gszes

while p is counting on me for 7 hcp for the overcall, I am a tiny bit short in that department, This hand contains the small possibility of 3 spade ruffs with a decent shot at 2 spade ruffs. It is rare indeed to have a hand that exceeeds p expectations by two tricks and a trump fit. At MP I would bid 3h but at IMPS 4h. If opps bid 4s and p passes I can X showing 1 defensive trick (4h promising none) and leave the rest up to p. If P made a vul lead director they will quickly look for another partner or maybe not bid so much in the future. Another benefit to 4h (vs 3) is the opps are much more likely to misguess p heart distribution when they are deciding how/if to compete.

if W has the AK of clubs there is a fair probability they would have led the Club K at trick 2 to tell p how to get back to their hand after the spades were set up. The absence of that play leads me to assume E has one top club honor and since no 2s raise with 3 to an honor it seems far more likely E has J97 vs (K97 or KJ7) and I will guess to insert the Q.

I have seen this type of bidding from some se european players---the 3s bid is a strong hand vs preemtive something like 16 and at least 5 spades. KJTxx void Axxx AKxx or some such concoction the x of 4h merely says they think they will beat 4h. Bid 4s.

after winning the A I exit a heart at trick 2 if another heart comes back at trick 3 ruff small and dont worry about the overruff. win whatever return in your hand and draw 3 rounds of trumps (hoping they didnt split 5/1) lay down a top dia (if rho didnt return a dia at trick 3) go to dummy in clubs and take dia finesse. You make 4 as long as trumps no worse than 42 (RHO having 4) and you make 5 if the dia finesse works. If trumps split 5/1 you need the dia finesse to make 4. This line also takes into consideration the possibility of W bidding 3h on a 6 card suit as it eliminates hearts from RHO hand.

opening 1d and rebidding 1n LIMITS the hand (to say 15-17 balanced) the 2d rebid can usually be made with a much wider range of hands. The downside of not rebidding 1n with this balanced hand is that p never knows you are so balanced. Somewhere below or at game level the one of the undefined hands need to define itself and a sign off at 4s (over 4h) is a place to start even though it is too late IMO.

If your p 4s bid was an attempt to show a minimum or worse then whatever you did prior to that was fine. Knowing you are at least 54 the !H!C kings rate to have significant waste in an otherwise minimum hand. Bidding is a game of % somedays poor slams come home like this one I would not tweak a bidding system because you get a poor result on a well bid hand. Look for holes when your bidding LOOKS bad. You did not want to be in slam after seeing the combined hand right???

pass what BAD could happen is that p might think your hand is distributional (ie minors). Just because p bid 1s does NOT mean they have a poor hand they know you passed originally and they could be underbidding their values because they think game chances are slim to none opposite a passed hand. 1s is certainly playable even with 34 so leave it alone and dont do anything here that might encourage p to bid em up some more.

I admit I would have risen with the K at trick one followed by club to A (and if no honor from lho) the K. If an honor fell at trick 2 from lho I would go to dummy via heart and take the club finesse (even if it lost lho may not be certain the q of dia was not guarded). Once all of this fails we need to decide is it worth taking 4 clubs and down a probable 1 trick (losing 4d and 1c) or going for the very unlikely chance the hearts are coming in and risking a probable extra undertrick. First of all, even if hearts don't break 33 there is a 25% chance the QJ will be onside and we will be no worse off than if we had just given up a club. But the real deal changer is while 3n is the probable contract at the other table 4h and 5c are both possible and the 4h players are going for the double finesse. If it works and we just gave up on it we are looking at a large loss since the 4h/5c players wont care about how dia break. Since we are not looking at alternative ways to make our contract risk vs reward generally dictates looking for even tiny margins of success when only 1 extra undertrick is involved, especially when other contracts may have been bid and made. Given those circumstances maybe even a 99-1 shot is preferable to giving up. Few teams will gloat or teammates get upset over 3 imps but both might if there was a legitimate chance to avoid a game swing.

4 different 2c bids 1. xx x A432 AKJxxx 2. Kx x xxxx AKQxxx 3. x 3 Axxx AKxxxxx 4. xx K Axxx AQxxxx over 3s p will probably bid the following way 1. x 2. 3n 3. pass 4. 4h the above 4 choices dont include the myriad hands where p has heart support and wants to see what we do over 3s before proceeding. The choice of 4d accomplishes a lot---it lets p know we dont have "stuff" in spades (great opposite their probable shortness) it also is discouraging since we did not repeat hearts or raise clubs. P will also know that if we have 4 dia the heart suit was so much better (yet not good enough to bid 4h) that a 2d bid seemed wrong vs 2h. Most likley we have bid a fragment. jlogic got this thread off to a good start then we went astray:))) The x in the direct seat to show no special bid to make is an important weapon in gf auctions. This is mainly because it allows x in the po seat to be more penalty oriented.

