msjennifer

SIRS,On pages 74/75 of the book ENDPLAYS IN BRIDGE which is written by the late George S Coffin, he has described the same hand which was shown to him in 1934 which he passed on to late Milton C Work who published it in his newspaper syndicate column.He credited the hand to Norman BONNEY.who passed on this hand.HOWEVER, Charles W May of Auburn in Maine claimed to have held and played this hand.It appears that Mr.Charles Goren ,who was considered a great player, then modified the hand with only small cards here and there and published it under his name.Mr.Coffin has nicely called it "Poker play develops squeeze.".Leave alone all that ,this hand remains a nice illustrative hand for all of us.

Sir, sorry but I made the unpardonable oversright of thinking that I was West and the singleton spade is on my right.I apologise for making a silly lead due to my overlooking the diagram and imagining something entirely nonexistent situation.Due to my unpardonable oversight ,since I was under the thought that my LHO held QJxx and RHO a singleton 9 of spades.The 10 lead IN THAT case smothers the 9 and if the mistake of splitting the QJ is made then partner ducks and on gaining the lead we collect 4 tricks in spades.Sorry again and I am deleting my answer.Your explanation is lucid and to the point and I agree wholeheartedly with the same.Sir,thanks a lot.I correct my lead to the small spade.

deleted because of oversight in submission.

SIR,what a hand.! Difficult to reach 6NT from North although W will have the DA if it is played played by S and a D is led.Will require perfect understanding as the opponents have already raised the level by their 2S bid.The experts may please guide .THX.

Sir,thanks a lot for your excellent argument for opening this hand 1NT.

Sir,thats the SPIRIT. I very much liked the position you take as most of the time ,as per my experience .it is the one which works on the table.And it has worked as the results show for 66'67% of the field .(which is where we like to finish.)

SIR thanks a lot for your VERY KIND comments on my memory.Either you have no time or perhaps patience or perhaps it is below your dignity to go through the 1D opening in the mentioned book.As your other statement that I am the luckiest player in the world ,well I, personally do not understand the basis on which you make this VERY KIND AND APPRECIATIVE REMARK.Thanks for that too.The LUCKIEST ONE accordingly must be SILLAFU (Benito Garozzo) who must be also having the worst memory as he is only 91years old and also one of the authors SUPER PRECISION and also won the Bermuda Bowl 13 successive times, retired and then on challenge returned to play with the late CC WEI"S precision system to win the same for three consecutive times.I ,being not one of any good merit( as per your very kind remark on those who would open the given hand 1D) shall continue to stick to the under merited SILLAFU. and his so imagined useless SUPER PRECISION system.AFTER ALL EVERYONE IS AT LIBERTY TO USE WHATEVER IS GOOD IN ONES OPINION.I politely point it out that and please note that I have not at all ridiculed the 1NTbid chosen by others.I have my book and you have yours.I have my beliefs and you have yours.Let us go on commenting without RIDICULING anyone else for holding adverse views.And that is how the game has to go on.THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR VERY KIND COMMENTS.

SIR,Well ! As per your experience,I would only humbly and politely say,"you had the cake but unfortunately the rats got it".You also say that only 1/3 of the field played in NT and some strong well known ones played in a club contract.Sir,its upto you to decide if its right to open the hand 1C/D OR the fantastic/ disastrous 1NT.Thanks a lot for the results.

Sir, pardon me but I do not know which SO-CALLED MODERN VERSION you are mentioning.We play SUPER PRECISION as in the books "SUPER PRECISION BY GIORGIO BELADONNA AND BENITO GAROZZO" and so it will be very unfair on my part to make any comment whatsoever on your post.W e face no problem of a rebid over responders 1H/S as the simple rebid of 2C which shows a)2-4D and 5/6 C AND 11/15 or b) 5/5 in minors with 11-13 HCP.For the other responses and development please refer pages 18 to 64 of the book.We have never faced any problem whatsoever bidding in the situations enumerated by you.A 1NT opening is 13/15 HCP and strictly does not contain two four card majors or a five card major.We open 1D/2D on a hand containing two four majors and 11./15 HCP and 1H/S on a 11/15 hand with that five card major.(pages 126 onwards of the book).Your fear that we may miss a game when responder has 10/11 is totally unfounded as is is your fear of him having 7/8 HCP if you are kind enough to go through the pages mentioned already.

Sir,I,personally,fully appreciate your comment.

