Liversidge

We play Acol. I opened. The bidding went 1♣-1♠-2♣-2♥-? I had 12 HCP and ♠xx ♥AKJx , ♦xx ♣Axxxx. Partner had 11 HCP, 6 good spades and four hearts. I passed, which I know was a bad mistake. My muddled thinking was that his bid showed 10-11 points max. With more he would have made a different bid to show his strength. Having thought about it I suspect his bid was unlimited - he might have had 16-17 points and still not have had a way of showing his strength. I have been taught that an unlimited bid is forcing. My question is this: In general, is partner's rebid forcing? And what point range can it show? (Klinger says a rebid by responder in a new suit after opener makes a simple rebid of his suit is forcing. Brunner says it is not. Both give examples very similar to ours to support their positions.) No need to comment on my pass. I am feeling bad enough about it as it is! :(

Playing Weak NT, what is a sensible partnership agreement with invitational hands 5-5 or 5-4 in the majors, wanting to show both majors if possible? Except for 5 hearts and 4 spades we can't figure out a way of inviting AND showing both majors without potentially getting too high. Something has to give, it seems, but what? 5 Spades, 4 Hearts and 11-12 HCP: Do I bid Stayman? If partner responds 2♦ do I bid 2♠, 3♥ or 3♠ Do I bid 2♥ (transfer to spades)? What do I bid next? Pass, 2NT, 3♥? 5 hearts, 5 spades and 11-12 HCP: Same questions (We play that 1NT - 3-any is game forcing in the bid suit, slam interest)

Can someone explain to a novice the pro's and con's of leading the Ace or the King with an AK doubleton vs. a suit contract.

We play Acol. Partner opens 1H, RHO Doubles. I have C AKxxxx D xxx H xxx S x. I bid 2H. RHO passed and partner bid 3H. We went 3 off. Partner was 4441. Everyone at the table said I should have bid 2C with a good 6 card suit even though they agreed it would have failed. (LHO Had 6 clubs). I said I was a bit too weak to bid a new suit at the 2 level. I reckoned I needed 10 points including length. I assumed my only options were Pass or 2H. Is 2C an alternative option.

My Acol references (Crowhurst, Brunner, Klinger) all say that a jump shift by opener after a 1 level response is unequivocally game forcing and requires 19+ HCP or 20 points including distribution, though at my local club many play that you just need 17 HCP, which has led to some heated discussions, along the lines of "rubbish" from one of the better players when I have mentioned it. Makes it a bit difficult for a newbie like me - do I try to persuade partner to follow our shared Acol bidding guidebook on this point - he also plays with another partner of the 17+ persuasion.

In our methods a jump shift requires 19 HCP and I had 18 HCP. Like you I felt I was just tad short for 3♥, though I know from our research that some good players would have bid it with this hand shape. The guidelines from our references (Crowhurst, Brunner, Klinger) are that a non-reverse rebid in a new suit at the 2 level by opener shows anything form 11-18 HCP, responder should strain to find a bid unless he is very weak and has just managed to scrape a response together. On this hand responder had enough honour strength for a bid but unless he passed his only 2 level response would have been 2NT which was likely to fail with the misfit, or to go to the 3 level in clubs which was also unpromising with responder as declarer. A good learning experience.

[hv=pc=n&w=saqj97hkt74dkj7ca&e=shq98dt864ckq9763&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1sp1np2hppp]266|200[/hv] A real misfit, but should the bidding been different. We play Acol, weak no trump.

I did a cut and paste directly from his article. The bit in bold was the heading of the paragraph.

Eddie Kantar says "There is no such rule as "never lead away from a King. Leading away from a King is safer than leading away from an Ace, Queen or Jack" Bernard Magee says: DON’T LEAD AWAY FROM A KING AGAINST A SUIT CONTRACT.A lead away from any high honour against a suit contract is very risky, but leading away from a king is especially dangerous, except if your partner has bid that suit. These statements don't necessarily contradict one another. In what circumstances is it good or bad to lead away from a King with K754 defending a suit contract?

