[microcap]

biggerclub, on 2013-May-25, 14:17, said:

Almost everyone is playing it forcing. When in doubt, bid again and give partner a chance to clarify. Even if partner is trying to sign off in 2c, 3c can hardly be that much worse.

You can go a long way in bridge if you start thinking about the auction in terms of trying to help your partner out rather than trying to interpret every bid as having one and only one meaning -- and then trying to win the argument in the post-mortem. In fact it is always a good idea when in doubt to list all the possible meanings of partner's bid.

Here the possible intentions are 1) game force or even better; 2) as the OP in this thread indicates, responsive -- I have some values, but I am not sure what is best -- tell me more about your hand; 3) natural and sign-off; 4) to the extent different from 1 -- natural and forcing for one or more rounds. One thing that makes 3) unlikely is that partner can hardly expect to be closing the auction with a 2c bid, nor does 2c consume any bidding room -- so with a long club suit and a weak hand, just pass and see what happens. You will get another chance.

LHO's 1NT over your x is an admittedly extremely non-standard call. She could redouble to show your majors and suggest that her side had the balance of cards -- she could bring in a suit of her own -- she could raise clubs - - she could make a trappy sort of pass with a lot of hands. To voluntarily jump in with 1NT facing a fairly decent likelihood of being doubled herself seems a bit . . . adventurous. Don't let the opponents bad bidding stop you from trying to help out your partner.

One more thing -- with long clubs and a decent hand, partner would almost certainly double the 1NT response rather than bidding 2c.

Thank you for the excellent response-- pretty much exactly what Rex said as well. On the other hand, I am not smart enough to think at that level of complexity

[Zelandakh]

biggerclub, on 2013-May-25, 04:47, said:

Partner is more experienced than that.

What makes you think that an experienced player would not play a major suit cue as a GF after a takeout double? I personally recommend this treatment for intermediates and non-expert pick up partnerships, since it simplifies these auctions greatly with minimal cost.

The situation is different in microcap's auction. Here, assuming 2♣ is a cue (which I would without any special agreement otherwise) it is useful to play it as less than GF. My recommendation would be "forcing to suit agreement", although even then there are cases that you need to work on as a partnership.

[biggerclub]

Zelandakh, on 2013-May-27, 02:08, said:

What makes you think that an experienced player would not play a major suit cue as a GF after a takeout double? I personally recommend this treatment for intermediates and non-expert pick up partnerships, since it simplifies these auctions greatly with minimal cost.

The situation is different in microcap's auction. Here, assuming 2♣ is a cue (which I would without any special agreement otherwise) it is useful to play it as less than GF. My recommendation would be "forcing to suit agreement", although even then there are cases that you need to work on as a partnership.

So . . . do I just respond 2s (holding QTx, xx, AT98, AJxx) at MPs to the x? As I said higher up in the thread, I have found myself in more than 1 3-3 fits bidding like this in my younger days. If partner is right, that she unqualifiedly has 4 spades (or 16+ HCP) to x 1 heart, then 2s is the right call, IMO.

[aguahombre]

My contention is that the 2H cue in the OP is G.F, if it holds 4 spades; otherwise it is not necessarily and might have the size and shape shown in the OP.

We have not found it to be a problem advancing spades with only four of them and less than G.F.; but, jumping to 4S with only 4 could lead to some really silly results.

It follows that the priority of doubler need not be to confirm holding 4 spades immediately after the 2H cue. A 3S continuation after the cue will show the concern, and Doubler can agree with 4S or not.

[Zelandakh]

Invitational with both minors is the small loss you take if you play the major suit cue as GF. In that case you just have to suck it up and jump to 3 of a minor. Obviously the cue is better on these hands if you have it available, so that you play in the correct minor when this is the limit of the hand.

[biggerclub]

Zelandakh, on 2013-May-27, 09:17, said:

Invitational with both minors is the small loss you take if you play the major suit cue as GF. In that case you just have to suck it up and jump to 3 of a minor. Obviously the cue is better on these hands if you have it available, so that you play in the correct minor when this is the limit of the hand.

I feel like P should be able to work out that 3c is weak, not strong (because so many other strong bids are available -- 3H, 3N, any 4-level bid). In fact, I see nothing left for 3c but pretty much exactly what I held. Just naturally but it does require partner to think about what else I might have bid. At matchpoints, and lacking Lebensohl or other sign-off relay systems, the bid screams weakness to me. It just seems to have to mean exactly what I held -- invitational values, not 4s, no preference in minors and worried that 2N will be down if P has only a single stop.

When I said P is more experienced than that . . . what I meant was that she is capable of thinking about what bids mean in light of what was not bid, but might have been. Whether that sort of thinking is what you would call intermediate . . . IDK.