msjennifer

Sir, The3♣ bid has told the entire story to the opener.responder does not have a better than a minimum hand required for a 1♠response.Opener has said that he wishes to play in 3NT or else if he was slam oriented he would not =sign off in 3NT.The way we play it the 2♦ is a simple reverse and not a JUMP SHIFT reverse .We do not play it as a GF but only a One round force.Respondershould have passed 3NT .He could have bid 5♣ over 3NT if he wanted to play there.We treat 4C bid as a sign off bid, wondering at the same time why responder should disturb 3NT.I gave the hand to some of our bridge group and some of them were dumbstruck by this 4♣bid.Two of them said that responder is searching for a slam and wants opener to start cue bidding controls ,which all others felt RIDICULOUS.In fact I do hope that the importance of playing LEBENSOHL in such an auction may be appreciated by at least a few if not all. THANKS,

Sir, This hand occurred ,with a few spots different ,in a pairs PAR event way back in the 1970's as reported in my Daddy's collection. Playing in 6NT there are 11 top winners and one has to duck a heart right away in order to rectify the count and keeping all squeeze chances intact.This is an elementary play for all advanced players. THANKS

Sir, Opening 1NT on the 4144 hand in the 1ST seat is simply outrageous if not entirely stupid.No further comments as hands can easily be constructed from nowhere to make them appear interesting. "Bridge squeezes complete" gives innumerable examples of such crooked deals.

Sir, The bidding and systems employed by the respective partnerships are beyond conception.Perhaps only the the Monitor could reply .I have heard of a forcing pass system and so can imagine a player passing sixteen HCP .The 4♥opening bid asking partner to choose the contract is a bid which perhaps needs an alert and must have been described in that pairs card under defense against forcing pass systems.P.S. It must have been a slight misprint on the part of OP to have given 14 Cards to the 4♥bidder.

Sir, 2♦ bid is FORCING for one round .More so as it is not a passed hand.The way we play it is the 2♦ bid promises one more bid unless the opponents keep on bidding at a level higher than 3♦. In that case the partnership understandings prevail.

POOR MATHEMATICS.

Sir, Our bidding would go (on this hand) 2♣-2♦-4♣(asking to show any specific ACE/ACES)-5♣(No ACE)-6♣.If just by the luck on some other responders hand he bids 4hearts] Showing the heart ACE,then 7♣.And if he shows the spade instead by bidding 4♠ then sign off again in 6♣.IF he bids 5♠ showing ♠and ♥ ACES then 7NT. However I do not think that WEST will allow the bidding to go so smoothly in this deal.A sacrifice in 6♥ is quite likely. Thanks.

Sir, I can not believe this auction.1♣is a 3rd seat opener.Responder has bid ♠then 2NT over 2♣.He has expressed his hand fully.The 3♣ bid is asking responder to let the opener play in that.The 3NT bid is a gamblers bid in my opinion.Opener is not a novice not to accept the invitation.

SIR, My only humble comment is that I would never ever open 1NT on THIS hand in the 1st and 2nd seat. One may find someone bidding 5♣ and make it.That means nothing. I do not anywhere see in the post the heading query as to how many POINTS are needed for bidding a game.The answer to be given to a beginner was,( as I was) ,26 for 3NT, Then one shall ask "does it mean that one must not bid 7NT on just 22 HCP ?". We were also shown a hand ♠AKQJ109876543♥A♦VOID♣VOID going down in a contract of 7♠ DOUBLED on a ♥lead as RHO mercilessly ruffed it with the miserly ♠2. As also the well known hand where a side holding just the♠AJ score all 13 tricks against 35 HCP held by the opponents, bidding and making 7♠ in a competitive auction. Any contract fulfilment depends upon the winners one has ,before opponents cash their winners,AND not upon HCP. And then above all one must be playing such a double dummy system which helps arrive to the PAR double dummy contract.POINTS are only an assisting guide in most cases.A side having AQ108 in all suits gets just the FOUR tricks of the four Aces in a NO TRUMP CONTRACT when opponents have the KJ97 of all suits OFFSIDE.24 FLAT POINTS scoring only 4TRICKS. Lastly ,there are always a few MR/MISS/MRS. NUMBER 52 who go just by the results and then attribute it to K&R.Incidentally we dislike K&R method as we found it rather ABSTRACT. THANKS. PS;Yes, one advantage of counting POINTS is it enables many players to SHOUT at their partners for bidding 3NT and going down with JUST 25 Points.

