msjennifer

Sirs,if playing in an average standard field I have to keep level with the field if its a MP event,Safety plays are next in order.Practically everyone who does not understand the importance of spot cards are going to take to take both the finesses and score all 13 if the finesses are working.In that case a safety play will make the contract MOST of the times but one gets almost a certain ZERO in such a field.In a better than average field I shall certainly make the safety play losing only to those who bid and make a grand slam.IN any IMP event I shall always take the safety play hoping to lose only one IMP to opponents taking both winning finesses and of course a bushel to opponents if they bid and make the grand,

Sirs.I am presenting a deal and a very exciting one from a team event that I played last month.I, humbly, request my fellow columnists to convert it to a hand diagram as I till now have never understood how to do it, As EAST you hold 52--A97--AJ10985--A7 .I opened 1D.and the bidding went 1D-1S-3S(void S)-4H-4NT(RKC)-5H(4 card support)-6D( DK and DQ)--6S-7D.ALL PASS. LEAD-SK(King from AK) and Dummy hit the table VOID-KJ42-KQ642-Q9.Drawing some inference from the bidding and the lead I did make the silly looking contract after taking a long time to decide the line of play.This deal is for advanced and above rating. The result I assure you was surprising for the four kibitzers .Plan the play your way.The trumps were 0/2 RHO having two.

PASS and then 3H over RHO'S 2H.After that keep on passing.

SIRS,on the table it went 2D-PASS-2H(PASS OR CORRECT)-PASS-PASS-?.Now it is known that EAST'S 2D was a weak 2 in hearts. What action should South take now ? Is it Pass quietly or bid 2NT for minors.?

SIRS BOARD 18,,South holds S Q-H AK92 -D QJ1065-C AQ3 RHO opens 2 diamonds (weak in a major or 19-20 Balanced). Q1) if you chose to PASS it goes P-2H(PASS OR CORRECT)-PASS-PASS-? Q2) If you chose to double and it goes (i) x--2H -Pass-2S--? (ii) x-2H-2S-Pass-? (iii)x-2H-3S-Pass-? and (iv) x-Pass-3S-Pass-?. CLARIFICATION.-The opponents are known experts.You have no special agreements.LHO"S Pass or 2H have their normal meanings.You are Vul vs.Non vul. THANKS IN ADVANCE.

SIR,in my personal opinion ,3H was a very poor bid in the First Seat.JUST WHO does one want to preempt with a void and SKJ ?In the 1st seat one just passes or opens 1H, if ones system likes it that way. I politely ask why justify one's bid (in the first seat) saying if partner has nothing then opponents have a laydown game and all that.!.Why these premature assumptions( or presumptions if one likes it that way)? Secondly is it a hundred percent easy to bid grand after the 3H PREEMPT? Lastly, if one does reach 7H it mayl be doubled and go down on a club lead.(Lightner double).

Sirs,the so understood Fourth suit bid by the opener may have various meanings depending upon the bidding and can not be necessarily considered the same as one made by the responder. 1)NORMALLY it depicts the distribution pattern.However the bid can be made to2)deny a three card support for responders 5 card suit where it appears that responder has a double suited hand,3)at the same time to express the inability to bid NT in a GF sequence 4)S Ince it is almost always a ORF if not GF it may be an advance CUE bid clarified later by agreeing a suit on the next round bid. It remains a subject that has not been given any serious special treatment at length by any of the famous authors of Natural Bidding.(Kindly correct me if I am wrong) In the Super Precision system that I play opener never makes the Fourth suit bids because by itself it is an artificial system wherein 1C/1D opening bids themselves do not indicate any clarification about the distribution pattern of openers hand.Felicity has almost rightly remarked about this 4th suit bid by opener.The partnerships are free to give any appropriate conventional meaning as such. It is pertinent that they use the ALERTS appropriately then.

Madam.interesting though it sounds,passiong such a controls packed hand when two clear cut bids namely an unlimited negative double or a 2H are available (and in an established partnership 2C also) appears(and appears only) rather strange and, pardon me, not very logical.

Sir,In my personal opinion after 1D-1H - bid of x(negative) or 2C is not the correct bid.North has to bid 2H which is a game forcing bid as played by the wide majority.The bidding then may proceed 2H-2S-3C(denying a heart guard,or a real suit or a fit either in S or D)-3D(6 card suit)-etc With 7 control in his hand I ,personally, feel that perhaps every North will hunt for a little slam in D.

Sir,NO WE COULD NOT LOCATE THE SQ IN THE SOUTH HAND.This meant we had to stop in 6D.No one likes to play in a GRAND WHEN ONE CAN NOT COUNT 13 TRICKS .(The key cards had to be confirmed by 5NT bid.Playing the SPIRAL S had to show SK and deny HK by a bid of 6D) .South can easily hold KJxx-Ax-KQJ109x-x .So no way to find out SQ ,(when it was S who bid 6D.)This is a hard- to-bid hand .North did say "sorry partner,I could not see the spade Q in your dark goggles".As per my opinion 7D may fail if trumps are 3/1 ,diamond J not falling, and spades are 4/2 with the opponent holding Jxx of trumps has the spade doubleton.Its not a foolproof 7D.With the normal odds 6D is excellent.

Sir,I do not think that the hand xx-KQxxxx-Jxx-xx is possible .I strongly doubt anyone will make A NEGATIVE DOUBLE holding this.There are nine losers a raise by LHO is to be fully expected.Quite a few if not all play a 3H bid after a negative double as GF.Most play a 2H overcall NF and that is what this hand is worth.AT least if the bidding goes 2H-2S-AND PASS-pass -? you have the option to pass or bid 3H competitively.Very luckily the opener has a big hand and so is bidding 3D.What if his hand was Ax-xx-Axxx-Axxxx. There are only 7 losers and rule of 20 is also satisfied for a 1C bid.There is no choice . A 2H NFbid and not x stands out and not 3H after making a negative dbl.

