msjennifer

RHO bid 4H! My hand is S-J1076,H-xx,D-KJX,C-J10xx .Pass or 4S?What to bid? As per my knowledge, this sequence shows a very strong take out with 4+ Spades and an opening 2C bid hand.

My personal feeling is that 3D,which is a NFB as played by most,when holding 5 high card controls outside diamonds plus a singleton in a suit not bid by partner,is an underbid.And the 3 NT bid over 3H is worse,when P has shown life.I would bid 4C and then, 4S if partner bids 4D.Rest depends upon partner as I have shown my hand fully.

Openers hand may be a balanced hand with less than 15 HCP( if opening 1Nt is 15/17) or it may be a two suited one also.The hand given by you must not bid 1 S as partner " may" take it as natural,showing 4S and 4/5 diamonds.The most natural bid which you can ,in my opinion,make is 1NT.With a two suited hand opener,very likely,will rebid 2 Clubs in full confidence,knowing 2+ clubs with you.You may decide your next bid only on hearing what opener bids over your 1NT.

Personally,I feel that this solution shall be convenient as well as successful.

A very nice presentation on an equally interesting subject.Sir,I envy you.You must have extremely enjoyed your vacation.Wish you go on more vacations like this one and more frequently..

It appears,you have not paid enough attention to the fact that the pair plays 2/1 and that 2D is a NFB..Anyhow,the question is 'what do to do now?"which is left altogether unanswered!

Since it is clearly mentioned that the pair plays 2/1 and also mentioned that 2 D is a NFB.by xx the opener is showing a strong hand and requesting partner to pass all his next bids warning perhaps a misfit in D.1S overcall may be ,therefore ,on tram tickets since his partner has made a negative double.As for me there is not the slightest doubt as to what to bid now.A confident PASS is my bid.

This topic needs detailed discussions between partners.What Kantar has argued and said is generally OKay for most of us.We lead the Ace from AKx if we have no other good lead against NT contracts.This lead of Ace asks partner to show if he wishes the suit to be continued for developing HIS suit or not.If he discourages then we make the appropriate switch on seeing dummy and imagining openers likely hand.We lead the Queen when we wish partner to unblock.Our lead of 10 promises one higher honor.When we lead the King we ask partner to play the second highest of his holding in the suit.Many times from the dummy's holding in the spot cards of the suit we can make out partners and declarers holdings.These methods of us may or may not be to the likings of many.Whichever way you decide to lead there are problems that can be asked.In fact, I seriously doubt if there is a foolproof method that can be adopted by all.

98 posts in less than One and half months! WOW!

For the usual over calls ranging from 6 to 15 HCP,in our style,we play 1NT as balanced 9 to 12 HCP so that's what is our bid.Assuming an 8 loser hand with partner,had the spade holding been Qxx, by removing one x from heart suit,we would have bid 2D showing a seven losers hand and willingness to play a 3S contract.

We play this sequence as preemptive.However if partner is the dealer and opens a major suit I.e.1H/S.and RHO intervenes we use a jump in a MINOR at 4 level as showing a four card honor headed fit and a 5/6 card bid minor headed by two of the three top honors.But on BBO or any,where partner is new ,it is taken by most as a splinter in that minor.So is the given case where the 3 S bid will be taken as preemptive by all .( similar to a weak jump overcall).

Very well said,Madam.(or is it Miss ?).You have nicely illustrated ,with fitting examples, the difficulty in bidding such hands.Personally,my feeling is that a jump shift in minor suits as in the given hand is a ' slight' overbid but even then with bare kings in the outside two suits a 3 diamond rebid by the responder just says all.

We would certainly be eager to know your new idea of playing a new suit at 2 level by opener on his first rebid as one round force.It will be most interesting to know how you develop the bidding further when responder has 5/6 HCP and the opener a bare 5/4 with 11/12 HCPand opponents just keeping quiet white vs red.By the way very few old fashioned players play 2/1 GF these days.Your contributions will be welcome by all those who play the present "substandard standard system" in all states.

Very few players play 2/1 GF.these days.But we would like to hear more about new suit at 2 level as a one round force and its further developments with various 5/6 HCP hands with responder.I do like ,and certainly may more will,your brand new ideas for improving the" Substandard Standard" system that we play all over the states.

