back to back amusing hands (1)

[Adam Lea]

Played with a scratch partner on Thursday evening. I said to her we'll
play what you are comfortable with, which was basic Acol i.e. weak NT,
strong twos, strong jump overcalls. In addition, she wanted to play
Roman Gerber and Roman Blackwood, in which the responses in ascending
order show 0-3 aces, 1-4 aces, two aces of same colour, two aces of same
rank and two other aces. I'm not a fan of Gerber but agreed to give it a
go (with the hands I typically pick up it's not likely to come up :-)).
This hand came up in the second half of the evening.

West East
J5 A976
K87 AQ92
A8 KT
AKJ542 Q63

I was East. From my perspective, the auction seemed pretty normal:

W E
1H
2C 2NT
4C(1) 4NT(2)
5H(3) P

(1) Roman Gerber
(2) Two aces of the same rank
(3) Sign off

From her perspective, the auction had gone tits up:

W E
1H
2C 2NT
4C(1) 4NT(2)
5H(3) P

(1) Roman Gerber
(2) Oh dear, I think he's forgotten the system, that could be Blackwood
(3) Two aces

South led the H4 from J4 so I had four heart tricks, six club tricks,
two diamond tricks and the spade ace, plus two. We got a magnificent 34%
for this fine effort, because despite EW having a making grand slam in
C, H and NT, two out of the seven other pairs decided to stop in 3C and
3H. Only one pair bid a slam, and if we had stumbled into NT instead of
H we would have had an above average score. I couldn't help but smile
about it. This is an example of why I don't like playing Gerber, because
things like this happen when someone bids 4C and it could be interpreted
as something else.

[Player]

In a top level pair event I would want to be in 7.

[jogs]

Post by Adam Lea
West East
J5 A976
K87 AQ92
A8 KT
AKJ542 Q63
W E
1H
2C 2NT
4C(1) 4NT(2)
5H(3) P

In support of clubs you have 5 1/2 controls.
The CQ is half a control. Don't make the wooden
2NT response.

----- 1H
2C - 3C
3D -

Neither partner should ask for aces. The info
isn't that useful. Give info on your hand.
When you learn partner is interested in slam,
and you are interested in slam, just bid slam
unless you learn that thee are two losers in
one of the side suits.
The final contract should be 6C unless your
partnership can count the 12 tricks during
the auction, then the final contract would
be 6NT.

[Dave Flower]

With my favourite partner we play Gerber only after opening bids of 1NT and 2NT. Useful about once a year, but who wants to respond 4C showing clubs anyway ?

Post by Adam Lea
Played with a scratch partner on Thursday evening. I said to her we'll
play what you are comfortable with, which was basic Acol i.e. weak NT,
strong twos, strong jump overcalls. In addition, she wanted to play
Roman Gerber and Roman Blackwood, in which the responses in ascending
order show 0-3 aces, 1-4 aces, two aces of same colour, two aces of same
rank and two other aces. I'm not a fan of Gerber but agreed to give it a
go (with the hands I typically pick up it's not likely to come up :-)).
This hand came up in the second half of the evening.
West East
J5 A976
K87 AQ92
A8 KT
AKJ542 Q63
W E
1H
2C 2NT
4C(1) 4NT(2)
5H(3) P
(1) Roman Gerber
(2) Two aces of the same rank
(3) Sign off
W E
1H
2C 2NT
4C(1) 4NT(2)
5H(3) P
(1) Roman Gerber
(2) Oh dear, I think he's forgotten the system, that could be Blackwood
(3) Two aces
South led the H4 from J4 so I had four heart tricks, six club tricks,
two diamond tricks and the spade ace, plus two. We got a magnificent 34%
for this fine effort, because despite EW having a making grand slam in
C, H and NT, two out of the seven other pairs decided to stop in 3C and
3H. Only one pair bid a slam, and if we had stumbled into NT instead of
H we would have had an above average score. I couldn't help but smile
about it. This is an example of why I don't like playing Gerber, because
things like this happen when someone bids 4C and it could be interpreted
as something else.