if the bidding were to go say p p p 1d p 1h p 2d even with my 4 dia I would rebid my 7 bagger in hearts because it is our best shot at game. Thinking that way we are probably best served by warning p about the 1 suited nature of our hand asap and start with 2h

at IMPS I am willing to take risk 1 imp when 1n x makes exactly 3 (380vs400 of 580vs600) and pass ALL balanced hands (that have no slam interest) saving any future X for penalty. Over the x my xx is a relay to 2c where I "normally" have a WEAK 1 suited hand and will pass or bid it at 2 level this method is also they way to show all most invitational + distributional hands that cant stand the thought of 1n x 2n shows the minors invite ie xx x KJxxx KJxxx 3c shows hearts and a minor 3d by p asks for minor 3h = clubs 3s = dia 3d shows spades and a minor 3h by p asks for minor 3s = clubs 3n = dia 3h shows both majors 3s strong (single suit undisclosed) major suit hand looking for slam opener cue bids or bids 4h to try and sign off 3n strong minor suit hand ie xx x AKxxx Axxxx 4c strong club/major hand 4d strong dia major hand 4h strong both majors directly over the x bids at the 2c/2d/2h (see MP below)are WEAK 2 suited or 3 suited hands asking p to bid lowest 3 card suit or pass. 2s invitational club hand ie xx xxx xx (KQxxxx AQxxxx AKxxxx) 2n invitational dia hand ie xx xxx (KQxxxx AQxxxx AKxxxx) xx 3c long weak club suit headed by A or K and out xx xxx x A/Kxxxxx 3d long weak dia suit headed by A or K and our xx xxx A/Kxxxxx x 3h invitational hand with 6 + hearts 3s invitational hand with 6 + spades 3n club suit looking for slam opener bids 4c to deny slam interest or cue bids 4c dia suit looking for slam opener bids 4d to deny slam interest or cue bids 4d texas 4h texas there is more but thats the basic outline. AT MP it is understandable that risking a bad result for 1nx making 3 seems like a poor risk. Directly over the x we use the following bids and we keep the system in place where xx is a relay to 2c. 2c = stayman 2d = transfer invitational + we can xx and bid 2h to show a weak hand with hearts 2h = transfer invitational + we can xx and bid 2s to show a weak hand with spades 2s = xfer to clubs opener bids 2n to show willingness to play 3n opposite 6 clubs 2 of top 3 2n = xfer to dia opener bids 3c to show willingness to play 3n opposite 6 dia 2 of top 3 3n = to play 4d = texas 4h = texas

bid of opps suit at 5 level = 1 suited hand (any) exclusion blackwood i.e. A void KQJT9xxx KQJT IMO after a bidding sequence like this p is a huge favorite to have at least 1 minor ace so the gamble is worth it. 4n followed by (over minor suit bid) 5h = spades and other minor 4n followed by (5c 5d or 5h) 5s = single suited spades worried about spades ie QJTxxxxxx void AKQ A p would step bid spade stuff ----P = none ----5n = Q or xxx(xx) 6c asks how many spades --------6d = 1 or 2 --------6h = 3 --------6s = 4 ----6c = stiff K ----6d = stiff A ----6h = Kx or Ax ----6s = Kxx or Axx ----6n = 2 of top 3 and 2 side aces (should be sufficient for 7n but let p bid it anyway) ----7c = 2 of top 3 and club A ----7d = 2 of top 3 and dia A ----7h = 2 of top 3 and heart A ----7s = 2 of top 3 5c to play range is so wide as to make slam exploration hazardous 5d to play range is so wide as to make slam exploration hazardous 5h exclusion blackwood single suited hand 5s spade slam try but no heart control 5n pick a slam 3 suited hand AKQx x AKQx AKQx (if we are too high ah well) 6c/6d/6s bid 7 with A or K in bid suit (it is our trump suit) AK void KQJT8765432 void 6h bid 7n with an ace else bid 6n AK KQ AK AKQJxxx

As you learn more and more about squeeze play you may become one of many that prefer to make a contract on a squeeze rather than a finesse:)))) However, once you get much beyond the concepts of 1. secondary assumption -- something HAS to work a certain way so you assume it does and then come up with a lop that caters to that. 2. distributional squeezes and endplays. 3. learning basic math like is it more likely that a finesse will win or an opps suit break 33. 4. ruffing finesses. we are talking about contracts that generally have a small chance of making and the squeezes involved require a lot of study. (when they work it feels good though). How much work you put into this great game is up to you. It can be enjoyed by players with a huge range of skills. One of the big downsides of learning is that the thrill of accomplishment has a tendency to be replaced by a been there done that attitude to most problems. The much rarer "odd" contract or bidding sequence is what keeps the most skilled players entertained:))) In case you wonder why top level players seem to bid more it is because they have a very large treasure trove of information on how to play esoteric contracts:) The more you learn the more you will want to bid em up:) 4.