Sir, I shall bid 5C with a little tremor.It means pushing them to a makable 5D perhaps .Passing is a bit timid.Doubling is atrocious. I shall not elaborate more on that aspect.This is my answer as to what I shall bid on the table.I am not used to imagining what partner can hold.I make my natural bid. The way we play it a double shows major suiters hand.A bid of 5♣ over 4♠ response is a cue bid AND NOT A LONG suit.Does not cover all but neither does any other bid/bids which covers all combinations.THANKS

Sir,I shall double for three reasons 1)THERE WILL NOT BE another chance. 2)We play LEBENSOHL so no chance of going overboard. 3)I am an aggressive bidder. Thanks.

Perhaps REAL bridge means something like LONDON bridge which opens as and when needed.

Sir, 1) Do not pay any attention to what robot bids . 2NT for new players is an invitation to the opener to bid 3NT with good 16 or any 17.It also means that responder had no 4 card Major.(else he would start with 2♣ Stayman.) The 3♣ bid hence shows 5+♣ with the opener.Bid 3NT.A 5 card suit shall NORMALLY provide the ninth trick. 2)If you wish to continue playing with robot partners either learn its system or else interpret its bid as per normal SAYC and continue to bid as per your hand. 3)There are variations of the so assumed TRANSFER bids.We play 2♠ as either transfer to ♣ or find the range.Opener bids 2NT to show a minimum hand and 3♣ to show a maximum.Similar is a bid of 2NT by responder for ♦ and opener bids 3♣ with a minimum and 3♦with a maximum.Responder then either bids 3NT. or passes with the minor.With a slam ambition two suited hand he bids the second suit. Thanks.

Sir, just by the way was this an SOS redouble.? IF the partnership understanding is like that then how come a clearcut bid of 2♦ was not made by redoublers partner ?

SIR, Since none of the bids made by opponents have been alerted ,partner knows that your second suit is diamonds else you would double 3♣. BIDDING 3♦ now will certainly depict a much stronger and at least a 6+ diamond suit.The present hand has only a ragged 5 card suit which partner already knows.I,personally ,shall pass the 3♣.HOWEVER I AM NOWHERE NEAR AN EXPERT. MAY BE THE BID OF 3♦ IS BEYOND MY COMPREHENSION.

duplicate hence deleted.

Sir, With the given holding as played in Diamonds there are EIGHT losers so my bid is 3♦.Had I had one more pip in spades and one less in hearts/clubs then 3♠.THis hand has not enough values to bid 3♠ and then find playing in 4♦.Negative double is also ruled out for the same reason.

Sir, Never double a contract unless you think they are stealing your hand.I had presented a hand in this column where an opponent doubled my 4♥ contract holding K1045 and expecting fully 2 trump tricks He did not get even a single one. and one overtrick was made by me. One must not double a contract if one can not successfully double any other contract ,if they bid as an alternate one.Some days back an opponent holding J1098 of trumps doubled a contract of 7♠ and when opponents ran to 7NT could not defeat it.THANKS.

Obviously Robot could not count to 13.

Sir, with RHO not raising to 3♣ your hand is an easy 2♥ Six losers ,good 6 card heart suit, reopening bid.We treat a 2♥bid stronger than a mandatory take out double which can be made on much weaker hands.Our partner would bid 3H showing a doubleton supoport and 6-7 useful points and Nine losers. With 10 losers and useless points he will just pass 2♥.

Sir, Pardon me but I ,personally ,totally dislike ,if not hate, the K AND R METHOD .Hoever opening 2♠ in the 1st seat on the given hand is too aggressive ,if not silly, with the very valuable KJx of hearts which are too good a value for a ♥ contract may be even a 4/3 Moysian.

Sir, On the table and seeing the dummy only, one can count two Club,2Heart,1diamond and the spade Ace as the top tricks. So in all total SIX. One does not know the positions of HQ and DK.One can easily develop FOUR more in Spade suit if one finds a doubleton honour with East.That will be the Normal play not knowing the cards as they are.There is no hurry to take a heart discard at trick 1 (why assume that the finesse is not working right now?).You can take heart discard later also.Normal play would be ruff the club lead and finesse ♠10.wIn any thing and cash the ♠ACE to learn the bad news.And now is the time to develop the en passant/TRUMP COUP ending.Take it from there.With due respect I,personally ,feel the solution of discarding a heart at trick one etc APPEARS double dummyish. P.S.--Intermediates who are not expected to develop this ending will do so AUTOMATICALLY ( of course they will cash all outside winners AUTOMATICALLY) And NO I did not know nige 1 solution as I never noticed that there is a second page also. THANKS.

deleted duplicate.

Sir, An expert doubler also keeps in mind that you will have these bids enumerated by you when doubling the transfer bid.He will foresee the danger.