PhilKing

So double is pen opposite hearts and take-out opposite spades? That is how I interpret the second paragraph. Have I understood this correctly. Not that you really have a penalty double opposite hearts.

For virtually all players in England, double of 3♣ is penalties, which gets them a lucky one off here. Only a double of 2M is played as take-out.

I would have analysed 625 hands, thereby solving bridge.

Please tell us how they divine that partner's major is spades here ...

I would jump to Four Hearts. I don't have it, but sometimes it's a lucky make and often they get stampeded into a five-level indiscretion when I was going down. I pay off to this layout. Just re-read AndyH post, which pretty much sums it up.

It would be clear to pass if the problem were posted in the "Interesting Bridge Hands" section. :(

2NT, feeling no pain - yet.

Cover the heart and win East's honour with the ace. Unblock the club and play a low spade. The defence will usually win and play a heart. There are various possibilities, but say East wins the spade cheaply and returns the ♥2 and West wins and switches to a diamond (likely). Rise with the ace and cash clubs. If they don't come in, you still have chances in spades. Throw two low red cards and lead a spade up, hoping for Axx onside. The defence now have 5 tricks, but no way to reach them. And you have 3+1+2+3 for 9 tricks (if East is 3262, he may jettison the spade ace on the third club, but more likely he is 3244). They can counter by switching to diamonds without cashing a heart, but you have to give them a chance to err.

The worst bid in the auction was 3♥ by North, which showed a pitiful lack of imagination. And North's pass of 1♥ was second worst. I don't care for the reopening double myself. I don't hate it, but I can't see all that much upside. Double gains when we play in 1NT opposite a balance 12 count or similar, but there are downsides. Partner never has five spades, will overcompete with four, three is not fabulous, and when he has two or one, we give them a second chance to find their fit.

Yep, nice. :) I am still awaiting elucidation for not overcalling 3♣ with, say, Ax xx Kxx KQT9xx, which is a completely routine minimum for me. I gave partner a good hand because I am a kind person - not because I think he needs one.

[hv=pc=n&s=s65hq987532dq42cj&w=sqT74hadajt9ca876&n=sahkj4d76ckqt9542&e=skJ9832ht6dk853c3]399|300[/hv] This is the kind of layout (there are worse) you might run into ... And I don't buy this stuff about partner showing a great hand to overcall. Seriously guys, where does that come from? I'd be interested to see a construction where bidding 3♥ works well.

The first hand is possibly consistent with partner's bidding, but total trick muppets will have bid up to Four Spades on the opponents cards. If they fit the profile, pard is usually 2461 or 2470. I wouldn't double on the second hand, but I guess most(?) would.

Google knows next to nothing about how to keycard when you have gone past 4NT. Yep it's the same. Agreement is: "If cue bidding or preemption has taken us past RKCB, 5 of agreed suit +1 is RKCB."

Sinner, you are on the road to damnation (at least from the ox opposite). Ignore his bids and he ignores yours more.

I auction 1, I can't imagine bidding 5♦ and then passing five of a major for the reasons Frances gave. Partner can cue a minor suit trick or jump to a grandee with a top major card and a decent fit imo. Jumping to 6M would show about Qxxx and out. 5M should be forcing, I guess. On auctions 2, 3 and 4 I play 5M+1 as Sand Wedge RKCB. Perhaps it applies in auction 1 as well, but my meta agreement is that 5♦ is natural.

I'm not sure partner should sign off on many of those. When he does, perhaps he has, of all things, a hand that can't make slam. ♠Qx ♥QJTxxxxx ♦Kx ♣x Sometimes we pass out of trust rather than fear, and lack of trust is the original bridge sin.

I play something pretty similar and have a couple of observations: 1) The 5521 hands are misguided imo. The amount you gain by knowing the singleton is way less than the amount you lose by telling them which major to lead if they want to attack. 2) You need some room, as pointed out, for the slam-forcing 55. So play the first auction 4NT auction as 55 inv and the second as 55 forcing to slam. Then partner can bid 5m to keycard opposite the stronger auction to explore grand. And you can play 5♥+ as 6 ace RKCB responses with a double fit if you want, which is a technique that can be applied to most of the sequences that you have starting with 3♠ and 3NT.

There is a pretty decent chance that four of a major is cold. If I bid 3♥, LHO will often jump to 4♠, make an easy ten tricks, and I will end with egg on my face. If I pass, he will assume his partner has hearts and we will buy the hand in 3♣. Forget about the chance of making Four Hearts - it's a mirage. If we find partner with a fit, the chances of pushing them to 4♠ is close to 100%. They may well go off but I would rather not push them.

He bids a 5NT pick a slam on that, imo.

Well that's two explanations already ... I think they may have been turned off by the club bid, so did not want to bid 4♦. If partner hates clubs our hand is huge!

I assume that's what he's suggesting too, but I'm struggling to think of a hand that loves the idea of us having diamonds with club tolerance so much that he can bid slam and yet not want to bid it opposite diamonds. ♠AKjx ♥- ♦Ax ♣AKxxxxx? That seems a rather narrow target to play 4NT in a way that simply does not work. And it's the same or worse in all the related sequences.

I'm wondering which grand slam try to make. 5♥ seems best. Ax KJTx AKJTxxx - Clearly we can make at least six.

Perhaps we should be limited to discussing non-forcing natural bids, Stayman and The Old Black.

Can I buy?

If they bid 5♥ over our 4NT, when both our options are weak it doesn't matter. The difference between 4NT (pick a minor) and 5♦ weak is virtually non-existent - it's incredibly unlikely partner could give a toss. In either case partner will just double with every hand that is not a slam drive opposite a weak take-out. When we have the slam try, we need to show it explicitly before they raise. Your method gains exactly never. In my method 4NT is ostensibly always weak. In yours it is strong or pick a minor. So I show weak hands more accurately, as well as strong ones. You are just making my case for me.