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♥AK. If Q drops, go to dummy in ♥ and finesse ♦Q. If ♥Q doesn't drop, play a ♠ to the K. Steven

Because of all the controls, this hand is slightly better then your standard 5 loser hand. The shape is ok to double (can stand any bid from partner and short in their suit). Therefor I think double would be my choice. I admit that it is close though and that you are very unlucky they didn't compete with their 10 diamonds. Steven

I don't see how to deal with spades 4-1... I will ruff the lead. Play 2 rounds of spades ending in dummy and take the double diamond finesse. When RHO puts in the K/Q I will duck, playing him for KQ. I have one trump left in hand to ruff a heart continuation and the club jack as entry to draw the last trump and take the diamond finesse again. Steven

Besides spades 3-2, you need JT-third in hearts or clubs 3-3, I think. ♦A ♠AK ♥AKQ If the ♥T drops as well, continue hearts and claim. If it doesn't, ruff a club and hope they are 3-3. Steven

The only reason to pass is your 4crd ♥, but being first hand and not vulnerable at IMPs I would open 3♣. Steven

Muiderberg can handle 5-4, 5-5 and 5-6. You have a 5-7 and you are vulnerable in 2nd position. Why would you want to preempt partner with a hand he will never expect? Another thing I don't understand is why a Muiderberg-opener would want to show his point range? If you want to open Muiderberg on distributions like these, you should be able to tell partner that you have 6crd minor on the side. I used to play the 3H rebid as a 5-6 with clubs. Points and distribution are not the same. What will you do when partner bids 6NT? Steven

Very close. Partner had something like QJxx, Kxx, Axx, AQx A took the Spade lead in my hand and played ♥T planning to finesse. Is that the baest play considering RHO has 5-5 in the minors (and at least one S)? With an unbalanced hand like the one you had, I would have bid 3♥. Bidding 6♥ over partner's 3NT is a gamble. Anyway, 6♥ is a good contract. I would have taken the spade lead in dummy and played a heart to the queen. This allows you to pick up a singleton honor at your right and it prevents the guess when hearts are 2-2. If the first play in hearts goes small-small-Q-A and the second play in hearts goes T-small you take the (almost) marked finesse. If righty had Jx in hearts, lefty would have given him a ruff in spades when he was in with the A. Steven

♣A discarding a ♦ in dummy cross in trumps and ruff a ♠ cross again in trumps and ruff another ♠ cross a third time in trumps draw the last trump discarding the ♦K cash the ♠A discarding the ♦A claim

3♣ as pass/correct is such a gadget, but you won't be happy if partner has a 4432 with both majors... Steven

Lead the Q from KQJx, KQTx, KQx(x) or QJTx and encourage with A, K or J only. Lead the J from QJx(x), AQJx or JT9x and encourage with the T. There is an issue if you have KQJx or QJTx and you want to know about the T or 9 respectively. From AKQx lead the Q. If partner discourages, play the A on which partner will give count. You could have done this as well in your case. If you had continued with the A partner could have given count. Only if declarer had something like JTxx might this have cost a trick. Steven

I wonder why they lead the J from QJx? Lauria-Versace don't make that exception. Steven

I agree with 1nt, but I would have bid 2nt over 2♠.

What is your partner supposed to do if he has the jack? You want him to encourage if the lead is from KQ10x, but he must discourage if it's from AKxx. Roland No set of agreements is without flaws... Partner is supposed to encourage with the J and I, being aware of this flaw, should be encouraged to underlead AK if I do not have the Q or J. Steven

I don't think this is a good idea. When designing a bidding system you should always keep the Usefull Space Principle in mind. The higher your constructive opening the more precise it should be. - Keep the 2♦ opening as it is. There isn't enough space to add other hand types. - Having the 2♣ opening always show 6 is an improvement though, because you make it more precise. As a result, you have to open 1♦ with 4M5♣ not short in ♦. This is less of a problem because there is still plenty of space to figure it out. Some pairs take this even one step further: - 2♦ shows 6♦ without a 4crd major - 2♣ shows 6♣ with or without a 4crd major - 1♦ can now also be short in ♦ This approach is more playable than what you suggest, because the 'multi-meaning uncertainty' is one level lower. Steven

