My persona bridge circumstances are that I have only one (somewhat) regular partner, my f2f partner with whom I play once a week when we can, and so far I have not even convinced him of the merits of unusual over unusual. But one can think to the future, and anyway I find these things interesting.
I thought a little about partner's problem after the 1
-3
(blacks) beginning. Even with agreements, the cheapest cue is 3
and that forces us to the 4 level. I don't see the hand as having the values for it.So I think it comes to 3
, 3
or pass. Sme might choose a nebulous double but the problem with that is that it is nebulous. A call of 3
would work great here, but with N not knowing of partner's self-sufficient hearts, I would see problems. N can figure there will be 3
bid (at least) on his left so he has to ask himself if he is ready to then bid 4
at his next turn, providing that option even exists. My guess is that playing natural, I would bid 3
. I have support, I have some values, nothing is perfect, but 3
should help partner decide what to do next.
Would it work? Maybe.
Let's say that over 3
E bids 4
, a reasonable call. S likes the auction a lot. It's not so much the heart support but rather that the opponent's values seem to be in the black suits. S has first round control in both those suits, all the hearts he could possibly hope for, and some pretty good values in diamonds. N must have something for his 3
call so we are certainly going on, the question is how. A 5
cue sounds right.
Maybe we get to 7
maybe not, but we are off to a reasonable start. I still think that they need to find the 7
sac. Neither has any defense at all against 7
. Neither holds the club Ace, and with 11 spades between them it is optimistic to think that they have a spade trick especially so if one of us indicates a spade void. We could be faking it, but I think 7
is the way to go. Otherwise put: If NS go on to 7
when EW are bidding spades then eiutherNS are nuts, NS are pulling a gigantic bluff, or one of them has a spade void.
With this natural approach, I would say that a 3
call is forcing, maybe with about the strength that N has except perhaps six diamonds and two hearts instead of five diamonds and three hearts.
If the auction had begun 1
-2
(Michaels) we have more room and I think 2
has some appeal. It's a bit pushy, I would like to have either four trump or a bit more in values, but I might do it.
Over 1m-(2m) Michaels I play a U/U style if partner agrees. Thus 2
shows a good hand with clubs, 2
shows a good hand with diamonds, while a direct call in either minor is competitive. Nothing comes for free, we give up on cues that might help us find 3NT when playing this way, but I think it is usually worth the price.
The Bergen defense would seem to work better after 1
-3
, assuming that 3
is two-suited showing clubs and hearts. Now one can cue 3
showing LR+ in spades w/o forcing to the 4 level. But I would take 3
as LR+ just as sort of general practice, as long as the 3
showed hearts. Again it could be a cue looking for 3NT but I would take it as spade support. When, as on this hand, our major is hearts rather than spades, it gets more crowded.