I suspect it is called IMP Pairs. Never played it myself, but that format would encourage bidding slams more than matchpoint pairs.
I am not giving up on the grand. I am just not bidding it when I don’t know if we are off an ace. I suppose you used the 7S ace-asking bid. A bid of pass by opponents shows zero and double shows one 
It’s clear I have much to learn.
But please note that if the non-Aced hand is on lead, he may not lead a diamond. In that case, partner has almost every other high card; the diamond loser will go away on Club Queen.
I think Wolfram’s site will produce simple answers if provided a just-so generating function, but it seemed simpler to set the Pentium busy shuffling the 39 cards I didn’t hold and to look at the first million 15-17 hands it found consistent with the distributions implied by 1NT … 2D. 93.1% of these million hands contained the Diamond Ace.
And I’m not advocating jumping to grand off an ace as a general thing. This was an unfamiliar partner and the tiny list of conventions we’d agreed included the specification: “No Ace asking!” This is my counter-measure, since some PlayOKer’s don’t bid the way you or I might. One opened 4C (for Aces) holding two Aces and a void and then bid 4H over 4D. I passed, but hearts was his void — he was asking for Kings!
ETA: In the “nat” system preferred by many PlayOKer’s, 4C Gerber is the only forcing bid on most auctions! (I’ve found a few excellent American-style players there, however.)
On the topic of IMPs vs Match Points, let me ask a question about Weak Twos. Given a good (or goodish) 6-card major suit, I open Two with 9 hcp or less, One with 11 hcp or more, and choose between One and Two with 10 hcp. (Are West Coast minimal openers about a Jack lighter than on the East Coast? 
)
Recently I read (from an expert!?) on the Internet that a simple heuristic based on the “Law of Total Tricks” is to raise partner’s Two to Three with three trumps; raise to Four with four trumps! This may seem much too simplistic, but I think it may be excellent advice, at least as a starting point for consideration.
My regular partner disagrees. Recently I opened two Weak Two’s, one with 10 hcp, the other with 5 hcp. In each case he passed with 4-card support. 
Opposite my 10 hcp, he had a good hand: Opponents got a part-score while we missed a good game. Opposite my bad hand, we missed a good sacrifice. (The advantage of “Total Trick” thinking is you don’t even need to worry whether you’re bidding for the make or the sac!)
I mentioned the “expert(?)” advice: “Raise to Three with 3 trumps, to Four with 4.” He asked “Was that IMP or MP advice?” I didn’t remember so said “Probably MP’s.” He said “There! IMPs are different.”
Who’s right? 
Septimus, seriously you need a new partner.
Intransigence against well established views is not a good quality.
It’s true for both IMP’s and MP’s. The only adjustment is when Vul. against non-Vul I believe.
His bidding leaves a little to be desired but he’s much better at playing the cards — whether as declarer or defender — than I am. He’s like me: good tournament player LONG ago; finally taking up the game again in our late dotages.
Anyway, until one of you shows up ( ) we’re stuck with each other. Std American players are few and far between at PlayOK.
Septimus - yeah, for sure.
I had a similar partner once. Could play the hell out of the cards but was old-fashioned in his bidding.
He would be dealt the hand below and claim “I only had an 8-count”
S - KJTxxx
H - KJTxx
D - x
C - x
The law is indeed an excellent starting point for consideration - bid to the level of the fit. Of course laws in bridge (as in life), are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools, but your partner needs to understand this principle. You also need a 2NT response to a wk 2 to show a good hand [14+] that wants to go on [various ways of defining this].
There’s an element of psychology in raising a weak 2 in hearts - bidding 4 holding 3 or 4 H and a weak hand is the sort of obstructive bid that club players love to make, but you’re just inviting decent opps to bid a making 4S. Often better to go 3 IME - particularly if you mix in a few heavy 3H raises once in a while. Creates more uncertainty.
I’ve had two instances of a hand-type recently that was hard to describe in standard 2/1. 18-19 pts balanced [no 5 card suit] opening 1 of a minor, p bids 1M, and you hold 4 of them. Seems difficult to describe accurately without using a gadget of some sort. Last night’s game was something along the lines of QTxx, AK, AQx, QJxx. Open 1C, hear 1S, what now? All natural bids of 2N, 3S, and 4S are flawed in some way.
I went 2N because it seemed the smallest lie - accurately describes shape, strength, and pard can bid new minor forcing to at least identify the spade fit, though he’ll never take me for four of them. Worked out fine as pard was strong and we had an easy spade slam.
