gszes

Missing 5d or 4s is no huge crime in mp so there is little need to jump here and the mere fact p could not bid 2s greatly diminishes our chances for game. Our main effort should be in making sure we compete to our most effective partscore and the choices seem to be X (p please lead a spade and hope the opps dont have anywhere to run and cant make 7 tricks) and my choice 2d The 2d bid has an enormous % probability of being safe and getting our side to our most makeable partscore. We even have a bit in reserve if we need to compete at the 3 level.

At MP I would pass at IMPS 5h if we are wrong odds are if we are wrong we arent going down too much. Rhos was afraid of 3n so p has at least 1 ace and rho is wide open in that suit (thus 5d). Since p has at least 1 ace it might only take 1 more ace and the heart QJ to make 5, this is not too much to ask and if we are right the gain is enormous (this is not the case in mp where the % gain is probably small).

a game of % once the opening lead hits the table both defenders will know exactly how to defend IMO hand 1 will make around 22% of the time frinedly club lead and A onside or 8 card suit + heart. PULL hand 2 will make around 6% of the time 8 card suit + A with a nice friendly spade lead PULL you gambled and it didnt work this time save the passes for better opportunities. standard here is 4n invites 6* 5n invites 7* 6n is to play *a nice treatment here is if opener only has 7 cards they can show a 3 card suit at the level above the invite in case their p can ruff a round thus allowing the partnership to reach a small or a rare grand in trumps (responder has 3 trumps and AK tight in your 3 card suit) If responder is using these invites properly you should have a safe 11 or 12 tricks in nt off the top and if responder does not want to go any higher they merely sign off in 5/6 nt

I am with the pass group---with it being so easy to show my hand if p balances with x a direct bid of 1n should be made with a weaker hand with (gasp) an actual spade stop. Trying to cater to p constantly bidding 1n and never having the opps suit stopped makes bidding decisions impossible. The hand does indeed look like a 1n bid but it has a flaw no spade stopper and thats enough to not bid 1n.

mumble grumble Q Jxxx AQxxx Kxxx something like this then the idea is the same :))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

I use 2n to show two different types of 1s penalty pass hand 2n shows no heart stop (where we are extremely unlikely to want to x the opps 2h bid) x shows a heart stop (in case p wants to convert this to penalty) we use 2s to ask p to pick their best minor or we can raise to 3 of our best minor. This system might wrongside NT on ocassion but it has the extra flexibility to still hammer the opps in a misfit

there is emerganey stayman and garbage stayman the two are somewhat similar but the responses to garbage stayman give up on some major suit games and is not usually a good idea at imps. At MP however has some strengths. Emergency stayman is when you hate the idea of 1n becasue your hand is so weak and you intend to pass whatever p bids. This limits your hand types and should only be used when you have decent fear of being stuck in 1n and can reasonably pass a 2 d/h/s bid from p. Distributions for this type of bid (usually with around 4 hcp max) 4450 4441 3451 4351 ---this treatment requires no alert since it is standard practice. Garbage stayman focuses on finding a safe place to play in the majors OR (depending on partnership agreement on how far they want to go with this treatment) a weak hand with a 4 card major and a 6(5) card minor. The general responses with the expanded version IF OPENER BIDS 2D 2h asks p to pass with 3 hearts or: bid 2s with 3 spades (responder can pass or bid their minor) OR bid 3c with 22 in the majors which responder will pass 2s asks opener to pass with 3 spades or bid 3c which responder will pass IF OPENER BIDS 2H 2s asks opener to pass with 3 spades or to bid 3c which repsonder will pass or bid 3d. IF OPENER BIDS 2S responder will pass or bid their minor. It is important to note that garbage stayman has many more distributions available for use it gives up a fair amount of spade that most feel is better utilized searching for games/slams and this is especially true if you include the minors. Using garbage stayman when you have only 44 in majors can also run into trouble if opener started with 22 in the majors though this does not happen often and at MP will probably result in a merely poorer result than the rest of the field. IMO garbage stayman is a useful tool but I would only use it as a passed had where slam considerations are extremely limited.

