jogs

This hand is just a guessing game. Pass. Best chance for a plus score.

4♠ against strong opponents, 2♠ walk the dog against randoms. Pass, I rather be in 2♥. no no, with this vulnerability partner is more likely to be closer to zero. no, where are the spades? Suspect pard has 4+.

Kibitzers are not to be heard. The story is once at a high stakes rubber bridge club declarer made a false claim accepted by the opponents. A kibitzer pointed that the claim was false. The owner of the club ruled that the declarer gets credit for making and opponents get credit for defeating the contract. The kibitzer must pay both parties.

Sorry forgot to include a qualifying phrase. Unless you are introducing something entirely new to the bridge playing community an article would probably be sufficient.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Books on bridge are passe. "To bid or not to bid", 1991. Robson and Segal, 1993. All other books since then were out of date as quickly as they were published. To learn the latest info on bridge bidding one must read bridge articles, usually from websites.

Under any conditions, this would be a tough hand to bid. If goulashed, it is a complete guessing game. I would have opened 1♠ and allowed partner some input into the bidding.

I would pass. Depends on your partner. If pard aggressively doubles in contested auction, opening is insane. This hand will be a huge disappointment.

1♠ weaker than pass. What does that mean? I think 1♠ should show shape, meaning 4 spades and 5+ hearts. Promises no extras HCP. But also does not deny extra HCP.

Partnership pattern and opponents' pattern. A subject virtually totally ignored by bridge writers. 5-11-5-5. Opponents are 8-2-8-8. They can be both 4-1-4-4. In this case they can both have a singleton heart. They can also have 12 diamonds. This is about likelihood. Unless LHO has 5 cards in a second suit 2♥ has probably shut opponents out.

Assuming opponents remain silent, I've given the auction. RHO passed. There won't be a walking-the-dog type auction very often. LHO needs to make a freebid on the 3 level. Does happen, but not frequently.

There is little need to jump to 4♥. First RHO didn't raise spades and we have AQJx. Second hearts outranks the minors. Therefore we can outbid their minor at every level. On this board we can safely explore our options slowly.

I've spent many nights at a bar after midnight. The rule is declarer is always at the bottom. We are too drunk to rotate the hands. Drinkers who refuse to follow the rules are ignored.

While many on this forum prefer the double, your partner's 2♥ call makes it easier to find slam. The heart suit isn't long enough or strong enough to introduce at high levels. (1♠) - 2♥ To find slam you need to be playing a natural style after an overcall. (1♠) - 2♥ - (p) - 2♠ (p) - 3♣ - (p) - 3♠ (p) - 4♣ - (p) - 4♦ (p) - 6♥ - all pass After opponents open, just giving up on seven makes it easier to bid.

There may be some minor advantage to transfers after intervenor doubles. There can't be any advantage when intervenor overcalls. This game is about the majors. There needs to be two more cards(for the partnership) in the minor than in intervenor's major for it to be clearly better to transfer into that minor. The minor requires rising the level of the auction. I like 2♠. General cue. Intervenor can now bid a minor to show possible slam interest. 3♦ would imply a likelihood of 2 club losers.

Yes, I forgot about the option to pass. Still why punish pard with 6♥ when he bids 5♥. Looks like it is on a finesse which rates to fail more than 50% of the time.

And I don't like it. How does one show spades?

Maybe in a contested auction, 1♠ should show spades. Else why didn't you start with 2♥? Is there any way to show spades?

Qxxx xxxx Kxx xx I think this is a 5♥ call.

First follow the guidelines by Helene. By a strong(at least opening hand strength) hand the first cue bid is nearly always an ace. By a limited hand(less than opening hand strength) the first cue bid is an ace or a king with an ace in our suit. Never is the first cue bid a void or singleton. Cueing shortness just confuses partner.

Undiscussed, another bad bid. It better be a fit jump and forcing by an unpassed hand.

I hate the use of the word 'penalty'. I think the double should shows hearts. I would have willingly bid 1♥(or more hearts) if RHO had passed. With 4 spades just bid 1♠. No one cares about diamonds. This game is about the majors. p-(1♣)-X-(1♦); X. This auction may create an inconsistency. We are interested in 4-4 majors. Less interested in diamonds. Now the double is better served showing both majors.

I don't see it. Even if the ♣K is onside, you must risk going down 2. Draw trumps. Run 5 spades. Cash ♣A. 4 card end position with lead in dummy. ♥ Q65 ♦ J ♦ 5 ♣ QJ9 Can't return to hand after the ♣J is set up. You can take the club hook before running the 5 spades. That risk going down 2.

For you maybe? I rather have 14 tricks off the top.

That hand has 5 controls. Don't jump to 4♥ with 5 controls. Points are secondary. Controls are more critical to slams.

4333 opposite 4324 or 4234. The 4-4 fit only plays 0.5 trick better than notrumps. 4♠ requires declarer to win an extra trick. Rebidding 1NT with 4333 is the best game theory answer.