auction that my partner's bid does not promise a stopper. However, I doubt that failure to do so would result in any redress or indeed warrant any? Nevertheless as an opponent on lead I might feel hard done by if I discovered that the NT bid systematically says nothing about stoppers, regardless of whether that's just a "style" or a proper agreement.

[benlessard]

Quote

After you go through this a few times, you will realize it's best to just smoothly bid 2N over a neg X with a balanced hand regardless of stopper at the 1 or 2 level and take your lumps.