gszes

2d 2d = 8/9-12 5+ dia AKTxx and out seems to meet the intent of the rule if not the exact definition hard to imagine having the spade J would qualify this hand for 2d but not having it forbids its use. I even have some clubs in case p feels the need to run from dia.

was the pass itself that was game forcing (showing values) or was the fact that you opened 2c caused a GF meaning pass might still be a hand with nothing??? The reason this is important is because it can help show the difference btn a hand that is using last train and one that is cue bidding. xxx xxx QJx Kxxx xxx xxx QJxx xxx If your pass showed values (like hand 1) then 4c has to be a cue bid but if your hand could have been broke then 4c could be use to show a hand with some values like hand 2. If p promised values then it is safe to bid 4n but if p could have been broke you will have to cue bid (4d) to see if they can show more

bid 5s previous round with what appears to be close to a zero defense pair of hands for your side. Having failed to do that I would pass this round since bidding 5s now will only make it easier for the opps top judge exactly how high they want to go.

Aces make for good (high level) defense and that fact alone makes any radical distribution hand holding those 2 aces a poor prospect for an opening high level preempt and an even worse prospect when holding a 4 card major (Axxx) as a second suit. While you cannot predict how the future bidding will go (ie a preempt will work sometimes) the odds of success of finding the best contract for your side lie with starting as low as possible.

Blame it on 4h----this hand has two possible suits to play in (spades) and the 4h bid made it nigh impossible to ever ever find that spade fit. Opening this hand 3h at these colors (generously worth about 8 tricks) would seem to be much closer to describing this hand and leaving open the possibility of playing in spades. It is extremely difficult to go from 4h to slam when p was willing to play 4h. Even if p had AKQJT9 of spades they would not convert to 4s since your hearts might easily be longer and almost as good.

our hand can easily be playable in 2 spots (hearts and dia) see no strong reason to preempt here and arbitraily eliminate hearts from the bidding. 1d

there are a huge number of more distributional (and weaker) hands that qualify to bid 4s (AQxx xxx AKxxxx void). It seems a shame we cannot easily show our dynamite 19 power pack or can we?????????? Last train 4h qualifies to show this type of hand but I am not certain it is useable here since we do not have an agreed trump suit. Does 4h really promise spades or can it be made with a huge hand with long/strong diamonds??? (K xx AQJxxxx AKQ) If we agree that last train can be used like this then responder must be able to sign off in 4s (with no slam interest) and let p pass or take over by either continuing to cue bid, 4n, or correct 4s to 5d. If this thought is standard agreement forgive my diatribe and put me in the camp with the 4h users.

It is MP (phew) so the worries about going for 1700 with a 4h opening are gone it is only 1 board (we can make it up with an overtrick). I still however, with the 4 card spade suit, want to hedge my bet just a bit. I will opt for 3H (i only have to worry about minus 1400 hehe) on the small chance p might be able to bid 3s (it will be a really rare hand where a 44 spade fit is better than hearts) and we can consider bidding slam. At these colors we should have a hand close to 8 tricks. We have a tad above 7 but we really want to make it tough on the opps if they have a huge minor suit fit.

4s not just because it might have play but the opps might conceivably be able to make 7h so we are trying to make their bidding life as difficult as possible:))))))))))))))))))))) if the opps press on to 5h pass and hope they have miscalculated somehow. I have a certain respect for anyone with the guts to trot out 4n and sign off in 5s (something i would do at favorable).

using 3s to ask p to bid 3n is quite common---if p cannot bid 3n they will generally bid 4c (pass or correct to 4d) and it is up to you what to do next. Your p bidding 4h however (knowing YOU have to have something in heart to use 3s) shows a lot of hearts. You may or may not ever get to p hand but it seems definitely worth the risk of trotting out 4n (key card for hearts since your minor is unknown) especially since rho opened the bidding and if you are missing 2 aces rho rates to have them both.

the 12-15 range is meant to cover a wide variety of hands for ex let say tiy hold after 1s 2c KJ432 AKQ Jxxx K this is an example of a 17 count that would prefer a 2n rebid it des not mean all 17 count should do this merely the worst ones (ie treat this hand as if it were in the 12 -15 range). the ranges are appoximations of value. Most SAYC players will bid 2C with less than invitational strength intending to rebid 3c. This means we need more power if we are to consider bidding 3n. Most SAYC players use 20-21 as 2n so the practical ranges are actually 12-15 16-17 18-19. There is a lot of debate as to when to open 1M with say 16 count vs 1N. The 16-17 range are the :nebulous: ones---at MP look to downgrade but at IMPS (in order to avoid missing games) look to upgrade because there is no room to do much exploration. One can also upgrade AT9xx AJT AJT JT Here is a superb 15 count that should be treated as worth close to 18 and would rebid 3n

this isnt imps no need to try for thin game passssssssssssss

while i might have bid 2n right from the start with your hand your 1n choice has proven to be more flexible here. Our hand has severly limited worth in a 2s contract and with our independent dia suit I will bid 3d. Pass is also feasible but takes a rather large risk that p has good spades because we know we have superb dia.

