monikrazy

Playing 2/1 game force, what are some recommended followups for the following auctions: 1N (3C) ?? 1N (3D) ?? Assume 1N is a normal 15-17. My focus is tweaking my system for matchpoint events, but I'm welcome to recommendations for all forms of scoring. It's not clear to me whether certain bids should be forcing, invitational and/or transfers. Thanks.

looking at it again i agree a ruff doesn't make too much sense given we all ready have the Ax

I agree with A♣ lead. My 2nd choice would be 9♦ Leading a trump seems unappealing to me. On an auction like this, I expect partner often doubles with expectations of getting a ruff.

3♥

Perhaps you are thinking of a trump swiss bid? Though, that bid would not promise 6 diamonds usually.

A bit of a challenge for my system. After 2C openings 2D is 2 queens or better waiting, 2H negative response, 2S 5+H gf and 2N 5+S gf. If 3H were available as a strong 6+ H hand that might make things easier. 2C - 2S* (artificial 5+h and gf) 3S - 4H 5D - 6C* (ambigious cue) 6S - 7D

I think the discussion of pass vs 1nt is interesting, assuming opener will always pass 1n or bid 2c with a 6-card suit. I don't think we should be worried about missing game with a 4333 shape and no aces. Another benefit of passing here is it may encourage ops to balance, and we have the potential to score quite well defending.

Is 1S forcing? If yes, I bid 1N. If not I pass with some reservations. Also relevant is whether opener can bid 1N over 1H even with spades if he is balanced and minimum. If he does, we feel better about passing.

Bidding at both tables seemed poor, but 6♣ is a respectable contract. I think 2C open is a mistake but reaching 6C after a more pedestrian 1S open is still reasonable. Stopping in 3N at the other table seems very conservative, probably moreso than is prudent for this scoring.

I bid 4S and its not close. Just because we haven't bid doesn't mean partner bid 3N on the assumption we are broke. On average we should have 2-4 points, and probably not 6 spades. But I would would also double or bid 3H (Western Cue) with such a powerful hand.

3♠ is an excellent bid here. Both 3S and 3D should be forcing to game or at least 4 of a minor, letting responder place the final contract.

South's bid is way worse. 75-90% of the blame.

yes, this hand is a full open and therefore too good to pass if ops want to balance over 3c at equal vul good luck to them

I haven't read the bird book. I've got: 1. 3 ♦ 2. 6♠ 3. 4♣

1S or 3S depending on my mood. All other bids seem severely flawed. The 'zia' approach is interesting, hadn't heard about it before.

[hv=pc=n&s=st93ha95daqj9765c&w=s2hqj432dtcqjt863&n=saj654hkt876dcak9&e=skq87hdk8432c7542&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=p1sp2d3c3h4c6cp6hp6sppp]399|300[/hv] This hand came up during a practice bidding session today. Partnership was playing 2/1, and if responder repeats his minor it is non-forcing. While doubles hadn't been discussed much, presumably a double of clubs at any point would be for penalty. I'd be curious to hear about some other posters would bid throughout this auction, and whether there are any methods that could improve it.

Pass. We might be able to beat it but even if that were the case partner may pull the double playing us for a more normal shape for this auction.

I like 2♦ from W. It should show 5+ diamonds and almost always a longer or better quality suit than spades.

6D may end up being best bid on balance because it helps us avoid a killer club lead sometimes. Transfer with 2N then 4H would show shortness. Partner should be able to place the final contract or keycard from there. If partner super accepts with 3C we can begin cue-bidding immediately and have plenty of time to space to check for club stops.

The majority of partnerships will use this bid as non-forcing. I play it as non-forcing, constructive.

I use it as a western cue bid., asking opener to bid 3NT with a stopper in enemy suit. Yes, it uses more bidding space than some other auctions available. But that's normally a good thing when it makes it harder for opponents to discern the best way to defeat 3N.

3H, it describes our hand perfectly

Red vs White at imps, 2D seems far and away the best bid. I'm not worried about missing game if partner can't make another move. A couple of posters seem concerned that 2D doesn't convey our full values since we could bid 2D with no points but I think that is a poor argument. Partner should be able to approximate reasonable ranges from the auction and his actual hand. Is the difference between an unshapely 9 points (KNR has this @8.6) and the scattering of values he would expect anyway really so large that we want to mislead partner with a bid of 1NT or 2H? (I think we should reserve 2H for hands that are more strongly convinced game is out there) For instance, If partner and opener both have 15 points, it would be reasonable for him to assume we have 5 points on average. I have no reason to doubt that my partner's double is intended as takeout until proven otherwise and no compelling reasons to bid anything other than my longest and strongest suit..