msjennifer

SIR,pardon me but you did say that your bids show 21 HCP.I see that this hand has only 16 HCP.The ROBOT must have visualised this and wrongly or correctly the way you take it only SUGGESTED 3NT as a possible contract (it should not have).Sir .pardon me, but the 2D bid is not a jump shift but a only a simple reverse and is NOT NECESSARILY a game force as the responder can make a 1S bid even with a paltry 5HCP(since 1C may be even on 2/3 cards.)This is perhaps the way the ROBOT treated it and retreated to 3C.

Sirs.The information given says that opener shows 21HCP.The distribution given is a 3-1-4-5 hand.For all purposes my heart Q is useless.I have also given a preference for a club contract with xxx only.I lack a guard in hearts and so there is no point in seeking a NT contract.In my opinion slam is out of question.Keeping fully in mind that my partner is a ROBOT,I shall refrain from making a cue bid of 4D and bid a straightforward 4S..However.let it suffice to say, with my regular partner I shall certainly bid 4D as the way we play it any cue bid on the way to a game forcing situation and certainly below the game contract promises nothing extra than what has been shown earlier.

Sir. as it boils down it all depends upon 1) the type of event.2)the maths of a 3/0 break 3 ) how many of that will west who has already shown both AK of clubs likely to hold a singleton King of spades..4)How many times will East hold a singleton King,when playing the A will win.5)How may times will East hold KJx when leading a small one from dummy and making the safety play wins is likely.. Sir.as I go by the book plus the table feel, if playing a MP event I shall cash the Ace.However in a IMP or team event I shall take the safety play at the cost of one IMP. A friend of mine, missing KQx did not take the safety play when playing in a small slam and lost a handful of IMPS and gained quite a few jeers.

Sir,this hand has 14(fourteen) cards.

Sir I too opted for your line.However my partner asked me one question ."Why not play on spades ?" "

Sir,we use the following: IN THE 2ND SEAT (1):2H shows HEARTS and minors.(2) 2S shows SPADES and minors.(3)2NT shows 17/19 and good playing strength(4)3C/D are NATURAL (5)DOUBLE shows a fairly balanced hand and 13/17 HCP and Lebensohl responses if openers partner passes.If he bids 2H/S then Natural responses with 8/10 HCP and double with 11+HCP AND with 0/7 Pass. However I must admit we do not face many opponents who play the Multi 2D.

Sir, the openers hand will surely have a fit either in diamonds or hearts or he may have say AQ in clubs.M y hand has only six losers and I shall not stop short of game.If opener has a decent 6 card spade suit then I have enough support in my Kx to raise to 4S. To leave the outside possibility of even 3NT my bid is a straight forward 3H.In my personal opinion 3H is not an overbid.with the present hand.Missing the King of spades I would make a Negative double as I just can't think of a noncompetitive pass.

Sirs ,we bid it the old fashioned way.WE open this hand 5D.This bid asks responder to bid 6 holding one top honor from AKQ.If responder has one honor and an Ace outside he cue bids that Ace.We do not open this hand as either 2C or 1D as the opponents are shrewed enough to preempt the bidding to a high uncomfortable level.Also there are no 5 QUICK tricks to open the hands 2C.

Sirs,We open this hand the old fashioned way.5D is the bid asking partner to bid 6 with a top honor from AKQ.If he has a top honor AND an outside ACE he is supposed to cue bid that.Holding the K of D and heart Ace he bids 5H and opener can bid 7 if that's enough .Same with Spade ACE.

Sir,one must fully know whether the accepted insufficient bid is a conventional bid or not.In the given example a 1NT bid may be a conventional forcing bid if there was no 2H overcall.Whether you like it or not illegal information has already been passed by the 1NT bid.As also the 1NT bidders partner already knows that it was the intention to forbid him from bidding and so even holding a hand which deserved one more bid ,he will now pass having known the purpose of the insufficient bid.

So far as I know it is within the players right to ask the TD to read out the appropriate rules from the Rule Book. Secondly it was your partners choice whether to accept the insufficient bid or not.Thirdly if the opponents are strangers DO NOT ACCEPT THE INSUFFICIENT BID.I have come across some players who purposely make an insufficient or an illegal bid so as to bar their partner from bidding (by not making a sufficient bid in the same denomination when asked for by the TD) .For example replace the bid of 1NT by say r3C or 3D etc.In that event one can ask for redress if ones side has been damaged by the forced " shut up" of the offenders partner.And another point is the offender can not replace the insufficient bid by a double or redouble.