WHY do i keep removing my flak jacket lets see my hand was KQ xxxx KQxx QJx right ?? oh no thats what a 3c bid looks like a min with club support better for blocking and warning p of your weakness than anything else. Now the hand shown is a fair bit better than the somewhat ragged collection that one would bid 3c with. IMO (minority though it my be) we should begin with xx. This does a couple of things ---one it shows extra values this could be either w or w/o club support. The point is we don't want to give our poor p the impression we are min or worse min with no fit (where we would pass). Our hand is just short of 15-17 NT with 4 card support. The aces and even dia Q in long suit are all working cards and we should easily have the values for 3n or even 5 of a minor. xx has the additional benefit of keeping the bidding low and since this is almost assuredly our hand keeping the bidding low will probably be advantageous. We have the goods lets let p in on the good news.

I like this hand come on people lets see some skill out there in bbo land:)))))))))))))))) heres a hint its 100% if clubs are 32

if trumps are 41 to the A the defender holding the 4 trumps will get a second trump trick almost 100% of the time by ducking twice or make any ruffs impossible. thus we are pretty much forced to assume trumps are 32. the crossruff line creates too many chances of 2 trump losers there are 2 much more straightforward lops available. ONE trick 1 heart A trick 2 dia to the K (this is a tough duck for lho since p having the dia J is sufficient to set this but assuming it is ducked) trick 3 club to A trick 4 ruff a club trick 5 heart to K trick 6 ruff a club trick 7 spade A pitch heart trick 8 spade K pitch heart trick 9 dia J whomever wins the dia A must be able to return the 4th club and their p has to have the last trump else we are home* this lop works whenever trumps are 32 and clubs 43* not exactly a great slam. It also gives lho a chance to go wrong at trick 2 by taking the trump A. TWO trick 1 heart A trick 2 dia toward K (same reason as option 1) again assuming dia A is ducked trick 3 club finesse* trick 4 ruff club trick 5 spade A pitch heart trick 6 spade K pitch heart trick 7 dia toward T and hand is over This is similar to line ONE works whenever trumps 32 and clubs 43 no exceptions but club finesse has to work. *Who wants to go down at trick 3 on a finesse????

x looking for game we might make game if p has as little as xxxx x Axxx xxxx but there is no sense in hoping for a perfecto hand so we invite hoping that p has sufficient non wasted values to make game plausible 4h its just not feasible p has sufficent power to make give us a great chance in 6h unless the 2n rebid does not show dia stuff. If p can rebid 2n with no dia stop then splinter else sign off. support with support do not torture p bid 3d which should show spade support and inv+ hand. If p has extra values maybe slam is in the picture if p shows minimum be happy with game. I was unsure what your description meant If you meant a bid of 2n was forcing and showed various spade support I would go with that instead of 3d.

who wants to ever take a finesse when squeezes like this might be present ----exactamundo

assuming i can trust p to have a decent heart suit for the vul weak 2 my heart Q should be sufficient a filler to avoid more than 1 heart loser. over 2h I would just key card and sign off in 6h. If i cannot trust p to have a decent heart suit---i will start the bidding with 2s vs 2n since it is quit possible 6s could be vastly superior to 6h or 6n.

its not all strictly about hcp sometimes you can look at a hand and see what you need this had requires p to have around 11 for 5 of a minor but only around 6 for 3n or 4M it seems perfectly reasonable to open this hand 1c and if p bids bid 3n which should describe this hand perfectly allowing opener to rebid their 6+ card major if they have one. If p is broke i will be a ton happier in 1c than any number of nt. i choose 1c