i am skeptical that our sequence is the most common. There seems to be a much greater chance 3n would be played by p than by us (bidding 2n with club support and 2 little spades being a tad umm eccentric). Helene_T hits on the combined chance of dia first followed by the club finesse and I think this is best precisely because we got lucky "right-siding" 3n and we have a legitimate chance of making it where most will probably be wondering how many tricks they are going down when a spade hits the table. Maximizing our chances at taking 9 tricks seems to be the winner here. Playing on clubs first is doing nothing more than returning the ball to the opps when the club is wrong and never giving the 33 dia break a chance. Think of it this way----if 3n makes (club finesse or no) we are probably going to get a good score when we avoided a spade lead. It seems logical to try and maximize or chances at keeping that good score by attacking dia first.

agree 1s dont think much of any preempt here and pass doesnt do much for me either with the 2 aces. It is an easy hand to bid and rebid so go for it. IMO 1s=10 p = 6 2/3/4s = 3

you have to trust your partner----you bid 3d giving your p a nice safe place to play if they are weak. Your p then bid 3h this is where trust comes in. No matter what else you are thinking this hand belongs in hearts and the only question left is how high. You do not have room to explore so at IMPS it is probably best to to bid 4h since the only way you lose much is when it makes exactly 3h. A strong case van be made for passing 3h since p did not have the ability to make a neg x, There are a lot of weak hands where your ability to ruff a a spade or possibly set up diamonds will allow your side to make. The key is recognizing p will not introduce hearts w/o at least 6 of them. I didnt care for the 3d bid but here it should have made it clear that the hand belongs in hearts.

there is no rational way to bid this hand all i need is Kxx xxxx xxxxx x to put me on a spade finesse U have superb trumps and no asking bid will yield anything useful. Bid 4h

"standard" bridge bidding is based primarity on natural bids using jumps (or the lack thereof) to express length and strength. Over time some bids have lost their natural meaning due to common practice and utility. These "non-standard" bids have become the norm in ACBL tournaments and do not require an alert (bids like 2c normal stayman for ex-------------garbage stayman still would require an alert) The 3c bid is a reasonable treatment but it is not natural and has not gained the level of acceptance deemed necessary by the ACBL to eliminate the need to alert. When such a situation occurs it is probably best policy to apologize for your oversight and take the time (later) to determine the need (or lack thereof) to alert. You will gain assurance that you were right or learn when you were wrong and the game will remain much more pleasant (a huge goal when playing a GAME) for all.

the Q if the A is won by rho the spade suit cannot be successfully attacked immediately (we duck it around to the T) and if the Q is ducked we have a second spade stop. By playing the Q we make it competely irrelevant which hand has the club A. If we insert the T we can be defeated if rho covers and lho can lead another spade when they get in with the club A.

over 1s this hand originally x intending to bid 2h (over either 2c or 2d) now that e has bid 2s are we now supposed to be quiet?? we have to now bid 3h to show the kind of hand that was originally intending to bid 2h over our p 2c/2d bid. Thats why 3h is wrong here our hand is too strong and not heart oriented enough.

few of us would have a problem with say 14 count 4333 using x (after a 1s opening) even if it meant playing a significant humber of hands in a 43 fit. Even if p is marked with 4/5 spades they will have one other 4 card or 2 other 3 card suits so our tox will almost always find us at worst in the same type fo 43 fit. Another benefit of the tox is that p (on lead) can easily convert to a penalty if they happen to have long/strong spades and the opps will have significantly reduced chances of escaping. Another problem with the x directly behind the 1M is that it does not require a 6 card suit to run a mere xx can warn p that they need to escape 1n and opps may easily escape to a 43 or even 53 fit and more rarely a 44 fit. Letting the opps play 1n is usually a poor idea (unless we have good reason to suspect we are beating it) playing 1M p 1n p p X as a weak tox gives us our best chance to compete more often.

your choices seem to be pass (an ugly concept) or bid and get lucky or get to game- I will choose to try and get lucky use stayman and if it does not work tranfer p to hearts this will make it seem like i am 64 and the opps will have no clue how weak i really am the last thing you want to do is appear to be scrambling and give the opps a reason to start xing if p does not have a 4/5 card major. If p has both the 9 card fit will probably keep the xers in line.

with p pass over 1s we have few worries about missing game and if we can find p with either read suit K (a high degree of probability) we can see at least 6 tricks on defense it is time to convert:))))))))))))))))))

i reread my post and i can see where the confusion might set in my bad my original statement about 3h being game forcing was assuming rho had not bid 2s the second part assumes the 2s bid then 3h competitive (say 17-a poor 20) with x followed by 3h a great 19+ (our current hand for ex) even though we really wish we had 6 hearts:))))

3s = 3 (7n is worse for ex) worst hand xxxxx KQ xxx xxx and i would be ready to aplogize if this didnt work if p has say x KQxxxx KQx Kxx is this a 2h rebid ??? does the 6th heart really remove the 1h bidder from a minimum 1h opening ??? IMO no. This hand would not bid 2h over 2d just to show 6. The 2h bid must either show extra values or possibly extra good hearts and not a complete minimum (the weaker your opening bids the more room there is for a min hand (ie not strong enough to invite). Your heart void is a bad thing but you have 7 spades to the AKQ opposite a rebidding p hard to imagine you not bidding anything but 4s. Trying 3s is horrifically pessimistic especially when you will probably be able to play the hand double dummy and p hand is behind the 2d bidder dramatically increasing the odds of any needed finesses working.