yes but just barely I play the x as a strong nt 16 1/2 + OR a 1 suited hand similar to Ax Axx KQJTxx xx both are designed to be penalty and I want p to leave them in with say 6+ roughly balanced (straining to bid 2c if unable to stand the x) OR with weak one or 2 suiter to bid their (lowest) suit. I would be a ton happier with this hand with some tens thrown in

1n over 1s it seems totally natural your hand has actually gotten better with the spade bid to your right. There is indeed valid reason to fear getting slaughtered because it will happen sometimes. The same fear can be applied to virtually any 1 level opening bid. There is no special reason to assume we will get slaughtered here. p as a passed hand can easily have enough for us to make a game and even if not playing in a partial might not be so bad since we can almost play it double dummy. W/o the 1s bid we would bid 1n w/o even thinking about it p as a passed hand or not. Why would we even consider not making the same call when the bid to our right makes our hand better???????????? The fact that p did not open is not a huge shock since p would need close to 100% of the remaining hcp to open. That is just as anti % as assuming lho will have the remaining hcp. So the main argument here seems to be that lho is favored to have about 1 1/2 more hcp per hand and that is not enough to consider altering my normal bidding. If one of the opps ask you what 1n means answer strong and balanced be afraid very afraid:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

at mp I would bid 3d since it keeps the bidding open and stretching for games isnt that important. Yes it is indeed an underbid but I can compete further if needed. I am trying to avoid a zero and it is usually easier to avoid a zero by underbidding a tad than overbidding. at IMPS I would hazard a "crapshoot" 3n. I dont just have 9 hcp I have 3 dia tricks and a club stopper and the dia suit will provide entries to allow me to make finesses that are a favorite to win. Its a gamble but 3n might actually be safer if lho is short in clubs and the opps get a dia ruff they cant get in 3n. P will know I probably have only 1 club stopper since I would prefer a penalty pass to 3n with 2 club stops. I show some stuff and p gets to make the last decision with some knowledge.

defense is hard with T9xx I would lead the T mainly because we usually need to quickly form a picture of plausible declarer hands in order to know how to defend and signal (GOALS). On rare occassion leading the T will cost a trick but on most other occassions it will help partnership in some way with our GOALS. the lead of the T here would go a long way to helping us define openers hand. We lead 4th best normally in order to help indicate where we have some "stuff" and this helps p with hand evaluation. Leading 4th best from essentially nothing defeats that purpose. Note how everyone is assuming p does not have the Q and is explaining the carding based on that assumption. I assume everyone else was thinking the spade T would be automatic from T9xx. I hope that is the case here. We normally lead low from JTxx because there is a high degree of probabilty we can establish a trick via power with T9xx those odds take a nosedive and leading the T will generally work better for overall hand evaluation.

There are 2 things required for a grand slam search 1. The player searching for 7 must be sure they they want to play in at least 6. 2. If a trump suit is involved (vast majority of the time) the trump suit must be set OR if not set for certain the other plausible trump suit must be above the current one. If condition 2 exists the parnership needs to agree that all grand slam searches that begin at the 5 level or higher assume the current trump suit will be in force until at least the 6 level. within the constraints shown above the only way for south to search for a grand is if they have 2 first round and 2nd round of the other suit controlled (as well as having pretty good trumps headed by the A at least) at a minimum. This hand qualifies with 1 since we all agree that reaching 6d is reasonable. Unfortunately since hearts is still a plausible suit we must decide to play 5h as a natural conversion (an idea that makes little sense at imps but could be a mp consideration) or we can agree to not allow hearts to become the trump suit until the 6 level. I am going to assume the latter. With no control information exchanged S can only search for a grand with "pretty good trumps including the A" 2 first round controls and the "other" suit 2nd round controlled at least. This means we are looking for either a first round control or a second round control since we have only one level to search. If we need more forget looking for 7 not enough space (good advice in all cue bidding efforts). We do not use 5n as GSF it is saved for the lowest level suit we cannot bid naturally in order. That means that here with dia agreed we would bid 5h to ask about hearts 5s to ask about spades and 5n to ask about clubs. If the trump suit was spades --5n asks about hearts 6c about clubs and 6d about dia etc. P goes to 6 level of agreed trump suit with no control. Else p step bids 1st step 2nd round 2nd step void 3rd step A (p bypasses 6 of the agreed trump suit if necessary for these steps) This hand bidding goes (after 5d) 5n asking about club control 6c = 2nd round control 6d = no control 6h = void 6s = ace If we cant place the contract after this we probably should not be looking for 7. These situations crop up a lot and being able to ask about where help is needed is a ton more useful than trying to just cuebid in general.