1h 2n j2n i have a huge heart fit and game forcing hand sounds like j2n to me 1s whcih says little just seems to be marking time for no good reason. I dislike using splinter with a side suit becasue the side suit frequently makes splinter biddng inaccurate. 3n 16+ no short suit 4d cue bid 4h no club control life is too simple

where is my flak jacket?? grumble i promised to never leave it far from me when visiting the forum. I shall try and make a case for the meek. The bidding wont end here and if it does the odds we have a game are bound to be small so pass is unlikely to get us killed right from the get go. 4s the huge preempt at these colors seems to fascinate many but the suit lacks body our hand may be playable in diamonds and even worse our 2 aces make slam bidding by the opps improbable. The 4s bid can indeed work but it will work solely on hands where the opps can make 3n 4/5 hearts or 5c. Now this seems like a rather small target to hope for when making a bid since virtually any hand with play for 4s we will find anyway. 3s similar arguments to 4s though a tad safer. The aces will make any competitive bidding by p problematical at best. 2s this hand fall a bit too far outide the normal 2s range in the wrong direction (ie seems too much offensive potential). Opening this 2s will make any decisions p makes about their hand almost gibberish. 1s this has the most potential to get the strain right (aside from pass) with significantly less risk than 3s or 4s. The 2 aces might be a welcome sight if the bidding becomes competitive and p wants to x we have nothing special to fear. Why does it always have to be the opps hand???? When we decide to open 1s is this a hand we want p to take into consideration before they decide to move onto slam?? If p were to make a game forcing raise (say J2n) how do we respond here?? These things should be taken into consideration before deciding on a 1 level opener. Pass has 2 simple disadvantages 1. The bidding might die and we lose out on a spade partial. This hurts but is hardly a long term recipe for disaster. 2. We might lose out on some spall penalties in higly contested auctions because p will be loathe to assume we have 2 aces for our passed hand. Though we might be able to show a surprise defensive holding with a well timed x ourselves. A pass will still allow us to bid 4s later when we at least have a clue the opps have a fit and a probable game somewhere. Our pass might also get the opps to x us and our hand could contain a rather large offensive surprise. This hand is a far cry from say Axxx x Axxxxxx x where opening 1d will probably allow our side to compete in both dia and spades. Our current hand will almost never allow dia to enter the picture if we open 1s (or any number of spades) so it lacks flexibility. IMO pass = 10 1s = 8 3s =5 4s=3 2s=(1.5)

a clear pass over 2s the spade K looks far less valuable and you have essentailly a balanced minimum type of hand. If p has extra values they can press on. after N bids 3s E has a real problem this spade QJ look worthless this hand is is semi balanced. But this hand does have some extras 1 dia fit a couple of doubletons a hand that evaluates to around 12 in diamonds (heavily discounting the spade QJ) and hearts if p has a fit but coulnt act over 2s I would bid 4d here---Yes we may get too high but we will rarely ever be stolen from. if p has a heart fit and near top of a minimum we could have great play for 4h and the difference between going down 1 in 4h vs them making 3s is trivial even if they fail to make 3s we have to be wrong almost 2/3 of the time before it is a bad decision. The weaker your parnership opens the more likely you are to have this decision turn our poorly.

I have tried reading your agreements and both pass and x seem to cover the same types of hands (maybe i just cant understand sigh) Anyway if I understand your system sort of correctly having a club fit alone is insufficient for slam bidding--anytime p is busted you need at least 3 entries to try the heart finesses and the dia finesse and hope at least 1 of them works and you can get a ruff in also--which means you probably cant afford to pull even 1 round of trumps and will risk a ruff by the 4s bidder. Too optimistic. Espeically in light of the fact that you will be expressing slam values by merely bidding 5c and letting p move with values.

I am sort of right on power but i have a ton of intangibles huge trump fit singleton in just the right spot the interior spades greatly improving chance of zero losers downside our dia Q with power to our left may be overrated but at least we have it. My main problem if decidng to take action is how;;;; 4s seems ideal but is too scary as a natural sounding bid 4n no way this hand can suddenly take control 5h seems to be asking p for club control (with a stronger hand) so I chose a simple 5c This does not deny a spade control due to the natural meaning of 4s. If p can bid 5d (this does not promise a spade control for same reason only a desire to compete further) we can then press on with a 5s bid. There is some risk that we will run into a hand where 4h makes exactly (going down 1 extra trick no bid deal). But this is offset by the huge rewards that can be gained if we make slam.

