Hope partner has one useful value

Josh Billings was the pen name of 19th-century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw. He said, “My son, observe the postage stamp! Its usefulness depends upon its ability to stick to one thing until it gets there.” He could not imagine self-adhesive stamps. When bidding, sometimes you cannot find out what you need to know. Then, my view is to assume partner has at least one valuable asset — a Penny Black! — if he bid at the one-level, and two useful cards if he competed at the two-level. Look at the South hand in today’s diagram. He opens one spade (do you agree?), West overcalls two diamonds, North makes a negative double, and East pre-empts with four diamonds. What should South rebid? South might have opened two clubs — his hand was certainly strong enough. But if East-West crowded the auction, it could have been very difficult for South to describe his hand. One spade at least started South’s story. Over four diamonds, South quietly gnashed his teeth, wishing his opponents had been much less obstructive. When the board was originally played, South rebid five clubs. Surprisingly, North did not pass that, but bid five spades. Then South passed. South was pessimistic. Four no-trump would have been reasonable if it had been regular Blackwood, but North would have assumed it was Roman Key Card Blackwood in hearts, the suit he showed. With that South hand, I would have rebid six clubs. I believe I am not influenced by knowing the whole deal.