gszes

It may be because I am a simple soul but Nige1 seems to have the best approach. It is easy to do (not much guesswork) and still works against a reasonable amount of opps possible holdings. The play to trick 2 low to the J (vs low to the spade T) has the same 50% chance of making and then the vienna coupe type squeeze can work against both opps. The compound type squeeze set up by playing a spade to the T (and losing) is much more limited since it is possible for both opps to guard hearts and even to try it requires a guess as to when and how to perform it (maybe that's what scares me the most). Nige1 works when either opp has 4d and the spade K OR when lho is guarding both dia and hearts .there is nothing the opps can do and it requires no guesswork merely counting the suits.

3nt I say this w/o a great deal of enthusiasm since I think it will be right more often than x but not by much. The only real problem I have with x is how do i feel about 4d. After x i am feeling trapped but 4d after I bid 3n is a source of joy. 3N will not keep p from bidding 4h if their suit is self sufficient. It is highly unlikely we want to defend this hand at these colors so the possible conversion to penalty is also a negative for x. The problem with 4 clubs is there are only a small number of hands where they will make and 3n has no play. I do not want to get into 5c since it is pretty much a mastermind even if it works. 3n = 7 x = 6 4c = 4

Slam bidding takes a lot of work and that is why you see so many players just blast to small slam since they do not know or have little confidence their p will be on the same page they are. Your bidding was sound enough to get you to 3n (*picture responder's hand as KQ432 5 KQ7643 A) and all you needed to do was take the bidding a step further. How to bid is largely system dependent but playing standard there is a nice bid available after 3n and that is 4c. Once clubs have been bid naturally, as they have given your bidding, pulling 3n to 4c is a slam try. Note that responder's hand can have all kinds of values. If p does not wish to go slamming they try to sign off in 4n. Anything else is a cue bid (yes even 4h would be a cue bid). There is a TON of information that can be exchanged from here and it might take 3/4 pages to describe it all. I will just give you the sequence and you and partner can decide if you want to pursue this line of slam search (and research:)). after 3n 4c slam try 4d cue (*with other responder hand provided this would be a 4n sign off try instead) 4h willing to sign off no spade control (heart suit should be 1 loser max 6+ to bid this way else sign off in 5c) 4s cue (ace) 4n rkc for hearts 5d 0 or 3 (1430 responses) can't be zero after promising the spade ace 7n MP We can count 5c 6h and 2 side aces as a minimum unless p has extremely radical distribution so 7N is the way to go at MP 7H IMPS Just in case responder has a singleton in clubs we hedge a bit and bid 7h since it scores as well as 7n and is a teeny tiny bit safer. Once can make the case for bidding 7h at MP as well since grand slams are not usually bid and 7h rates to be a tiny bit safer. Unless responder has really radical distribution this should make 13 tricks the hedge at 7h at IMPS is becasue 7h might be just a tad easier to make if responder has a singleton/void in clubs.

I chose to duck and at trick 2 would win the heart ace. We are in big trouble if south has the spade A since they can rise with it and return a dia to make our lives really miserable. That means we almost have to assume N has the spade A and that means our best shot appears to be playing for 3s 3h 1d 2c so trick 3 go with the spade 9 intending to finesse. We are trying to score up tricks while keeping south off lead and this approach gives us a great chance.

An odd poll at best it almost makes it seem that any other lead than a heart has some sort of merit. Maybe better would be ask what % players would assign to a spade heart dia or club lead and the final solution might more closely resemble reality than merely choosing 1234. For ex: I would rate a heart 98% Spade 1.5% dia .5% and club 0%. Note that the other 3 would really never get any serious consideration. Doing the poll this way is sort of like asking which player would you rather have as a partner 1. Benito Garozzo or 2. Gszes. The two players do not even belong in the same conversation and trust me gszes would be more than happy stating that he came in second behind Benito Garozzo (even if it meant leaving out some important details) in a partnership poll:)

This will need some luck but I think best is to try and take advantage of our hidden dia assets. Win trick 1 in hand and lead the dia 9. East has no reason to assume we have any more diamonds and if their p has the dia Q they will never score it anyway. Rising with the ace seems reasonable, if east fails to play the ace you might as well run the 9 since you need some luck anyway. Even if east rises with the ace and makes the :obvious: spade shift you are not out of the woods yet. If the defense fails to find a (kind of obvious looking) spade switch (after winning the ace) you should be fine winning 2d 3h 3c and cross ruffing the last 2. If they switch to spades though the entry situation becomes tenuous at best. We will most likely have to hope for 43 dia 33 clubs and 32 hearts. That's a pretty small target but it is a very sketchy game anyway.

