I will first give you just one of the four hands:
♠AK862
♥A
♦T8432
♣AK
Your partner deals and opens 1NT (15-17, could have a five card major) Rho passes.
It's matchpoints, no one vul.
What's the plan, Stan?
Assuming you start with 2
, partner bids 2
. With four spades and a 17 count or maybe a good 16 he would have bid 3
but on all other hands he would just bid 2
.
If you bid 3
he will bid 4
.
So what's the call over 2
? And so on.
Ok, now I give you both hands:
♠QJ
♥KJ76
♦AK97
♣Q75
♠AK862
♥A
♦T8432
♣AK
this is matchpoints. Thanks to that
QJ it is virtually certain that there are 12 tricks in NT.
How do you envision the auction going?
There is a slightly peculiar feature to this hand. 13 tricks are not all that likely, but if you want the best shot for 13, you want to play in your 5-2 spade suit, not in NT or in your 5-4 diamond suit.