temp3600

1. After 1♣ 2NT, I would bid 4NT. 3. With the north hand, I would fake a 1♦ first response and then show a game forcing hand with clubs. 1♣ 1♦ 1♥ 3♣, if 3♣ is game forcing. We should be on our way to slam. If 3♣ is invitational only, then I have to go through : 1♣ 1♦ 1♥ 1♠ 3♠ 4♣ 1♠ is fourth suit forcing, and 4♣ finally sets clubs as trumps.

You bid the good 5-card suit first and then show support. This is a very sound principle with strong hands. The only time you might hide the good 5-card suit and show support immediately is with a weak hand. For example, with KQ10xx Qxx Ax Kxx everyone would bid spades and then show heart support, but with KQ10xx Qxx xx xxx it is less clear-cut. In Sayc, the following three sequences all show 4+ spades and 3+ hearts with different strength : 1♥ 1♠ 1NT 2♥ : weak hand ; the second hand above would qualify. 1♥ 1♠ 1NT 3♥ : intermediate (10-12) hand 1♥ 1♠ 1NT 4♥ : game forcing hand, but not extremely strong (something like 13-16) ; the first hand above could be bid this way. There are more efficient bidding structures after 1x - 1y - 1NT though. New minor forcing, two-way checkback are widely used. In Sayc : 1♥ 2♣ 2♦ 4♥ shows a game forcing hand with a club suit(*) and 3+ hearts, but not extremely strong (13-15) 1♥ 2♣ 2♦ 3♥ shows a game forcing hand with a club suit(*) and 3+ hearts, interested in slam (15+). (*) : sometimes responder has to fake a club suit with a game forcing balanced hand with heart support. You should show the side-suit whenever you can. It is a very sound principle to show a good side-suit first and then support. The only time you might hide such a suit is with a weak hand, where showing support immediately can be better. Opener's holding in responder's side-suit matters a lot. That part of his hand can vary greatly in value. Let's take the 1♥ 2♣ start. If opener has Axx in spades, it is nice, since it's an ace, a first-round control, but probably won't move much in value as the bidding progresses. But a holding such as Kx or Qx in clubs, which was neutral (Kx) or slightly minus (Qx) has just increased tremendously. On the contrary, if opener had a singleton or a void in clubs, which would have been attractive holdings for a suit contract, they are now big minuses. To sum up, controls in other suits are good, but they were already good, whereas opener's holding in partner's side suit can often go from around neutral to excellent or terrible.

It could be urgent to return a heart (AKQxx Jxx Jxxx J) or a diamond (AKxxx QTxx xxx J). Partner could have overtaken if he wanted to continue clubs, and he knows declarer is singleton, so his signal should be suit preference, i.e. diamonds. I'd return a low diamond. ♦A runs the risk of crashing partner's stiff KJ.

Could you give on the myhands main page an estimate of when the next big removal of hands from the database will occur? And maybe - but it is quite secondary - the earliest date for which there are hands available. I think myhands is a great complement to BBO, and would be even better with these additions. Michael

Thanks for your replies. This was the full hand when I played it : [hv=d=e&v=b&n=st9763h962d83cj73&w=sj5haqt8dq74c9654&e=sak82hj54dk92cqt8&s=sq4hk73dajt65cak2]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] 2♠ is down between 2 and 4.

Several questions about one hand, which is shown below. 1. You hold Qxx AKQ109 Jx QJx, in 3rd seat, all Red at IMPS, and the bidding goes : 1♣ (X) 1♥ (2♦) 2♥ (P) ? 2♥ showed exactly 4 hearts. Do you simply bid 4♥, or try something else? 2. Do you agree with 1♣ and then 2♥ with this hand : AKJ10 7643 - K9752 ? 3. This was the full hand : [hv=d=n&v=b&n=sakj10h7643dck9752&w=s54h8dq107542c10863&e=s9862hj52dak963ca&s=sq73hakqt9dj8cqj4]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Would you reach the slam, and how? Michael

X. I'm playing RHO for 2 losers, AKJxxxxxx - AKx x to be precise :D.

I would start with X. It gets interesting if it then goes (3♣) - p - (p) - ? Several people intend to bid 3♥ now. I'm not sure if it should be forcing, or if partner can be sure of 4 spades in my hand. What can I bid with Q10x A98xx 9xx Ax ? I think I would bid 4♣ now. It's a bit optimistic, but clearer, in my opinion.