It appears the opps are missing a key card (and we are staring at it) and they did not bother to ask for the trump Q when they easily could have so that means they probably do not care we also have the trump Q. Rho undoubtedly holds a dia control but that should be irrelevant to our thinking since the heart suit should provide plenty of parking spaces for losers. dia A not only because I think it will go away if we do not take it but if p can eke out J9x of spades taking a dia trick might be our only chance of setting this. I m unconcerned with finding a heart void with partner since no lightner x. I would do this at both MP and IMPS.

IHMO this is a bad time to apply restricted choice. There is no reason rho can assume lho does not need spade count since they may need to know when to take their (presumed) spade K. rho does not know we have 11 top tricks and we might very well need the spade suit so rho must make sure lho ducks the 2nd round of spades by giving accurate count with the JT. Does that mean this is a toss up? We know we need lho to hold 3 spades and rho to hold 2 spades thus making lho a 3/2 favorite to hold the spade K. Rise with the Q The fact that this agrees with restricted choice is a happy coincidence:)

I am somewhat torn between 3s and x (pass a distant 3rd) and eventually settled for 3s because the reward side is massively greater than x and the risk is significantly minimized. I do not fear x because If the opps can figure out to run to hearts (after you invited game in hearts) quit showing them your cards. The problem with the current bidding is that partner is no longer a participant because they have no clue you have spade fit. You could easily be void for all they know and have 3d easily handled so they will almost never pull with a weak defensive hand. You two must open some horrific weak 2 bids vul to not consider inviting game with your collection. 2s is not an invite it merely states that you have no desire for game if p has spades. Even if p is near the top of their weak 2 (unless they have AQJTxx) they should not move over 2s since you could easily have a singleton or void. 3s = 9 x = 6 p = 4

South 80% I would have started with 1n as south vs 2c. It lets p know we have :wasted: power in spades (in case they have a really strong hand) and at least gives p some idea of our power. the 2c emphasizes a 4 card minor and show nothing in the way of power. It is this latter fact that probably led to the 3sx since south felt they had not done enough with their meager 2c bid. In many ways the 3sx was a self inflicted wound. North 20% North does not escape blame here. How can they possibly expect to beat 3s when their partner is not only in front of the long spades but they were unable to bid 1n? The opps appear to have at least a 9 card spade suit and the x of 3c means our longest and strongest suit (in theory anyway) will not be taking many tricks (if any). All of this is bad news for deciding to pass 3sx. Running to 4c in the teeth of 3c x surely looks unappealing but it would seem to be far safer than letting the opps play 3sx North's pass seemed more geared toward making p the goat in the post mortem when they should have acted like a teammate.

I down graded it to 67 mainly because lho raised clubs making it slightly less likely the suit will split 32 :)))))))))))))

5s We had visions of sugar plums when p bid 2n and 6c or 6s certainly seemed like a realistic goal. As the bidding has gone on and partner has said they have a poor hand (i assume that does NOT include minimum control rich hands) slam has slowly slipped by the way side. The bidding has revealed something very interesting. The opps have a huge heart fit (10 card fit hardly unreasonable) but rho does not have a lot of spades (would YOU be sacrificing if you held AJTx in spades?) since they could have preempted immediately (in my system that is 3N bid your major). If rho is short in spades that means lho may easily be 46 in the majors and 5h might have some serious play or go down 300 at worst. That is small potatoes compared to the vul game bonus we would be giving up defending 5h. It is barely plausible the opps have a AAK combination they can set us with off the top and if we have trump holes it would seem lho is finesseable. I would much rather gamble on the 5 level here since I would much rather defend 6hx than 5hx and the percentage of 5s failing should be under 20% so the overall risk vs reward favors 5s.

