nige1, on 2013-June-30, 20:01, said:
If West opens 1
♦ or replies 1
♦ to East's
♣, then you might reach 6
♦ but the slam doesn't seem to be a good proposition
Slam is not good? Two club ruffs, four diamonds, four hearts, two spades sounds like 12 tricks without even thinking about possible spade finesse. Entries to get ruffs? Lots of those. Bidding the slam looks much harder than making it. No way do I consider opening west hand. So it will start pass-pass-pass to east. Here opponents passes are not shown.
Pass - 1
♦
1
♥ - 2NT
?
Over 2NT, what do you play? West is thinking slam if 1
♦ promised 4+ diamonds. Why? He has 10 hcp, and three points for the singleton. That is 13 points, getting up to close to 32 points. The key is how well the singleton club fits for opener. Let's say, for the sake of argument that you play "all transfers" over 2NT. Thus, 3
♣ transfers to 3
♦ (showing 4+), 3
♦ to 3
♥ (showing 5+), 3
♥ to spades (showing 4+) and 3
♠ showing clubs. The idea is that 3
♣ when opener rebids 3
♦ if you are really weak, you can pass in your "fit".
Pass - 1
♦
1
♥ - 2NT
3
♣ - 3
♦
3
♠ - ?,,,,,, answer, 6
♦, of cue=bid to see if partner shows club void
The 3
♠ bid is natural, and shows 4441 or 4-4-5-0. If you didn't have four spades, you would simply rebid 3NT to invite diamond slam. Some people, however use 3
♠ to show spade values and to point the defense to the killing club lead against 3NT (better to just bid 3nt earlier). This is an improvement over the jump to 4
♣ (splinter) as you can stop in 3NT if partner has the wrong club cards for a slam. Here partner will be rightfully encouraged to bid on, I think, with minimum wasted value in clubs, AND more importantly, with his Ax AQJ AQxx in the non-club suit, he can imagine his partner's hand perfectly... Kxxx Kxxx Kxxx x or Kxxx Kxxxx Kxxx void. There maybe a jack, but probably not a queen (with spade queen he would have opened). He needs those cards to suggest slam interest. So he will bid 6
♦ or check for club void.
Dealer is south opps are silent can you find the slam