gszes

Pretty much all of the example hands show a ton of aces and kings and a side suit as well as good rumps. They would almost be considered miracle hands they are so good. The cue bid telling p we have such a miracle hand is a great idea and on this occassion I would bid 4d (deleted dumb comment) and over 4h bid 4s. The resulting 6h contract is ok but it would be a ton better if that pesky spade Q were the spade K instead. I admit I would not have made the 4c cue bid just because of the spade Q:))))))))))))))))))))))

willing to play and partner with anyone as usual let me know if needed

assuming the 2n promises all side suits stopped at least 1 1/2 times it appears 3n will likley have a greater chance of success than 4h. I would change my bid to 4h if my clubs were xx vs Qx (with the Q elsewhere).

p had an easy opportunity to bid 2s over 2h I fail to see why this x would ask for a spade. My tendency would be to think p has a strong balanced hand not sure which way to go and is merely saying I dont think they can make 2n lead your suit. As a result I will lead a low heart according to our agreed lead system.

I have found it expedient to play x as penalty in FP when I am "behind" the opp bidding the suit. I can easily pass all other hands and give p a chance to penalize. The advantage is that p never has to worry about making a marginal reopening x decision vs say bidding a 5 card suit becasue they are worried you want to penalize. This is not as common as making the x tox but it also far less likely we want to penalize the opps if the length is "in front" of the opps bidding the suit. 1n x p p xx p p 2c p 2s p p x this x has to be more penalty oriented since p did not wish to penalize and is giving you the opportunity (using the logic from the paragraph above). You can always run to 2n (single stop minimum) or bid 3n vul vs nvul with a hand that would pass if nvul vs vul. You can also just bid 3c to show a t/o of the reds (remember you had no desire to penalize 2c) or bid 3d or rarely 3h yourself. IMO there is no reason a FP situation ceases to be forcing just because the suit has changed.

The 3c bid was very reasonable in 4th seat. You have an independent suit and enough tricks to make 3n and rarely 5c feasible opposite a passed hand. Your p should realize what you are doing and bid 3n. There is no sense in opening this hand if you have nothing more than say xx xx xx KQJT9xx the odds heavily favor the opps and we are bett off just passing. This means the preempt is actually a game invite with an independent suit but with a minimum power hand (like yours). Well done.

agree with 2s--cant even find much positive to say about any alternatives.

based on the assumption of w having spade length if w has 44 in the minors they can have at most 1 heart. At trick 8 (we would already know w was 44 in the minors) leading a heart toward the K at that point will net us not only a heart trick but an overtrick when we then throw lho in with the 4th dia. We are held to 9 tricks only if lho started with the stiff heart A. If we throw in lho with say the 4th club we can safely pitch a heart and assure ourselves of making 3 but we give up the free shot at the overtrick.

3s is trying too hard to thread the needle by finding a spade fit. If p has clubs and "sacs" at 5c its bad period. The opps have found a fit and are looking for game at least that leaves p with precious lttle resources. The x was poor no matter how much you envision in p hand while all of your values are in opps suit the also seem to be finessable with the bidding reinforcing the concept of your probable distribution. You might easily have zero tricks not a great hand to x with.

read the opinions posted here and hope that your spidey-sense tingles (warning you of danger) whenever you start thinking of making a gambling x with little/no reason to try it:))))))))))))))

interesting hand I would try the following spade Q club A club Q if clubs break no worse than 42* dia K dia A if dia break no worse than 42** we are cold by cashing out dia (if they are 33) then clubs (if they are 33) then leading a low heart toward hand covering rho play. *If clubs are 51 and rho has the clubs cash 2 rounds of dia ending in dummy and lead a low heart toward hand covering rho card. If lho returns a heart or spade we have 9 so they must continue dia--we win and if suit breaks 33 we have 9 if not we throw in lho and endplay them. *if LHO has the 5 clubs cash 2 rounds of dia ending in dummy and lead low heart covering rho card. if lho continues dia (they split 33) or hearts or spades u make so they return a club. win and return another heart from dummy covering rho card. Lho must win this else u have 9 tricks but they are then exhausted of hearts and dia and must give u trick 9 with a spade after cashing their 2 clubs. ** if dia are 51 and rho has the dia. cash the club K (if suit breaks 33 we have 9) if lho has length lead the 4th club and endplay lho if rho has the club length lead a low heart covering rho card immediately endplaying lho. ** if dia are 51 and lho has the dia play the club K (if suit breaks 33 we have 9) then a dia to hand and another dia. lho wins and can cash their dia (we pitch a heart) but they must then lead a spade or heart and we have 9. The above depends on the opening lead from 4+ spades if that assumption is wrong all bets are off:)

if the opps have all the cards us bidding 2c wont make any difference to our side. If the deck is more evenly split we can become a vastly superior competitor by introducing our dia now and raising clubs later. I would not even hesitate to bid 3c if bidding went 1c x 1d 2s p p 3c because p knows we have at least 5 dia for this bid and not good enough to xx so we can play in our best spot.

