From Newsgroup: rec.games.bridge

ais523 wrote:

Anyway, at the table few people actually reached 6H (only about a
quarter of the field).

This was a mis-memory; I rechecked and it was actually a little over
half (which makes more sense, given the hand type). Sorry for the misinformation.
--
ais523
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.games.bridge

In message <r2i6qu$3kj$1@dont-email.me>, ais523 <ais523@nethack4.org>
writes

ais523 wrote:

At matchpoints, both sides vulnerable, my hand was:

S A764 H AKT9853 D T3 C void

That's a pretty weird hand to start with, but what made this even
weirder was that my partner, as dealer, opened 1H!

[snip]

RHO passed, so it was up to me to find a bid.

There have been a few suggestions in this newsgroup, so it's time to
see how they would have gone. (I'm omitting the "make the auction sound >stupid" suggestion because it's too nonspecific for me to figure out
what the auction would have been, and the actual result would likely
depend a lot on the details of the opponents.)

John Hall wrote:

Do I have a forcing bid agreeing hearts available? I play Acol, but
since there's never any need on the first round to respond 2NT to show a
balanced 11-12 (as in traditional Acol), I like to play the Jacoby 2NT
response. (I might not have as many HCP points as normal, but that's
hardly a worry here. Whatever partner's rebid, with hearts agreed I can
start cue-bidding. I hope to find out that partner has both the Ace of
diamonds and the King of spades, in which case I'll bid 7H, as it would
be unlucky to have a third-round loser in spades. Otherwise I'll settle
for 6.

I wasn't playing one, but I'm mostly interested in other people's
methods. Assuming the version of Jacoby 2NT from SAYC (which I happen
to have handy), we get the following auction:

1H 2NT! (heart opening; Jacoby 2NT)
3NT 4C (15-17 points, no shortage; club cue-bid) 4H 6H (no >first-round control of diamonds; signoff in slam)

I'd be pretty worried about losing two fast diamond tricks here (as I
was at the table), especially as we've told the opponents which suit to >lead! I think the better continuation would probably be 4S, a serious
slam try with first-round control of spades; partner responds 5C to
show the King of Clubs (or a singleton, which is unlikely from
context!), we respond 5H to show worry about diamonds, and partner
(having the King of Diamonds) raises to 6, so we end up in the same
place. (Partner would pass without a second-round diamond control.)

<snip>

I must admit that for some reason I saw your hand as being 4-7-1-0! That second diamond makes a big difference. Hopefully after a 1H-2NT start
we'll be able to get in enough cue-bidding below the level of 5H to stop
at the 5-level if partner has neither of the top two diamonds. OTOH
perhaps it's better to just blast 6H over 1H in the hope of avoiding a
diamond lead, as then if opener has the Ace of clubs six is likely to
have good chances.
--
John Hall
"If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come
sit next to me."
Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980)
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2