jmcilkley

I rate South's idea of bidding 1s as a zero! What'#s the point in misleading partner when there are other sensible bids to make? For me the correct response is 2c after which you will probably get to the best contract of 3nt. Were you proud of 1s? Surely you can't have been proud of 4s!

I had all sorts of problems after upgrading to android 5, including bridge base not working - failure to install. In the end I did a factory reset and it's magic. Faster, less battery use, apps now work fine, including bridge base!

On installing version 5 of android on my nexus 7 I tried to run the bbo app but it said it was not installed. I tried to install it again but just got an error message so am now without bbo on my tablet.

Without the overcall, 1NT is easy rebid for strong NT opners but now that opps have overcalled in spades a 1NT bid now would certainly show a spade stop. So my only bid would be 2 diamonds. I don't feel that either clubs or hearts would be a better suit - maybe only a 4-3 fit, and partner could well have 3 diamonds with me. I'm quite glad that playing a weak NT I can open this hand 1NT!

It's amazing how many different ways of playing have been suggested. 2s as 11 points only is rather a waste of a bid as you can use Baron 2s to show 11 or 18+ (if playing 12-14 nt). With a min 1nt opening rebid 2nt and with a max bid 3 of cheapest 4 card suit. Now responder can bid game with 11 points and look for a slam with 18+ if there is a fit. As for bidding 2nt with 12 - I would just bid 3nt with most 12 point hands with any useful feature. Playing full transfers does allow you to bid 3nt with support for the minor. Breaking the transfer without 3 cards to an honour in the suit allows you to stop in 3 of the minor while completing the transfer to show 3 with an honour may allow responder to try 3nt with a pretty solid 6 card suit.

Absolutely NOT 2s - we don#t tell lies about major suits. 3c is a possibility but where are we going? What if p replies 3d? There must be a chance for 3nt so I will bid it, especially at imp scoring or teams.

A difficult question. 4nt should mean bid 6 of you are maximum so would be my choice. Its a lot easier if you play Baron when 2s reply to 1nt asks p to bid 2nt if minimum 12 or lowest 4 card suit if max 14 points. If p bids 3c then I will surely try for 6c and if p bids 3d then 6nt, if he shows min then I stop in 3nt

A difficult question. 4nt should mean bid 6 of you are maximum so would be my choice. Its a lot easier if you play Baron when 2s reply to 1nt asks p to bid 2nt if minimum 12 or lowest 4 card suit if max 14 points. If p bids 3c then I will surely try for 6c and if p bids 3d then 6nt, if he shows min then I stop in 3nt

This looks an unlikely contract to make but opps could play it wrong. After the first 4 tricks you know you have lost a trump and the Ad so you need to lose only one heart trick - not easy unless the opps help. I agree to eliminate the clubs and then exit with a trump and now opps have to lead a red suit. If diamonds are played I would try the J as 50% seems my best bet. Maybe even better than 50% as if W did not have the Qd would he have played the A on tghe first round? Hope fully W has the last trump and if a heart is played i would duck in dummy and hope!

No choice - has to be 2s (forcing and showing 5 spades - with only 4 I would double). Why do some people want to bid 3s?? It takes up bidding space and is totally unnecessary when 2s is forcing.

Of course I am going to bid 4h. Partner is clearly not strong enough to double first time, probably 10 of maybe 11 points, and I'd protecting me after both opponents have not down much strength. It looks like the 3s bid had made it hard for me to come into the bidding. Partner is quite likely to be 1444 shape so I am optimistic about our chances in 4h.

Well, my first though is "what strange bidding by S". Double then bidding a suit would show a 17+ point hand, Bidding a suit and then doubling would show the same - some hands are better to suited to doubling first and some to overcall first. So, firstly, S only has 15 points and not 17. And secondly why is S doubling 3d anyway after partner has agreed hearts? That does NOT show 4 spades but for me is a penalty double of 3d. If S wants to bid on then he can rebid the agreed suit of hearts. I would agree that it would be better on this hand for S to start with a double to show spades as well as hearts but game looks like a long shot with only a combined 21 points. I would be happy to play in 3h and if it's a bad score then others are taking silly risks.