Personally speaking, in this particular hand the percentages and principle of restricted choice have no place.It all depends upon the level of opponents.I have seen many players who have the habit of 'giving the count' whenever they held anything less than a Queen when following a suit.I congratulate the OP for guessing correctly when someone like Zia failed.

Sir,Congrats to the few who chose the correct spade lead.

Sir,from the explanation given since opener did not bid 3D but bid 3NT ,I draw the the conclusion that opener has a 5+ minor suit. and it is likely to be clubs and so a club lead is out.A spade lead is a dangerous lead and ,in my personal opinion so is a heart lead.Since this is the case I shall lead the fourth best diamond.My hand is such that one draws a card from another pack and leads that suit, it is a stab in the dark and any lead might be a loser as it would turn out to be.

Sir,personally ,we do not support using the jump shift as a splinter bid as then one can not use it to show genuine two suiters with game or slam intentions.As a matter of fact the opener NEVER uses a bid as a splinter bid the way we play it.(I am specifically saying this as this column, as said, is for NATURAL bidding).Secondly if the response is 2H and the openers spade suit is not strong then one is only losing genuinely required space if one uses a 4C/D bids as splinters rather than show strong double suiters with no heart support.It certainly is a conventional bid (not NATURAL) and requires prior partnership agreements.

Sir,what you were taught when/if learnt 2/1 is absolutely correct.There is no need to jump. The sequence you have mentioned viz. 1S-2C is one where the 2C bid is many a times ambiguous.and there may not be any club suit as such.A 3NT rebid is to play.If opener holds say a 5332 hand and 12/14 HCP a rebid of 2S is advisable. A 2NT rebid should have 15 HCP.(we do not like too open 1NT with a 5 card major.(A 1NT contract goes down, where a 1S/2S contract is easily making and 1NT goes PPP.).TO give a general example.,South has QJ764-AQ5-Q93-Q8 and playing a 13/15 NT opens 1S.N bid 2C ,S responds 2S.( not 2NT).This is the bidding if playing Precision but is certainly easily applicable playing a standard system.Using this only one pair with a Kxx spade fit played in 3NT where 4S contract went down due to a 4/1 break at all the other tables.(N had a 3235 hand with H-Jx)

PASS.I shall remember that partner made a normal TOD and had he real 11 tricker would bid 2S and not a TOD. He is bidding 5H with something expected from you.

4C.Does not one bid 3C if the overcall was 2H? And most certainly we have game going points and only a small doubleton in Heart suit .(can play in 5C as we have the DA control).

Sir,i fully agree with all who said that rebid of 1NT.shows 12/14 HCP.It is just unthinkable to play it as 12/17. a 2NT rebid also shows exactly 18/19.AND in all probability the rebid of 3NT would show exactly 20 as with 21/22 or even GOOD 20 the hand if balanced would be opened 2NT.Even any strong club with 15/17 NT system shows only 12/14 HCP when the rebid is 1NT.Lastlly even in Precision system an opening bid of 1D followed by a rebid of 1NT shows exactly 12 HCP as with 13 /15 HCP the hand is opened 1NT. Therein also a rebid of 1NT cannot be stretched to 12/15 HCP.

Sire,it would be interesting to find out how many below the age of 50 play ACOL even in our UK,today. Even the book authors of "ACOL in the Nineties" do not mention any thing about this suggested treatment although they certainly must have given it a thought. "CERTAIN" good players did play an ACOL version wherein an1Club opening guaranteed a 4 card major and the Weak 1NT denied a 4 card major .It had its benefits and drawbacks.I doubt if it is played anywhere anymore.It may be given at least a cursory glance .

Sir,if a bid of fourth suit jump bid is used for a hand like the one you have stated what is the openers bid for a hand where . he holds ,lets say, x-AJxxx-xx-AQJxx.and, it therein has a danger of having to play at an uncomfortable level.

Sir,I personally think that what you say is indeed logical and fair enough.However,there is a question whether the 2C bid is natural or a sort of Gazzilli when the 2D by responder is a forced bid,and which one is preferable.

duplicated post

A 12/14 is opened 1C,15/17 as 1D,18/20 as 1H,21/24 as 1S and 25+ as 1NT.A 1D response show 0 to 7 HCP .a 1H/S response shows 810 HCP and a 4+ named suit. A 1NT response on 1C/D/H/S shows game HCP.and a 2C response is Blackwood.i think that is enough.