SteveMoe

As above, but not 4♥ Michaels. If 4♦ is not Leaping Michaels then I choose 3♥ Michaels so I get to bid 4♦ over partner's 3♠. If pard bids 4♠, I will bid 4N RKB.

3♥ in context, but I would have bid 3N instead of 3♣. I like J9xx.

What gnasher said. Whenever I hold 7 HCP in their suit I fear the HCPs they hold in other suits - our offensive chances go down dramatically.

Looks like I give up the ♠J and 2♦. Tempting to keep a ♦ but I can't see the undertrick with only 4♥s in my hand.

How about Win ♥Ace ♣A then ruff a ♣ ♠ AK, pitching ♥s. ♥K ♣ ruff ♥ ruff ♣ ruff high ♠ruff ♣ruff ♠

I like the bid. There's a gadget you might consider - If you play, say, Modified Capelletti over opponent's 1NT, try having responder use Mod Capelletti responses! Here you would bid 2♦ showing at least 3-card support of partner's ♠s and 5+ cards in ♥s. You also deny the ability to double for penalty....

If instead you open 1♦ - 1♥ - P - 2♥ then 2♠ by you leaves you much better placed. Partner's silence strongly suggests a misfit. When in a misfit, get out as low and as quickly as possible...

Don't think my ♥ are enough to defend 2♥ profitably. The apparent ♣ misfit is a bit concerning, but game should be ok if partner stops {spades]s. So I will bid 3♦ and then 3N over partner's expected 3♠ rebid. I hope partner is something like 4=1=3=5 or better in ♦. AKxx,x,Qxx, AKxxx should produce a small slam. I expect partner to make a move with this prime hand.

As Bunny, but I play a small ♥ from dummy toward the ♥Q, preserving the option to finesse the ♥10 if necessary. The tenuous ♦ stopper means I can't play ♠s as this requires giving up control twice.

Pass. Second seat we play strong discipline on QTs for 1 bids. 2nd seat our weak 2's are disciplied too. Happy to back into a major later. Would open this 2♥ in 3rd. Stiff K is a negative.

So ♥ can't split 2-2 between north and south??

One thought - intervening in the immediate seat over this 2N we can use 3♣=♥ and 3♦=♠ with strong single suited overcalls so an immediate overcall in a major is a minimum at level. In the current situation, a Rose Double (Stole my bid) might make some sense, but we can hedge our bets to double showing either ♥ only or both majors. With the actual hand, intervenor might choose to call 3♦ showing the strong ♠ one-suiter if 5=3. Over a double, advancer can bid a more reasonable 4♥ more secure in a 4-4 fit. The 5-5 major holding in LHO is unfortunate.

Not sure I like the double from the strong hand. With 19, slam is in the picture. Partner's pass shows no penalty double (assuming support doubles through 2♥) with an opening hand. 3♠ cue bid instead of the double would elicit 4♣ from opener and cue bidding gets us to 6♣. Given the actual auction, I think 3♣ is indicated over the double. 2N should be scrambling or Lebensohl, so the 3♣ call is forward-going. Partner should now be alive to the possibility of a ♣ slam and cue bid 3♠ on the way there...

Try 2N-3♠=Transfer to 3N, then 4♣ = single suited slam try 4♦ = single suited slam try 4♥/♠ = 0/1 with minor 2-suiter. Some require 55. Some allow 54/45. I would make this minor suit slam try, and bid either 4♦ or 4♥ based on 2-suit length agreements. Note after 4!D a !C fit is harder to find.

IMO Double is a standout. We have 6 trumps (partner's 4 my 2), 22+HCP, and the probable ♣ fit we can use to shorten declarer. East has 6 or 7 ♦ cards so dummy will have 1 at most. No ruffs in the short hand here. Yes partner's ♦s are in the slot, but delarer cannot take advantage.

♥8 to protect against partner's possible Hxxxx. S/he won't have another entry.

Codo said it well!

Among the choices I would open 2♣. However my preference is 1♣ Precision. Sometimes the extra space can be helpful. If EW bid similarly, it won't make much difference. After opening 1♥ and hearing partner's 2♦ freebid, I am sure 7-level is on our radar screen. Agree with earlier post that forcin pass of 6♠ is appropriate...

