[Cyberyeti]

Winstonm, on 2018-May-14, 10:34, said:

I don't think this is worth quibbling about, but I am curious if you forgot that the weak 3S bid is to your right?

I'm going to ruff the presumed spade lead and table ♣10 lots of ways this can go well, particularly if the "good 3♠" bid has ♣Kx, it will go badly if he has a small singleton. Basically if it holds I have to guess which minor suit K opener has.

[gszes]

X

I am playing with a partner and we have not discussed what to do over a transfer preempt. I would assume 3s was a michaels bid so that seems like a bad idea here. What would I do with this monster over a "normal" 3s bid? I would x intending to convert any simple bid to hearts and any jumps as grand slam possibility. The hand seems just too strong to bid 4h directly even though bidding 4h hardly shows chump change.

[rhm]

MrAce, on 2018-May-13, 12:04, said:

You are correct.
Evaluating Axx and AJT both as 2 losers means one has to find either a new game or hand evaluation method IMO.

Winstonm, on 2018-May-13, 13:14, said:

I think it is a matter of being wiser than your system, i.e., not being slave to it but using it. Isn't it sufficient to utilize a blunt weapon (point count, LTC) for the big picture but use bridge knowledge AJx is slightly better than Axx while AJ10 is much better) for fine-tuning?

Point being that in the auction given the wrong 3 cover cover cards opposite does not yield a good play for slam: xxxx, Kx, Qxx, Qxxx, but at the same time AJ10 is better than AJx, which is better than Axx. Doesn't take a system to know that with AJ10, AJ10 you can bid more aggressively than with AJx or Axx.

Agreed, but why people continue to evaluate such a hand as 5 loser when it is closer to 3 loser escapes me.
Apparently when it comes to counting loser they do not know the difference between Qxx, Axx and AJT and they do count loser to justify their poor bidding decision.

With xxxx Kx Qxx Qxxx slam may be marginal though not poor, but with xxxx x Qxx KQxxx it is excellent
I would bid 3♠ (assuming no special agreements) followed next by a heart bid.
The hand is clearly too strong for an immediate 4♥ bid.

Rainer Herrmann