I guess it’s one of those hand shapes that you should be alert to downgrading (not a common feature of my bidding). If it’s a bad 18 [this one wasn’t] then a 1N opener will prob initiate a more accurate auction.
The standard bid here is to jump to 4 of his major. That says, partner I have at least 4 of your suit and I want to play in game if you barely have enough to respond. This is particularly good if you play splinter rebids as it denies shortness so you’re very likely 18-19 points balanced as you’d open 2NT with more points and a balanced hand. The only unbalanced hand you could have is 5 of your minor 4 of his major and 2 of each other suit in which case you might have whatever points you’d not open 2 clubs with.
Two slam hands from yesterday. In each case North is the Dealer. How should the biddings proceed? (For (2) I show opponents’ hands since the play may get interesting.)
(1)[INDENT]
T2
AKQ53
A75
JT4
KQ873
-
9
AKQ7632
[/INDENT]
(2)[INDENT] QJ4
QT72
AQJ83
5[/INDENT]
KT532 76
54 AJ98
T62 975
JT8 9764
[INDENT] A98
K63
K4
AKQ32[/INDENT]
1:
1H 2C
3C* 3S
3NT 4C
4D 4H
5C** 6C
2:
This is a slam hand???
Possible slam hand. Auctions that carefully avoid slam are good “slam auctions” too!
BTW, are you calling it a non-slam after noting from opponents’ hands that both finesses fail? FWIW, six of ten pairs who got to 6NT took 12 tricks.
Let me clarify my question about hand (2). I am NOT seeking the proper auction that gets you to a slam. I am NOT seeking the proper auction that avoids a bad slam. I’m just curious what the proper auction is. Whether you end up in slam or not is less interesting … especially since the slam is middlish: you’d be happy to avoid it, but not too upset to get there.
The hand also contains an opening lead problem. When West was on-lead against 6NT, he always led a Spade, which may be normal. When East was on-lead he led a Heart at every table (except ours :mad: ) — this seems like a horrible lead, no? Although most or all of the successful declarers benefited from a further defensive error after the opening lead, it may be interesting to note that the contract makes double-dummy after either of these two favorable leads! (spade from W, Heart from E).
Hand 1 I would open 1 NT. This avoids all rebid problems. The bidding could go 1N - 2C (to check in case partner has 4 spades, because 6S scores better than 6C) - 2H - 3C - 4C - 5H (Voidwood / Exclusion Blackwood) - 5N (1 Ace) - 6C.
Hand 2 I would open 1D and expect the bidding to go 1D - 2C - 2D - 3N. Note that North is not strong enough to reverse into 2H. Yes, the leads you note are favourable but 6N by South is cold (1 Spade, 2 or 3 hearts, 5 diamonds, 3 or 4 clubs) against any defence as you can squeeze East, but 6N by North is down on a Spade lead. As West, would you make a Lightner Double of 6N by North for an unusual lead?
Leading against 6N I need to decide whether to make a passive lead - e.g. 4th highest - or an attacking one. As West on lead, I’d not lead away from my King as NS likely have both Ace and Queen and I would be giving away a trick. Since NS mentioned both minors, Hearts is the obvious choice for an attacking lead as partner likely has length, but I’d lead a Diamond, leading through strength. East on lead is also difficult. I have a tenace in Hearts and leading away from that is not a good idea. If partner doubles then a Spade lead is obvious. Note that leading the Ace of Hearts is disastrous, even if followed by a Spade as North then wins the Ace of Spades and runs off 3 Hearts, 5 Diamonds, and 3 Clubs.
On hand 1 I agree with Quartz about opening 1NT (assuming you play 14-16 or 15-17) for exactly the reason he states - it solves your rebid problems. Yes, it is only 14 HCP but it is worth at least 15. If you open 1H, what do you bid over partner’s 1S? 1NT undervalues the hand.
Now it is tricky as to whether to show 5 spades. 6S scores more than 6C. I quite like 1NT - 2H; 2S - 6C. That should get the message across, and even if we are missing AS and AD, they’ve got to find the right lead.
Going more slowly
1NT - 2H
2S - 3C
3NT - 4C
4D - 5H (exclusion Blackwood)
6C (1 or 4)
The 4D bid might be a stretch. If partner bids 5C instead, I will give it a 6th.
