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Second mad hand in the same round. Got to practice elimination and endplay technique as demonstrated on BridgeMaster. [hv=pc=n&s=st7432hkdak5cjt65&w=sj8ht954dqtcq9872&n=skq965hj72d76ck43&e=sahaq863dj98432ca&d=e&v=e&b=6&a=1dpp1s2h4sppdppp&p=h6hkh5h2s2s8sqsad4dkdtd6s3sjskd2h7h3s4h4dadqd7d3d5c2s5d8hjhqs7h9cjcqck]399|300[/hv] 4♠X+1 was a top for us. NS can make 4♥ double dummy but it requires dropping a singleton offside king which no-one is going to find unless I am the one sitting with the singleton king. The one pair in 5♥ only made nine tricks. I've explained to beginners before about the folly of underleading aces against suit contracts especially when there are shapely hands around, and this illustrates that principle. If you are going to try and penalise on the basis of holding three aces, it is not a good idea to underlead one and go to bed with it when dummy comes down with a stiff king. I was a little impressed this did not set off a married couple post mortem.

As with much of bridge bidding theory, there are some good ideas out there, but they require work on the part of both partners. I play BART over 1M 1N 2C. It’s very common these days for 2C to show 2+, with 2D promising 4+. This makes it easier to pass 2D or raise them, and has the benefit of increasing the frequency of the 2C rebid Increasing the frequency of the 2C rebid increases the availability of bart, which is usually played only over that 2C rebid One problem is that there are multiple versions of bart…I play very different versions in my two partnerships I don’t have a strong preference…I play what partner prefers. In my main partnership, and not going into detail about later auctions (but if you play this, you MUST discuss later developments in order to use it optimally) 1M 1N 2C Slightly different for 1H than for 1S, so 1S 1N 2C: 2D shows 5+ hearts. If 5, then any strength. If 6, then invitational strength…weaker hands bid 3H instead 2H puppets to 2S…responder is often passing but may be about to make a constructive bid… 2S shows 8-10 hcp and 2 spades 2N is invitational but promises 4+ clubs (allowing opener to run to clubs with a weak unbalanced hand) 3C is very constructive but denies the ability to bid 2N 3R shows 6+ and is less than invitational 3S is a 3 card limit raise with weak trump….Qxx or stronger bids 2H to puppet to 2S then raises After 2D, opener bids 2H with 2+ (usually) and otherwise makes a descriptive bid…often 2S (doesn’t promise more than 5) or 2N….extras, usually around 16-17 hcp, may have 2 hearts, 3C with 5=5 blacks, or 3H with extras and 3 hearts After 2D 2H, responder can raise hearts with 6+ and invitational values or bid 2S with 2 spades, 5 hearts and 8-10 hcp, or bid 2N, invitational with 5 hearts, etc There’s more to it than this: I have several pages of notes in both partnerships, in which the main difference is that in one we go through 2D with weak hands and bid directly with better, while in my main one, we do it in reverse. I won’t set out the 1H sequence…I can pm if asked. Most people hear about bart as a way to show hearts but it’s really much more about how responder can distinguish between weak and strong hands, within the context of the forcing 1N response.

I think you can heart-club squeeze West for a 15th trick in clubs and then a 16th trick in hearts, nice progressive squeeze :)

As a passed hand, I'd be bidding 2♠ (fit) on the first round with the W hand.

Maybe Argine should take a lesson from GiB and bid Gerber over 2NT? :)

I think we have to continue with 4♥, it's an awkward auction but how else can we move forward? I expect that we will end in some number of diamonds, partner does not have 4 spades.

[hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?lin=st||pn|smerriman,~Mwest,~Mnorth,~Meast|md|1SA3HAT8DAQJ843CKT,ST97HJ2D965CJ9875,SKQJHK965DK7CAQ42,S86542HQ743DT2C63|sv|b|rh||ah|Board%207|mb|1D|an|4+!D;%20HCP%2011-23;%204-card%20!D%20opener|mb|P|mb|1H|an|4+!H;%20HCP%204+;%20natural%20-%20Forcing|mb|P|mb|2N|an|2+!C;%204-5!D;%202-3!H;%202-4!S;%20HCP%2018-19;%20balanced|mb|P|mb|6N|an|4+!H;%20HCP%2012-16;%20to%20play|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|ST|pc|SQ|pc|S4|pc|SA|pc|D3|pc|D5|pc|DK|pc|D2|mc|13|]400|300[/hv] 18 opposite 18-19 clearly isn't worth investigating grand on. An unfortunate duplication in spades meant we only had 14 top tricks, rather than 15.