gszes

This is IMPS if you imagine what you need to make 4s you will see all p needs is Jxx xxx xxxx KQx this is not too much to ask from a 2s bid. Bid 4s. P can certainly have a dog and 4 has no play but the backs of the cards coupled with the opps bidding has left us with no exploration room. MP you might easily get some MP just for bidding 3 and making 4 or going down less than 4s bidders. Going down in 4s is unlikely to be a disaster at IMPS so have no fear.

points schmoints (M Bergen) this hand has some decent playing power and I refuse to even consider passing 1d due to lack of HCP. I start the festivities with 1s and see just how much trouble I have gotten us in when p chimes in with whatever they do. If perchance they bid 2s/3s I am bidding 4s. Over 1n 2h and see if partner likes that at all. Over 2n 3h which should at least give p something to think about since this should promise 5+ hearts since p would have had an easy 2h reverse if they had 4 hearts.

I feel like a turkey with neck on the chopping block. If rho has a normal 4h bid the opps are heavy favorites to make 4h and get that nasty 500 point rubber bonus. Bidding involves some risk but not as much as it would at MP or IMPS. the 500 bonus for winning the rubber is a big enough bonus that p will have to have almost everything that's left in the deck to risk our winning the rubber. This means that we will rarely get too much higher. If we decide to bid what do we do? x looks right and maybe it is a worthwhile venture because the opps should not take too many overtricks if p leaves it in. So for me it is X or one can take the big chicken theory bwakkkk and pass. Essentially saying its not worth the risk of umpty ump penalty points to save this rubber (this is my personal favorite bwakkkkk). Pass also means p might still be able to pipe up and we will be happy wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee once again. 4s is just too darn scary and my wallet is nowhere near full enough to cover the disasters from such an adventuresome bid.

note that if u start by playing low to the Q when u go back to the ace rho can unblock the K thus creating the dreaded entry to lho starting with the ace then toward the Q allows them no such luxury:)

partner has been endplayed in the bidding so we have learned little about their power but we have learned about their distribution. We only need xx xx Qxxxx AKQx to make 6 a pretty decent contract. Yes indeed p could have a totally gross hand for us KQ Qx xxxxx AKxx where even 5 is not a sure thing but those are few and far between. I like my odds so I go with them and take a bow to the preempt when it works.

1d p 5d and if you quit playing with bot partners you wont have to see these kinds of sequences:)

PASS and I do not expect this to be popular. We are in trouble and maybe just maybe they cant x 2d. There is plenty of time to bid 2s later or xx to show tolerance for both majors if 2d is x. We do not know where our best fit is and pass is the best way to find it and possibly escape disaster.

Three reasons to not x 1. see mikeh about being sure of a heart trick 2. Why do I think setting up a heart trick at 6s will set them 3. am I really 100% sure partner even has a heart to lead?

The choice between playing LHO for 4+ clubs and the heart ace OR rho for the heart ace is a simple one. Play rho for the heart ace. Not merely because it is the higher % play but because playing the other way is so inferior that choosing it looks nefarious or your play is hopeless. It does not hurt to try to find LHO with QT doubleton of clubs so we can pitch 2 hearts. This extra chance, plus the tendency of opening leaders to plunk down an ace on opening lead, brings us well above 50% playing rho for the heart ace.

As soon as I hear 2d (I'm the 1s opener) visions of slam opposite as little as Qx xxx AKxxxx xx make me want to find out more about this hand. My first thought is how can we conserve bidding space to give us the best shot at bidding slam. This thought process will lead me to continue with 2s rather than 3d. There is no good reason to splinter immediately since 3n could very easily be the right contract (see mikeh). Partner follows with 3c and this is even more interesting since there is a strongly increased chance our A AK in the majors will take care of all of partner's major suit losers w/o even having to worry about setting up spades. Now we can safely bid 3d and keep the search alive for 3n as well as keeping grand slam searches open. partner now jumps to 5d. This bid is highly unusual but still very informative. We know p has nothing overly useful in spades (they might very easily have preferred bidding 3s with a stiff honor or doubleton in case we had 6 spades) and we know p has given up on 3n since they failed to bid 3h to suggest even a partial stop. Partner needs a lot of extra values with no heart stop and no short heart (else a 4h bid). Hard to imagine p having less than xx xx AKQxx AQxx and even that is being pessimistic. I still think it is reasonable to give us one last shot at a grand and bid 5h. This should convince partner to bid 7 if they hold x xx AKQxxx AKQx. We finally settle for 6d.

