Matchpoints
Dealer W
NS vul

East
♠ QT963
♥ AJ6
♦ 865
♣ 32

The 2NT bid showed 23-24 balanced or semi balanced.
The 2♦ bid was compulsory.

How do you now rate the relative merits of Pass, 5♥ and 4NT?

Hi Brian,

I would pass, but given my ♠T9 and the ♥J with my ace (rather than a side Jx or Jxx), I don’t mind cuebidding 5♥. In these type of auctions (2NT-transfer followed by 3NT), when opener is correcting to 4M, if he has a maximum with 3-card support (i.e. he has a source of tricks on the side) he is “supposed” to make a cue of 4♣/4♦ along the way just in case responder has a borderline hand and wanted to look for a slam with a fit, or play in 3NT without. Also note that partner didn’t make a 4-card super accept over our 3♥.

You also have to take note that sometimes partner can upgrade a 22 point hand, and so this favours pass rather than bidding on.

Partner might have something like
♠ AKx
♥ Qxx
♦ AKQxx
♣ AJ
in which case slam is very good

Or partner might have something like

♠ AJx
♥ KQxx
♦ AJ
♣ AKJx
where slam is on a finesse.

But partner is supposed to have cuebid with the first hand with the source of tricks.

As I mentioned before, partner may also have upgraded a 22-point hand, so playing in a 5♠ contract may sometimes even be a bit dangerous. But our ♠T9 and our ♥J makes it a bit safe to cuebid 5♥ as well (if partner didn’t really know about cuebidding over 3NT instead of bidding 4♠.

Hope that helps,
Andy