Dealer S, Vul NS, playing SAYC more or less, you are South and hold:

♠ J
♥ QJ10
♦ AQ10432
♣ KQ7

Hi Ian,

You’ve certainly touched upon one of those difficult hand shapes to show, that is, whether we should rebid the minor or to raise the major with 3-card support with a minimal opener (and also what about an invitational opener).

On this hand, I don’t think I would view it as invitational strength (yet) given the singleton ♠J, so my choice would be either 2♦ or 2♥. If my three-card major support was fairly bad, I would prefer to rebid my minor as it would be more descriptive. However, if both of the suit qualities are relatively even, I think raising responder’s major is best as it allows you find more games (e.g. If responder has an unbalanced hand with 9-10 points and a 5-card heart suit, he would be looking towards a game over a 2♥ raise, and would often pass over a 2♦ rebid).

Our problem would be more painful if our hand was slightly stronger, say, if the ♦Q were the ♦K. In that case, you would have a choice of poisons to pick; (a) Jump rebid 3♦ (which may miss out on a 4♥ game if responder has an unbalanced hand with five hearts and ~6-8 points), (b) raise to 3♥ (major flaw being a trump short), or (c) risk a 2♣ rebid hoping to be able to make a further rebid in hearts (with the flaw being that responder may think you have real clubs, or that he might pass out 2♣!)

There is one neat little convention you might like to know about, although it is specifically just for 1♣-1♥ and 1♦-1♥ auctions, that is, play a 1♠ rebid by opener to be 100% forcing, and this will allow you to utilise a 2♠ jump-shift to show “15+ points with 6+minor and 3-card heart support” (as the traditional 2♠ jump-shift is no longer needed to be natural game forcing with the 1♠ rebid being forcing). This allows you to handle the awkward 6minor-3major hands with 15+ points. The disadvantage of course is that it is yet another gadget that you and your partner will have to remember!
Using the same thinking, you can do something similar over 1♣-1♠ and 1♦-1♠ auctions too, and that is, use the 3♥ jump-rebid by opener to show the 6-3 hands, BUT, because the 3♥ rebid bypasses the safe contract of 3-minor, the strength needed therefore should be 18+ points (or maybe have it as 16+ pts and play responder’s 3♠ rebid to be the only non-forcing rebid so you can get out low?).

Anyway, hope I’ve stirred up some ideas – handling these 6-3 hands aren’t that easy.

Regards,
Andy

Thanks, Andy
I felt at the time that 2♦ was inadequate, and so it proved.
Responder held
♠ 98
♥ A9742
♦ 98
♣ A1083
and game was on.

Hard to reach.
Cheers
Ian

Oh well, but it’s not an every day occurrence where your opponents pass throughout with ten combined spades!