Have had the pleasure of playing against Jerry and Joe here (Cincinnati Bridge Association Unit 124) for several years. They played an interesting American Forcing Minor bidding system too - both 1♣ and 1♦ are artificial and forcing, with 4-card majors. Jerry has "retired" from the game but I do see Joe playing with his wife weekly. They both played these leads for years before publishing. I know that they were required to provide detailed pre-alerts (low from a singleton, count coded honor cards, etc). My recollection (spotty) was that the odd-even parity of the honor card indicated the parity of the number of cards in the suit - 10, Q, and A are even. No other player in Cincinnati has adopted this approach and it has disappeared from view here. I have never gotten a partner to try. The number of changes and departures from convenient tools (rule of 12 no longer applies) hinders adoption especially for casual partnerships. The real benefit is having honor sequence and length parity known at the 1st trick, and to a lesser degree, upside down signals are preserved even for the opening lead card. Larry and Joe were often able to count out partner's hand a trick or two earlier than most. Slawinski leads appear as useful and are a bit easier to adopt because they do not have as many different context-driven rules. Most here have adopted a fairly standard/portable approach - NT:4th best and Suits: 3rd and 5th (or lowest) & upside down attitude spot card leads. We're even beginning to see European style honor card signal asks. :) Paraphrasing Mark Twain: "When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati. Everything happens 10 years later there."

3N is somehwat slam negative. Would partner open 2♣ holding something like: ♠KQ ♥AQ3 ♦AK10972 ♣Q2. Do you want to be in a slam that is at best on a finesse? For the time being, partner might be catering to us having a 10-11 HCP max so I will be content to bid 4♥. If however we can be sure partner has to be at least ♠K2 ♥AK3 ♦AKQ1097 ♣Q2 then we can bid 4♠ with a clear conscience. I think this should be the case, after our 3N offer. We need partner to hold 7 controls. We could be off 2 top tricks if partner doesn't have the ♣Q: ♠K2 ♥AKQ ♦AKQ1097 ♣72 - here at worst a 50% slam.

Agree with ahydra - though it would be nice to know the 1NT range and tendency to open 1N with a 5-card major. (I have partners who feel once they open 1n they have to get their 5-card major off their chest). Seems like partner might be talking about a "lost" suit. good to talk about that first. However, if 4♣ over 3♠ would have been a "retransfer" then the way to ensure partner doesn't suffer a brain gap would be to retransfer then bid 4♥ Kickback. Sure was interesting to see an auction get to RKB with netiher partner mentioning the target suit by name! :rolleyes:

I usually play a forcing pass in a competitive auction when our side has a fit and invitational plus values. While the auction qualifies, I would not make one here over 5♦. I would instead bid 5♥ to show an alternative suit/source of tricks. partner should correct to 5♠. I concur with all the others above who would have bid 4♥ not 3.

I chose 5♣ assuming ♣ come in with no loser opposite partner's average length in that suit. Adding one winner from partner makes 11 tricks for us. Usually vulnerable 4th position opening bids at the 3/4/5 level are for the exact number of tricks we expect to take. I am choosing the 5 level here because I don't want opponents finding a valuable sacrifice at the 5 level in a major. It might also get us to 6♣ if partner has 2 aces.

Q1) If your discipline would make 4♠ a control bid in support of ♥ then that is what I would do. If unsure or not, then I bid 6♥ on the expectation that the 8-card fit and partner's 4 losers plus my putative 8 loser hand yields 12 tricks in ♥. Partner should work out to finesse LHO for any missing ♥ honor. Q2)Win ♦Ace and play low ♣ to the K. Back to board with the ♥Ace and pitch the losing ♥ on the ♣Ace. If you are still whole, take out your empty spaces calculator and reckon that the odds are 10/18 that RHO might have the ♠J. However the bidding suggests all ♠ HCP are with RHO - the 3N bid usually assumes partner has 7 HCP. We hold 21 HCP. They hold 19 - and all of them are likely with RHO!!! Sooo...once I pitch the losing ♥ I lead the trump 10 (might induce a helpful cover) and finesse. Note: in the absence of the HCP inference about RHO's hand, the odds on play in the trump suit accounting for vacant spaces and entries to Dummy is to lead either card from dummy to the K/Q. The success rate is 58%. You have to decide whether the strength inference locates the trump jack in RHO, or not. I sense it does.

For hand 1, the 2-2 trumps suggest playing for the drop in clubs (53%). You have enough entries to do so cautiously. Cash 1 top ♣ then go to hand in ♦ and lead toward the ♣ on the board. If the ♣Qxx is with RHO too bad. You are left with one deception - finesse or put RHO in with the ♣Q and hope they do not play a ♠ back. Otherwise play the other top ♣ if you see the third small card with LHO. You should be able to pitch your losing ♠ on the 5th ♣. Usually playing a ♠ for an open finesse of the Ace makes sense but not here - it is a practice finesse: even if it works it doesn't help you handle the ♣s. For hand 2, avoid the ♥ finesse. Play low to the Ace and lead the ♦J for a finesse. Hopefully LHO has to play the ♣Ace. With one loser booked, ruff out the ♥ and ♦. You might get to pitch a ♣ loser from hand if the ♥K falls in 2 or 3 rounds. The key is to see 10 tricks are available with only one finesse (♦). The ♥ finesse adds unnecessary risk.