PhilKing

West almost certainly made a bad double, although I would double as well. Double is correct only in a partnership where you have agreed to do it with a marginal holding when you have nothing in the other suit partner is most likely to lead. Clearly E/W had no understanding to that effect. Obviously East should lead a club anyway when North simply jumps to slam - North could pass if he needed his partner to have the king.

I'll aim for a trump squeeze against East (and it also works against West). Play off all the trumps except one throwing two diamonds a heart and a club from dummy. Then play two hearts ending in dummy ... Three card ending is ♠- ♥- ♦A ♣KT opposite ♠8 ♥- ♦Q6 ♣- There is a guard squeeze element in diamonds (when West has the king and East the jack) that may lead me to switch horses at some stage, but I can't tell yet, so I will keep the heart and diamond menaces alive till the last discards.

Don't open 1NT if game has play opposite ♠xxx ♥xxx ♦xxx ♣9xxx

You can't reverse them. With various patterns (eg 2245) you may only have a natural 2NT when you hear partner bid his second suit. And even if you could flip it, the extra space is way more useful for the natural 2NT hands.

I've seen worse. They make 2♥ but it's difficult to get in yet stop safely.

It's easy from any holding because he can see AKQ in dummy. But ... Yep. West's best second discard if 5413 is a club once East fails to switch. He now needs us to misguess the four-card ending.

I don't mind the lead, but since one would hardly lead a club from Txxxx without an entry, I don't think you should Smith. Usually, partner will continue clubs anyway (it's not as if failing to Smith asks for a switch), but here he can figure out the hand.

Well, the 46 hand is a narrow range as well. Personally, I only play the 46 gadget as an overcaller. I like 2NT as natural (and guaranteeing long clubs) - I can't help it.

I think he means he could have rebid 2NT.

Ruffing the third diamond merely postpones the inevitable. The four-card ending is ♠J ♥- ♦- ♣732 opposite ♠- ♥- ♦- ♣AQ95. West needs to keep two spades and three clubs. If he comes down to two and two, we have a trivial guess, but basically it's a classic striptease.

Bidding. Your double should show a hand that wanted to bid 2♦ - typically 19+ 4324 or similar, so partner should jump to 3♥. His 2♥ bid should just show a minimum without four spades and is perfectly consistent with a four- or even a three-card suit. Passing 2♥ is clear. Once you raise to 3♥, I have no idea why your partner passed or why he thought the auction made no sense (before he saw your hand - you should have four hearts imo). Play. Do they play a gambling 3NT on xxx x AKQJxxx Jx? We now know they don't, but it pays to ask. Anyway, two rounds of spades after two rounds of trumps is probably best. Then pull the remaining trumps and jettison the spade honour. Cash the last spade and play a club covering East's card. If West started with a 3415 shape that is just too bad (and East should beat it by switching to his singleton club in that scenario). This line caters for West holding four or five spades. In principle, we only fail when East started with xxxx x AKQJxxx K. West gets to ruff the second spade when we had ten on top.

Could. If partner has KQx QJxx xxxx xx, we have reasonable play for for hearts, yet when partner has x AKxx xxx AKxxx we have four top losers. On average the hand with the singleton is stronger (as I stated in the same paragraph), but it ain't necessarily so. Maybe you simply misunderstood, but the partial quotation does you no credit. ♠xx ♥AKxx ♦xx ♣AKxxx is a 3♥ bid because we usually have a decent play for game opposite a mundane 8 or 9 count that will pass 2♥. Try this hand with less, including a wasted queen: ♠Axx ♥Jxxxx ♦Qxx ♣xx Hardly, cherry-picking. By the way, where can I get your book?

Wanna bet?

4♥ train, then 5♦ whether he signs off or not. This is my way to force slam opposite club control. We can still get to seven when that is right. Partner could have ♠AJxx ♥AKQxxx ♦- ♣Qxx or ♠AJxx ♥AKQJxx ♦x ♣Qx It's not as if they will make the wrong lead, and it doesn't cost to find out.

1NT. Partner is sometimes 3334 here (as he was when I had this sequence with Wank 3 weeks ago) and opening leader often fishes out a major suit lead anyway.

I think you can play it as either, but have to respond as if it were diamonds. Opener bids 5♥ over 5♦, for instance, with ♠- ♥AQxx ♦AKxxx ♣Axxx and passes with long diamonds. On the actual hand I would bid 5♣ if my queen were the king.

My guess is that you are not curious, but you may be unique in adding gazillions for holding a shortage, but nowt for the other features. The naysayers would not think of such a method, so I doubt they would bid 4♥. You could consider adjusting for holding two good suits, but the odds say no. As for the difference between x xxx and xx xx, it may not be as much as you think and could even be a trick weaker (such as when partner holds KQx xxx in your relevant suits - a frequent scenario whe no one has dredged up a spade overcall). On average, it is a bit stronger, I would guess, but not hugely so unless we are slamming. But surely the actual hand is about a trick and a half stronger than a rock minimum though, so 2♥ is just crazy ...

Three topless hearts is the death holding.

Was referring to Phil_20686 auction. We can be off three losers in his auction when partner shows one key card, or be on a finesse for grand. I can see that in you voluntary exclusion sequence, partner is bidding 4♠ with heart losers.

FWIW I think assuming partner has a heart control is very bad.

I go broke on this hand. Chips!

Now, now - nobody would reverse holding a weak no trump. That would be crazy! When one opens 1♣, it does not always go pass-1♠-pass. If it did, I would rebid 2♣, but a (strong) 1NT rebid would be fine on strength. Having eschewed a weak no trump, I can hardly rebid 1NT 12-14, can I? Anyway, if you can any remotely competent player here who agrees with opening a weak no trump I will cancel your treatment. On the hand you give, you have made a fine stop indeed. When partner has an effective one count it pays to underbid. And you probably escape for two down in your beloved 1NT ....

Duplicate.

If I opened 1NT partner would have both black kings and four small diamonds. 1♣. I will bid 2♥ over a 1♠ response and 2NT over a red suit. And if the auction gets competitive, bidding our suit sometimes helps.

The jacket was for opening a weak no trump. The 2♥ raise is more easily cured with a bit of shock treatment.