mike gill

We preferred to put the diamonds hands in 1d for several reasons, mostly that it fit better in the 1d. 1) 9+ minor suit cards is arguably more of a reason to preempt than just having 6 diamonds. Very occasionally you are too high at 2d and get a bad board, but you don't -have- to open 2d just because you're 5-4 just like we don't open 2c with 4-5 and bad clubs. This is less likely when you have 6+ diamonds, though so this is probably a wash. 2) We really like our rebid structure after 1d openers - we play that 1d 1M 2c is diamonds or a raise to 2.5 of the major (14-15 unbal w/3spt or 11-13 with 4spt and shape). 2d is 11-13 w/3spt (and shape or maybe balanced with xx in the other major) and 2M is 4spt and 11-13 bal. Also, later when you bid clubs, partner won't take it as minors.

Noble and I have been playing almost the same thing for a while now, except that we play that 2d = 5+/4+ and put the long diamond hands in with 1d. We also only open 2c with 4-5 if the clubs are good, otherwise we open 1d/1n. We think the advantages of not having a 4M when opening 2m outweigh the small advantage you gain from knowing partner has 2+ diamonds. Some that I don't think have been mentioned: 1) If responder has 1 or 2 4cMs in response (which happens constantly), he really has to ask since if a fit exists then 4M is almost certainly better than 3n. We can choose to just blast 3N and let them guess which suit to lead, not to mention not giving them any opportunities to double/not double the likely artificial continuations that are going to ensue. 2) You can play penalty doubles after they overcall, since there's no need for negative doubles. 3) You can preempt more effectively knowing that if you have 2/1 in a major the opponents are guaranteed to have 8/9 cards there. Plus, when you do have a 4M, you can preempt 4m/5m directly knowing you're not missing 4M. 4) Without having to look for 4-4 major fits, your methods are much more free to have good constructive auctions when you want to. We play 2d as a GF relay over 2c and play TOSR, since it fits under 3N (even without the 5332 hand type thrown out). Set against this, you have a slightly more painful life when you open 1d and they preempt. This auction isn't exactly a dream in regular precision, though, so I really don't think you're giving up very much. Not having to ever rebid 2c after 1d 1M to show d+c is nice as well, since it frees up that bid for other constructive uses.

I'd always understood that the 2c opener was a hand that would bid 1c - 1x - 2c in standard. If you wouldn't do that, then do something else. Surely nobody would argue for opening 2c on, say, xx xx AKx AKJTxx just because you have 10-15 HCP and 6 clubs, right? The official agreement I play is actually 10-14 since so many 15s end up not wanting to open a limited NF bid. This also lets responder pass or just raise to 3c on random 8-9 counts without fear of missing game. The actual hand has some positive and negative features, but I would tend to slightly overbid my first call and then blame Meckstroth if it doesn't work out. 1c for me.

A) I think bidding puppet is bad with Qx in the other major - this makes defending a lot easier here. B) Unfortunately, since we've given the show away during the auction I think good opponents will always find the switch. I would play the sQ at trick 1 since if that holds I'm cold. When it gets covered, I'm essentially playing for 3-3 diamonds. If they always card honestly you could try cK (to get the smith signal out of the way), then play a diamond to the K and see if they both show even. If you're convinced they both have even count, you could try "running the hJ" now and see if all this switching suits injects some confusion. But yeah this really shouldn't work. C) Yes I would just play low at T1, then play back a spade if they play the J. JTx isn't a particularly inviting shift for a lot of holdings they could have. Seems like they might just defend passively, especially if the person who has the spade winner doesn't have the 9 (so he won't know I'm only getting 1 trick from my spade play)

1n seems less flawed than 2♠ with a balanced hand or pass when I could have a really nasty decision the next round.

Little late to the party, but this is a clear pass the first time, as others have said. 1♦ is sort of semiforcing in precision anyway so you run very little risk of it passing out. Even if it does, they're red and it's not like you were guaranteed a game anyway. I'm hoping for 1♦ 1♠ 1N so I can light it up. I think this would be a hard problem if they were white, but I still think I would pass - LHO will probably bid something if he has nothing trying to steal. I still don't like double with a singleton spade when there's a reasonable alternative. I don't agree with the logic that just because partner won't bid 4♠ at his first call (which I think he still could btw) that he can't hurt us.

Partner's tendencies notwithstanding, I'm not willing to put the whole board on his reopening. Sometimes they've preempted on only 6 (gasp!) and then partner is much more likely to have 2 and a min, or 2 and some extras but an awkward shape. Also, you're by no means guaranteed to get 500: [hv=pc=n&s=sq6hakq98dkt94ck7&w=sa5432h654d3c8652&n=sk87hjt73d2caqjt9&e=sjt9h2daqj8765c43]399|300[/hv] Yes, I know this is somewhat contrived with all partner's values in our suits and them having the key spots in spades, but I didn't even have to give East a void or a 4-card side suit, nor dummy 2 trumps and a ruffing value.

I would lead the cA. Diamonds are breaking for them, so even if this blows a trick it may be a trick we weren't getting anyway.

I'm with the passers. This isn't our hand and we're about to go plus at the 5-level and who knows what they can make in 5red.

Semi-maniac was an underbid.

I was recently dealt - xx xx KJTxxxxxx at unfavorable 3rd seat over a 4♠ opening. Compared to that, this has the threat of partner raising to 6 when he shouldn't, plus the chance that he'll reopen, so this is an obvious pass for me considering that I passed with a 9-card suit and a void too.

I think you should nix the weak 5-5 minors hand and play 2n as puppet and 3c as diamonds wk/GF. 1) 5-5 minors weak never comes up and even when it does they usually bid and even if they don't you might guess to transfer to the right one. Neither does the invitational hand with 6m opposite the perfect min if you're playing the in between step as a pre-accept, so that's really not much of a win at all - you can just ask max/min and do fine. 2) When you have only one/two 3-card majors, bidding puppet will rarely find a 5-3 fit and so if you're, e.g., 3352/(32)53 you're going to hate bidding 3c and giving them a chance to X. They can X on less and it's much harder to profitably pass or XX since it's a whole level higher. 3) You can find a good use for the extra step in puppet auctions. For example, you can fit the (31)(45) hands in there if you want. That frees up direct 3M for (41)44 or whatever else you want, which would take some pressure off your 2d response. For example, something like: 1n 2n 3c no 5M 3d asking for 4M 3h 13(45) 3s 31(45) 3d 5s 3h 5h

Ok ok, I wanted to see how insane it was to double 3♥ pretending you had a third spade. Anyway, the answer as expected seems to be "pretty insane." FWIW I thought it was clear to pass 4♥. At the table I did double (mostly because I wasn't up to passing in tempo) and partner bid 4♠. This might have worked until the 5-1 break.

Double by south seems right - what else? Introducing topless 7-card suits at the 5-level seems like losing bridge to me. Seems like north has an auto 4n if you're playing responsive-type doubles. If not, blame goes to the methods.

[hv=pc=n&e=sakhj3dat763ca943&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=3h]133|200[/hv] This was matchpoints. What would you do if RHO opened 4♥ instead?