A New Year's hand

[kenberg]

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.

[jcreech]

I see the auction going:
1NT   - 2
2    - 3
3    - 4NT (3!H agrees to , and shows A or K )
5    - 6NT (2 keycards w/o Q)

I count 33-35 HCPs with two potential suits as sources of tricks, partner may also have a source of tricks.  The cue bid plus all of the key cards make me willing to try NT over .  I have a potential double stop in all suits, and if partner does not have the K, then those points my be elsewhere to bolster enough total tricks.  I do not envision going for the grand in under any circumstances without a bidding breakdown.

[Masse24]

I see the auction going:
1NT   - 2
2    - 3
3    - 4NT (3!H agrees to , and shows A or K )
5    - 6NT (2 keycards w/o Q)

I count 33-35 HCPs with two potential suits as sources of tricks, partner may also have a source of tricks.  The cue bid plus all of the key cards make me willing to try NT over .  I have a potential double stop in all suits, and if partner does not have the K, then those points my be elsewhere to bolster enough total tricks.  I do not envision going for the grand in under any circumstances without a bidding breakdown.

This. Including all the comments.

I do not have the tools to find a grand.

[kenberg]

I think you need tools that look in the opponent's hands to find a grand. Diamonds are 3-1 so you do not want to be in 6 .  I think after the transfer the 3 is simply to see if partner bids 3 .

I thought it an amusing hand. After 3 the 3 bid we find out about the diamond fit and then the trick is to be in 6MT rather than 6 . We were in 6 making 7, but the Q is doubleton so it makes 13 tricks in NT also. The transportation issues are perhaps a little tricky.