[blml] No ogre meant

[David Burn]

[DALB]

No, Herman. Gerber is a convention that asks for aces; one does not mention
a five-card spade suit in reply to 4C unless one has two aces, just as one
does not mention a five-card spade suit in response to Blackwood unless one
has three aces.

[HdW]

Oops, sorry!

[DALB]

No need to apologise. But the case in point (which arose in actual play) may
be a touchstone for various discussions that have recently arisen on BLML.

You, who are from Zambia where a 3NT opening shows 25-27 balanced, open 3NT.
Your partner, from Afghanistan, replies 4C. It now occurs to you that you
and your partner have never discussed what an opening bid of 3NT shows (so
that you have "no agreement" about what a 4C response might mean). 

But you know, because only yesterday you were watching the quarter-finals of
the Afghanistan Gold Cup on BBO, that at least some Afghanis play a 3NT
opening to show a solid minor. In Zambia, 4C would be natural, or Stayman,
or Gerber, but it would at any rate be forcing. In Afghanistan, it is "pass
or correct".

What call do you make? What explanations do you give to your opponents? What
UI do you consider has been transmitted to your partner in each case?

David Burn
London, England