You have all the top spades bar the ace so you lose nothing by playing for the diamond ruff. Should be 3 spade tricks, 2 hearts, 4 clubs and the !d ruff to make 10

Certainly this is a hand to open. It satisfies rule of 15 (points plus number of spades). Is there still a chance of game? Well, even if both opponents have the maximum 11 points (surely they would have opened with 12) then partner has at least 9 and maybe as many as 11. I reckon I will have 7 tricks with resonable spade breaks so could my partner have 3 tricks in his hand? I think it's possible he could have AK and A so I will open it 1s and see what my partner replies. I'm going to play in spades at some level and a 2 level response might encourage me to rebid 4s while a 1nt reply I will rebid just 2s.

The rule for 2c opening is "extended rule of 25" This means the hand must satisfy one of 3 criteria : 1. Points + number of cards in 2 longest suits i equal to or greater than 25, or 2. 8 clear cut tricks on 2nd worst possible distribution, or 3, Any hand with 16+ points Unfortunately this hand does not satisfy any of these criteria so it would be illegal to open it 2c (in UK, certainly).

Some people play that 5-card majors applies equally to the responder - possibly resulting from a misunderstanding. I can't see any good reason to support with 3 if the 1h bid can be only 4. With 4 spades there is no problem in bidding 1s and if not then the hand may be 3-3-4-3 and a 1nt reply seems fine to me

In 2nd seat it's a pass for me. There are 11 points but that Qx doesn't look worth 2. More importantly it is a 9 loser hand and for me an opening is 7 loser or better. In 3rd seat after 2 passes i would open it 1s and I would be happy to overcall 1s. If my partner has an opening hand then we will get to the right contract. If he hasn;t then I'm happy not to be a dubious contract when vulnerable.

The list of options shows 4c as natural, game forcing. Why? Surely 4c can't be natural when 3c would be natural and forcing? For me 4c would agree spades and show 1st round control in clubs. It's clear that partner doesn't have 1st round control in diamonds so unless he has Ah he will likely bid 4s. Now I can try again with 5c and maybe hear 4d to show Kd, which would help a lot. However, given the explanation of the agreements in the option list I was forced to choose 4h and then over the likely 4s I continue with 5c. Now it's not so easy to find out about Kd.

I'm not sure why we are bidding 2H anyway. Surely most people play 4th suit forcing so why not rebid 2NT then we all know what we are doing. 2NT shows 10 to a poor 12 with heart stops so partner can bid 3nt. I guess your partner must have a spade void, 5d, 4c and 4h. If your partner really doesn't fancy 3nt then he can try 3h and you will bid 4h.

seems to me that the only chance is to find A or J hearts with W and be able to dump a losing spade on a heart. So I would first play towards KQ and if A comes from W then I have no problem anyway. If not I play K and if taken by A then next time I have to finesse 10

Bridge is not a precise game! Your hand is worth 2c anyday! If your stem has no perfect bid then this is surely the least bad lie!

Not being used to playing at such a high level, maybe I'm missing something. For me the 5!h bid is denying Ac so 7d is surely doomed. 6nt seems a big guess and requires partner to have quite a lot in clubs, certainly KQ. I agree that the double probably shows a diamond void hoping for a ruff. So I guess the opening lead of a club to his partner's ace and a diamond ruff is the plan. What can we do about it? Anything else may take us out of the frying pan into the fire! My vote is to pass.

I presume the 2d opener is a weak 2 in diamonds. I wouldn't bid 3nt with 6 pretty solid spades and a worthless doubleton in hearts. Nor would I double - I don't want my p to think I might have 4 hearts. My vote is to bid what you think might make and for me that is 4s. Partner will know that I'm expecting a couple of tricks from his hand and if he has more he might go on higher. 3s might show a stronger hand being forcing.

The 2h reply shows 10+ points so it looks like there is a slam on here. My next bid would be 4nt

The 3nt rebid is very strange. 3s is better, showing 6 spades and 16+ points. However, the bidding has gone 3nt then 4nt which surely can't be anything other than blackwood so i would bid to show 2 aces or 3 keycards, whatever your system. Probably partner has 6 hearts.