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I played exactly this way, so you made me feel better...however, it turns out the RHO had both 4 trump to the 10 AND 4 clubs to the queen. I got overruffed when I tried to ruff a diamond back to the board after the heart finesse won. The East hand was: [hv=pc=n&e=st862hk97d75cq432]133|100[/hv][hv=pc=n&e=st862hk97d75cq432]133|100[/hv] or something close, I am working from memory... In terms of the auction, the 3♠ bid does not promise 3 cards, that's a good point. Out of curiosity, is North's hand good enough for the 3♣ jump? That's what set me in the wrong direction for sure...

No wonder I stink at this game! Hopefully I fixed the auction thanks!

As far as the auction, 4♣,4♦, 4♥, were all just cues, then RKCB for spades and 5Nt was specific kings. I hoped that the clubs would be a source of tricks and that the J of spades would be handy for a 4-1 trump break, so that pushed me to bid the grand. I was kind of hoping he had AKQxxx in ♣ but that wasnt to be... :(

Q♦ was the opening lead, thanks forgot that!

[hv=pc=n&s=sakqj6haq82d962c5&n=s873h76dakcakjt96&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1cp1sp3cp3hp3sp4cp4dp4hp4sp4np5hp6cp7s]266|200|6♣ shows King of clubs[/hv] In this hand from a team match, I pushed to 7 spades and of course went down one and the other room stopped in 4 spades. 1) For the play experts: What is the best line of play? 2) For the mathematicians: What is the percentage of success of the grand slam? thanks

LOL I usually just add one to the auto complete! We have had way more than 6545 :)

Sorry, it was in fact 2/1 GF, sorry for that omission

You hold [hv=pc=n&n=sakj98432ha43dc32&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1sp2dp]133|200[/hv] If a 3 ♠ bid shows a solid suit, does this qualify?

So here's the followup: You hold [hv=pc=n&n=sa65h87654dacakj4]133|100[/hv] After 1♥-3♥ limit raise promising at least 4 trump, are you making a slam try?

I forgot something perhaps important-- 1M-3♣ is a 3 card 10-12 raise, a single raise is defined as a hand that would accept the appropriate game try from opener.

2♥ is a constructive raise, 2NT is jacoby , 3♥ is a classic limit raise, MUST have 4 cards though

Playing 2/1 but not Bergen raises, partner opens 1♥. You hold:[hv=pc=n&s=sj976hkjt7dk976c5]133|100[/hv] Is this an automatic 3♥ raise or something else? Of course, there will be a part 2 of the question later...

Thank you for the excellent response-- pretty much exactly what Rex said as well. On the other hand, I am not smart enough to think at that level of complexity :(

So my question is though, is 2♣ a forcing cue bid or can it show clubs? I felt it could be natural after the 1NT responder bid. Rex violently disagreed.

Along similar lines but with one significant difference, Rex and I had a typical disaster as follows. The competitive auction went: RHO Opens 1♣, playing standard and no alert so I assume it is at least 3 cards. I doubled. I held: [hv=pc=n&n=st9754hakq6dk75c3]133|100[/hv] and opted to pretend I was 4-4 in the majors--feel free to disagree with this choice. Anyway, now LHO bids 1NT, and Rex bids 2♣. Is this a cue bid or natural with a 6+ card club suit?

I assure anyone reading this forum that Zasanya is by far and away the nicest player on BBO :))

Ty Fred, I will look out for it. And thanks as always for BBO which brings such great joy to the bridge community!!

It is my impression that organizing and starting team matches is much harder with the client software, which is why I stick with the old one. I seldom have trouble finding 8 players, today was unusual....

Just had something new happen to me...I was advertising for a TM on the old software. Having trouble finding players, I must have advertised too many times..all of the sudden, the software logged me out, and when I tried to log back in, I was banned for 2 minutes for spamming? What gives? thanks in advance..

No offense intended, I just missed those comments. I MEGO quite a bit-- if you saw Rex's emails on bidding, you would too! B-) Also, the 10♣ was in dummy, not also with declarer! :blink: In hindsight, I think the most important point is to agree with your partner here as to the meaning of the cue bid. At the table, Rex bid 3♥, but I thought it was game forcing. With my hand, I was going to game regardless after 3♥, and to the discussion, I think his hand is not worth the cue because of the heart waste.

It took a lot of replies, but finally someone got the point of posting this hand-- As Justin points out, your whole hand is in hearts and that is not going to help partner much. And the three small trump are problematic as in fact, you are getting a very bad trump break in this hand. Partner held AKxxx,x, Qjxxx, A10x which is quite respectable and of course you end up in 4 spades doubled, as RHO has QJ1087 of trump and LHO has opened 2 hearts on a 7 card suit to the Q10. So your AKJ of ♥ took zero tricks. Point being, be suspicious when so much of your hand is in the opponents suit.

Red versus white in a scoreless team match, you are in 4th position and hold: [hv=pc=n&n=s742hakj87d4cqt87]133|100[/hv] Surprisingly, LHO opens weak 2♥! Partner overcalls 2♠, pass to your right and you get to speak...What should you do here and why?

On the bidding front, you can also define a 3♦ bid here as a splimit, showing just this hand which may be just shy of a 4!D bid but still gets the splinter in. It doesn't come up that often but Rex and I have found it useful...

lol The robots are horrid, thanks for noticing :)

This hand created a bit of a ruckus: You hold at IMPs[hv=pc=n&s=sakq9875hdqt5c765]133|100[/hv]. Partner naturally opens 1♥, you respond 1♠, LHO bids 2♦, partner rebids 2♥ which promises 6 cards. On a scale of 1-10, how bad is a 3♠ bid here instead of 4♠? That is question 1. Question 2: in the North seat, If partner bids 3♠, what is the worst possible hand you would raise to 4 with? Thanks as always to our devoted fans. LOL B-)