MickyB

Disagree [with myself]. 1M:3D, 4M *denying* four hearts still constitutes "giving away info about declarer's hand", which is obviously more significant than giving away info about dummy's hand. I think I'm going to proceed by responding 1NT on (34)33, keeping NT and oM in the picture, and give up on other strains when I am 33(43) or other 4-3 majors.

I'm not convinced that b) gives away less info than a) overall. One way you give away info whenever opener has four hearts, the other way you give away info whenever responder has four hearts. Also 1S:3D, 3H is pretty useful as something else, eg shortage ask.

Yeah sorry, think I was misremembering the situation where giving preference on a stiff has some following - maybe it was 1H:1S, 3D:3H.

1S:1N, 3H:? x Jxx JT8xxx AJx I know some people bid 3S on these hands, if so what do bids mean over 4m from partner?

Just realised I got the auction slightly wrong, sorry - opener bid 5N and heard 6D [one king] from responder. And yes, you do have an ace in your hand...

Partner opens 1S, you have 3S4H. You play 1S:3D as a three-card limit raise. Do you - a) Respond 1NT to keep the hearts in the game b) Respond 3D expecting partner to introduce hearts on 5-4 when accepting c) Just play in spades

[hv=pc=n&s=skt63h976daj85c74&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=p1hp2c(9+hcp)p3h(6+%21H%2C%20GF)p4c(natural)p4hp4sp4n(rkcb)p5s(2%20w/Q)]133|200|IMPs. You're not sure what trump suit they've agreed, if any - are you tempted to double in case they finish in hearts?[/hv] [hv=pc=n&s=skt63h976daj85c74&e=sa8hkd742caqj9653]266|200|You didn't double, for fear that this might persuade them to play in a cold 6♣ with the ♠K on lead. LHO bids 6H, this ends the auction. Partner leads the DT, so you win[?] and return a...?[/hv]

1C-X-3H-X where 1C is 3+cards and 3H is natural and preemptive. How takeout-orientated is the second double? [hv=pc=n&s=skj86hk9d84cj7532&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=p1cd3h]133|200|IMPs. We open quite light, so partner's double will be a bit more classical opposite a passed hand.[/hv]

2H+3 would have been worth 24%. Neither East nor West did anything terrible, but I suspect I'd have done some more bidding on both hands at the table. Passing over 1H-X is normal, bidding 4H on the next round looks bonkers, 2H from pard didn't promise eight tricks in hand.

Yeah that's kinda what I figured. I created a problem for myself on this hand, I was 1345 invite that I decided to treat as 1336 when pard accepted. When pard bid 4D, I had to guess how he meant it. Needless to say, I got it wrong.

Have you and your partner been specifically aiming at selection together? Would you want to play nearly all of your bridge with the hypothetical stronger partner? If the answer to both of these questions is "no", then there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to pursue your goals without ending your existing partnership. Even if the answer to one of them is "yes" your partnership might still survive. Assuming there aren't other issues within your partnership, this would probably be best - you might decide in six months time that there are more important things than getting selected.

Yes, like I said, we are in the same position as Landy if we decide to bid there. Only difference is that we'd play 2S in the 4-2 when they'd probably play 2H in the 4-2.

You are in a similar position to Landy. If pard bids 2D, he won't have 3H2S but might have 3S2H, so you should rebid 2S, so you'll always play in the 4-3 opposite (32)44.

I wouldn't worry about showing diamonds at the two-level. Sometimes you'll gain when you do so, but just as often you'll lose out, often by pushing oppo into a 4-4 major fit when they were about to play in 1NT. I care much more about getting in on 4S5m than 4H5m for similar reasons, don't want to push oppo into 2S. I can't resist the temptation to join those mentioning their own defence - Dbl = pens 2♣ = 3+♠,4+♥, could have longer ♣/♦ 2♦ = ♠+minor, 5-4 either way. 2♥ forcing ask for the five-card suit 2M = natural Not everyone likes pen dbls vs strong NTs, but they are still useful, and it obviously has benefits to not worry about different defences vs different NT ranges, or switching vs 3rd NV strong NTs to cater to psyches. Many are sceptical about the 2♣ overcall. At most conditions, you can think of it as "the majors; or hearts+minor with three spades on the side". The 2♦ response is a non-forcing ask for overcaller's five-card suit. Getting all three strains into play on 35(41) and 34(51) is pretty cool, and its handling of major two-suiters is second only to Landy. Love all at MP, you can take a lot more liberties - shapes like 35(32) and 3442 [the latter passes the 2D relay] can get in if you so choose, the only shapes that aren't fair game are 3433 and 3424.

1N:2S 3C:3S 4D 2S = clubs or 2N bid 3C = max 3S = shortage If you think 4D is a cue, then is opener's 4H over 3S also a cue? In situations where a minor has been explicitly agreed we play 4m as non-serious and cuebidding as serious.

Bidding was fine. North might choose to show the minors if he has a sensible way to do that.

I guess 1M:2D, 3D:3oM should just be stalling, so 3M can promise three cards. 1M:2C, 3C:3D shortage ask so again 3M promises three cards. So the major is assumed to be trumps below slam but 6m is always [an offer] to play, and 6KC RKCB applies if you play it.

[hv=pc=n&s=sa8haqt9874dct842&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=2n(minors%2C%20opening%20hand)p4d(invitational)4h5dppp]133|200|Your lead?[/hv]

Kx xxxx KQJx Axx. 1S:2D, 3D:? If you bid 3S on this, is 3N clearly ART now? If 3M does promise three cards then I'd trust your instinct...4M and 6m are sign-offs, 5m isn't, 4N is six keycard BW. If 3M doesn't promise three cards then you have to at least let responder correct 4M to 5m.

Agreed. 2-5 opposite 5-3 bidding 1S:1N, 2D:2H, 2S:3H, P or whatever isn't best. Very rare that it's right to play transfers by a hand that can't be interested in GFing, i.e. most passed hand auctions. And why would anyone *need* 2D as a four-card raise of a five-card major? :P

In that case, play 1S:2H as 2-5 majors, or 5H5m if you prefer. My real point was that 15(43) shouldn't respond anything other than 1NT.

1S:1N, 2m:2H = five cards. 1S:2H = six cards. Now 5134 opposite 1534 finds the 4-4 fit rather than a choice of 5-1s. Perhaps doesn't work if you open as soundly as Townsend, mind. The 1S:2C kit looks reasonable to me.

No. Opening 2m with 5m4M in 1st seat creates guesses for both sides. Opening 2m with 5m4M in fourth seat just creates guesses for your side. IMO there's much more reason to play ART methods in 1st+2nd and natural in 3rd+4th. This is partly based on theory and partly because 4th seat openings are much rarer than 1st seat openings, so your 4th seat ART stuff would come up rarely.

1S-P-1N-P; P-2H vs a strong NT/4cM pair. Not a live auction, but 5S4H sounds like a useful handtype to show. Thoughts?

Bidding 2C over 1D holding 5C4M isn't great in my experience, so I can see passing then bidding to show both suits in one go as Gnasher suggested. I agree that the second auction isn't safe but showing a five-five fit with RHO doesn't seem that useful either. It seems odd to decline to use our 2NT gadget on the original hand when our hand rates to play many tricks better in a 4-4 fit than a 6-1 fit, but maybe there's a case for it - you might be able to judge to remove to 3D yourself based on table presence.