gszes

r u sure? If lho had indeed started with !CAK !HQ !DQ and 3 clubs and 1 spade (the K) this would have given them 14 hcp and 9 red cards maybe enough for an overcall or x over the 1s bid. The number of hands lho can have with the stiff spade K are really quite limited.

LHO had the club AK and an opportunity to make a switch yet continued clubs (red suit holdings making a switch look dangerous?). That means lho is highly unlikely to also hold the spade K mainly due to the fact they would rarely be dealt virtually all of the defensive values. This is not conclusive evidence BUT it does point out an interesting position. Since the spade K appears to way more likely to be with east a safety play of small toward the ten caters to this very probability. I firmly believe the inference of the spade K position more then offsets the 2% MP advantage of trying to drop the stiff K from either opp. Note that a spade toward the Q is ALSO a safety play here but one that gives up on ever finding the stiff K and a vital MP overtrick.

4h right away. We do not want to give the opps a chance to uncover a spade fit if possible. This might not be so important at IMPS but could be huge at MP.

Highly limited defense, game a rarity opposite passed partner and not even a good lead directing opening bid makes me pass this potential disaster hand and try to win imps on the next one.

Once every 6 months I take another look at the bots bidding and decide it is bad. That renders the challenge matches useless since one can't challenge w/o having to put up with the bot bidding. I also sincerely hope the bots will make the same opening lead otherwise it is NOT A FAIR CHALLENGE. Anyone else out there think this is a good idea?

x and 4d I don't have much faith in other calls though I can see a MP decision to bid 3d over the neg x

I voted for other mainly because I could not care less which opp had 4 spades if they broke 42. I would knock out the 4th spade and be happy making 1n where anyone in a spade contract has at best a 5050 shot at making 2 spades and beating our score. IF I needed a top to win a tourney I would go after clubs at trick 2 via the ace and another toward the Q and probably ducking (hoping for Kx in lho) if rho plays small to the 2nc club. I just do not see much reason here to go for broke when normally I expect a decent score just for making 1n an if by chance spades break 33 I can still go try for my max by playing on clubs and remember the opps would have to pitch on those spades before seeing me play on clubs which might be of huge benefit for me.

you rate to have zero defense but can reasonably expect your side to take at least 9 tricks in clubs. Those two things point to 5c and the bidding is not over yet. Bidding 5c now at least gives the idea of offensive values whereas bidding 5c over 4hx (if that happens) can easily be from hunger and would we really be willing to leave 4hx in?

We do not know for sure if the lead is from length or trying to hit partner. Playing the J at trick 1 gives us our 9th trick immediately if lho lead from KQ(xxx). If rho covers we intend to duck 2 rounds anyway and then try to figure a way to scramble a 9th trick.

I admit I see the heart A as a flame and I cannot seem to escape it. I do not mind losing 1d 1h 1c and doing anything besides laying down the heart ace seems to create possible other problems. Even if I discover I have 2 heart losers there is no guarantee I have a club loser.

spade 3 it may seem like picking nits to choose the 3 vs the 2 BUT the 3 just might look like shortness to declarer and give them a false impression on the distribution of the hand. I would avoid the spade Q as our spots will all too easily allow declarer to set up spades with 1 loser if they need to. If partner has the dia A the low club is a horrific choice at trick 1 so a dia lead is out an leading a trump might be doing declarers work for them. At least a spade is doing something declarer might have to do themselves.

3nt there are some remedies to p bidding 3h but what about 4h if we choose x instead? 3n has 2 extra benefits. 3nx we can run to 4c and if partner bids 4h or 4s at least we are secure in the knowledge they have length (not the case if we x).

An interesting side thought about the 6c contract -- assuming you could do all of the math in your head in a short time and realize the chances of making your contract via the elegant squeeze vs the pedestrian finesse is about 8 100ths better, a difference so tiny it is essentially a toss up, -- It STILL looks to me like the finesse is better because it allows us to make 7 and pick up an IMP half of the time. GO MIKEH

why not just begin with opening 1n (15 17) and slowly work in the variations jacoby/texas transfers and stayman. This will give them a firm ground to stand one once they start to conceptualize weak invitational and game forcing concepts. A little depth in a narrow area is much better than trying to spread them out all over the place. You can also work on their play of the hand and it will give them a chance to see how well (or poorly) their chosen path of bidding was.