Strange indeed that a Jx which is neither a stopper for NT nor has a trick winning capacity(except in a spade contract perhaps) and is making up the very important 15th HCP can make a difference to the opening bid in the first seat..Playing Precision we can easily open this hand as 1D (11-15 and 2+diamonds)

Sir,I am going to be the lone little squirrel. A standard opening of 1C PROMISES only xx in clubs.I shall open 1C always on such a hand.There is an easy (in my humble opinion) rebid of 2D(over responders 1D) or 1NT or 2C available.In my opinion KJxxx is most certainly a rebiddable suit as per the definitions given in all text books.I do not like a 1NT opening on this hand as it can go down vulnerable against not .I played a hand against an internationally rated opponent who opened 1NT holding xx-AKxx-AKJx-xxx ,15 HCP.and SO THOUGHT BALANCED hand,in the 1st seat,We cashed the first 9 tricks in SandC and minus300 was the result in him getting a very clean zero.Had he bothered to open 1D then we could have scored 9 tricks in 2/3 S.My polite and humble thought is that one can CONSTRUCT very amusing hand patterns with the 3 other players on the table, but it will certainly be NOT WRONG to open THIS hand 1C.

Sir.a redouble does not necessarily guarantee a support of at least 3 cards.Had the 1H opening been made in the 1/2 seat(when we were not a passed hand) the redouble ,as the way we play it, asks the opener to pass if he holds a normal i.e.12+ and 2 DEFENSIVE tricks, if advancer bids something.The redouble says ."wait for my next bid if you have a limited opening.My redouble may be a misfit but powerful hand where I desire to penalise them".The opener either obeys it or with a sub minimal opening bids normally.The redouble promises a desire to play upto 3 level in openers suit.(A 3 bid in openers suit instead of redouble is preemptive).A useful derivation that we use is .suppose advancer bids a suit then with a regulation opening AND holding Axx or Kxx in advancers suit the opener doubles to show that holding so that the redoubler knows that there is a guard in the suit if at all he is thinking of playing a NT contract.

Sir,I personally, FULLY AND ENTIRELY agree with the most descriptive explanation given by you.The 1S bid should have been avoided and the doubler too does not have the requisites necessary for any further bid over 1S.(Any further bid has to have 16+ HCP OR a distributional hand to justify it.)

Sir,in a strong field,West fully reasons out in his mind the likely reactions of opponents.There can hardly be a good outcome by doubling for penalties on this particular hand.A 4NT bid as a T/O is ,I personally feel, rather a unilateral decision leaving no option to partner but to bid a four card minor if he does not have length and strength in the heart suit.,However, kindly note that I am not at all adversely criticising playing a double for penalties.

Sir.I I agree fully..though we play a double as T/O a little flexible.For example holding something like KJx=xx-xxxx-xxxx North is at liberty to convert it into penalty, if he feels so.

Sir a few questions here. (1)N has passed TWICE .Does it suggest anything? 2) What does a bid of double over THREE spade taken as.(3)I is there any difference between 3Sx and 4Sx by NORTH ?.In absence of this information on partnership understanding,I am left with only a guesswork.I shall not be on lead and a heart lead MAY prove beneficial to the declarer. I do see 3 quick tricks in the minors as there is not much length in either..It does seem risky but I shall double.May work either way although.!

I shall; order a strong black coffee with Dexedrine mixed for S.

DUPLICATE POST DELETED

Sir with two quick tricks 7 losers and a 7 card suit we always open the hand given by you as 1Club.Yes ,we do bid aggressively and we may may not get another opportunity at a safe level both to compete or failing that as lead directional bid.IF we pass just now we WILL NOT compete at three level as even one down doubled will not be advisable against their part game in 3D.3 IMP or a clean zero at Match Point scoring.

Sir.I agree with you.BUT I could not construct a vulnerable hand which could neither open 1C or 3C with a 7 carded suit and now dare wants to compete at the three level on it. As also there is no mention of any 2/1 in the conditions given in the OP.I may humbly mention here that we dislike the 2/1 theory.W e do play the GAZZILLI and other gadgets borrowed from the Super Precision system and encorporated by us in SAYC I have merely stated how we face the problem given in the OP.I have not the slightest intentions to suggest others use it.

SIR where is the hand diagram ,? I can't see even a reference hand on my PC,

SIR I fully expected this query.1) with a club suit and of course a weak hand since we passed once already(I do not know why as with a decent 7 carded club suit practically every one does open 3C not pass.) we pass since opponents can always easily bid 3D. .(2)With a Diamond suit we pass and bid 3D if it goes 3C-PASS-PASS if we wish to bid it at all.(if we forgot to open the hand as 3D)

Sir,by no means this hand is a minimum hand.5/4 with two very decent suits ,6 controls,15 HCP(much more than a flimsy 11 pointer) and last BUT NOT THE LEAST just 6 losers as played in either of the two fitting suits.Take away the SA and put SQ there and one would still open the hand.

SIR,with the given conditions i.e.weak NT, Vul against non, and the given hand we bid over 2NT as follows 3C -BOTH majors better hearts 3D-BOTH majors better spades.So holding North cards I would bid 3C.