case_no_6

I don't like 4S at all. The worst thing about it is that 4S promises at least 4 and usually 5 card spade support, so it positions partner badly if they bid 5C. Even if partner passes and you then Dbl, partner might pull the double when that is not the right decision. (And then it will be your fault since partner will expect longer spade support from you and, by inference, less defense and a bigger fit for the opponents.) You have enough to invite and there is a standard bid that suggests 3 card support and invitational values - the cue bid of 3C. Why would you not want to do that? It is a very flexible bid that gives partner plenty of room to provide further input. For example, if partner happens to have hearts, partner can bid them (3H) without bypassing 3S and then you can raise!

I bid 4S. Both a splinter raise showing club shortness and an invitational raise (e.g., 2NT) are overbids, though the invitational raise is far more misleading that could result in a poorly resulting competitive decision by partner. Even if I have a gadget to make the right value bid (i.e., a mixed raise of spades), I prefer to just make the old-fashioned Goren raise, comforted by the facts that our side seems likely to have little defense (suggested my Axxxx support) and that my 4S bid robs the opponents of the bidding space they likely need to make an intelligent competitive decision. The 4S bid compels the opponents to be making the last guess and that is usually a productive thing to do in a who-knows-what's-right type of competitive auction.

I don't pass, that is for sure. This hand has too much game potential to even consider that. At IMPs, the first order goal is to avoid a big negative swing. The second order goal is to try to gain advantage on the hand. With a bonafide two suited hand, both goals are most likely to be realized by finding your proper strain quickly and as economically as possible. That won't happen by passing. And it won't happen by bidding 2S if the opponents compete to 3H or 4H. 3D solves the problem. If they bid 3H or 4H, I will try spades as cheaply as possible. If you bid spades first, you will be forced to 1 level higher to show your diamonds. Also, you will distort your hand pattern - suggesting that spades are as long or longer than diamonds.

I disagree that double is a reasonable option. What will you do if/when partner bids 5C? It is insane to continue with 5S when 4S was not even close to a lock to make. Surely it is best (percentage-wise) to bid your 5 card suit while you can at the game level instead of fumbling about looking for a fit that may not exist at the 5 level.

4S. Is there anything else that is remotely sane? By the way, you can't open this 22 HCP hand. The opponent bid first and the first to bid is the Opener. You have to OVERCALL.

Yes, I do. But I take the finesse in spades, not in hearts. This is a guess. It might work to play the Queen at trick 1 and, if it succeeds, you can pitch two clubs, play a spade to the Ace and another spade, losing at most 1 spade, 1 club, and 1 diamond. The alternative is to take advantage of the heart lead as your sure entry to dummy so you can take a spade finesse. It's a guess, but my gut tells me that West is less likely to have led the Jack from a heart holding including both the King and Jack than East is to have the King of spades. It is also worth noting that, if you do play Queen at trick 1 and it is covered the King, you still might make when East or West holds the stiff King of spades. You will look brilliant when West holds the stiff King, because those who take my suggested line will go down (losing 2 clubs, 1 diamond, and at least 1 spade).

I wold bid 4h. Yes,it is true you do not need much to make slam if partner has something like Axx, xxxx, AJxxx, xx or KQxx xxx, Axx, xxx, but such hands are unlikely and partner could have stronger hands where slam is bad or even doomed. If partner has enough to produce a slam and not enough to move? Well that's unlucky but you are likely to have company anyway.

Can't answer. 1H would not have been on my radar as an opening bid. I would have opened 3H at favorable vul, 3rd seat, at MPs. 2H is also reasonable if that is available as a weak 2 bid showing only hearts. But I still like 3H.

Neither 6S nor 6H is a "great" slam. Both are good slams in that they typically make more often than not, requiring only 3-2 trump splits (and 6S is slightly better than 6H in that it will make with a 4-1 trump split when the King is stiff in front of the AQ). But both are lucky slams in that normally bad things (like a stiff diamond K) happen to fit perfectly. Note that 6H would not be a good slam if a spade could not be pitched on a diamond and 6S would not be a good slam if a diamond loser needed to be ruffed. Very lucky. My suggested auction is 1H-1S, 3H-4C, 4S-5D, 6S-P, but I think this is a very optimistic auction and requires the understanding that 4C cannot be bid without some kind of mild fit in hearts. (I think it should, but few pairs are likely to have such an agreement.) So it is very difficult to reach either slam and it is not clear that failure to reach the slam is a worrisome system inadequacy.

I don't think partner can have that hand. You have to bid show 5 card diamond support to an honor and reveal the double fit (by bidding diamonds) rather than 4S with that, otherwise you will never position partner to know what to do if they do bid 5H.

