TWO4BRIDGE

Not a preemptive hand.... 14-16 Some I know play 13-15 .

2H in 4th. I have a 6 card suit with a 1H opener in the 1st 3 seats.

Side issue: 1D - 1H 2D - 2S! ( cheapest new suit forcing over minor rebid; may be artificial ) 2NT- 3H ( forcing as before ) etc... But now: 1D - 1H 2D - 3C = not forcing ( could be reserved for the weak 4h/6+c hand or an invitational 5/5; prior agreement needed ).

There was a Diam lead : 2 7 A 3 Next a small Ht shift: K winning on board. Upon re-examination of the patient in 4H, it appears that 10 tricks are there with the ♠-finesse working and the ♣Q dropping.

I was on the same wavelength as the "two Mikes" ... and I raised 3H to 4H. It was down 3 ( although I think partner could have done a little better but still not make it. However, 4S made 11 or 12 tricks ( also 3NT made 9 or 10 tricks ). Here was the full hand ( MP scoring )... note the change in West's Spades: it is A Q... not A K .... ( I changed the original post too ): [hv=pc=n&s=sk63hjt87dqt62cq4&w=saqt854hkdk7ckj96&n=sj97h652da954ct52&e=s2haq943dj83ca873&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1sp1np2cp3hp4hppp]399|300[/hv] I was thinking too that partner only held a stiff Sp and NOT the ♠ K, but I thought he would have at least 6 Hts ( although the "books" say "usually" 6 cards. So, as Mike said, I thought my ♥K would be better for that suit as trump. As it turned out, with ♠ as trump, the Ht suit provided discards for the losing Diams. Another thing, with West as declarer, his K's are protected on lead.

♠ A Q 10 8 5 2 ( Edit: A Q... not A K as I originally showed ) ♥ K ♦ K 7 ♣ K J 9 6 2/1 context You open 1S.. partner responds a forcing 1NT! . Instead of rebidding 2S, you rebid 2C planning on rebidding Spades again to show the stronger 6 4 6 bidding over the 6 6 4 . 1S - 1NT! 2C - 3Hjump ?? What now?

This is true. The game try is given up. and in case of Hts, there is only one game try bid anyway -- 3D! -- which I have used as a general LTC type of gametry ... and that situation comes up much more frequently. ( Opener makes game try bid of 3D! with a 6 losing trick count ... and responder accepts with an 8 LTC but declines with a 9 LTC ) . I'll have to think a bit on your other suggestion re. 1NT!.

Inadvertently posted twice...

There are times when Responder with a 4+card fit for partner's major just wants to go key-card. It is usually with a couple of stiffs and nice side suit of his own. And you wish you could use Baby-Black; but you would never use 1S-3NT! for that. But I have an idea for an alternative way to reach 3NT! just for that purpose. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The hand in question that prompted this was posted recently at rec.games.bridge : [hv=pc=n&w=sqjt65hdkqj4ckq87&e=sk9872hakq952d6c3]266|100[/hv] After 1S open, Responder decided to immediately launch into 4NT-RKC. Even if a slower approach would have been taken, the final 5-level contract is subject to defeat as you can see --- losing all 3 Aces. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - After thinking about it I came up with "including RKC into the lower Bergen Raise": 1H/1S - 3C! ( relays to 3D! ) 3D! - ?? 3M = 3C! was the Constructive Bergen Raise 3S! = Baby-Kickback ( when Hts are trump) 3NT! = Baby-RKC ( when Sp are trump ) After 3M: Opener can either pass or bid game with a strong hand. - - - - - - But after the respective "Baby"-RKC use the following: For example when Hts are trump: 1H - 3C! 3D! - 3S! ( Baby-kickback ) ?? ..3NT! = 1st step = 0/3 ...4C! = 2nd step =1/4 ...4D! = 2 - hQ ...4H! = 2 + hQ After the 1st or 2nd steps, Responder "signs-off" in 4M; and if Opener has the HIGHER number of keys, he "answers" as if there were a trump Q-ask. Otherwise he passes 4M. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For the hand in question: 1S - 3C! 3D! - 3NT! ( Baby-RKC ) 4C! ( 0/3 ) - 4S PASS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ For the following hand: [hv=pc=n&w=sa96ha9876dat6c95&e=s5hkq54dkqj9873cj]266|100[/hv] 1H - 3C! 3D! - 3S! 3NT! ( 1st step = 0/3 ) - 4H ?? ...4S! = hQ + sK ..4NT! = hQ and no outside K ...5C! = hQ + cK ...5D! = hQ + dK ...5H! = no hQ After 5H! >> 6H

