l milne

3♣, although I'm not that far from 3♥. Just seems a little too mental though.

Q♠, and it's only slightly heroic.

I always thought cue-bidding in these auctions was a general force, showing a trap pass, so I would bid 2♠ to begin with. I don't really have heaps of experience in these auctions though.

Can I just be the first to say, this thread is getting pretty weird

Nope.

11000 posts? 1♦?? I think it's close between 3♦ and 2♣ FWIW.

Your partner isn't going to pass 1NT when you have a 6-5 with a void in his suit. If he does, the opponents won't. If they do too, it might be the right spot. 1NT is more of a denial bid, making some noise without showing the values for a 2/1. It barely even suggests 1NT as a contract. If the alternatives in your mind are making some encouraging noise when you have a hopeless hand for partner, you better rethink that!

Why isn't 4♣ natural? 2♠ doesn't guarantee a fit, responder might have been looking for a heart fit with 4414 or something.

Play the queen of spades at trick one! Then a diamond off dummy.

Partner's range includes a whole bunch of hands like KQJTx - KQJTx QJT where we are down off the top, or even hands like AKQTx - KQJTx QJT where a simple mishap like 4-0 trumps amd a trump promotion could sink our ship. I think a case could be made for passing 1♠ even, before we get dramatically overboard. 5 hearts

Interesting. I never played this way, preferring to just reply at the lowest level (except with 2/3NT for obvious reasons) and let responder invite if necessary. This way, information about opener's strength isn't transmitted unnecessarily when responder has a GF. What do you open with 44 in the minors jillybean? If it's 1♦, it seems pretty unlikely partner has a doubleton heart (3235 is the only distribution). There are some hands where we make slam but I don't think I would fault a 4♠ bid too much.

even with the nebulous fella? i agree with a 4+♦ and have had some good results at imps, but haven't discussed over a 2+ (1+, 0+?) minor.

Oh right, 1♦ was precision... double now which is takeout, trap passing would be very unusual.

what would 2nt be, who is vul

Well, at least West seems to have got what he deserved with that lead.