[dickiegera]

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This was our bidding.



2♥ was michaels showing spades and a minor.
I was thinking slam so I bid
2NT to see which minor. Clubs did not interest me, so I just bid 4♠

Others were in 6♠ making 7 and 6♣ making 6.


How should we have bid this?

Thank you

[Fluffy]

6-6 really have no science. At some point you have to make a leap of faith, but you didn't.

East underbid greatly, and perhaps what is worse, he never collaborated with partner, he made an asking bid and made a unilateral sing off. He might had at least bid 3♥ instead of 2NT to show a strong hand with spades, but he was just hiding all the time.
If he counts hearts during the bidding (I am assuming 2♥X showed hearts), he will see partner has some diamonds, so ♦AQ98 is far from wasted. Now if he produces a couple of hands for partner, taking into acount the free bid of 4♣ the worse he will find is ♠J10xxxx ♥- ♦xx ♣AQxxx, wich already is a playable slam. That's why 4♠ is such a bad bid. A 5♠ bid might had sufficed for partner to raise, although IMO he is worth even more.

[Cthulhu D]

It's even more obvious to bid again after 4C, partner must have great playing strength given that you have the top 3 honors in his spade suit!

I prefer fluffy's 3H initally though.

[whereagles]

Fluffy, on 2014-November-28, 23:46, said:

6-6 really have no science. At some point you have to make a leap of faith (...)

Or you can play MISIRY

[SteveMoe]

I've learned to hate 2N as pure inquiry about the minor. Instead we bid some number of ♣ pass or correct. This allows 2N to be a 3 card major raise LR+. 3♥ would be a GF raise with 4 cards. I'm ok with the auction through 4♣. Now East can simplify:

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Might be a path forward.
Yes, the 6=0=1=6 shape is worth one more try past 4♠.

[Fluffy]

SteveMoe, on 2014-November-29, 15:52, said:

I've learned to hate 2N as pure inquiry about the minor. Instead we bid some number of ♣ pass or correct. This allows 2N to be a 3 card major raise LR+. 3♥ would be a GF raise with 4 cards.

If you are going to have specific agreements I recomend using 3♦ as a raise for the major. It works whatever partner's major is (not only spades) and consumes less space.

[jogs]

Much too strong for 2♥. Start with 1♠ or even 2♣. There is enough shape so that it is very unlikely your bid will be followed by 3 passes.

[ggwhiz]

I rarely bid michaels with a major and a minor as your minor is too often a mystery to partner and with that kind of shape a 1♠ overcall has worked much better for me, the other factor being that the michaels cue is so wide ranging your partner is handed some nasty guesses.

Not clear how or if we get to slam depending on the opponents getting in the way (I suspect North owns at least a weak 3♥ bid) but I'm treating the west hand as a full opening bid and cooperating with whatever strong moves partner may choose.

[rmnka447]

I also favor making an overcall with the "Michaels" hand -- bid 1 ♠, then keep bidding clubs and pard will eventually get the picture. Over a double or 2 m bid by responder, you, as advancer, can make a 2 ♥ cue to start showing your values.

Also, even if partner still chooses to Michaels, how about telling partner you have at least a game and a ♠ fit by bidding 3 ♥. If partner has the less than opener Michaels hand, they can still bid 3 ♠ and you can simply settle for game.

[lexlogan]

What about (1H)-4H ? Shouldn't that be 6-6 shape? Or is it just a huge hand with a heart void? I usually say Michaels applies at the two or four level; (1H)-3H asks for a stopper. If I did not start with a two-suited gadget, I would be tempted to overcall in clubs rather than spades; but the bidding might well be at 4H before I get another bid and 4S doesn't suggest the 6-6 shape.

[Lovera]

East with his simply 2NT has underbid terribly the hand: infact West's hand is valutable in 18 points and to think to a slam needs almost 10 points more a surplus in trump (probable). Now here is a grand with two ruff of clubs catching Queen offside for 13 tricks but East bidding doesn't allow to think otherwise West with RKCB1430 could almost to get to a little slam knowing 3 keycards and Queen + King of heart, bye.