Nil Vul

PARTNER (North)
♠ J102
♥ 1065
♦ K
♣ K98762

OPENER (South)
♠ A743
♥ AKQ3
♦ Q
♣ AQ53 

South opened 2♣ Game Force bid and asking for controls.
North responded with 2♥. showing 2 controls (either 1 Ace or 2 Kings)
What should South rebid?

According to Deep Finesse, 5♣ is the optimum contract, but how does one get there? 

Hi Ruth,
4441 type hands is probably the most difficult hand shape to handle. Especially when the hand is very strong, it’s hard to know what the “correct” action is as it might vary from hand to hand. On this deal, because the singleton is an honour, South probably does best to rebid 2NT. At least this way you can still play system ON, so you get the benefit of Stayman/Transfers and find out about the major suit fit. Unfortunately, this deal is very freaky where responder happens to have a singleton diamond also! It would be very tough for NS to get to a club contract.

One other alternative would be for South to open 1♣ and ‘hope to survive’, but the danger of that is of course, responder might have less than 6 points with a 5-card major, in which case you might miss out on a 4-Major game. There’s not really a right or a wrong answer, but usually treating the 4441 hands as “balanced” is probably the least of all evils.

Regards,
Andy