Statto

Partner can still decide what to do after we X, they are not forced to pass. I double to suggest defending as I have 2 bullets and the lousiest ♥ suit imaginable. This feels like a forcing pass situation, but I'm not sure. I'm torn between ♠A or ♣5 lead.

That's what my Italian->English dictionary translates it as B-)

Ask RHO what their pre-empt style is? :)

TV coverage of major events such as the Bermuda Bowl. I know we can watch it on VuGraph, but that won't be getting more people interested in playing. With TV coverage will come prize money. It seems to have worked for poker. The director's ruling doesn't necessarily occur in-game, sometimes it's "I've noted the hesitation, and will rule at the end of the hand." How about having 3 directors instead of just one? Or the appeal committee present and available at the event? Obviously this won't be workable for all events, but the issue I see is that the director can ascertain all the necessary information at the time, which the AC may not be able to.

If 4♠ is a clear cut call (which it seems to be from what people have posted here) then pass isn't a logical alternative. The hesitation probably suggests bidding 4♠ rather than passing. So if you did pass and got lucky I wouldn't expect an adjustment because the hesitation didn't suggest passing. As it seems no-one would choose pass, it's not a logical alternative. If it had been, then an adjustment would be applied if 4♠ was the winning action and deemed to have been suggested by the hesitation.

Partner does have an opening bid in the system played, and bid it: 2♣ is 10-15 natural. I too would like to know what my 13th card is... The ♥A can't be going away - or can it? If it's IMPs I'll signal for a ♥ switch to make sure. If it's MPs I'm less certain; I might try to encourage a ♦ continuation in the hope that dummy ruffs high setting up a trump in partner's hand for an extra undertrick...

Agree with bidding. Yes, dummy reversal looks best. On line C, if 3rd ♥ ruffed and ♠ returned, ruff a ♦ to hand then ♥ ruff with master ♠ to ruff 4th ♦ may work... East when in with ♠Q may have to lead a ♣...

4♠ looks normal at this vul.

If West has ♠A and ♠J, they have only room for another Queen, or may have nothing more. So I win with ♠10 and run ♥10; if it holds cash top ♥, maybe then letting East in with a 4th ♥. I plan to finesse ♣7 to get to dummy for the long ♥, depending how it goes. Edit: Maybe it's best to knock out ♦A first though.

KnR works better for unbalanced hands where you end up playing in a suit contract, scoring on a par with Zar points. If both hands are fairly balanced and you play in NT, Milton Work is actually more effective than KnR, and probably doesn't undervalue Aces much if at all, though does undervalue well placed 10s and 9s.

Those evaluation methods are geared towards play in a suit contract, so I don't think applicable here. That is, if you're only considering playing in NT.

I can't imagine a ♠ return whatever opponents' hands were.

I would bid 3♠ after 3♣. Now a combination of cue bidding and RKCB should get you to the 7 level where you bid 7♥ pass or correct. I wouldn't mind terribly if we end up in 7♠, as it's better than the required odds, though obviously would prefer to be in 7NT, particularly at MPs.

5♠ looks obvious now, but like Phil I'd have opened 4♠.

I would have just bid 4♥. It's matchpoints and I can't see any chance of slam now, so I want to be in the highest scoring game. The hand is too powerful not to be in game after partner has mustered up a bid, and then not insisted on playing in their suit.

I did some analysis recently, albeit for 10-11 HCP hands with a 4 card major, 4432, opposite a weak NT, and concluded that 3NT was often makeable, whereas 4M with a 4-4 fit generally wasn't. Which is why I'm not bothering to find a major fit here.

2NT, we are playing puppet Stayman for this 0.08% reason.

:D

If they are resorting to doctoring score sheets to get a good result, I doubt they would ever be good enough for national selection, so this is probably a moot point.

My strings are tied.

Win with ♠A, take 2 rounds of trumps finishing in hand. If trumps are 2-1 it is easy. If not, we can now try the ♣ finesse.

2♠ here is a direction asking bid, a bit like 4SF. Whether it's GF or F1 may be down to agreement. Regardless, that's my bid.

This doesn't look like a 6NT opening to me. A 6NT opening looks something like ♠ AKQx ♥ AK ♦ AKQJ9 ♣ AK but I've never seen one.

2NT is tempting. Or 3♠. 2♠ feels like an underbid...

You can't compare a system to a convention.