Doh! Thanks.

I don't follow the bit that says I should assume partner to have just 14 average points. I would assume 15 1/2 with a 15-17 range, enough to invite, saying "partner, with a good 15-17 bid 3NT. By good I would mean 16+. So we have 27 points, and even if you downgrade my hand a full point we still have 26 points after reevaluation. There is obviously a flaw in my thinking so what is it?

Ps. Please keep these coming.

Thought further about 2. (have not looked at the spoiler so this could be a mistake). I have 11 points. Partner has at least 12. My hand is balanced and the QJ combinations are nice. I should bid 2NT. In ACOL that shows 11-12. The way we play it partner should pass with 12, bid game with 14, and with 13 look at his hand, decide whether to upgrade to 14 and bid 3NT or downgrade to 12 and pass. It's a very crude approach but at least better than just counting points

I don't really know SAYC (only ACOL) but: 1. 2D. We aren't going anywhere. Partner should pass. We have a fit. 2. Pass. We aren't going anywhere. We don't have a fit. 3. 3H. We have game points and a heart fit. Partner can choose contracts. Partner would probably pass 2H.

19+ after a 1 level response I should have said.

I play the weak no trump and got it right but until now had not understood the full reasoning as given here. I had it in my head that a 5-2 trump split generally works better than 4-3 and that was the reason for rebidding hearts. A few weeks ago I brushed up on my reverses and for the first time I realised that a non reverse rebid by opener shows a range up to 18 and only with 19+ could I make a jump shift. (I had been confusing this with the 'high reverse' ) This discovery all stemmed from reading an article on why you should avoid a 2C opening unless you are really worried that game could be missed if partner has a sub minimum hand. My partner also plays with another partner who often openss 2c with 8 playing tricks if the had 'looks good' and insists that partner must not pass below game!! The article showed how opening at the 1 level and using rebids such as the jump shift and other forcing bids gave the partnership much more biding room to find the right contract. I shared this with my partner to help persuade him not to get into a very bad habit. Anyway, the point of this ramble is this: until reading this thread I had not realised that false preference by responder also gives partner a chance to bid on t the 2 level with a strong hand showing delayed support for responder's suit or 6 cards in his own suit or stops in the unbid suit. That's another good reason I can give my 'other' partner for false reference. So thanks for the problem, or more accurately, for the answer.

I got both right without looking at the spoilers but was unsure about my answers. Your explanations were very helpful. More please.

In Eddie Kantar's Modern Bridge Defense he says that with an almost perfect sequence you should lead the top card. He gives AKJ as an example Later on he says that a lead of the ace announces possession of four honour cards and asks partner to unblock the missing honour if he holds it. So where does that leave a holding like AKJ7? It is an almost perfect sequence so partner should lead the ace. If I have Qxx and unblock we might lose a trick to the 10. I guess it's about probabilities?

Just brushed up on Exclusion. It is a few steps too far I reckon. For partner and me the opportunity might come up once a year and responder is bound to forget. It works better when the trump suit is a major but less so if it is a minor.

What should I bid here: [hv=pc=n&w=skq9864hk8dakt75c&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1sp3sp4cp4s]133|200[/hv] If I bid RKCB and partner shows two key cards, I need him not to have the ♣A. If I cue bid clubs and he bids 4♠ do I pass? He may have the ♠A.

If you don't hold the trump ace, it ever right to initiate slam cue bidding rather than Blackwood or some other ace asking bid?

I have just found a post from Mikeh in 2015 responding I guess to a question very similar to mine, though not on the same thread so I can't be sure. Is this what Helene is suggesting?

Thanks again. Why don't authors cover this when writing about reverses. I have four Acol references and none have picked this up.

[hv=pc=n&e=s8643hq853dj74cK5&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1cp1hp2dp]133|200[/hv] I presume that would still be the case if I didn't have a stop in the unbid suit, as here?

Thanks.Didn't know that. I assumed that 2NT showed 10-12 HCP. So after a reverse it can be made with 6+ HCP hand.