dboxley

I am used to jump responding to a t/o dbl with a 4 card major and about 8 pts. I see all kinds of disasters opposite this kind of dbl, especially if the auction becomes competitive.

5♠ would be a good call if we played it that way but we play it to ask for: control in either a suit shown by opps or the only unbid suittrump quality if 1. doesn't applyI thought N should bid 5♦ denying a ♣ control and S should bid 5♥ showing controls in ♥ and ♣. Now N can bid 5♠ as invitational as in 3. above.

MP's Dlr W All Vul [hv=pc=n&s=s9542hat84dk5ca75&n=sakj6hq9daqj8cq63&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=p1dp1hp1sp4s]266|200[/hv] Do you agree with the 1S bid? We play it as forcing if responder had his 1st bid.Do you agree with the 4S bid? The ♦K is certainly worth an ace.Should N take another bid? How should the auction proceed?If you play that N should rebid 2NT how do you find the ♠ fit?

[hv=pc=n&w=sakjhak743dq7caq3&e=sq985h982da964ct8&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=pp2cp2dd]266|200[/hv] 2D is waiting, GF. What should the following rebids by West mean here? P Rdbl 2H What should West do now and how should the auction continue with no further interference?

I would have thought that a double was penalties. Does everyone now play it as takeout? Under what circumstances?

slam interest

4D

3H, wtp. This is not invitational but pd can bid on.

Limit but with reason not to let opps in too easily.

It's not kickback unless it's obvious. This time it's not obvious.

[hv=pc=n&s=saq7643hda95caj94&n=sjthqt74dk642ck62&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1sp1n2h]266|200[/hv] mp's, red vs white No further opposition bidding, please try to bid these hands without letting partner's hand influence your bidding.

Why would this be?

[hv=pc=n&e=saj8765hajt8d3ck3&d=e&v=e&b=6&a=1sdr2c]133|200[/hv]

I would have started with the DA or possibly DJ, the 9 only wins when diamonds are 4-0.

To quote a MP legend, "Only Jesus saves"

Three likely defensive tricks. I think most people would open 1S without the DJ, I certainly would. I would even feel guilty about opening a wk 2 with an A and a K but that is probably an extreme view. Roth and Stone originally treated a wk 2 as a descriptive bid but the modern (post 1980) tendency is to treat it as a preempt.

I think it depends on the 10 count with 3 card support. There are a lot of hands where I would only make a single raise with ten. Maybe it's me who didn't make myself clear. Overcaller won't go on to game in a minor opposite a lr+ nearly as often as in a major since game in a minor requires 11 tricks. Why risk the 4 level opposite a minimum overcall? It may be that 3NT will make but 5 of the minor has no play. I don't see any reason not to differentiate between a 10 or 11 point raise and a 6 point raise if you have the tools. I guess the deciding factor would be frequency. How often would you be dealt a freakish 2 suiter in the unbids? And what type of hand does partner need to pass a responsive double?

There might be another reason to make a limit raise+, to give partner an idea of what is going on...

2S

That's 4, possibly 5 or 6 cover cards (if the diamonds can be set up) and would certainly be worth a 3S bid, but I don't see how you could make an intelligent slam try asking for a diamond fit. I would settle for 4H, the only reason for 3S instead of a direct 4H is to let pd know that this is not a preemptive bid.

Yes, partner frequently makes 7 loser overcalls at the 2 level, sometimes even 8 non vul xx AQJTxx xxx Qx

I like this treatment, would it still apply if the overcall were in a minor? How about: 1M 2C 2M ? It seems now that the responsive dbl would not work so well as a 2-way bid but if the overcall were in diamonds then it would be fine (as long as doubler has OM). Hmm..., the more I think about this the more problems come to mind. Do you have any agreements how the auction would proceed? How does overcaller allow for all possibilities, say if he has one of the unbid suits with a minimum overcall? Maybe the straightforward 2NT as a limit raise + is more workable. Please advise.

[hv=pc=n&s=sq64h974dak7ca732&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1s2h2s]133|200[/hv] Does anyone play a double here as an invitational raise instead of responsive? Any other way of making inv raise?

If you make your bids and plays with confidence, especially against strong players, good things will happen. I bid 3NT, my partner held a stiff spade. LHO led a small spade from Kxxx and RHO played the J from AJxxxx playing me for Kxx. Making 7 after questionable pitches. Not a great result at IMPs since 5C is cold but pretty good at matchpoints. I certainly wouldn't have bid it had I known but the point is that RHO made the correct play because he thought I had a spade stopper. Another good example that I learned from one of the greatest players of all time, Victor Mitchell. [hv=pc=n&s=sk73h63dakq73ckq8&n=s65haqt9dj6cajt42]133|200[/hv] after a club lead against 6NT I had 11 top tricks with 2 chances for a 12th. Rather than play off some tricks to try and get some information, I led a spade to the K at trick 2 thinking that even if the A was behind me if he didn't also have the Q I would probably get the opportunity to take the heart finesse. When the SK held I claimed 12 tricks. This was against a very good pair. What I didn't think about was another possibility to make 6, LHO played me for KQ... of spades and ducked hoping I would play another spade toward my hand. I believe this happened because I played the spade at trick 2 without giving it much thought.

My original inclination was to lead top diamond but without much enthusiasm. After giving it some more thought and reading the other posts I am a definite convert to small heart for all of the reasons quoted. The main reason being that any lead has drawbacks so you might as well make the lead that pays off if you are correct. I am now embarrassed by my original choice. Maybe one of these days I will learn to make opening leads.