If you do not open 1NT - some do not do so with a 5-card major; others require 3 in the other major - then what system are we playing? If 2/1, this gets into areas where even experts have differing opinions. After 1H - 2C, the next bid depends on what you play:
[ul]
[li]some play 2H as the default bid, i.e. when you have nothing else to show[/li][li]some play 2H guarantees 6 and bid 2NT even with no spade stop[/li][li]some require a spade stop for 2NT and 4-card support to raise partner, so bid 2H as the “least lie”[/li][li]some only raise on 3 with extra values, so bid 2H or 2NT[/li][li]others are happy to raise on 3, as suggested by K364[/li][/ul]
With the partner with whom I play the most sophisticated system, I play a bid of 2D here means “either diamonds, or nothing else to bid”.
So it is hard to give a sequence without knowing partnership agreements. If you play 3C as allowed on 3-card support, then K364’s sequence looks reasonable to me.
Hand 2.
This also gets us into partnership agreements playing 2/1. After 1D - 2C, does a reverse show extra values? I play that is does not, so the bidding would be:
1D - 2C
2H - 2NT
3NT - 4NT
It’s a poor slam. Manic leads aside, it needs JH onside and something else good to happen, e.g. hearts 3-3 or KS onside or play for the right squeeze.
@ Those who emphasize Spades with the 7-5 hand — do you do this at IMP’s as well as MP’s? I go to the opposite extreme, almost willing to ignore my Spade suit!
Is 2NT forcing here, so 3NT very strong? (I think 2NT is non-forcing in SAYC, and 3NT consequently sign-off.)
How do you make 6NT against a Club lead? I don’t think you can.
You can make if Heart Ace is led, but I don’t think you can just “run off 3 Hearts.”
How do you make if East leads a small Heart?
I think 4C over 3C smacks of knowing the result. At the table, playing matchpoints and with 13 of the hand’s HCP in the red suits, I think 3NT is more likely. Partner has only shown 4-5 in spades-clubs, so going past 3NT on a minimum with only Jxx clubs is dangerous. You might get forced to bid 6C when it is no play because you have missed 3NT and will be losing to everyone making 630/660.
Although I stated in my post that 2H does not show extras, that is playing 2/1. If you play Acol, I agree with 2D. However, 3N looks like an underbid. Do you play 2NT as forcing over 2D? If so, I bid that and raise partner’s likely 3NT to 4NT, where matters should subside. If 2NT is not forcing, then I hope our system allows me to bid 4NT natural (as trumps are not agreed). If 2NT is not forcing and 4NT is RKCB for diamonds, then I am endplayed by our system. I need to bid something else forcing to try get partner to bid 3NT so I can raise it. Bt if I bid 2H, he is going to raise hearts.
It does not make on a non-spade lead. You do not have 2 or 3 hearts tricks. You have one heart trick after playing a heart to the king, but now what? East is not yet squeezed on the run of the minors. He can discard a spade and a heart. If you play a heart to the 10, losing to the jack, and East cashes the ace to beat you, you now have a heart/club squeeze for the 11th trick.
No, because partner would then lead a club (dummy’s first bid suit). Even if it meant lead a spade, I wouldn’t. There is no reason to know that a spade lead is best.
I agree with all of that.
North does not have 3 hearts to run. However, a heart/club squeeze works.
It’s a good question, but I would not describe it as emphasizing spades, just showing them. My 1NT - 2H - 2S - 6C suggestion must show at least 5-6. However, the down side of that auction is we will not get to a grand when partner has AS and AD. If we start by showing clubs (1NT - 2S), in my system, we can never show spades and might have a 5-4 fit. 1NT - 2S - 3C - 3S shows spade shortage. I can bid 3H instead of 3S to show my heart shortage, then follow up with 4C, but have I really gained anything by suppressing the spades? I think not. In the auctions that start by looking for a spade fit, I end up bidding 4C anyway, but by this time have given a better description of my hand.
Heart/club squeeze, although I don’t see why you would play for that versus the spade finesse or a spade/club squeeze. Note that after a heart round to the 10, you play a heart to the king. If East rises, you are home with 3 heart tricks, so must duck. You can now take a spade finesse. Even though it loses, you are home because West does not have another heart to cash partner’s ace.
Your 2nd sentence here defies the first! Why play for a squeeze since, assuming only that the opening lead was from a 4- or 5-card ace-headed suit (and that diamonds are not 5-0) I think this line (heart toward King trick 2) guarantees 12 tricks.