jmcilkley

In hand one of the Weekly Free Solitaire after 1d-1h-1nt the robot has shown 12-14. Now 4nt by me asks Gib to bid slam with a maximum but if fact with only 12 points and a 2-3-4-4 hand it bids 6nt. Hardly a maximum! That it does make doesn't mean that it's correct.

Maybe I should say they are at least 5-4 in clubs and hearts so at most 4 cards in spades and diamonds. They were actually 2-4-2-5.

Some interesting ideas so far. It seems some think that bidding 3c does not show any more than a minimum opening hand and others think it does. The bidding from partner only promises 5 clubs and 4 hearts so a double after the 2s by opponents could be ambiguous and I would have thought it showed at least 8 points. What happens if I decide to pass over 2s? Opener is likely to be 2-4-2-5 shape so would they double 2s? Would that show more points? How many? Clearly this question does not have a simple answer!

As normal - 5+ clubs and 4+ hearts and being a reverse shows 15+ points It is forcing for one round.

I wouldn't double with that had - see what a quandry it leads you to? Partner is showing 9+ points but not necessarily long hearts, may only be 4. If you pass initially and can rely on partner to be protective in the 4th seat then you won't miss a game anyway.

You hold a pretty miserable hand : S: 842 H: 963 D: J873 C: AJ3 and partner opens 1c (playing 4 card majors so a natural club bid) your RHO passes so you make a natural 1d reply LHO then overcalls 1s and partner reverses to 2h RHO now bids 2s Clearly you would have bid 3c without the 2s bid on your right. But should you still bid 3c or pass? Does bidding 3c show a bit better hand than you have? I would be very interested in comments.

I came across an interesting alternative - transfer bids after 1M-dbl- After 1H-dbl then 1S is natural, 1nt is a transfer to clubs, 2C transfer to diamonds, 2D is a GOOD raise to 2H and 2H is a weak raise to 2h After 1S-dbl then 1NT is for clubs, 2c for diamonds, 2d for hearts, 2h a GOOD raise to 2S and 2S a weak raise to 2S Similarly at the 3 level, over 1H-dbl- 3d is a good raise to 3H and 3H is a weak raise, over 1S-dbl- 3h is a GOOD raise to 3S and 3S is a weak raise. Now maybe you could use the 2nt bid as game forcing like Jacoby 2nt?

I think some of you are missing the point of my question. A friend likes to play stretch raises so after 1H-dbl they would bid 2h with 3/4 hearts an maybe fewer than 6 points and 3H with a 9-loser hand with heart support. Which means they want to bid 2NT to show any hand with 8 losers irrespective of points. My contention is that if they do this then opponents bid on, you now have no idea whether you should double them. I would want the 2NT reply to tell me that we have the majority of the points.

So - you open 1H and LHO doubles and partner bids 2nt. What does this show? For sure it shows heart support up to at least 3h - but what else? I have always played that it also shows that we have the majority of points so probably 10+. But it seems some players don't agree and would bid 2nt to show any 8 loser hand with heart support. If the bidding goes 1H by me and a 1S overcall on my left then 2S by my partner would also show a good raise to 3H - and again show that we have the majority of the points. So I believe it is exactly the same as the 2NT bid over the double. What do others think?

I don't understand the 1nt rebid. Using Crowhurst 2nt would show 19 points. But what's wrong with 1h? Opening bid and a reply is forcing to 1nt so partner isn't going to pass 1nt.

The 5h was indeed asking about the queen of trumps. If you have it you can now bid a useful king. So 6c would promise the queen of trumps and the king of clubs.

Maybe this question is basically wrong. Would I even have bid Stayman? The hand has a losing trick count of 8 and a 1nt opening hand has 7 or 8 losers. On this basis there is no chance of game in a major. However, 11 points is usually enough to invite game in NT. At pairs I would be tempted to pass 2s but at teams I probably would not even bid Stayman but immediately invite game in NT.

Would he lead from a doubleton? It's often a poor lead, seeing up declarer's second suit. So I would assume it's a singleton.

I can't see that there is any choice here, your only bid without lying to your partner is 1nt

A 5 loser hand and a self-supporting heart suit. 4h describes the hand correctly. If partner has a better than minimum hand he can go on. 3h would not be forcing and I would hate not to be in game. There is also support for partners spade suit which improves the hand. A jump switch would be forcing but where would it take us? I can't agree with those that think 4c would be a splinter. Even if you play splinters in this situation would it not be agreeing spades as trumps?