Fit Jumps 2017-12-16 Hand 2

Board 2 North Deals N-S Vul	♠ 10 ♥ Q 6 3 ♦ A Q J 9 5 ♣ K Q 10 9
♠ Q 8 6 ♥ 10 9 8 7 5 4 ♦ 2 ♣ J 8 5	N W E S	♠ J 9 7 5 ♥ J 2 ♦ 10 8 3 ♣ A 4 3 2
	♠ A K 4 3 2 ♥ A K ♦ K 7 6 4 ♣ 7 6

West	North	East	South
	1 ♦	Pass	2 ♠
Pass	3 ♣	Pass	3 ♠
Pass	3 NT	Pass	4 ♦
Pass	5 ♣	Pass	5 ♥
Pass	5 ♠	Pass	6 ♦
All pass

6 ♦ by North

Lead: ♥ J

Made 6 — NS +1370

Again 2 ♠ shows a fit jump. Opener's 3 ♣ shows a second suit without a club fit. Below 3-minor the second suit does not promise extra values. Responder's 3 ♠ shows both five spades and extra values. We use a principle where we stop at 3 ♦with a minimum and opener is expected often to show three card spade preference.

Opener has something of a heart stopper so bids 3 NT. With 14 hcp and given responder has extras a bid of 4 ♦ would also be acceptable.

Here though responder can see a slam opposite ♦ AQ and the clubs controlled sufficiently well, and so continues with 4 ♦. This bid should probably deny a club control as with that hand responder can bid 4 ♣. This should not be ambiguous as it is hard to imagine a say 5044 hand that would prefer the 4=4 club fit - what are you going to throw away on that long diamond.

Opener shows the club control and responder can bid the slam. It helps here to have an agreement that 5 ♣ shows some interest. A useful style is that we can use 4-minor to show range. So stopping at 4-minor shows a minimum consistent with the bidding. Here that means that responder is still interested in slam but does not have much extra. A cue above 4-minor would show significant extras - remember responder already showed extras here with 3 ♠. Therefore if opener had a minimum then a sign-off in 4 NT or 5 ♦ would be warranted and so the cue shows a non-minimum.

Responder's 5 ♥ is kickback key-card asking for key-cards in case of a miracle hand - although ♦ AQ and ♣ AK is impossible so perhaps a simple 6 ♦ would have done.

For the purpose of the blog it was useful to show off the method early.

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