nick jacob

Sorry, I meant for the first example to have the heart king and not the queen, which is still well within the realms of a 1S advance, and which makes game a great prospect. I do not know why you need to mar your reasonable point about advancing 1NT by being blunt and rude. I don't even particularly know what your agenda is presenting the hand in this way. Considering only the East cards, I think south will often compete to 3C, given the opponents seem unlikely to have an 8-card fit in hearts (no X from north). In this case, you have given yourself the last guess and have not empowered partner to act at all. If they do not compete, it is likely that they have too many spades and you may encounter difficulties in the play of 2S (when 2D or 3D would be much easier). Bidding 2S just feels like playing solitaire. You have worked out in your mind what is percentage, double-dummy, and are not consulting partner on his opinion. This may involve missing game or playing the wrong partscore, and for what? Fear that 2NT/3D/3S is too high? If partner could bid 2NT I would be delighted to put this dummy down.

Result merchanting has nothing to do with it. 4S could be going off and I would disagree with East's 2S. Why can West not have JTxxx, Qxx, Qxx, xx when 4S is where we want to be? Or xxxx, Qxx, Qx, KJTx when we can play 3NT? Enjoy playing the latter in 2S going off with 3NT cold! I think you are severely overestimating the effect of matchpoints on the decision as well as underestimating the utility of doubling a second time, enabling us to find a better partscore and investigate the correct game if there is one.