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Board 7: South deals and passes, West opens 1C, North overcalls 1H, East responds 1NT, pass, West bids 2D, a strength-showing reverse. A good agreement to have over reverses is lebensohl: any immediate rebid at the three level by responder is forcing to game, which should happen most of the time. This establishes your fit and allows room for stopper showing (aiming for 3NT) or control cue-bidding (aiming for slam.)
With a weak hand such as East's, East bids 2NT, artificial, asking opener to bid 3C. Then responder passes or corrects to three of any suit, showing a minimum response and inviting opener to pass unless he has something like 20+ points. (When the response was in a suit, rather than notrump, responder rebids his suit with any 5 as opener will often have 3 card support. This is an exception to all the advice you read about "don't rebid a 5 card suit." This rebid promises no extra strength but it should be agreed opener won't pass, otherwise responder would have to jump and waste bidding room.)
As East has really only suggested values in hearts and with no known fit, opener accepts the relay to 3C, and East corrects to 3D. Now West's hand improves enormously with the known fit; he expects to ruff a club or two to establish the suit and lose perhaps a spade (which might go away on a high heart if responder has one) and a diamond or two. 5D is a reasonable shot once he learns of the fit.
Did I say South passed? Not at our table. Despite the ratty suit, soft values and vulnerability, South opened 2S at our table. West has no good call other than 3C (if he doubles to show points, East will never quit bidding hearts.) North raised the barrage to 3S, a bid that has little to do with his high cards and everything to do with the known 6-3 fit. East has no call and West is faced with a guess. North is in the driver's seat with a failry good description of partner's hand; he may be kidding with 3S or loaded for bear. Pass and perfect defense would yield +200 for a bit above average, but our +100 proved a disappointment. Bidding a cautious 4C or an aggressive 4D would pay off as it happened, but West's relatively "empty" suits make bidding at that level quite risky. If you like rolling the dice, South's 2S opening is apt to produce a swing one way or the other. Not recommended for team events.
Board 12 West has the chance to open a frisky 2D, this time at favorable vulnerability (not vul vs. vul.) Assuming he doesn't, North opens 1S and South has an excellent 4D splinter raise, showing a four card support, 0 or 1 diamonds, and about 11-14 high card points. North then re-evaluates his hand: he can ruff two diamonds, the known 6-4 fit leaves only one likely loser, leaving only two hearts and a club to take care of. South's 11+ hcp should be good for 3 or 4 tricks, making slam likely and even grand slam plausible. Splinters don't leave a lot of bidding room, so North must choose between 4NT at the risk of two quick heart losers or a 5C control cue-bid, which should draw partner's attention to the skipped suit (hearts) but risks reaching slam off a cashing Ace and the King of trumps. I recommend RKCB or 1430 despite the heart flaw for those who play it, otherwise the cue-bid for plain Blackwood bidders. In any case partner has an excellent hand and slam should be reached. An RCKB auction: 1S-4D-4NT-5S (2+Q)-5NT (We have all six "prime" cards")-6C (How does the King of clubs strike you?) or 6D (One king). North cannot be sure of 13 tricks and settles for 6S.
What if you don't play splinters? 1S-2H (show the good source of tricks before raising with this excellent hand)-2S-4S. North's hand, with three Aces, has good slam controls but it is not clear the combined assets will produce 12 tricks and North should pass rather than risk the five level. A sound rule is to not go past game without the expectation of 12 tricks opposite a fairly minimum hand for partner's bidding. 4S was the popular contract and earns only a bit below average as either the heart or club finesse yields the 13th trick. Had partner's hand been less suitable, going down at 5 or 6 would yield a near zero, so the field's caution was justified.
Back to West, assume he opens 2D. North overcalls 2S and East raises to 3D, again based on the 6-3 fit. South is out of bidding room, he cannot afford to show the hearts and must settle for a 4D general strength spade raise. (4S should be more like a hand that would've given a limit raise in an uncontested auction.) Denied the information from a splinter, North passes with some reluctance and N/S either commiserate or battle one another over the missed slam. East/West leave quietly, trying hard not to smirk. Note that if East fails to raise the 2D bid, South can splinter with a JUMP to 4D, and N/S are off to the races.
Two good results for aggressive weak twos. I'll be looking for some counter-examples :).
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