And for those who may need an explanation, 6♣ was a 3rd-Rnd-Ctrl-ask ( in the bid suit ) because 5♠( a 2nd specific K-ask) was by-passed .

As for the 2nd Question... A Stayman sequence seems obvious: ♠ KQJ9 ♥ KT98xx ♦ KQ9 ♣ void 1NT - 2C 2D - 3S ( Smolen, ostensibly 4s/5h ) 3NT ( 3s/2h) - 4D! ( Texas-after-Smolen showing 4s/6h ) 4H - ?? pass 4NT ( RKC for Hts) 5C!/5D! ( Exclusion)

I like the idea of the 2S!-jump to show three things with one bid: 1) GF 2) 4 cd Ht raise ( like Jacoby ) and 3) Sp side suit I'm hung up on follow-ups, though.... it seems it could get complicated. ( I've been trying to figure out something myself for a useful 2S! ( over a 1H open) and I'm pulling my hair out! Opener may have 4 cards Sp ( a double-fit ) or not... does he show this as a 1st priority ? One or both hands may have shortness ... or not. Does Opener have "extras" or not ? Also for the 2S! response: Can Responder's Sp suit be only 4 cards ? Can Responder have no shortness? .. such as 5 4 2 2 or 4 4 ( 3 2 or 2 3 )?

Is this sequence part of this system or just some sort of "extended Stayman" ?? ( hand from my files...Aug, 2006....) [hv=pc=n&w=skq84ha53da5ca874&e=sa9hkq72d7cjt9653]266|100[/hv] 1NT - 2C 2S - 3D! (no M fit; 4H/5+minor ) 3H! ( asks for minor) - 3S! ( Clubs; 3NT! would be Diam ) ?? ..3NT = not interested in Cl ..4C! = Minorwood( agrees Cl ) After: 4C! - 4H! = 2nd step, 1/4 4S! ( next step = cQ-ask) - ?? 4NT! = cQ or extra length 5C! = no cQ 5D! = cQ and dK 5H! = cQ and hK 5S! = cQ and sK After 5H! Opener bids: 6C

Re: 4D ( kickback, RKC for ♣ ) with North doing the asking: 4D! - 4NT! ( 2 - cQ ) ?? .. 5C = to play .. 5D! = specific K's ask; reply up-the-line .. 5H! = 3rd Rnd Ctrl ask ( by-passing the K-ask ) in asked for suit, Hts ( partnership needs to know that this is not "to play" in Responder's suit ) Replies to 5H! ( this bid has guaranteed all 5 key cards ) : 6C = no 3rd Rnd Ctrl 5NT = ♥Q... ( no ♥J ) 6H = ♥Q J... then 7C ? or 6NT/7NT ? North can count a sure 12 tricks at 6NT: 1s, 4h, 2d, 5c If Responder only has 5 cards Hts, then would need a 4-3 split for 7NT to make; And Opener doesn't know about the Responder's stiff Diam which would allow 7C to make even with a bad split in Hts. All contracts are assuming a favorable trump split ( no worse than 3-1 )

Ty, mg I got it now And ty too, downagain

Thx hotshot.... I see it now. and apparently it works.... even for me who is a instruction-challenged.

