March Bidding Contest – The Results

The quote from Bob Hamman: “If you have a choice of reasonable bids and one of them is 3NT, then bid it” still has good days ahead!

Here, most experts decided to show their diamond stop, in case that was all their partner needed.

That is the summary of the situation that Duguet made: “3NT. I should indeed show that I have a diamond stop!”, as did Kerlero: “3NT. I do not know exactly what he wants of me, so I shall tell him that I have diamonds stopped.” Some further thoughts:

Harari: “3NT. Difficult to respond without knowing whether 3♣ is a slam try or whether it might just be looking for the best game. If in doubt, with a diamond stop and hearts which are not playable opposite a singleton, I hope for some very nice clubs opposite in order to make 3NT.”
Schmidt: “3NT. 3♠ is a very imprecise bid but it is the only one my partner has if they do not want to bypass the sacrosanct level of 3NT. I have both spades and diamonds stopped; what more could be wanted from me for now?”
Saporta: “3NT. My partner might be dreaming of playing in this contract but be missing a stop, holding, for example, ♠A65 ♥4 ♦863 ♣AKQJ105.”
Allavena: “3NT. I find this extremely complicated; I made three completely automatic bids and my fourth bid will pretty much decide everything in a big fog: if partner has ♠A64 ♥4 ♦653 ♣AKQJ54, it is urgent to bid 3NT; with ♠AK4 ♥4 ♦J53 ♣AKJ654 or ♠AK4 ♥4 ♦653 ♣KQJ1054, it is completely ridiculous. But is that a reason to say 4♠ and bypass 3NT? I don’t think so.”
Jill Meyers: “3NT. No other bid is particularly attractive. I am hoping for six winning clubs and the ace of spades opposite.”
Kokish: “3NT. Very uncomfortable situation with just one diamond stop and a club void but there is nothing else I can say for now and partner can still bid again.”
I must admit that a 3NT bid seems logical to me. Of course, the clubs might not be winners and partner’s hearts singleton could be the queen or king, a 4-heart contract then probably being better. But may as well bid your hand and not make guesses about partner’s. We have spades and hearts stopped; that is the main takeaway in my view.

There were, however, a few discordant voices in this concert of 3NTs:
Toffier: “4♦. North does not hold four cards in spades, otherwise they would have said 2♠ over 2♥. They might therefore have a game-going hand with six or seven good, or even very good, cards in clubs. The 3♠ bid shows strength in spades and the hand would then be something like: ♠A64 ♥2 ♦63 ♣AKJ10764 or stronger with master clubs. It is therefore time to show my strength in diamonds, incompatible with playing in NT.”
Cronier: “4♥. Pfff! This is awful. I refuse to bid 3NT with ace-empty-third in diamonds. To make that contract, I would need the clubs opposite to be masters and an entry back (the ace of spades?). If North really has a lot of clubs, they will always be able to fall back on 5♣. Otherwise, I would no doubt have a 4-heart hand, even opposite a small singleton. For example, with this in North: ♠AJ2 ♥4 ♦1083 ♣AKJ952, I will make if I get to only lose two hearts and a spade; no other contract would have any real chances.”