Saturday 14 September 2013

What's the name of this convention?

Me and Anna had some wine and a few hands on Bridge Base the other night.

The highlight was undoubtedly this piece of sensational bidding.

After three passes North opened 1♥. I'm sitting East, with a tremendous hand. I know I want to bid something, but I'm not sure what. I could bid 2♣, but I'm afraid Anna might pass. 5♣ might be wrong too. I could double then bid Clubs?

But then it hits me. Of course I want to be in 3NT. I can't bid it without a Heart stop, but maybe Anna can. So, I pull out the master bid of 3♥. This immediate jump-cubeid is asking if partner has a stop so can bid 3NT. It's normally based on a long running minor, like I have here. Anna sitting West has the perfect hand and can confidently bid 3NT. If she didn't have a Heart stop, we'd have ended up in 4♣.

Against 3NT East very shrewdly lead a Spade, knowing that declarer had a Heart stop, but luckily Anna had those covered too. She won her ♠K, then claimed the ♥A, ♦A, and eight Clubs for 3NT+2. Note that if 3NT is played by the East hand it could go down on a Spade lead, but 3NT by West is unbeatable.

Our 3NT+2 gained 7.9 IMPs, when compared with other tables playing the same hand. Most other tables featured East-West playing in 5♣ off one, usually doubled. And on a few tables North-South were allowed to play in 4♠, making.

It was a good result, but one question remains. Anyone know the proper name of my conventional 3♥ bid?

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