I bid 5S. (I don't consider Pass forcing and I agree with 2S, albeit I am maximum for this bid.) And I expect to make. With AKJx support and partner freely jumping to 4S (which surely had been bid to make), we can hardly have a spade loser. Partner will have at most one heart on this auction. It is reasonable to expect that with controls in both minors, partner will not lose more than one other trick. Where are his values? They have to be in the minors. It would be very unlucky to go down.

Since when is 2C anything but clubs? It can't be a cue bid in support of partner's suit when partner has not bid any suit. In fact, partner has suggested some club strength and perhaps some length, so any club bid should be natural.

It really does not matter whether I am playing a 1NT opening to show 15-17 or 12-14 HCP or whether the hand is good enough to upgrade, I am opening this hand 1H. My heart holding strongly argues that, if partner and I defend, we should begin our campaign by attacking hearts. Bidding NT won't communicate this. Bidding 1H will.

I am a simpleton. I bid 5!h like Goren advised. This asks p to bid a small slam with an attractive minimum and to probe for a grand with a good hand. P may sign off in 5!s with a non slamming hand in the minimum opening bid range. Not perfect, but it is reasonable enough given that the preempt removed almost all opportunity for Exploration.

King of clubs. Nothing is clear or certain, and available inferences are hardly strong, but partner did not balance with 2!s or Dbl. That reduces the chances to find partner with length or strength in spades. So it is between diamonds and clubs. Leading the king is safer than leading a diamond since you need less from partner to make it not cost. What's more the potential payoff is greater. Your shorter length means increased likelihood of multiple tricks in the suit.

First off, if you can open 1C on a balanced hand with a 5 card major, you cannot call it 2/1. Nobody would even think of 1C with such a hand and if you and your partner have an agreement that you can open 1C on such hands, you are in violation of both the laws and the spirit of fair competition if you do not alert it. And, in the U.S., you would need to pre-alert it - assuming it were even allowed under the prevailing convention chart for the event. That is how weird and so not standard a 1C opening bid is for someone representing to play 2/1. Second, if you do open 1NT, it is decidedly weird to respond 4NT rather than look for a heart fit with such a stellar heart suit AND an ace or king in each side suit. So your proposed auction 1NT-4NT, 6NT seems strange at best. Even if you think 4NT is right, how could opener not bid 6S (choice of slams)? Regardless, to answer your questions: 1. I do open 1NT. I am not one who believes that you avoid showing a balanced hand just because you have a 5 card suit that happens to be a major. 2. If I open 1S, I will be treating this hand as a balanced 18 HCP hand and, then, there is a very straightforward and automatic and standard 2/1 auction that makes it a snap to bid 6NT: 1S - 2C(a) 3NT(b)- 6NT© P (a) natural, game forcing (b) 5S(332) and 18 to 19 HCP ( c) 2 balanced hands with a total of 34 to 35 HCP belongs in slam I really don't understand why this hand would be an issue for standard bidders.

I don't think opening 1NT on 12-14 HCP or any other range has much to do with anything here. If you have defined a 1NT overcall as 12-14 HCP and balanced, I have a money game that I want to invite you to play in as my opponent. This hand is the type of hand that convinces people to play power/informatory/off-shape takeout doubles, so if you have that agreement along with the appropriate machinery for advancer (e.g., a Herbert negative 1D bid), I would go ahead and bid that. But standard players have a problem. Your choices are Pass, 1H, and 1NT. I am not a passer because a 16 HCP is simply too good. I don't like dealing with the possibility of being transferred into spades if I overcall 1NT, especially since I have a lot of my values in opener's suit so the hand seems more defensive than offensive in nature. Certainly though, 1NT could be the winning action. I will bid 1H as the least of evils. I am certain I will hear from many telling me how insane it is for me to overcall with a mediocre 4 card suit. Oh well.

First off, I don't think there is a 100% certain standard agreement rule for this situation. I think most would say that the standard rule for forcing pass situations is that passes are forcing when the partnership is vulnerable and it has been established that the partnership has committed to bidding a game contract. In this auction, neither game forcing values have been established nor has there been a clear commitment established to bid a game, so it is certainly reasonable to assert that opener's pass over 4S can be played as non-forcing. But that said, I can tell you that, in practice, given that we are vulnerable, the opponents are not vulnerable, both opponents have announced weakness (one is a passed hand and the other overcalled preemptively), and responder has suggested at least game invitational values (by making a takeout/negative double that requires opener to bid at the 2NT or 3-level, it is not a high percentage decision to adopt a strategy that allows the opponents to play undoubled. In fact, I think you are likely to experience a poor result (a "fix") if 4S is a make. So, I think it is sensible for thoughtful players to assume that both opener and responder should appreciate all of these circumstances and would operate with the presumption that opener's pass over 4S should be treated as forcing.

