mr1303

Well, given the key card ask after the splinter, that suggests a lack of wastage in the diamond suit. I don't think it's that unreasonable.

Certainly possible: Kx Axxxx xxx KQJ opposite a diamond splinter I'd be rolling out the old black.

Hmm. As I understand it, as long as you don't agree with a competitor to fix prices, surely you can charge whatever you like for your product? If you charge too much, you won't sell as many as you would like, and if you charge too little, you won't make any profit. Isn't that the whole idea of a free market economy? Lets assume you have a market trader, selling strawberries. He charges £1.50 (approx $3) for a punnet one week. Next week he decides he could sell more if he charges £1.25, so lowers his price] A strawberry eating customer decides to sue the market trader for "lost resale value". I think that sums up how ridiculous this case is.

1S - fine. This is too strong for a weak major 2 suited opening, even vulnerable. 4D - presumably you play that 3H would cover most semi-balanced hands with support, 4H would be a picture jump, showing good spades and hearts and no outside control? If so, I don't see any real alternatives, although I prefer to have something in clubs for making a splinter. 5S - presumably the idea is that 5 card heart support is enough to have the trump queen? The trouble is that if you are off 2 key cards, the 5S response will take you too high. I guess this is why people play kick back. Given I have a real minimum in high cards, I think I'll blame this bid the most. 7H - err?

It's an Indy, Wayne! mr1303

I'm bidding 2D, as long as 1D promises as many as 3. When was the last time you were left to play in 2 of a minor anyway? However, it may help partner to compete when appropriate.

I'm going out and getting laid tonight... I wish I could make predictions like that (and have them come true)

This isn't as mad as it seems. Doubling 2NT after the auction: 2NT P P is usually very successful, since dummy is invariably broke, and making 8 tricks from your own hand if your hand is strong balanced is very difficult with no entries to take finesses. However, if you know that opponents wil ALWAYS double, it allows for auctions like this. Redouble is automatic, if you took the risk of passing 2NT and hoping that West will double. Otherwise why not just bid 3NT straight up?

I'd have doubled 5C rather than bid 5H. "The 5 level belongs to the opponents" I definitely crack 6C.

4S is too much with this dodgy suit, so 3S it is.

I really can't think of any good bid here. At least I have aces, not quacks, and I really have nowhere to go. I'll apologise to partner if it's wrong. I pass, and blame Larry Cohen if I'm wrong

Well, you've only got yourself to blame here. Your slow 3NT bid suggested that 3NT may not be the right conract, and let's look at things from partner's point of view: a) Void in your first suit :lol: Jxx in the unbid suit, a notable weakness c) Not many undisclosed values, given that 2C was game forcing. I certainly wouldn't argue with partner's pass.

Over in the UK, we have a stand-up comedian who goes by the name of David Gorman. He has a tendency to do stupid things such as having a bet with his flatmate (Danny Wallace) that he could meet 54 David Gorman's (one for every card in the pack, including the jokers). The reason I mention him, is that during his last stupid thing (Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure, where he had to meet 10 googlewhacks in a row, if each one only found him 2 more - read the book) he met a chap called Duane T Gish - Dripstone Ingles, who happened to be a leading creationist (despite having a PhD). Dr Gish's argument mentioned the fact that evolution was a breach of the Second Law of Thermodynamics (In a closed system, all things tend towards entropy), since the concept of more complicated organisms must be a breach of this law. The idea appears to be that creatures should become more simple as time goes on, as opposed to the other way around, as evolution theorises. Dave Gorman disagrees with this statement, since Dr Gish's argument makes the assumption that the Earth is a closed system, which of course it isn't, due to outside influences such as the sun.

I'd be playing 4S on these cards as well :P

Partners of mine tend to have their penalty doubles somewhat more than the suggested auction, which has the opponents later bidding an undoubled slam. Anyway, there's no guarantee at all that LHO will bid 4S, and even less that a) it'll be the right thing to do, :P partner won't know what to do in that situation and c) we'll be better off not raising partner's suit with 4 card support, 2 singletons and an outside 1 loser suit, since partner CERTAINLY won't play us for this hand if the auction goes: 1H 3S P 4S ?

Double seemed automatic to me. I've sufficient support for all the unbid suits (I know plenty people who would double with xx of diamonds with weaker hands). If it goes 1H X 4H P P I'll probably just pass the hand out, but I'm happy bidding clubs at the 3 and maybe 4 level otherwise, and I don't want to stop partner from bidding spades.

Club. A of hearts is an entry to our established clubs. I can't say the same about the Q of clubs.

Isn't double take-out ish? If so, I take out partner's take out doubles. What to, is not clear. If partner has KQx of spades, I bid 4S, if not I bid 5C Unfortunately, lacking x-ray specs I have to guess, and so I guess 5C.

I'm surprised at all the bidders here I'm cutting partner some slack. As far as I'm aware, he isn't showing much more than a minimum with 4 hearts. If lefty had passed I would bid game, since partner would be showing a genuine invite as opposed to being competitive. Or am I missing something?

Either 1S or 2S, depending on what my agreements are as to how "flexible" this can be. I won't bid 2H, since I only want to get a lead director in.

Mark me down as an imbecile then. I too pass 1S. Now if it goes: 1S P P X 2C 2D I might well consider a raise to 4C, and partner may or may not give it 5, probably not after I passed 1S. However, I think that passing 1S is correct in SAYC.

1) Not playing Raptor, I think I would probably double. Ax isn't "that" bad a holding, and probably not much worse than xxx, which if you change a diamond to a heart and change the A of hearts to a small one, would produce a unanimous poll for double. No-one is forcing partner to bid too many hearts on too few of them, and we have otherwise a nice hand. 2C is a bit unilateral. 2) East can make a responsive double. Certainly worth competing at the 2 level with 5-5 in the majors looks sensible, and if partner insists on clubs we do at least have 2 of them, with a singleton diamond. 3) When you play Raptor, you double with strong NT hands. Partner should know that your double doesn't guarantee major suit length any longer, and not overcompete on such hands. With ropey 15 counts, you tend to pass these a lot more, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. My auction: 1D X 2D X 3D 3/4S P P P With a 2C overcall 1D 2C 2D X 3D 3/4S Whether or not to bid 3 or 4 spades is not 100% when a responsive double can be made so light, but I lean towards 4S.

My initial thought was 1S, but I've been convinced by 2C now by the argument. Passing didn't occur to me.

Well, having looked at the hand, 2C is beyond automatic under any circumstances. And I've got hardly any masterpoints either (the only thing they're good for is either for writing shopping lists or as book marks).

Closer to 6S than double.