jogs

If you are really lucky and hit partner's suit, he will know it. Doesn't matter what you lead. You don't want partner returning diamonds, thinking he's continuing your suit. On this board you have no suit. Also if partner knows how to count he knows your count point within one point. A huge advantage over declarer, who doesn't know how the unseen points are distributed.

♦9. If you get lucky, you wish to unblock the suit now.

If opener has 3 spades, he isn't passing 3C whether the bid were forcing or non forcing. Therefore he is likely to be 2=2=3=6 or on an ugly day 2=2=4=5.

Yes, 100% forcing as played in the USA. Still think the experts are wrong. Non forcing makes more expected value sense. Bid 3D with the forcing hand. Essentially the two likely games are 3NT and 5C. Sometimes two opening hands can't make game. Responder's likely pattern is 5=4=1=3. When in 3NT it is a race to 9 tricks for us and 5 tricks for them. They are usually leading diamonds. AKQxxx and 3 side aces is 9 tricks. When our points are not in aces they will often win the race. Axxxx, Kxxx, x, Kxx Qx, Qx, Qxx, AQxxxx Seems unlikely that there's game anywhere. When the club top honors are missing, the tricks are greatly reduced. Axxxx, Kxxx, x, Kxx QJ, AQ, Kxx, Qxxxxx Now there may be two club losers. I like non forcing.

All three examples are 6-5 in touching suits. Makes opening and rebidding two of the other suit easy. Maybe if the two suits were diamonds/clubs some would not open. If non touching suits, the rebid isn't always so convenient. Also 6-5 with all points in the two suits and good interiors generates lots of tricks. Don't need to waste brain marrow to calculate the precise count point in an arcane points system to know these hands should be opened.

I would have bid 1NT with your hand. But if they find hearts, you're at their mercy. Their pattern is 7=9=5=5. Your pattern is 6=4=8=8. They control the ranking suit and it's longer. E(tricks) = trumps + (HCP-20)/3 + e When the HCP are 20/20 they rate to make 9 tricks while you rate to make only 8. Therefore on this board they control the auction even when the HCP is 22-18 in your favor. If the minors are both 4-1, it may be difficult to stop them from making lots of tricks. Hope your partner lead a trump. Don't allow them to make their nine trumps separately. Also defend the other suits passively. Your tricks wont disappear. If they don't hold AK of trumps and two side aces, you may be able to hold them to 7 trump trumps and only one other trick in the other three suits.

This is the way I see it. Think of yourself as a five year old child. Where do tricks come from? Most bridge theorist never asked. Bidding has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. Larry Cohen told us that tricks are correlated to trumps. Online bridge with its minis allowed us to play against opponents from all around the world. It's a lot harder to defend than declare. The bridge books written in the fifties authors told us to overcall cautiously. Don't risk -500 against a part score. J6543 2 KQ4 A652 RHO opens 1C. They all preached pass. Today many players bid 1S. Bad suit and indifferent hand. 1S preempts both opponents and partner from bidding hearts. Bidding spades only leads to bad scores when advancer overbids based solely on HCP. If he threads carefully with possible misfits, the bid should be safe. The whole approach to bidding has changed in the 20 years. Everyone is preempting more frequently. In the U.S. new suit is mostly forcing. On 40% of the boards the points are divided nearly equally between the two pairs. When opponents open one of a suit, there is at most a 3% chance our side has 25+ HCP. On these contested auctions the British style of new suit non forcing is more practical. Finding the correct strain is more critical than finding the unlikely game contract. Evaluating trick potential should be based on both HCP and trump fit. Anders Wigren/Mike Lawrence writes that shortness of the secondary side suits is another variable in generating tricks. Quality of the trump suit affects the tricks. Strong 4+ side suits adds to tricks. Only during an auction there are too few bids available to exchange info on that many variables. One must decide which variables are the most useful for this board.

If by 'this type' you meant contested auctions, everyone bids these badly including the experts.

Your partner and I disagree on what constitutes a solid suit. 4♥ should show AKQJxx or AKQxxxx.

I think it makes 12 tricks. 1. club to ace 2. heart, duck by North. win king. 3. spade ace 4. ruff small heart. 5. spade king, pitch small heart 6. small diamond for finesse draw trumps lose heart to ace. 12 tricks.

Has anyone made a definitive study comparing the merits of 4/4 fits versus 5/3 fits? The differences are probably very small.

It completely depends on how the bet was worded. "Playing money bridge what contract would you like to declare, vulnerable, after LHO opens 2♥ and RHO bid 4♥?" Whether you choose 6♠ or 7♠, that's the correct answer. What contract would you like to declare. It didn't ask which contract had a higher expected value.

After a forcing pass I think partner can only pull with a void. It must be a slam range hand.

If we choose to double, this becomes a lead problem. Should we lead a trump or the singleton club?

This is a piece of junk. Still I'm willing to open 3H(7-4 is worth something) and pass throughout afterwards.

During the final two rounds of major knockout type events, there should be a director at each table. The director can speed up the play or access a slow play penalty. Players shouldn't be required to call the director on opponents. In sports one doesn't get to call penalties or fouls on opponents. It shouldn't be necessary in bridge either.

4♠ turns out to be the perfect call. North with 4-card support almost can't double 4♠ for penalty. He feels the need to show partner his heart support. If you had bid something else and competed with 4♠ over 4♥, North can now double for penalties. Given that North had shown South his heart fit. The double says 4♥ is expected to make.

Assuming opponents are rational(or didn't forget to alert neg free bids), pard can only have 7 or 8 points.

Where are the ten winners???

[hv=pc=n&w=sk965hkj4dq83cqt3&n=saj3hq75dj752c862]266|200[/hv] It really gets confusing without a diagram.

Don't think so. ♠ Q65432 ♥ AKJ ♦ AKJ ♣ 3 1♠ - 2♣, 2♠ Playing SAYC with a regular partner, we may agree that this auction is forcing. Playing SAYC with a pickup, would you dare rebid only 2♠. This partner may pass. Forced to rebid 3♠. Playing 2/1 with a pickup, you can safely rebid 2♠.

Slam bidding is better defined in 2/1. 1M - 2m, 2M In SAYC it's not clear whether this auction is forcing. In 2/1 it's forcing. 1M - 2m, 3M In 2/1 good suit, good hand. In SAYC good hand, may or may not be good suit. Responder doesn't know if xx is sufficient support in SAYC.

Also West thinks you can't make 2NT. Leaves very little for North.

Doesn't matter what's partner's pattern. You have a clear-cut pass. You have already overstated your strength. Partner was forced to bid 2♦ and promised nothing. You are arguably below the bottom of the 2NT call.

After more thought. What happened? Was 3NT a better contract than 4♠? 1♣ - 1♥ 1♠ This auction should guarantee four clubs. 9xxx, Kx, Kxx, AQJx With 'bad' spades, 1NT may be a better rebid than 1♠.