IMHO pass is a stand out simply because it carries a message of grand slam interest. We know responder has something over there but we do not really have a clue here or how much they have. The pass implies first round control of spades which also helps partner devalue the spade ace. I do not believe this hand is strong enough to commit to a grand unless partner can show a club suit. If partner bids 6c or 5n I will bid 7c and convert 6d to 6h and pass 6h. Looking at both hands I would end up playing 7c since partner will bid 6c over 5s. If those 3 jacks had been a useful Q or K I would have expected a 7c bid instead of 6c.

Kxxxx(x) AQ(xx) x(xx) AQJ.

Pass --- Unless partner had 11 tricks I am highly skeptical they would have chosen 5h vs x of 4s. I think it is much more likely that partner is bidding 5h more as a sac than with any intention of making it. Be pleased you have the trump ace and a possible ruffing value they might even make it and the bidding isn't over yet.

my main concern is that we have a heart loser and the x was BEHIND partner. If p was strong enough for us to make slam they were probably strong enough to rkc over 4d. 5s

pairs so no huge rush to force an iffy game opposite passed partner who rates to have less than we need to make said game. Partner also rates to very short in diamonds and can still balance. Part 1 pass part 2 4s since I have 2 honors + the ace there maybe giving us slightly better control of the trump suit.

since it is impossible for opener to have a red suit king (they bid 4s over 4c) bidding 5n clearly asks partner for something besides the AKQ clubs and spade king. The only rational card that opener can have that might FOR SURE make a difference is he spade Q so it is safe to bid 5n to ask for it. Yes the dia Q would help but the heart Q would not and there is no way for opener to know which would be useful so they must concentrate on KNOWN useful cards. I would be wiling to play a grand opposite KQxx (xxx) (xxx) AKQxx so 5n stands out. I would also be willing to play a grand opposite Kxxx (xxx) (xxx) AKQxxxx BUT I have no way to know about 6th club for sure without a more sophisticated system. NOTE: IF the 4s bid denied 2nd round control of either red suit (no shortness) opener is limited to 5 clubs.

SAYC this hand is good enough to treat it as 18 so there the bidding would probably be 1c 2n(13-15 or 18-19) then see what partner bids. If they do anything other than 3n I would start a cue bidding sequence searching for slam. If they bid 3n I would bid 4n to show 18-19 and let them decide. I have a big problem with 1d since shortness in that suit makes slam almost a certainty and once we bid it the shortness will no longer appeal to partner and it makes cue bidding sketchy and might make opener feel 3n is the best route when 5c would be vastly superior. Over a 3n rebid I would bid 4c as a club slam try IF I felt my partner would take it that way instead of maybe for gerber or some such. 2/1 uses inverted minors (mostly). Some play it as GF others as invite + (my personal favorite). I would start with 1c 2c with either system and take it from there. Your hand is definitely good enough to consider slam but you have a long way to go before deciding the best path to not only strain but how high. Take your time and see if you can gather the needed information.

absent the known long spade suit 2n or 3n would be the eventual contract depending on aggression. The fact that there IS a long spade suit should not be ignored since that long suit may very easily lead NT quickly into negative territory. This last fact would lead me away from any direct NT and end up making me choose 3d and I am not even all that sure I would consider it an overbid. This would be quickly followed by 3h and 3s with south settling for 4d as the final contract. The partnership has to realize that it takes more power to make 5m than 3n or 4M and here are 2 close to dead minimum hands for their bidding. The 2s bid made it tough to find the club suit but it at least steered us away from the hopeless NT route.

there is definitely a spot in the trump administration awaiting you. You are told the 2n means negative with no long suit and yet you GUESS it means something else. We need more imaginative people like that in politics in the USA go for it:))))))))

it is easy to begin with 1n. You have a balanced 8 count only 3 hearts and no real ruffing value. If the bidding ends there it is very unlikely to be a disaster. If partner bids on we have the ability to belatedly :support: hearts (most likely by giving preference and not really promising support).

I guess we pay our entry fee we can do what we wish with it BUT it seems plausible to arrive in 6s via "normal" bidding:)