msjennifer

SIR,The spade fit is only partial as S has by his bid signed off.With only 2 guaranteed cover cards he has signed off as the value of DQ is not known.Exchange Norths Diamond and Clubs and a small slam is next to hopeless.A small slam requires 4 cover cards in South hand to play a 6S..A spade lead will be a marked lead. and North just can not ruff his club loser as a trump will come back as soon as the lead is lost in clubs.If S had both the heart AK in place of Q then the slam is worth while as one club loser can be discarded .Everything will depend on Both H AND S suits behaving or the diamonds breaking or the DJ dropping doubleton.A lot of guessing is necessary in heart suit also on a trump lead.All this because South simply does not have the 4 cover cards..We have the system bid of 5D for some other hand with a singleton club in N which asks the opener if he has 4 cover cards in Spades and Diamond and ONLY COUNTING AN ACE or AK in the jump suit as a cover card in clubs and hearts.As S has only three namely the DA,DQ,and HA he will sign off in 5 S.Furthermore if S has xx in clubs the slam is already a dead proposition.We do not like to bid doubtful slams if we can not get the required information from either hand.And by the way I forgot to mention that the v3H bid by S is NONFORCING.A North holding Kxxx-x-xxxx-Kxxx can happily PASS.

Sir,our auction will go 1H-1S-3H-3S-4S. It is my personal opinion ,the way we play the system, the S hand is totally unsuitable to be opened either 4C/H because of the presence of AQx outside and the heart suit is not what one can need to make any high preemptive/constructive bid opposite a NON PASSED PARTNER. We also play the LTC but that is applicable ONLY when a SUIT FIT has been discovered or when the suit is absolutely strong needing no support whatever from partnerThe present S hand has at least 6 losers as the heart suit is ordinary and with no reason to suppose that it is a one loser suit initially.

Sir,I am SORRY,this comment of mine was placed by mistake on my part in this column.It was actually meant for the other problem which was was given today.I have since corrected it as "wrong post".

wrong post

Sirs,I personally would bid 5NT and hope for the best ,since partners pass has shown some values .On the table anything is likely,Double (what is partner to do who knows) or 6H or Pass(forcing) depending upon what their partnership has discussed.7C might be cold if partner has xx-xx-Kxxx-Jxxxx.

Sir.I could only ask "at what hours of the evening was the deal played ?"

duplicate deleted

Sir,what would one bid holding AKxx-xx-Qxx-xxxx ? 3S/3NT/4D ? OR perhaps something else? The query has been put in "Natural Bidding".Does it change with S-AQxx instead of AKxx ?

Sir,if a bid of 2C is a forcing bid then no harm in bidding it. If not then a 3H bid is a stand out bid.

Sir,in my opinion, as we play it, should show 6H and 4C with all HCP well divided between the two suits.

Sir,the H-Axxx and C-Jxxxx are fairly decent holdings in the unbid suits so this must be conveyed immediately to partner.The ONLY bid is a T/O negative double.It is your hard luck that opener chose to rebid a very moderate suit .Surely there must be some other descriptive bid available.I have presumed that your pair DOES NOT play weak No Trump.

Sir,Cashing the ACE and then leading low towards the Queen does not help much as if West plays the 10 or J one is left to a pure guess .Then if the guess is wrong there are always two losers.. Ducking all round after cashing the ace will win whenever a doubleton king appears from either opponent.And lastly if for some reason one is sure that the finesse is a losing proposition then one has to hope for a doubleton king offside . I am poor at mathematics so I do not know the percentages .

Sirs,please pardon me for entering the EXPERT area, which I am not.However I humbly feel that my suggestion (and it is only a suggestion) may possibly be worth a at least a cursory look.We dislike the ambiguous 2D "waiting bid " reply.We use the 2D bid as showing less than 8HCP AND/OR less than one and half "Tricks"'A second denial shows less than 3 HCP.With a few regular partners I play the "BLUE TEAM CLUB" bids as made on their strong 1C opening which, of course all experts know.

Sir,Yes.It is a T/O double .The advantage ,as I indicated therein, is it allows responder to play in natural "TO PLAY" bids of 2 D/H/S.Of course this has the negligible disadvantage of being unable to penalise the natural 2C call by RHO.

Sir, 1) if the 2C by RHO is natural we double to use the double as Stayman for majors. A 2D/H/S is to play. 2)If the 2C is Landy for major and if one has a GF hand we bid a major suit to show a guard in that major.With a guard in both the majors we use the Double to show that.This leaves the option of a 2NT bid so as to play in 3C . .A 2D bid is to play.An invitational 3D hand is shown by going via 2NT. We have found that this way we can cover most of the responding hands.On all other hands we play a waiting game by PASS.

Sir,excuse me, but the S7 is duplicated.and West has 14 cards.

Sir,pardon me but ,there appears to be an oversight.W is on lead and certainly he is not dumb to lead a spade where no trick is expected.A club lead ,club ruff and the inescapable DA means 3 losers of the top.

Tragedy of an error.BOT is not always trustworthy.

Your hand: Void-x-J10652-KQ98532 RED vs White. Match Points Pairs LHO dealer opens 1Spade,Partner 2 Diamond,RHO 2 Heart. What do you bid ?

3NT is what I shall try as I am an aggressive bidder.

Sir,I agree fully.Frankly speaking, I just overlooked the 2NT rebid which was not made , in an unpardonable oversight.THANKS for pointing that.

Sir.NO COMMENTS..

In absence of any explanation of the 2H bid,I presume that it was a GF bid as otherwise North does not have enough to bid 4D. 6H is a precarious slam because of an impending club ruff and a heart ruff may be on in a 6C contract.Personally I will not mind missing the doubtful clam.