My understanding is the "standard" agreement over a Michaels cue bid promising spades and hearts these days is that the lower cue bid (2H) shows support for opener's suit (in this case diamonds) while the higher cue bid (2S) shows a good hand with the 4th suit (in this case clubs). When bid naturally at the lowest level possible, the 4th suit is merely competitive.

Constructively, a fit jump in hearts (to 3H) - if available - seems best in terms describing this hand's values, but I am not sure this the time for science. One of the primary advantages of fit jump bids is that they aid in competitive decision making, especially when there is a double fit. But, if there is a double fit in the red suits, the opponents must have a huge (10+ card) spade fit. (I assume that with 4 spades, 3 hearts, and 5 diamonds, partner would have made a Takeout Double of 1C.) Regardless, I still am worried about the spade suit. Unless partner is sitting on 5 spades with 6 diamonds, the opponents have at least a 9 card spade fit. What's more, I think that, with a bad holding like Qxx in clubs among my values, the chances of slam are pretty remote. (If partner is 5S-6D, my hand should not be that good since the void is very likely to duplicate partner's spade values.) In any case, whether partner is 5S-6D or something a bit more usual (probably including 4 spades in which case partner is unlikely to have 3 hearts since he failed to make that Takeout Double), I think 5D has merit. It may make and, even if it doesn't, it is likely not going off more than 1 while they may be able to make a spade part-score. It's preemptive value - even at this vulnerability - should not be discounted completely. All in all, I think 5D is the best practical bid, and it has a decent chance of being the winning bid.

I really don't think the person you were partner is much of an expert. 3 card support and a void with a side QJ combination in a four card suit is worth a raise to 2S. And there really is nothing else that even remotely makes sense. You have enough for one peep in this auction and the absolute top priority is to show your support for partner's long major immediately while limiting your hand. A raise to 2S empowers partner to recognize the value of his or her hand; failure to bid makes partner guess.

While it is certainly true I could be mistaken, I would like to see you construct an example hand that over caller could reasonably have on this auction given this hand where the 4h bid makes sense while fitting the situational constraints you have given. I don't see the disadvantage of bidding 4!h immediately.

First, your premise that there is a correct answer is flawed. Bridge is a game of imperfect information - unlike chess, for example - and thus the "best bid" is the one where the expected return is greatest. But even this is unknown for bids are not perfect descriptors - they have inherent "error" - and one cannot be sure the players have made the "proper" bids anyway. So there is some guess work involved. (I presume you are not asking for the bid that happens to "work" on a double dummy basis on this particular deal.) Second, it would be helpful if you would present your deals using the established convention of presenting holdings for each bridge hand with the suits in rank order - i.e., first Spades, then Hearts, then Diamonds, and finally Clubs - because it is really hard for readers to follow your presentation otherwise. Finally, I would Pass. The 4H bidder is playing poker. There is no hand where it is probabilistically correct to overcall 2H and then bid 4H on your own at your next turn. Megan BBO name: Case_No_6

I pass. Partner had a chance to bid 1S or Dbl over 1D and partner likely has 3 or 4 spades. If partner had anything of value and 4 hearts, Dbl would have been easy, so the chances of a heart fit seem very meager. What's more the chances of the opponents having a spade fit seem pretty substantial - partner won't often have 5 spades on this auction. I think they have an 8 card spade fit most days with at least half the deck. It seems like a good MP result to let them take their tricks at 20 points apiece in diamonds instead of 30 playing in spades. Megan BBO name: Case_No_6

Most of the problem here is that, in most partnerships, the 5C bid is undefined. Though I am sure many will disagree, there is no question that it is theoretically unsound to play 5C as a weak, fast arrival, game forcing bid for it preempt opener who has not limited his hand with the 3C rebid. Rather, 5C should deliver a very narrow and specific message so partner knows what to do. (In my partnership it shows a very long semi-solid club suit and second round controls in all unbid suits (in this case, spades and diamonds) with little need of or interest in heart values (other than the Ace, of course). A hand like KJx, x, Kx, AKJTxxx would be ideal. Whether you have this understanding or not, I think you have to bid on with opener's hand. You have first round control of all side suits plus a high trump honor. You don't have to have all that for your auction so far (and responder presumably is not bidding to fail in a 5C contract). Consequently, I will not only force to slam, but I will make a grand slam try by starting with a 5D cue bid. If partner shows me a heart card next (with 5H), I will follow up with 5S. Megan BBO username: Case_No_6