PASS for many reasons 1. You have no reason to fear 1n your side has 21-23 hcp balanced opposite balanced. 2. Do not even dream of xx either as a runout (see 1 above) or penalty (giving opps another chance to avoid the disaster that is probably awaiting them). IMPS OR MP 3. The x gives your partner a VERY good idea on how to play the hand which most declarers will not have. 4. Your partner's 12-14 is BEHIND their 12-14 making your partners hand stronger and the opp's hand weaker than normal. 5. You not only have 9 hcp but a pretty fair number of intermediates which increase the chances of your making it. 6. Take advantage of the fact that the opps have made a mistake in competing this time. They probably have meta rules that prohibit the opps from playing 1N or 2M and this time the rule is a heavy favorite to fail. Sit back relax and enjoy the carnage. As an aside these types of hands are the main reason opener should never be starting a run out or running from 1n on their own. Save the running for responder because they will have a far far better idea on the advisabiity of playing 1n x. Responder should be able to xx if they wish to start a run out sequence or bid any suit naturally as an escape (IMHO).

while we do not have many hearts the quality is pretty good. On average we will probably make 4h or be very close and the good hearts make it tough for lho to find a penalty x (which is our main concern). That means most of the risk is minimized and there is still a decent amount of reward available for bidding.

Any game of % (like bridge) is bound to have time where things are anti-favorite. 67% chance of 32 heart split means 33% chance they will not split. You got unlucky and are in a totally normal spot. Life happens and be happy with your bidding.

The deck appears to be split about even so p hand is probably around our power + a tad more yet there was nothing but silence. The failure to balance seems to indicate some sort of problem. My guess if p has 5 hearts and a couple of clubs but the heart suit is somewhat broken so no x for a heart and no balancing 2h bid. Yet a heart lead might easily be the only way to set this hand. This is reinforced my lho failure to rebid hearts over 1n. !h 9 I would probably consider a club lead at MP where setting their contract is not so important as avoiding giving a trick away (something the !H9 might do even if it sets up hearts).

Yet another in a longgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg line of reasons I am not winning the Spingold any time soon

An early start eh?)))) ok I will be around in case I am needed

3n partners failure to overcall and subsequent 3s bid seems to indicate possession of a really ratty 5 card suit and around 8 hcp I am hoping for something like Q6543 AQ 543 432. With any luck whatsoever we should walk away with 4s (starting with low toward the Q) 2h 2c 1d. I fear 4s will far too often be set with an opening dia lead. Does this type of hand make you secretly wish your side was playing transfers over 3d i.e. 3d x = 3h bid 3h = 3s bid?

6n First order of business it to duck a dia in order to rectify the count for any squeeze that might work. trick 1 win spade Q in hand trick 2 play a dia toward the T If lho insert an honor win the A and return to hand with the heart K and lead another dia toward the T (if it wins OR lho rises with the other honor the hand is over if it loses morph into lop for the T loses first round*. trick 3* If the dia T loses the first round win whatever is returned with the ace of the suit lead. trick 4 dia to the K trick 5 dia to A to see if dia split 33. If yes hand is over if no then if lho has the 4th dia squeeze chances are dramatically reduced so finesse in clubs trick 6 club to the ace trick 7 club to the J one way or another the hand is over. if rho has the 4th dia now squeeze chances look decent and I would try the following trick 6 heart K this will leave the heart 9 as a threat card against one or both opps Vienna coupe or the heart QJ drop doubleton trick 7/10 spades (saving your dia pitch for trick 10 so rho has to keep their dia) reducing our combined hands to void 9 void A8 void void void KJ5 Assuming the heart 9 is not good you play the club A and a club to the K since it is either a show up squeeze against rho or lho began with Qx in clubs or held the heart guard and reduced to Qx (yay) or you go down (after all that work). Works if lho began with QJ of dia or dia split 33 or if the squeeze works or the heart QJ drop doubleton IN 7nt we have an entirely different problem since we must squeeze 2 extra tricks. So it is either hope the club Q and the Heart QJ are all onside taking 3 finesses OR trick 1 win the spade trick 2 club ace If the Q falls (yay) proceed to trick 3* trick 3 club to J if it loses hand is over (so would playing for 3 finesses). Assume it wins (yay)* trick 4 dia A trick 5 dia K setting up a vienna coupe against either player holding QJx(x) or Qxxx or Jxxx and the top 2 hearts. you could do the same in hearts but playing on diamonds gives you a slightly better chance of dropping the QJ doubleton of dia. trick 6 Assuming the QJ of dia did not drop doubleton (or the hand is over) club K (pitching a heart) trick 7 heart A in case a heart** honor drops trick 8 spade trick 9 spade trick 10 spade trick 11 spade reducing our hands to void x T void void AT void assuming the dia is no good decide to finesse the heart T** or play for the drop (vienna coupe actually worked). Lots more fun than depending on 3 finesses noone wants to be that lucky anyway.

