broze

4♠. IANAE.

Can't see any alternative to 3NT at Matchpoints. However, I would have responded 1♥.

I would never be bidding 3C here. Terrible suit. Flat. And rubbish holding in opp'so suit.

Ugh, tough. But I pass. Game probably at best on a finesse and could well be off two.

I would have bid 4H splinter on the previous round.

Nothing like healthy debate! Obviously responder is short of a game force otherwise there would be no problem. Does that mean he can't overbid in order to solve other problems that may arise in the auction? Of course not.

You can't always bid worrying that partner is going to have the worst hand possible.

Yep. And if he has that we'll be unlucky. OP didn't specify form of scoring but I'm assuming IMPs. I would take the low road at MPs.

2C GF. Will lead to much better auctions and you with be forcing game opposite a 2s, 2h, or 2c rebid anyway if you start with 1n

7-0! Looking forward to the big one tomorrow.

Depends on partnership agreements. (Cop out I know) If we agree to stretch to accept invites, I pass. If we agree to stretch to invite, I invite. I prefer to have one of these agreements in place.

Yep, well done to Rainer for the final answer and others for figuring out the relevant layout. Full deal was: [hv=pc=n&s=saj62ht752d763ca6&w=sk8hk83dkj9842ck7&n=s95haq9dqcqjt9832&e=sqt743hj64dat5c54]399|300[/hv] So you need to shift to the TS when you are in on the second trick to beat it and if declarer ducks partner also needs to duck, an impossible feat at MPs since p will be too worried declarer has the QS but he might find it at IMPs.

As Gordon says if you are fully on board with NFBs, you start GF hands with a double. Personally when I have played NFBs I have not played fit jumps (except in some specifically discussed auctions - this not being one of them). I also do not play NFBs in the minors so the only relevant auctions are 1m-(1S)-2H and 1M-(2m)-2oM. Also if you play them after 1D-(2C) or 1C-(2D)- I suggest you change. A double in this auction is already extremely strained and having to pile every single-suited GF hand in there as well as invitational and competitive hands with one or both four card Majors just so you can stop in 2M will make these auctions very difficult for you.

It isn't so much that you are playing too much system, it's that if you don't know what to do one hands like this then you don't really know what your system is.

Darn, that is my fault. Must have misclicked when creating the diagram. Partner actually returned the ♦8. You play 4th best. I'll change the diagram as you're right the 4 definitely looks like p is trying to tell us something.

[hv=pc=n&s=saj62ht752d763ca6&w=&n=&e=sqt743hj64dat5c54&d=w&v=b&b=12&a=1d3c(%27Intermediate%27)pp3dpp4cppp&p=c4c6ckc3d8dqdad3]399|300[/hv] This hand was played at MPs at the club, but your goal here is to defeat the contract. Click through to see the first two tricks. Plan the defence.

Ok, so not so new. Always the way - had never come across it before. I clearly need to read my magazine more carefully! However it does much seem better to me to have the 2N as the weak hand. You lose the ability to have pard crank up the auction but you avoid giving the opps a cue bid, which seems more valuable to me. Do all you people who use it also employ against a strong NT?

1♦ for me too. Don't hate pass. Do hate preempting any number of diamonds.

Might depend to some extent what an immediate 3♦ would mean (for me it is Majors and 4♦ is more Majors). Even so I would never assume this was forcing without specific agreement to the contrary.

A lot of systems over 1NT now use 2♣ and 2♦ as artificial. Most popular in the UK is to play 2♣ as Landy (Majors) and 2♦ as Multi (either Major). This means that with natural minor-suit hands you can either bid 3m or pass. Against a strong NT 3m can be wide ranging, since your side is not too worried about missing game. You might bid 3♣ with Qx xxx KQJ9xxx x or Ax Qxx KQJ9xx xx. However, vs a weak NT it hurts your constructive bidding to lump the preempts in with the constructive hands. You can't pass with the second hand for fear of being shut out, but you'd also like to eat your cake and preempt with the first. So I suggest using 2NT as a preempt in either minor, keeping the 3m bids for the constructive hands with a 6+ card minor. At least against a weak NT. The rationale behind having it this way round is that the opps are more likely to want to penalise you when you have the constructive hand (since they may not have a game). It also hurts their constructive auction when you "preempt" with 2NT by taking away the opps' cue bid. You will lose the ablity to show a hand with both minors (most people's use for 2NT) but this is not a particularly important or common hand type.

Okay, perhaps "problem" is somewhat of an overbid. I passed and fairly quickly but it did make me wonder whether partner was promising 5H or not. I think his actual hand was 5=4=1=3 or something - I wasn't sure if that hand should start with double or not. Thanks for your answers.

In which case what sort of hand would you expect dealer in the first auction? These questions are inspired by a bidding problem I faced recently (MPs): [hv=pc=n&s=s32hk72dj9432c432&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1s2cpp2hp]133|200[/hv]

A good reason why in certain cases it is good technique to play the middle card from 3 when giving partner count when he will not need to know the full count until the second round of the suit.

I've always wondered what is the point of playing 4 card Majors if you don't open the Major when you are 4-4. And once you start playing 5 card spade, you really may as well be playing 5 card Majors.

Thrump double.