[pclayton]

AKxxxx
Axx
Jx
Ax

You open 1S in 4th chair. Pard responds 2H. Opps are silent.

What is your bid? What are you agreements regarding forcing continuations after a passed hand 2/1?

[HeartA]

4♣. pd might take it as splinter. The message is clear for support of ♥. He should cue-bid 4♦ if he had ♦A, or even 4NT with maximum passed hand and ♦ control (A or K).

[flytoox]

Take a shoot at 6H is not unreasonable.

[Fluffy]

4♥, with some luck we will make it.

[luke warm]

i think i'm too strong for 3♥, pard might play me for an ace short of my hand.. i'd just bid 4♥, agree with fluffy maybe we'll get lucky...

[mike777]

pclayton, on May 14 2005, 12:57 AM, said:

AKxxxx
Axx
Jx
Ax

You open 1S in 4th chair. Pard responds 2H. Opps are silent.

What is your bid? What are you agreements regarding forcing continuations after a passed hand 2/1?

My agreements for responder hand are:
1) denies 11 hcp
2) denies shapely 10 HCP.
3) perhaps some hand with long H, outside a or k but not good enough to open lite one bid. Yes, I would not open this with weak 2H.
4) perhaps concentrated H values but in more balanced hand type.
5) pretty rare bid.

Maybe?

XXX
KQTXX
AX
XXX

OR

XX
KJXXXX
AX
XXX

I will try 4H now, perhaps P can bid on. Senshu's 4C post is thoughtful.

[Free]

3♠: 6+♠s, 3 card ♥ support, maximum hand...

[Double !]

IMO, responses to this question depend a lot on how disciplined your weak 2 bids are (assuming you play wk 2 or multi). Specifically, can partner have 6+ hearts?
Playing 5-card majors, possession of 3+ spades seems unlikely. So, the question is, based on how disciplined you play weak 2s, can partner have a hand that will be able to have no more than one loser in the combined hands, presumedly set up spades, control trumps, and have an entry to the spades once they are set up. Or can partner have a 2-suited hand that will provide a source of tricks? If the answer to either question is yes, then IMO, a bid of 4H is insufficient albeit safe. 3S, although forcing, won't help you if P now just bids 4S.
A 4C bid is intriguing: you'll quickly find out whether or not there are 2 diamond losers while confirming hearts as trumps. Seems reasonable to me, an "on the way" bid (showing the feature on the way to 4Hts).

DHL

[beatrix45]

4♥
This is a nice problem hand. To me, it illustrates a bridge maxim I learned a long time ago: "Never try for slam if you need partner to hold the magic hand." In this instance there IS more than one "magic hand", but not very many, imo not nearly enough to warrant a slam try, esp. since it is not free (if you force with 4♣, partner might raise or take a preference to 4♠ with a small doubleton).

For six ♥ to be a good spot, partner needs:

Qx
KQJxx
A(or K)xx
xxx

Trying for six ♥ is akin to betting partner will show up with the ♠ queen, solid ♥, and a ♦ control. Granted, you will have some play opposite a small doubleton ♠, but a ♣ lead knocks out a vital dummy entry, so you would need 3-2 suit breaks in both majors - less than 50%. On the other side of the ledger, the only way I can see to try for slam, bidding 4♣, might jeopardize the ability to play 4♥ or convince partner to bid an unmakable slam.

Imo, the best bet is a simple 4♥.

[awm]

I'll make what seems to be the ideal bid here: 3♥ forcing. I think slam has good play opposite:

xx
KQJxx
Axx
xxx

Of course, if 3♥ is not forcing in your methods things get trickier. I'd choose to bid 4♥ but I'm not excited about it.

[civill]

I'm with Mike.It's 5332 shape and 10HCPs about.