xxhong

North can double 4S first then pass 6D as a forcing pass. It would be an easy call for south to bid 6S. 7S is quite difficult to bid IMO. The best bid is still 6D by west, north need to be very brave to make an overcall at 6 level with only 5 cards. This hand shows that psyche shouldn't work out well if opps are prepared for it.

1: 2C 2D(gf) 3H(both majors, at least 5-5) 3S(set up trumps) 3N(cue in C) 4H(mild slam interest, no D/H controls) 5D(cue, let's see whether partner can cue 5H) now it's close, 6S or 5S are both fine. 2: x 2S 4C 6C

The general idea is that if you have a fit, 3S is usually a good spot for very weak hands. If you don't have a fit, 3NT doesn't have to be much worse than 3S facing a 5 card 0-1 HCP hands. Also, we tend to pass 2NT with 5-3-3-2, 0-2 HCPs. Also, for fitted hands, you have more rooms to show shortness. Of course, this style may not be popular in North America, which doesn't mean it's a bad one, because it helps you to set up trumps at a low level and makes slams bids and some game bids much easier.

This spade suit is usually good facing partner's good spade support. So you just bid 3H to transfer, if partner bids 3S to show 3+ S, you can just bid 3NT to show shortness somewhere and ask partner to evaluate his hand after you show your shortness. If partner bids 3NT over 3H to show 2 spades, I would just take the low road to sign off later in 4S. I may miss some good 6D sometimes, but it's usually dangerous to try for D slams here when your D suit is rather weak and you have 6 spades, because you may sometimes push yourself to 5D or 4NT down 1 when 4S is good. Of course, sometimes, you may belong to 6D when partner holds 3 or more Spades. That's also very rare and it's difficult to find your second fit usually.

Vanilla 2/1? 1D(S) 4N(blackwood) 5S 5N 6D 7D

Well, that's your definition of fit showing jumps. The major difficulty for a passed two suiter to show the great support and the shape is that 2/1 is not forcing. If you can't play 2H as one round forcing, you have to have a way to bid a two suiter with a great support and fit showing jump is the only solution. Bridge bidding is not only about source of tricks, it's often a matter of the shape, especially when you have found a great fit, because in that case, source of tricks may not really matter much, shape and potential good cross-ruffing situation is.

I actually think 3H as a fit showing jump is probably the closest bid to show the nature of this hand. If partner bids 4C, you can bid 4D and later 5D.

1S 2H 3H(nonsolid spades, 6+, short H, extra value) 4D(short S, very strong H suit, playable facing H shortness) 4N(RKC, here 4S is to play, I can control all suits, so gotta RKC here, if you don't like RKC, at least bid something other than 4H or 4S IMO) 5S(two KC with Q, 9 H + partner's singleton = 10) 6H

This system is quite inconsistent. There is no bid for 21-24 unbalanced hands if you assume 25 to force to game.

One interesting point is that even without HK, it's a decent slam. So you should ask what do you bid with Txxxxx xxxxx - xx over partner's 3rd seat 1S. Most methods deal with HCP oriented evaluations, not shape oriented evaluations.

I actually like this one: x: 4+ H, 8+ HCPs. 2D: natural. 2H: 4+ S, 8+ HCPs. 2S: transfer to NT, either inv or mild slam invitation. 2N: limit raise or better D raise. 3C: constructive D raise with 5D. 3D: 6+H, inv or better. 3H: 6+S, inv or better. 3S: transfer to 3NT. 3N: RKC in D.

I would also bid 3NT here in a different auction: 1D 1S 2N(17-18) 3D(transfer to H) 3N(denies 3S and 4H) pass. Well, it's quite unlikely to lead D here now. I don't buy the concept that players have to play 5-2 fit if the 2 is AK. Often, you may not need the suit to be set up to make 3NT, especially when you hold some extra, like 26-27 HCP combined.

I usually play 2H over 2D to show minimum, 2S to show a good hand with 6 H and 2NT to show extra with spades. Recently, I think that another way is also pretty good: 2H: to show 2-3 D. 2S: 4+C, shortness in D. 2N: 4+D. 3C: 6+H, shortness in D. 3D: 4+S, shortness in D. 3H: set up H. 3S/4C: splinter raises in D.

I don't see why you can't bid 2C over 1H, which is very natural. Double should be reserved for hands without a natural bid.

1H 1S 2C(transfer to D) 2S(starts invitations) 3C(extra, accept the invitation, natural) 3S(good 6 spades) 4C(cue bid in C, stiff honor in S) 5H(void in H) 6S(great news,no much wastage in H)

I think it's simple to just play 1S 3NT as RKC to solve this problem. The 4-3-3-3 shape can usually be bid in a slower way. 3NT as RKC may land you at many 4 Ms when you miss two KC, which is very valuable IMO.

This hand is too balanced for me to open 2S or 3S. So it is a 1S hand for me.

3NT as a RKC to S.

p p p 2C p 2D(gf waiting) p 3H(both majors) p 4N(invitation to 6NT) 5N pick a slam) p 6H all pass.

For this hand, I'll raise H. I think it's good for IMP to play double as penalty oriented, because those times when you are able to penalize opps, it can be really juicy to compensate the difficulty to tell the difference between 3 card and 4 card raises. For MP, either way should be fine.

This is a clear penalty double situation to dispose a psyche. Responder to a preempt often tends to psyche if you don't play a penalty double here.

looks like a good hand to bid 1S as a transfer to NT, after 1NT, you can bid 2D to show the strength of this hand. Playing standard method, I think 2D is the only bid, I don't like a 3NT bid because you still may belong to clubs if partner holds a singleton in D. Like Kxx Kxx x AKxxxx, where 6C is very good.

I systematically play 3S to show a stronger hand about 8-8.5 tricks in hand. This is isn't very good without some help from partner, in which case he would usually raise. Also, I tend to balance less frequently than most. So my 2S usually shows a quite nice hand, in the range of a good 1S 1N 2S rebid or a weak 1S 1N 3S hand. With your listed hand, I open 2S at the 4th seat and open 3S at other seats.

Perhaps something like: 1S 2H p p 2S p 2N p 3H(transfer to 3S, either sign off or game choices) 3S 3N(showing strong S suit and 3NT is an option) now either pass or 4S are close for north I guess.

I am wondering what would your partner say when west makes a simple penalty double over 3NT.