What’s your call?
| 4♠ | 4NT | |||
| 5♣ | 5♦ | 5♥ | 5♠ | 5NT |
| 6♣ | 6♦ | 6♥ | 6♠ | 6NT |
| 7♣ | 7♦ | 7♥ | 7♠ | 7NT |
| Pass |
An advancing partnership would do well to discuss the nuances of an auction like this.
Lee passes, explaining that undiscussed, 4♥ should be natural and an offer to play. “Presumably partner is 5–6 or 5–7 in the reds. We may be cold for slam, but in my opinion, it’s too late to go looking.”
Cohen passes. “I hope partner is 5–6 in the red suits and that this isn’t something fancy. I do believe in ‘no new suits at the four level,’ so I am a little worried.”
Weinstein, too. “I am very sorry if 4♥ wasn’t natural.”
Sanborn: “Pass. I am assuming 0–5–6–2 shape or thereabouts. I can’t see 5♦ playing any better. This auction implies nothing about spade support.”
Pass by Robinson: “I’ve denied four hearts, so partner should have five hearts for his 4♥ call.”
Meyers: “Pass. I think partner is 5–6, but even if he has only four hearts, I would be willing to play the Moysian.” (A Moysian is a 4–3 trump fit. It’s named for Alphonse Moyse Jr., who advocated opening four-card majors and raising with three-card support.)
Colchamiro: “Pass. If Q–9–2 isn’t enough support from a weak-two bidder, why did partner suggest hearts at all?” A couple of the panelists didn’t like the bidding that got them to 4♥. Falk: “Pass, but my second choice is 5♥. It sounds like partner is 5–6, 5–7, or 6–7 in the red suits. With two club losers and only our ♥Q working, the odds are partner does not have the pile driver we need for 6♥ to be a good contract. Partner would need:
♠— ♥A K J 10 x ♦A K x x x x ♣A x
at a minimum, and that still requires diamonds to be 3–2. If one is properly disciplined vulnerable, partner would just bid 4♠ with 1–5–6–1, expecting my suit quality to give fair play, so I expect partner to be void in spades more often than not.”
Meckstroth, a man of considerably fewer words: “Pass. Partner should be at least 5–6.”
Pavlicek steps up with 5♥. “I assume partner has a two suiter – at least 5–6 – and I can’t get myself to pass with such useful values. Or, maybe I’m influenced by my usual weak two-bids.”
He adds that he wouldn’t be here. “3♥ over 3♦ seems routine to avail 3NT if partner is worried about hearts. To me, 3♠ suggests ♠K Q J 10 x x and out – definitely non-forcing.”
Stack bids 4♠, but allows that he has hope that partner might further clarify a big hand. “Is 4♥ forcing or simply asking for a choice between diamonds and hearts? Even if I am correctly interpreting his bid – and I am not sure that I am – we will probably survive in 5♠ because my suit and hand are so good. Who knows? If partner is supergood, he may be able to jump to 5NT offering a choice of slam. We would be delighted to then bid 6♥.”
Benedict clings to spades. “4♠. If partner had a good five-card heart suit, he would have bid it the previous round. It is unclear what he is trying to do.”
Lawrence takes partner back to his first suit with a decided lack of enthusiasm. “If partner has the red suits, my hand could be worthless. I’ll vote for 5♦, but with no confidence. If partner has spade support, we should be safe in 5♠.”