It is very uncertain what a 3 H bid by East will be taken as by West.In all probability,most wrests will take it as showing a 5 card Spade suit.He will ask himself.' Why this 3 H bid?" And one cannot blame him for bidding 3S with Axx. Of course East will correct to 3NT ,if he so wishes ,but that is another point for discussion.

Sir,please note my last sentence.We don't wish to win them all,but certainly we do not wish to win absurdly.We like to play and bid on applying well established gadgets and common sense .We don't bid games just because the combined count is 25 HP.Wish you good luck for your methods.After all,with only Spade AJ ,that is 5HCP,a pair does score a grand slam in Spades against any defense so it does not mean you bid a grand on just 5HCP every time. .If some pairs do bid and make a lucky 3NT on the given hand,we will say"well done opponents" although a little sarcastically .The famous hand ,wherein with all four hands balanced,a pair holding 24 HCP goes down three tricks in a ONE NT contract is a well known example.As regards the 25 percent risk ,which you have mentioned ,I would politely like to differ.If the diamond finesse is off,you will never score more than 8 tricks even if heart Ace is right ,on a certainly expected normal heart lead ,and so the risk is 50 percent not worth taking by our humble methods.To score 9 tricks even if the diamond finesse is off is when the hearts break 6/3 and N holds the Ace when you can duck once,again a very remote possibility.

I do not know how many would like my suggestion about the bidding.As we play the LTC,a Jump Shift by opener ,after a simple one level response,in minor suits require partner to have 3 cover cards to bid a game if there is no fit worth mentioning in either suit.It suggests a 5 loser hand with the opener and as responder does not have 3 cover cards( A,K, or Q in openers suits and ,only an Ace in the remaining two suits to be counted as a cover card)but only two bare Kings in two remaining suits,the hand is a misfit for a 5 level minor suit contract.The responder ,therefore, bids 3D showing such a practically worthless hand.If opener still wants to force a game with a different hand he can certainly go ahead.Responder certainly cannot see 3 NT making.Keep the Heart Ace with South and DQ with North and the result will be very painful.As has been pointed out only a very lucky 3NT was making.We certainly do not mind missing a lucky and almost gambling 3NT game because it will pay in the long run.And oh yes ,some will say ,"if South has club QJX then the contract is cold on a double finesse in clubs",As clubs were 4-1 this line also fails.

We play transfers after a double to protect openers hand from a disastrous lead.So,with the given hand ,we bid 1S a NF transfer to 2C. Add the club Queen for an x and we bid 2S showing a solid club suit and 10/11 HCP but still NF.We use the redouble,as is usually done, with other different hands either to extract penalties or to reach a par contract.( not possible ,for want of space ,to detail all here)

Oh yes.I am sorry I did not pay attention to the fact that this forum is for novice and beginners.

I agree.We shall make that alteration right away.Thanks a lot.

over 1NT,using a RELAY 2 C is vastly superior to ordinary Stayman.Four suit transfers stay as they are. Over an opening 2NT,using BARON (3C) suits up the line,3334hand will be shown by a 3NT bid by the opener, and major and minor suit transfers ( 3NT for C and 4C for D) is useful not to miss 4/4 minor suit slams.Using transfers,the scheme is as follows, A)2NT-3D is transfer to hearts, 3H--3S shows 5/4 in H/S GF B)2NT-3H is tr to spades 3S-4H shows 5/5 in the majors. C)2NT-3S shows 5/4 in S/H .This allows opener to play in 3NT if he so desires. D)To just play in 3NT with no 4 card major and flat hand responder bids 3C as BARON and then bids 3NT.

DELETED as it was in duplicate of the earlier post

If the fit is agreed at a low level a different RKCB can be used if it's a minor suit.Suppose D are agreed then 4C and if C are agreed then 4D can be used as RKCB and 4NT later for Kings.The suit next to 'RKCB answer' can be used to ask for trump Q AND SPECIFIC Kings by using the SPIRAL. With preagreement cue bids followed by RKCB can be used . Exclusion RKCB can also be used if it is found to be better than cue bids."Josephine" is another gadget which is used whenever found essential ,usually,to bid a Grand Slam or not.

Can't we use an exclusion Blackwood by a bid of 5C ?(Instead of 4C)

So an invitational flat hand without a major has to bid 2S over partners 1NT isn't it?