I would try the spade K--- one possible defense is p is void in hearts and the only way we can get a ruff in is if we retain the lead and make a heart switch. It is very unlikely leading the spade K will cost us a trick and it might just be a lifesaver. If the spade K holds we would see the dummy and hopefully make a much more informed decision about what to do at trick 2.

The 8 was forced and the plays of the 3/2 were trying to tell u that p prefers hearts to clubs yet probably has something in clubs because a small club pitch would tell the story better. If p played the 2/3 the reverse would have been true w/o a small heart pitch. P can count 3 spades 4 dia and one heart if we return the heart J so p should never make the mistake of rising with the A and hoping we have something like AQT of clubs because it is totally safe to duck and see what happens. If declarer wins the heart and continues hearts then p can rise with the A and try the desparation club J return. For all of you out there paying attention please please do not raise a 15 17 1n to 3n with that rag of a dummy which in all fairness should probably pass 1n since it needs almost a miracle in openers hand to make 3n (at imps vul we can make a case for a 2n invite)

I think the running of the clubs is a great idea but IMO I would run all 5 of them and pitch 3 small hearts from dummy. We can see that those 4 hearts might be needed to keep opps from taking 5 tricks (4h 1d) but they wont know that for sure unless we make them suspicious by keeping what appear to be 4 otherwise useless cards. It is VERY hard for opps to know the importance of keeping 4 hearts for ex rho starting with Kxxx might let go of a heart once we reduce dummy to a singleton heart.

2s 1. My 3 "small" spades barely qualifies as support 2. If p is anywhere minimum for overcall ruffing several hearts may be an illusion. 3. We let p know of our support and limit our defense to around 1 trick and change (about what we have) 4. If it goes p p p we are in spades anyway (I know this will happen as often as people agreeing with my bids) 5. this is the only bid aside from pass where I have zero problems respecting a 4h x from p (I would pull 3h x to 4s and be ready to apologize if p had KQJT of hearts). 6. This will be best chance of getting p involved while armed with a good approximation of how our combined hands will fair in any defensive situation. 7. For once we have something in reserve if p can make some sort of noise over there. Who knows maybe we can play 4s x with our void surprise but I dont want to be in 4s opposite almost any minimum overcall p may have. I think the problem is that most are failing to take into consideration that the 2h bid has probably downgraded p hand and therefore are entirely too optimistic and risk a very large penalty. With a 2s bid we let p decide if their hand has gotten worse or not because they can see their hand. If you cannot stomach a 2s bid go for jlogic limit raise which is close from an offensive standpoint but overstates defensive potential if auction gets higher.

sorry about late response (dont know why i didnt see this one) 3n 3s deserves around a 1 because it is right ONLY when we make 3s and practically nothing else. 3s also gives p the impression we are probably unbalanced (not very true) or dont have the values and/or stoppers needed to bid 3n (completely untrue). A huge downside of 3s is that it can be bid on significantly less power than we have making further bidding difficult. Even worse p might make the assumption we actually have something resembling a decent spade suit. follow up 4c both majors 4d transfer (h) 4h transfer (s) 4s transfer (to other minor) 4n quantitative assuming we have 20 hcp for our 3n bid

I freely admit we will beat 2s but it looks like the penalty will be either 200 or 500 (via 5 spades + one random trick). This seems insufficient in light of the fact we seem to be overwhelming favorites to score up 600 for 5d making and might be losing out on various slam bonuses (7d anyone)? Even though I will not make a penalty pass there seems to be no reason why we have to go jumping all over the galaxy when we have no idea how high we might be able to go. A 5d bid certainly is close to right on values but takes up so much space that slam exploration deserves hazardous duty pay. This hand deserves more. IMO we should begin with 3s While we never expect to hear 3n we are doing something very interesting. We are telling p that our hand is distributional enough to suddenly become very powerful in light of the fact we had to pass over 2s. P might not know what that distribution is but they know we have lots of potential in one (or maybe both) of the minors. After this start you have lots of room to search for slam and p can limit their power. If perchance p does bid 3n then we should play there (and wish we had passed 2s X). Bidding 3s pretty much forces us to 5d which wont always (void KQJxx Qxxx KQJx) make but the risk is worth the reward and the reward might be ten times greater than the bonus for an original pass. bonus question P might have as little as say void KQxxx Kxxx Axxx and may be considerably stronger. The balancing tox is more of a distributional device than a power one but it can be both.

TY