lowerline

You have to do something after 3♣. A negative double would be nice, but I suppose double is for penalty. 3♠ is next best. It is hard not to pass partner's 3NT (especially in matchpoints), though 4♦ might be the winner...

I would assume 'obvious shift'. The ♣3 encourages a heart switch, the ♣J strongly encourages a diamond switch, the ♣8 encourages to continue clubs. I interpret this as: stay away from hearts. I would switch to ♦8. Steven

I immediately duck a club. You will win if the king is doubleton. I think this is better chance than dropping the jack of hearts and finessing the king of clubs.

You are right about the LOTT. I misread the vulnerablity... But this makes even a better case for the SST/WP method. It predicts you can only take 9 tricks. You now only have to judge whether 3♠ makes or not... The original poster bid 4♣ because he made a bad judgment in assessing his WPs.

Is the 2♣ rebid forcing? If it isn't, you really should have rebid 3♣! This is a very powerful hand. It is a bit akward now... Any forcing bid will do. My strategy is to bid 6 if partner has one ace.

Counting the ♠Q as 2WP is clearly a mistake. Counting the ♥K as 3WP is already optimistic. If partner has a singleton ♠ (very likely), you have a SST of 4. The FTL method now predicts you can take 9 tricks (19-21WPs + SST of 4). You can not use this method to determine how many tricks you can take on defense. But you "know" that bidding 4♣ is only right when 3♠ makes... The FTL book clearly states that the method is there to help you in your judgement, not to eliminate your judgement. It was bad judgement to count the ♠Q as 2WPs. That was the real problem. Don't blame the method. Looking at both hands, you can see that there probably are 9 tricks in ♣. The SST is worse than you expected (5 i.s.o. 4) but there are more WPs to compensate for that. Note: also the LOTT tells you not to bid 4♣...

1. 3♠ 2. 3♣ Why not involve partner in the decision of bidding 4♠?

2♦ Suction (showing onesuiter in hearts or black twosuiter). Double next. Partner can bid 5♥ P/C if he wants.

It is the 2♥/♠ overcalls that makes it really different from Multi-Landy. If you take Woolsey: dbl = 4major + 5minor 2♣ = both majors 2♦ = onesuiter major 2♥ = 5♥4m 2♠ = 5♠4m and you combine the 2♦/♥/♠ calls in 2♦, using the 2♥/♠ calls for the 4M5m hands, the double is available for penalty... Or if you take Vroom: dbl = ♥ 2♣ = ♠ 2♦ = both majors 2♥ = 4♥ + 5minor 2♠ = 4♠ + 5minor and you combine the dbl/2♣ calls in 2♦, using 2♣ for both majors, the double is again available for penalty... Maybe you can call it "Modified Vroom-Woolsey with a penalty double"...

One might blame north for his slam attempt in clubs i.s.o. going to 4♠. OTOH north might been expecting a little more from the 1♣ opening by south. I blame south who opened this 1♣.

lowerline advanced CET - weekday evenings or weekends not symmetric relay, only TABs and CABs

This is though. The LOTT favors bidding 6♣ (assuming 22 trumps), but I don't trust the LOTT when there are that many trumps. However I can't imagine taking less than 10 tricks in a club contract... Double is bad if 5♠ makes, but if 5♣ doesn't make the loss might not be that big. Double it is.

The real issue is probably: which club do you play to convince partner to play a diamond i.s.o trying to cash another club? Double dummy, yhe jack. You want pard to believe opener might have the king, so as to continue diamonds. Single dummy, it's a guess. You don't know declarer's shape. True. One will probably play the jack because it is the standard card to lead from this holding. It is up to partner then. He can figure out it is best to play diamonds if I have the ace of hearts. If declarer has the ace of hearts, he would not have ducked the first trick (declarer can not have the ace of hearts AND the king of clubs), UNLESS he has the ace of hearts singleton... Playing diamonds is always the right play AFAIK, but at the same time this is a defence that is easily missed at the table.

The real issue is probably: which club do you play to convince partner to play a diamond i.s.o trying to cash another club?

Switch to clubs. Your club trick(s) need to be established before declarer can set up his hearts.

Nothing about NT range or NT structure and you decide to open 1NT on a 2254 with 14hcp? I guess you got what you wanted: to declare the contract. It is clear that east did not bid his hand well (understatement), but how do you expect to keep him out of six after you opened 1NT...

Italian style: dbl = 4♠ 1♠ = balanced (transfer to 1NT) 1NT = ♣ support, weak or GF 2♣ = diamonds

Short suit game try. I want to be in game opposite: ♠xx♥Qxx♦KQxxx♣Qxx.

I would have bid 2♦. Since you chose 1NT, partner's double is penalty. With a 4144 I'd probably bid 1NT because I have 17hcp.

♣AK and hope for the drop...

I also agree with the sequence attitude, suit preference, count. So you need a strict rule to define when the count signal applies and another rule to decide when to give SP. Attitude the rest of the time. I think you need to decide on the jack or queen thing. It is marginal but it is necessary to have an agreement to avoid misunderstandings.

Double and I will pass partner's response.

I am talking about the situation when there is an honor card in dummy that is played in trick one... So 3 is not applicable and 4 is, of course, always implied. Do you mean with 2 that when there is a singleton jack in dummy and you can't beat it, that you don't give count? Or does this only apply against suit contracts? Do you mean with 1 that when there is KQx in dummy and you have the ace but decide to duck that you give count i.s.o. attitude?

I would like to have a good rule for this. Hopefully there is an answer that scores 40%...

2♥ is the weak RFR over a 1♦ opening. Do you use 2♦ as the weak RFR over a 1♣ opening?