Sir when one bid 3S on the previous turn one expressed everything.I am interested in knowing what is the partnership understanding if partner had doubled the 4D bid in this particular position given the explanations of opponents bidding. What is the approximate clarification of the 4D ?Is it supposedly purely competitive or invitational (One has taken away a lot of space from the opponents with the 3S bid) ?---Hence my bid is PASS.(in some hands it may be a distributional game either way but difficult to visualise)

SIR,It is not clear whether it was a MP or IMP event or Butler event 1).For the' points dependents there are only 25 WORKING HCP..2) The slam is dubious on a heart lead 3)THE slam requires the clubs and diamonds to behave.4)Pray what will be the bidding IF OPPONENTS ARE SILENT THROUGHOUT.I am sure if any one will venture a 6D MOYSIAN fit slam on only a total 26 HCP,a not dependable Suit and more so in a MP event because the presence of all 4 top honours AND the 10 of diamonds is practically difficult to discover as also the Kx of clubs. Quite a few will play either in 3NT or 5D.Only a few trailing way down MAY POSSIBLY reach 6D.. THANKS.

SIR,my only comment is"THE OLD PROGRAMME WAS MORE USER FRIENDLY"

Sir,I have voted for a TOD for following reasons. 1)The spade suit is not a rebiddable suit as per the definitions set. (2) If LHO has a game forcing hand (or 10 +HCP) and my partner is on lead then I DO want him to make his normal lead and more so if LHO is declarer. (3) This hand does have a 4 card spade suit (NORMALLY PROMISED),a tolerance for both the minors (whichever partner shall lead in a NT contract) and not more than 2 wasted cards in hearts.(4) I do not want to FORCE partner to lead Spade if LHO is declarer in a NT contract. (5) a 1S overcall does not also pose any problem, whatsoever, to the opponents. =

Sir,something appears rather weird.How come 2H bid was made on a 4 carder suit.Why did they play in 2H and not 3NT.It appears a wee bit surprising that with the given hand North who is certainly worth a bid kept quiet.(over 2H).

Sir,West hand is an example hand which defensive bidders will PASS.Aggressive bidders will open (personally I would too in the 3rd seat) 4H. Opening it 1H is far too misleading in the first two seats.The jump to 4H over partners double must have been made keeping in mind PFA fearful that 3H may be passed.If not, then 4H is totally unacceptable ,keeping in mind having opened it 1H. A 3H and then 4H would have been certainly the correct bids.Having said all this.if I was given this EAST hand and given the said bidding then certainly I too would have used RKC 4NT.However, it can (possibly) also be played as quantitative with prior understanding.To me it appears(and appears only) an irregular partnership and hence prone to misinterpretation of different situations and various bids resulting thereby.The West player has to be blamed (if someone has to be blamed at all) for the debacle.

Sir,in that case how does the opener rebid with KQx-QJx-AJx-xxxx after 1C-2C ? Does he bid 3C ? Or is the hand opened 1NT(weak)_

Sir,We play 4C as asking opener to cue bid up-the-line.4D as RKCB .4NT is quantitative.We use exactly the same bids for 1D-2D-2NT sequence.THANKS.

deleted wrong hand

Sir,you are quite right and I fully agree and like your reply.Thanks.

Sir,we do not use weak twos for five card suits.We use 2NT as OGUST. The five steps therein provide the full nature of openers hand and appropriate contract is enabled.After the reply to ogust we start cue bidding.With a strong GF hand responder uses a bid of 3C to ask opener if he has a singleton outside.(2NT remains Ogust as usual).This singleton ask is essentially necessary if responder holds xxx in an outside suit.

Sir,THANKS. Opener MUST have the option to PASS with a minimal balanced hand.(It will be comparable to bidding a weak NT with a 5 card Spade suit and should certainly be acceptable to many).incidently my comment was based upon the OP that 1NT is FORCING.Therein lies the worry that opener may have 5332 pattern.

Sir,This is just one hand illustrating the drawbacks of playing 2/1 and hence 1NT forcing.One has to face the consequences. .One starts to presume that opener may have only 3 cards in Diamonds.One can not bid 2H nor 2S. The only option left is PASS and hope for the best.Opener can have various patterns even 5-1-5-2 for that matter and a bare 10 HCP(if playing the rule of 20).One will certainly land in trouble if one does not pass now (making unnecessary presumptions about what if opener has this or that distribution).I would be very thankful if an all-acceptable RATIONAL bid is suggested by experts of that system.

Sir,the losing trick count is to be considered NORMALLY if the hand has a 5 + card suit headed by at least one of the top three honors.It is not worth using it for a flat 3334 hand when making the first bid.For such a hand one has to count the quick tricks that the hand can provide in defence.One should have PREFERABLY at least two(and possibly 2and half tricks).Once you open a flat hand then if your side finds a 8+card fit the Loser count begins.If there is no such fit one must never count losers.There are other ways like rule of twenty etc for unbalanced hands.However,the 13 HCP hand mentioned by you has to be traditionally opened even without the Knave in all seats. In the 4 th seat one MAY pass with xxx-Axx-Axx-Axxx as per ones mood that day.I have passed such a hand only once only to discover that Opponents would have come in and comfortably scored at least 8 tricks in a 2S contract as it happened at all other tables Good Luck.