p has to have decent clubs to attack with that suit vs spades. You know continuing clubs is probably a bad idea. If you tell p you have the spade A p may feel they have time to try clubs first and then fall back on spades. We cannot see through the backs of the cards but it seems more likely p will try to eliminate the spade K if we deny the A vs saying we have it.

while many feel a 1S overcall is ok I think it is one of those bids you make praying you will survive the first round of the bidding. I like x by a whole ton vs 1s. E did not have a reopening x (too much spade length so their p is probably broke) and your side should have been saddled with 1s (I am not going to bid 2h as w here with a doubleton spade). Your hand and spade suit are strong enough to x and then bid your suit so that is my suggested route and look what happens-------1d x p 2h look how easy it is to bid 2s now to show your spades and extra values (forcing). Opps are probably silent now and bidding proceeds 1d x p 2h p 2s p 4h* p 4n p 5h 6h *since 2s is forcing w can pattern out. W was very close to being able to bid 3h over the x and now takes the opportunity to show the 1 suited nature of their hand.

there is little difference between this sequence and 2s p p X p. I have some limits on my hand since I was unable to bid over 2d (same with p over 2h). We have no trouble showing some power with a 3c bid but that does not seem to do this hand justice. There seems to be little reason to assume we cannot have have a game. Lho did not raise to 3s and could make a pass while totally broke. 3c would start to show this hand but I can bid 3c with a k less and no hint of a spade stop. I think this hand deserves a bit stronger treatment. 3s. If p is very short in spades we might reach a difficult to bid game this way or p might surprise us and bid 3n on some occassions.

I would start with 3h if p cannot bid 3n then chances for slam are probably no better than 5050---who knows maybe p will be able to bid 4d if no 3n and slam will look better than ever?? A good rule of thumb when no clear action presents itself is to keep the bidding as low as possible you never know what will happen next.

X just in the rare case p want to hammner 1s if p bids 1n I bid 2n 2c I bid 2s 2d I bid 3c 2h I pass 2s (guessing p is maybe 1444 5 points 5c 2n 3n 3c 3s 3d 3s 3h 4h If p bids more I am totally lost:) but I will try and muddle through with my powehouse.

before we can proceed what would 1c p 1d p 1h 1s 3d have meant???? if that is invitational then the cue bid must make the sequence of bidding 3d after 2s gf cant have a system with two or more bids meaning the same thing:) what p does not bid is just as important as what p bids.

lets assume the bidding goes 1c 1n p p x p 2h p 2s it is my contention this 2s bid merely shows a dislike of 2h. This can be with a variety of balanced powerhouse hands or even a defensive type of 64 similar to AKxx xx AKQ Kxxx AQxx x AQ KQxxxx this allows you to save the 2s bid for hands similar or even slightly better (offensively) than the example hand. the two examples shown take considerably more power from p to make a game. The ability to bid 2s here with a highly offensive hand will allow p to make a quick decision on where and how high to go.

both highly reasonable minimum 1n bids just remember if p makes a mild slam try hand 1 is worth pursuing slam (all controls) hand 2 is not.

i will assume the x by w was support so the e robot witha 15 count and no 5 card heart suit should bid 2s to try and set a game force. 2h can be bid with a 6 point hand and 4 hearts robots sheesh

p 1h response has a huge range. Our hand is worth around 17 a perfect 2h bid. This allows p to compete to 3h (with say an ace) if lho bids 3d and to go to 4h if they are closer to the top of their 1h bid.

when you start to talk about options please list them all for ex is 3c/d/h all invite+? what about 3s?? does your x for takeout promise 4h? what about 4c/d? I would not x 3s and would pass over 2s if forced to choose from the options given. Since there is almost never any need to bid with garbage (like there is when responding to a weak 2 tox from p) there is rarely much need to "compete" with a weakish one suited hand that can play only at the three level. Consider freeing up your 2n bid as competitve in the minors (at least over major suit interference) and you have this hand nailed right from the get go.

With a powerhouse balanced hand you would x and assuming p will pull to 2h with zip you can then bid 2s but you cant show this hand that way. If p has little more than jxxxx xxx xxx xx I want to be in 4s and the only way to show this type of hand is to bid 2s now. P will not bid game on their own after 2s but they should at least raise to 3s with 5 card support for your suit. this hand is much more offensive in nature than defensive so x here does this hand an overall disservice while 2s pinpoints the 2 suited/offensive nature of your hand.

When I first started playing around 17000 years ago a wise man told me the more hcp you have concetrated in your long suits the more offensive in nature your hand is. With lots of HCP in your short suits the more defensive your hand is. The overwhelming majority of my "stuff" is in my long suits. This is a very offensive oriented hand not defensive. I would save x for hands like KQxxx Axxxx KJ A. The current hand is much more suited to a 3h bid where p can appreciate the game potential of their xx Qxxx xxxx xxx hand. Bidding 3h does not bid your hand twice it merely helps p decide if you hand is more offensive or defensive in nature.