PhilKing

Minor quibble first: I don't think it's right to play serious/non-serious when one hand is limited. Here it would be better for 3NT to show good trumps, so I would just bid 4♣ denying good spades. In your methods, I bid 3NT. I am bidding 4♠ over four of either red suit.

Say partner bids 5♣ showing one key card, what now? Asking for the queen is not enough. The jack and ten are critical as well. Partner bids 6♦ over 5♥. Not underwritten, since we could be 5035, for instance, but surely a good shot.

5♥ - "bid slam if your suit is at most one loser opposite a void". Slight punt, but just worth it on balance.

Modified Gerber FTW.

FWIW I would rebid 4♣ (Finch :ph34r: lol) over 3♦, although that looks, and is, rather misdescriptive on this one occasion. For me, 3NT would suggest an unsuitable minimum balanced hand - typically 23-24 bal with nothing in diamonds, and I would rather maintain the integrity of the standard NT rebid. I think it is nonsensical to suggest it shows an extreme misfit on the basis that we happen to hold this hand - a 544 hands with a void in partner's suit is not that common, after all. With a balanced hand and no fit, I bid NTs, with an unbalanced hand I bid my suit, and with a fit I raise. Is that so revolutionary? Come on - when you respond 3♦ and partner rebids 3NT, I am betting you have not agreed it shows this hand ... When partner rebids 4♦, he is not showing the earth. Try to slow him down by raising to five. You have a terrible hand on the auction!

Just hammer a few plus ones to the post above ...

Rare case of agreement. Leading from strength has almost never worked badly for me here with weakness on right. I've looked at a lot of Meckwell hands - philosophy seems to be passive versus suits, 4th highest v NTs with almost no major suit bias. I strongly suspect that the thinking against most opponents is just to match the other room on opening lead, then defend better, rather than win it on the OL. In other words, reduce variance at the expense of a small loss in win rate.

Clear 1NT response under your partner's guidelines (did he break his own rule?). It's a style I like, but it's just a matter of agreement - there is no right and wrong here.

He led a low heart which was not successful. A club is the easiest way to beat it. It was in the Baze Senior Teams Final (last set board 62). He was partnering Hamman at the time.

You will never get back that six and a half minutes if you click the link. It's a load of Pollocks.

4NT was an overbid. 6NT rates to have almost no play a lot of opposite a lot of hands that would accept. North counted points and ignored all the warning signs. I would just have bid 3NT immediately over 3♣. As South I would jump to 6♣ over 4NT - I have a huge hand for a simple overcall - and we would end in a playable 6NT. Anyway, back to the actual questions: 1. Since 5♣ over 4NT has to be natural, 5♦ can't be ace showing. I think 5♦ is just a force, but maybe it should show a diamond void. That sounds best on reflection. 2. I'm not keen on 6♥ (I would bid five just to keep options open), but I guess North assumed South had a void diamond and was 4207, in which case it is fine, though rather bold and somewhat presumptious. But it's by no means irrational and 6♥ would probably have made. I don't understand 7♣ - it just says "partner, you don't know what you are doing." 3. North set the ball rolling by going above 3NT on an obvious misfit, though South made by far the worst bid with his knife-in-the-heart 7♣ bid. North 60%, South 40% and a £100 fine for not trusting partner.

Double. I'm passing 3NT, raising 3♥ and 3♠ to four, and looking for slam over 4♣ or 4♥. It's not that risky - if partner passes it could be the right spot and is unlikely to make. And +100 or +300 can be a winning board even when we have game on, since it may not be easy to reach the right game should we choose another action. For instance, 4♣ makes it difficult to get to 4♥ and impossible to get to 3NT. And yes, the fact that 3♥ from partner over a double suggests a minimum with three hearts does influence my answer.

We are now at red and have lost the ♥T and the ♠9. Well in that case I open .... 4♥

Another advantage of a heart to the king is that it sometimes holds even when West has the ace (eg East has QTxx).

Been in worse. South overbid slightly and got to a thin game, but by no means terrible, game. Let's hope the defence errs.

I play the spade eight, draw trumps in three rounds, play a heart and eventually guess clubs. WTP.

It looks remarkably like a 4♥ opening to me. I have no follow-up plan as such.

I quite like South's pass over 1♠, although some might think it unimaginative.

This auction may never happen again. I'm guessing partner has 8 playing trick in a 4216 hand (Axxx Ax x AKQJxx). He was taking the money (200) against 1NT and is now sacrificing! If you drop the ball here, partner will not criticise you. Much worse, he will look sad, shake his head and say something like "it wasn't easy for you." Stand your ground. Pass if doubled. Even if you don't understand what is going on, you just have to trust your partner. Sure, 4♣ is also one down, but maybe they make 4♥.

But then you have no bid for the vomit-worthy 9 and 10 counts Jason opens. :ph34r:

It's not as if double makes them run to 2♠. If they do, we just bid 3♣ WTP. It's now safer than if we had passed first time - partner usually hits 2♠ with a stiff club.

Change the system? Then I double. As it is, 5♦. Pass can easily lose a double game swing opposite a stiff spade and one high red card. 4NT followed by 5♦ could get us to 5♥ when partner is 1327 or similar. Yuck!

Nobody said it was. Assuming the ♣Q is a true card, then if West is 1642 the simple squeeze on West and the trump squeeze have equal chances, whereas if West is 1552 or 1462 only the trump squeeze has a chance. Having said that, by the time we have to commit ourselves, we will probably have worked out West's actual shape.

3♥. Let's try to avoid the six level.

Hold on! You can reduce your search time by using this site: http://bridgetoernooi.com/index.php/home/search2 Go to the search box and type (say) "Meckstroth 1d" and it will give you all hands from major events where 1♦ was bid at his table, most of which were opened 1♦. You should also get bridgecomposer, so you can copy and paste relevant hands into nice pbn files. There are 164727 hands in the database, which yield over 2000 results for Meckstroth alone, so I expect to get your report late 2017. Enjoy.