Defense is hard. Just because YOU can see the contract is umm err stammer poor does not mean it is obvious to the opps. I say this assuming you did not vomit or some other obvious act of ughh when the dummy appeared. So anything we can do to keep the defense in the dark the better. Trick 1 We cannot fool rho about lho spade length BUT we might be able to fool lho about rho spade length/power. We also have to take danger hand into consideration and LHO is definitely the danger hand. Since 3 diamond tricks are almost necessary to make 3n AND we cannot keep lho off lead if they have the dia K it seems we need to play diamonds for 33 and rho the K. This means I would win the spade K (to try and keep some mystery in spades) and low to the dia A and another dia to the Q since there really isn't any good play aside from 33 diamonds and K with rho and ducking with Kxx is easy anyway. If the dia Q holds we no longer need mystery in spades so before playing a 3rd round of diamonds I would play a spade to the Q which has a high degree of probability of removing a safe spade exit from rho when they win the K of diamonds. If rho is out of spades they will have to provide an entry to dummy AND possibly your ninth trick.

ick any way im rising with ace hoping against hope rho began with 5 little diamonds and I can either bring in (4 [clubs with 1 loser) and hearts break 33]. My money is on the defense.

suppressing a 5 card major (especially with a hand that seems destined to play in a suit) is fraught with danger. Using 2n will at least get the heart suit in play when hearts seems right. Another problem with x is do we really want to give partner a chance to convert to penalty? Just the wrong hand type for x. Assuming I had to bid over x I would take advantage of my passed hand status and bid 2d with the diamonds being so good a ruffing finesse might easily be available through east. I would bid 5c over 4c it is not north's fault south chose to go with x and the heart suit disappeared.

1d 2d for reasons discussed above invite + 3c denies as much as a major suit stopper/4 card suit does not promise extra values 3s spade stop (could be 4) problem with hearts for NT extra values 4h short suit asking how good partner is. Opposite a known heart problem this hand has improved enough to force to 5m 4s LTTC 14 15 useful HCP no heart ace just short of enough values to bid slam == 5c would have been a hand with the heart ace not as good w/o significant extra values (probably non existent since 4n could have been chosen instead) 5d no heart ace max 13 HCP outside hearts. 4n RKC 5s 6d responder would have downgraded the spade Q once opener is known to be long in the minors (no 4+ spaded short hearts) and bid 5d instead of 4s

I can bypass a 4 card major and in this hand I will do that and bid 2d because no matter the final contract it is probably better played from partner's side of the table or there is no difference. I prefer to not bypass a 4 card major but here rightsiding any final contract seems to take precedence.

Let us assume for the time being you are so aggressive that you want to be in all slams that depend on a finesse for the trump K. Look at these 2 hands carefully and tell me HOW either the south player can tell the north player has the trump TEN or HOW the north player can tell the south player has the trump Q AND J? The above advice to quit worrying about every hand that happens to make is VERY sound. A player can also go in the opposite direction and become so conservative they miss out on many easy games or slams. Try to adopt and maintain a system that works under normal circumstances. Investigation techniques should be taken when there is a clear objective concerning the type of information needed and if it is available.

You mean I might go down 1 in poor contract? yes indeed but to salvage some IMPS at trick 2 I think that's our best shot. I just do what I can with the information provided. I admit I probably would have ducked the first diamond and tried to make it from there myself but that was not the problem.

rho made a TINY push to 4d while probably looking at FIVE diamonds. It seems to me rho WANTED us to bid more so I would prepare myself for a ton of bad breaks. I echo the 4s thought noted elsewhere. I have no real problem with laying down the heart ace following with a low club toward dummy at trick 3 with the intention of playing rho for KT9 and trying to limit their heart tricks to two along with a spade loser (most likely by starting with the ace and following low toward the 9).

the main thing about defense is imagining declarer's distribution. We know declarer had 5H and 4S so what is minor suit distribution? if they had 1d and 3c that means partner started with 6d and never bid at favorable (unlikely). We cannot trust bot carding but the odds seem strongly against partner having 6d so declarer either had 2d and 2c or 3d and 1c which means we have to cater to declarer having 3d.

good advice (ouchies)

I have only heard the new suit NF if the new suit happened at the 2 level (2h p 2s or 2d p 2M) though I do not have much heartache when playing those bids as one round force.

1d 1h 1s 2c (fsf but even if just invite + will suffice since later follow up with hearts will then be game forcing) 3d do not want to risk 2d in case 2c was invite+ and partner might consider pass as an option (not in my universe I admit) 3h 6+ gf since a direct 3h earlier would have been invitational (note that 4h now would show a one loser suit) 4d denies heart support but more importantly should deny a club control for slam 4h KJ of hearts do not look so good opposite singleton or void but willing to play 4h opposite stiff honor 5d hearts not even that good 6c maybe 7d is there if p is void in hearts but hard to imagine 17 count stiff heart where slam does not have good play 6d maybe just maybe we overbid this one we shall see

opposite point of view --- EVERYTHING you learn is important and working hard to commit it to memory is very important. REVIEW REVIEW over and over until it is like remembering your name. You would not easily forgive a surgeon who "forgot" to remove a surgical instrument or amputated the wrong limb. Bridge is indeed a game but go about playing and learning in order to excel and do indeed feel bad when you forget:) being lucky is nice but being good is better.

over 4s the 4n bid is much better reserved for showing ANY 2 suited hand vs just the minors. The main reason for this is because using 4n this way allows the 4n bidder to show hearts and clubs or hearts and diamonds or clubs and diamonds. That is 3 times as many hands plus allowing for the higher scoring heart contract to remain in play as a possible landing spot. Note how Pecestom bids 5d (not 5c) this is because if south has both minors 5d seems like the better choice but if south has hearts and clubs then 5h comes into play (a place north is well prepared to play). Having said that I would have been seriously tempted to bid 5s if south had bid 4n. This might allow us to get to 7 if south spade A is the heart A instead.

sorry to eliminate part of your quote but did I see a small smile start to form when you wrote the above? good post