Many will disagree with you. Two camps: 1N - 2♣ 2♥ - 2♠ Forcing with 4 spades. ..... 1N - 2♣ 2♥ - 2♠ Invitational *without* 4 spades. I prefer the latter and let 2NT be invitational *with* 4 spades. This way opener will always be declarer. Roland A third camp: 1NT - 2♣ 2♥ - 2♠ Is INVITATIONAL with 4 spades (as opposed to forcing). That's what Adam and I play, and what I've seen many experts in the LA area play. As for how conventions that are the same get different names, or how different conventions get the same name, that's not too surprising. This happens all the time in English. I have never seen this in any bridge book, nor have I ever seen a bid higher than 2NT, except it being a purposeful (or accidental, more likely) system deviation, and admitted to right away. I definitely haven't been to all parts of the US though, so I can't claim that there isn't a place where the locals play Stayman that way. Standard Stayman in my part of the world (small European country) always shows at least one 4crd major and there are 3 possible answers. We can agree on the fact that if you can bid Stayman without a 4crd major it is not standard, can't we? A fourth camp: 1NT - 2♣ 2♥ - 2♠ Invitational or better with exactly 4crd ♥ and 5 or more ♠... Playing Garbage Stayman (1NT-2♣-2♦-2♥ is weak with both majors) and Smolen, all hands with 54 in the majors are bid through Stayman, except the invitational 5♥4♠ (1NT-2♦-2♥-2♠). With only a 4crd ♠ you bid NT after 1NT-2♣-2♥. Without a 4crd major you bid NT immediately and don't use Stayman. Sounds pretty simple to me... Combine that with 2♠ as a transfer to ♣, 3♣ as a weak/strong transfer to ♦ and 3♦ as natural invitational. You now have a simple (standard?) and effective 1NT response structure IMHO. Steven

This is what I prefer vs NT: - Ace asks unblock of queen or count (AKJT) - King asks attitude (can be from AKxx or KQTx) - Queen asks unblock of jack or attitude (AKQT; KQT9; QJ9x) - Jack denies higher honor (JT8x) - Ten shows 0/2 higher (T9xx; KJTx) - Nine shows 0/2 higher (9xx; QT9x) - 8..2: either 4th from a good suit, or 2nd from a weak suit This is BWS except for the coded 9/10.

Isn't the solution here invitational jump shifts? An IJS is a 3minor response to a 1major opening showing 9-11 and a 6crd suit. As a result the only invitational hands in the forcing 1nt response are the balanced and 3crd raise hands (*). The 2minor responses to a 1major opening are always GF, but 2♣ can be on a 3crd suit since the GF balanced hands are bid that way too. Playing IJS you will have to give up Bergen Raises and play the 2nt response as invitational or better with a 4crd fit. (*) To be complete I also have to mention that, after a 1♠ opening, I consider it a good thing to play a 2♦ response as an invitational+ transfer to hearts to keep these kind of hands out of your forcing 1nt. In fact you switch the meanings of the 2♦ and 2♥ responses, the 2♥ response now being GF with diamonds. The follow-ups require some work though. Steven

Take in hand. Diamond to the king, diamond finesse. What happens?

Since there have been some questions about the methods, let me clarify: * All hands with 16+hcp are bid via 2♣. Any jump rebid is a picture bid. The 3♥ rebid shows a very good suit: a 6+crd headed by KQJ or KQT in this case. Namyats is on the CC as well. * 3♠ would have been natural, not a cue. I think that any 5-level cue now draws the attention to the missing spade cue. I agree with Mikeh's explanation why 5♦ is better than 5♣. Nobody mentioned 5♥ though... What should that mean in this situation? As a side note: do you agree that a 4♥ rebid (i.s.o. 3♥) by opener should show spade tolerance? Steven

Your hand: ♠QJTxx ♥Ax ♦AJxxx ♣A Partner opens the bidding. The opponents don't intervene. 1♥ - 1♠ 3♥(1) - 4♣(2) 4♦(3) 1: shows a good suit (and roughly 13-15hcp) 2: advance cue (sets hearts) 3: cue Your cues in unbid suits show A/K/single/void. What is your next move? Steven

I think the diamonds need to be 3-2 to win. I will draw two rounds of trumps before I play diamonds the third time.

With a fit and a maximum south could (should?) have bid 3♠ after the 3♣ by east... I don't think there is another reasonable way to end up in 4♠. Steven

Playing 2/1, a second seat opening should be sound. Since I have 12hcp I expect the field to be in 4♥. Even if making a game invitation only with this hand shows superior hand evaluation skills, you are heading for a top or a bottom if you end up playing 3♥. If you are not in need for a top right now, force the bidding towards 4♥. Steven

First, I duck spades. 1. They continue spades I play a low diamond to the table. They can take their last spade trick. If they switch clubs I take in hand and play ♦AJ. I now have 8 tricks (1 spade, 2 hearts, 3 diamonds, 2 clubs). 2. They switch to clubs I take in hand, cash the king of hearts and play a low diamond to the table. a. If they now play spades, I loose only if the spades are 5-2 and the spade length has an honor third in diamonds. b. If they continue clubs, I take the diamond finesse. If it looses and a heart is returned I need the heart finesse to win the contract. Of course there is also the (unlikely) possibility that LHO can now cash ♣QJ... Still, it feels like a good line. Steven

I'd take the queen and play another diamond... I haven't worked this out, but it seems like I need the king of spades third and the trumps no worse than 4-2.