I think I see how to "indent" now. I think I see how to "indent" now. But another issue: I wasn't able to use this "indent" function to work when I tried to EDIT my previous post.

Formating your post. How do you "space" properly ?? I noticed in someone's post in a reply that a feature that was properly spaced had this in front of it: ... EDIT: I also see a [ /indent ] at the end of that copy which is to be spaced. But how do you use that function ? I recall in the old forums, I had to click on [ space ] quite a few times ( tedious ) for proper spacing. Now I don't see [ space ] or as options to click on ?? EDIT: I got it to work when I typed out : "indent" and "/indent" .... each in brackets [...] in an original post. It would be nice to "click on" something instead of having to type [ indent ] etc.. But then I also noticed that the "indent" function wouldn't work in an EDIT post... strange. Maybe I have to click on "Full editor"...

side issue request: How did you get the proper "spacing" in your post? Wait... I see something now in the "copy" of your reply : ..... in front of 3♦ ... but I don't know how that function works ?? Edit: I now see ... and ... [ /indent ] right behind "to play" .

I could get to 7D with my special treatment for 1H openers and a 2/1 GF Response ( 2D! )... ( Opener will show his 4 5 3 1 hand with "extras" ), but ONLY if West goes key card and not East... because West is the only one who knows about the trump JACK !! which would be needed in case of "pesky" a 4-1 trump split. Any 4-1 and any 3-2 split is 28% + 68% = 96% . It still will be speculative ( "pesky" as Dake might put it ) , because what if West's major holding were: ♠ x x x ♥ x It will still make if the Hts split 4-3 ( 62% ). Will only need to ruff one Cl and the remaining 5 losers in the West hand are covered by East's: sA, hAKQ and long Ht. Holding 7 Hts, any 4-2 split or a 3-3 increase those odds to 84% .

A few weeks ago this was posted at rec.games.bridge : Gazzilli worth the effort? by Scott Needham http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.bridge/browse_thread/thread/1bd2dc18fbd0e02a#

Here are a few quotes from my files that date back to 2002 from players way better than me: " I have seen a host of systems over 2NT that solve most problems but at the cost of way too much complexity. " "That said, I'd love to see how long it takes for a hand where Puppet leads to a good result in a 5-3 fit to come up. Sure, you could find one in a book, but I'd like to see one from actual play." " I think the important issue for systems over 2NT is NOT whether 4M or 3nt is better... but in the ACCURACY of finding fits for slams. " " In Puppet, a problem for Responder in showing a minor definitely exists " ( referring to 4M/6m hands ). Then there is another gem posted here by Zel: " This ( Puppet version ) is great until Responder forgets..." . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Your post has reminded me of an omission in my recent post: 5s/5h, slammish ( over 2NT ). http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/topic/42700-5s5h-over-pards-2nt-open/ My proposed scheme involved NO Puppet... just regular Stayman. I need the sequence: 2NT - 3D! - 3H - 3S! = 5s/5h, slammish.... whereas, in traditional Puppet, that sequence is required to show 4s/5h .

You might look at Kaplan Inversion for 1H openers. awn ...posted a thread: "Kaplan Inversion, What is it?" ( SAYC & 2/1 Forum) back in Sept 27, 2009. and raist.... posted: "Kaplan Interchange, what if Responder has 5 spades inv(itational)? " ( SAYC & 2/1 Forum) on Nov 26, 2010. Oh, and lest I forget: Zel(andah) has a relay system for 1H openers posted 10/28/2010 ): http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/topic/42470-bid-these/page__st__20

The GG is used only after a 1H response... not a 1H open.

Nice hand for Opener. Too bad it didn't contain an extra point, say: K Q 10 9 x x of Diam. Then I could have used Gnasher's 2S! artificial GF "toy" with my follow-ups... instead of the NF 3♦-jump rebid .... ;)