You are dealer with AK82 J54 K92 Q108, Red vs Red at IMPS, and the bidding goes : 1♣ 1NT X 2♥ P 2♠ P P ? X is standard, 2♥ transfer to spades. What do you do now? Michael

1. X 2. Pass

I think I have to decide immediately what club holding to play West for. According to the opponent's carding conventions, can the C9 be something else than singleton or doubleton? If I believe West is short in clubs, I take the first trick with the CQ in hand and run the ST, relying on the HK onside and the trumps 3-2 with only one loser. Otherwise, I play a round of diamonds to set-up a flexible cross-ruff position.

Note that Foxx assumes the second diamond ruff was made with the HQ, so West cannot endplay the South hand with a trump exit and lock it with a possible club loser. Both his line and your approach work.

If you can see you're going to discard several times when a suit is run, isn't it more logical to take the thinking time when you're just about to make the first discard?

I'm surprised that there are so few comments about the 1S opening. If the North hand had been given as an opening bid poll, with 1S, 3S and 4S as options, I would have expected 3S to be chosen the most.

Other : I'd start with 1S, but the second call is unclear. Pass is quite possible.

I think the best line is to start working on the heart suit at trick two, both to setup some tricks and to get an idea of how the clubs split. So I lead the H5, and deep finesse agains KJ if East plays low. That way, they can't attack trumps effectively if West takes the trick. And if East plays an honor, I take it with the ace and return a heart. Now two further heart tricks are setup, and I'm in a good position.

SK at trick one and diamond to the T at trick two.

No, 3H is ambiguous. It can be minimum or have extras, 3 or 4 trumps : a lot of hands go through 3H. 4H on the other hand is quite precise. And it should be, since the bid eats up a lot of bidding space. Using 4H to show a minimum hand with 4-trump support and no singleton or void is a very good idea : first, with 4-card support the strain is clear. And second, since the jump takes a lot of space, you want to assign to it a type of hand with which the bidding will often rest in 4H. A minimum hand with 4-card support and 2-2 in the minors is exactly that : responder needs a huge hand to try for slam. 3H says "i have at least 3-card support", but also "i could not bid any of the other bids showing heart support". In a way, it is a negative bid : it means "i could not use the grand slam force (5NT), nor blackwood (4NT) nor splinter (4C, 4D), nor, ...". That's why it is ambiguous : it regroups all the hands with heart-support that could not be shown at this stage in a more precise way. And it makes sense to associate the lowest fit-showing bid, 3H, to this meaning.

When the last trump is lead from dummy, East knows declarer's exact shape. He knows South only has one entry to dummy - not enough to execute any kind of coup around the trump suit - so with an initial trump holding of QJ75 he should have split his honors, securing two trump tricks. So I'd go up with the king, playing for 3-2 trumps.

I'd start with a simple 1H in both cases.

To me it is a choice between pass and 2NT. If partner is short in spades, or has a diamond fit, 1SX might not be a great contract for us, so i'll bid 2NT.

2S. Nice but minimum hand, with only 3-card support.

Partner seems to have two spades. With three hearts, he would have a good shape for a takeout double of 1S. Can he hold a good 2=3=4=4 hand that for some reason did not double for takeout? No, the hand would have to be pretty strong for the 3NT bid, and so an clear takeout double of 1S. I think partner has a 2=1=5=5 hand with poor minor suits. Something like AQ x KJxxx AQxxx. If he has AQ in spades, what we play matters little. However, if he only has AJ, giving declarer KQTxxxx K98 Ax x, we need to give him a ruff and immediately after knock out the ace of diamonds. I take the ace and return the H7.

I would understand these bids this way : Pass : nothing interesting to add. 1NT : good minimum, stoppers in the majors. The given hand is fine for 1NT. Playing support XX in diamonds : 2D and XX : diamond support Not playing support XX in diamonds : 2D : support XX : a bit ambiguous, strong hand, likely trying to penalize opponents

I like long suit game tries to ask for fitting honors only. I much prefer this restrictive, precise meaning to the vague standard one. Also, these game tries can be used as slam tries, again very efficiently. Playing this way, responder focuses mainly on his holding in the game try suit. With a good holding (KTx for example), he bids game no matter how weak he is or how bad the rest of the hand is. With no honor, he rejects the game try, again no matter how great the rest of the hand is. Only with an inbetween holding (Jxx) do trump quality and outside controls influence the reponse.