When I am playing inverted minors (on in competition) I have a 2s bid available here to show this type of hand promising a spade stop and long in the other minor and generally weak. This bid alone usually helps p decide on the final contract. W/o this bid available I would rather hazard a 2c bid than almost anything else as being too great a distortion.

AT THESE COLORS where there is almost never a profitable sacrifice- It seems a rather large waste to use a 2s bid as preemtive. I am strongly in favor of using 2s in this type of auction as intermediate. A hand that is good enough for game if p has like 10-11 balanced HCP and a couple of small spades. This is to keep us from getting shut out of the bidding if p lho happens to bid 4h and p just cant do much at these colors (if we happen to make a simple 1s overcall or pass). Having said this I do not advocate a 2s bid with this hand because it falls about a Q short of the needed requirements (or 1 extra spade). On this hand I choose to bid 1s

Until you xx 5s (even trailing by 35 imps a bad idea) there was nothing even remotely forcing about the bidding by your side. The xx changed the picture in the sense you showed power for the first time vs just a willingness to save. Once you xx and W bid 6h your pass was indeed forcing but it was a bad idea with this hand since the bidding has made it clear the it is simply impossible for p to have the cards you need to make 6s. Your p should have x just for partnership harmony.

my answers are mostly too long for multiple questions so I will digress on question 1. Responder rates to have 1 of three hand types and the same mechanism is used to search for 3n. Both hand types are just shy of a 3d raise but are depending on dia length and outside aces to supply the needed 9 tricks for 3n. Responder hand should look roughly like Axx xxx Axx xxxx Axx xxx xxxx Axx AKx xxx Qxx xxx responder bids lowest suit with stopper(s) opener merely rebids 3d if no game interest 4d and even 5d are possible bids with varyng degrees of power and shortness opposite a suit bypassed by responder. If opener is interested in 3n: they can bid 3n they can bid stoppers up the line if they do no have all of them they can bid 2n to show a stopper in a bypassed suit but none above examples (no opp bidding) p 1d 1n 2d 2s 2n (interest in game heart stop no club stop) p 1d 1n 2d 2h 2s (spade stop no club stop) p 1d 1n 2d 2h 3c (club stop no spade stop) note that this system also lends itself to getting to some very difficult 5/6? of a minor contracts. Kx KQx KQJxxxx x Axx xx Axx xxxxx p 1d 1n 2d 2s 2n 3d 5d* note that if responder had bid 3n (club ace) instead of 3d opener should bid 5d since it is probably safer than 3n *if opener has one more dia one less club 6d:) Using this sytem opener does not feel compelled to jump to 4d since responder will invite game whenever there is a reasonable chance at making it.

take advantage of the vulnerability-------------we do not sacrifice at these colors it is just too darned difficult to be that accurate in the bidding at game level. the 5h bid is to make. E bid 5h saying he felt 5h was a reasonable contract opposite a normal 2s x. E was willing to bid 5h despite missing the heart AQ the spade A and the dia A. It is almost impossible to construct a 5h bid from p where 6h does not have play opposite our collection. It is also significant that E passed 5s which means they are not worried about 2 quick spade losers. E might also have x 5s if they bid 5h with a hand like x Kxxxxxxxx xx x to warn p the 5h bid is more on distribution than power. If we trust E bidding we must bid 6h. Blasting to slam (with say 5n pick a slam) has some appeal but west can be significantly stronger and we might still be missing the controls needed for slam say A QJxx KQJx KQxx

2d when you are not SURE (ie 4s is guesswork maybe even 5/6/7 clubs is better) keep the bidding as low as possible. Who know maybe p will bid 3c or 3s either of which might get you heading toward slam. Keeping ti simple is not what this game is all about or else we would have eliminated conventions a longgggg time ago.