!S J/T Rho needs quite a few Kings/queens to expect to make 3n with us looking at all these aces. There seems to be little reason to not at least try my longest and strongest suit first and if p somehow has an entry the spade might be a killer.

3N Preempts work so this is a guess especially since the range of the overcall is so vast. I opted for 3n primarily to reach game. There is indeed some risk here but at NT all of my offensive power is pretty much safe from attack and the opps opener behind me is no big deal. We will also have a very clear idea on how to proceed once we see the dummy given the bidding. The main downside is there might be no play but if p at least has a decent heart suit lho will be hard pressed to find an x so the "disaster" scenarios are severely limited and that vul game bonus sure is nice. x as cards is a real gamble here since the overcall range is so vast we could get really hammered with them making 3sx when p passes with no where to go. 3n = 8 4h = 7 pass = 5 x = 4

There are many factors to take into consideration before making a bid. The op hand has a couple of interesting features that make their hand much better than normal. Akxxx spades and the 9 card heart suit are excellent slam worthy combinations opposite another opening hand. Splinter is best used when there is no extra source of side trick(s) and here we not only have that extra source (spades) but an almost guarantee we do not have any spade losers to worry about. All of this is leading up to bidding 3h vs 4c (mike777) but let's deal with what really happened and what to do next. We need to take advantage of bidding space when we can and here we have only one bid between 4c and 4h. Best use of this would seem to be last train (kenrexford) as showing a hand with minimal overall values outside clubs (10-12) and leaving it up to partner to decide how high. If opener had bid 4d splinter I would have chosen to bid 4h but here the last train gives me a little more wiggle room for description and using it makes sense. To show the effectiveness of last train with the hcp switched around a tad opener with AKxxx Jxxx AKx x and responder xx AKQxx Qxxx Kx and responder cannot do anything other than 4h since they cannot bid 4d as a control if not playing last train. An important concept to remember is that all cue bidding denies the ability to take control of the bidding at that time.

How would you bid the following Qxxxx x void AKQxxxx? if you are like me you would begin with 1d and then lo and behold p bids 2d inverted what to do what to do:) hmmm i remember we eliminated 4s as voidwood a while back and replaced it with natural for hands just like this minimal power huge distribution and surprising length in spades (hearts or clubs) phew thank goodness we agreed to that change. Now my voidwood at the 5 level serves a much better purpose and my simple 1d 2d 3d sequence can show extra values with slam interest. If i have a void i can always show a singleton and repeat to show a void if NT seems wrong (wank).

3s for me I am willing to try to get us to 3n and pass will not get us there. It is true that I am investing an extra level but with kxx dia and K of spades my hand is much better than it has to be for my 1h bid and even 5d is not out of the picture if p is short in clubs. 3d is indeed passable and there are quite a few hands I would pass with but the dia honor and spade control give me good reason to think game is possible. Now for even better news - what about 4s? It is indeed possible partner began with 4 spades and has been unable to show them and while our 3s bid does not promise 4 of them we can always retreat from 4s to 5d on those hands here we would sit happily ever after.