LEARNING CENTER

3. You need to show your heart fit, but jumping to 4 would show a hand with no slam interest. Partner could have a good-fitting hand that will make a slam: 

 A65  
 KQ542  
 98  
 K65
 

If you jump to 4, you make it impossible for partner to control bid. In general, when you have lots of keycards, you should not jump to game even if you have a minimum. 

4. Sure, you have a double fit, but your 2/1 bid was made with a dead minimum. You have lots of wasted values in spades and diamonds. This isn't a closeout bid. Partner can go on with a great hand, but you don't have any slam interest. What type of hand would partner bid again with? 

 5  
 AQJ98  
 A76  
 AK32
 

A really good 18-count with lots of controls. If partner had, say 

 J8  
 AJ754  
 K4  
 AKJ3
 

A pretty strong 17-count with weaker controls, he should pass 4.

2NT. The beauty of 2/1 as a system is that you can give your partner room to describe his hand. If you jump to 3NT, it could make life difficult for a partner who may have a lot of shape or extra values. Just bid 2NT. Most experts play jumps to 3NT are an exception to Fast Arrival, describing some particular hand type for opener or responder. My recommendation is that you don't jump to 3NT in 2/1 auctions. 

4NT. This is keycard blackwood. You started with a great hand and now it's gotten better with partner showing diamonds and a spade fit. While partner denied slam interest, you have the type of hand that doesn't care (you only need one keycard from partner for slam to be good). There's no reason to further describe your hand. Just use Keycard Blackwood. You may even belong in 7 (or 7NT) if partner has something like: 

 K43  
 Q2  
 K9765  
 AJ8.

Notice how we didn't jump to 3 on the second round? A jump should show a better suit than this since it takes up a lot of space. 

4. Your hand improved enough when partner opened 1 that you chose to force to game with 2. It's a little better still with a known 9-card fit after partner's 2 call, but this is still a bare bones minimum based on the auction. Jumping to 4 is a good way to cool partner's slam ambitions. Partner can go on with a super-maximum hand. 

3. We don't have any extra points, but our hand is excellent for a potential slam: we have three keycards. Don't worry about your lack of supporting characters. If you have aces, you should not show the weakest hand type by jumping to game. You don't need to cooperate with another slam try if you don't want to. 

Pass. Yes you have 16 HCP and partner has a fit and 13+ points. However, partner showed a hand unsuitable for slam. If partner has something like: 

 A4  
 8764  
 K4  
 KQJ62
You'll be off two aces and potentially an extra trump trick (you don't have safety on the 5-level). If partner had three keycards (the missing aces), he would have bid 3, as we saw in problem 6. Look at how nicely that hand would work here: 

 A10  
 A1087  
 87  
 A10762 

would allow us to make 6 easily (assuming nothing bad in the trump suit). 

4NT. Sure you could also control bid 4 since you are technically missing diamond controls, but it is very unlikely that partner lacks the AK on this auction. The most important thing is that you keep going. This is not a fast arrival situation since we are not in a game forcing auction. Bidding gets confusing when we don't understand which rules apply in different situations. Remember that fast arrival is a great tool, but only once we are in a game forcing auction.