apollo1201

Tough. MP’s so less risky to act. We could be up to a magic 200’s (or -730!). Partner could bid 3NT or 4H, and that contract might not be dead from the start. I have 4 hrs, the question would be much harder with 2344 for instance. So I am Xing and partner will understand my stretch. What should she do, btw, with a reasonable S stopper and 4H, in a hand around 12-14 balanced?

It was more to use the terms than to elaborate. But you are correct to point out that it is system-dependent. And as always, N/B or higher, you’d better play the same thing as partner! For forcing or not, or forcing till where, it illustrates pretty well the need to be on the same wavelength as partner.

Technically, 2S is forcing because 2H was auto-forcing🤣🤣🤣

You’ve told your story with your 1st bid. Pretty accurately, too. Even though in 3rd green vs red you could have much less. But you didn’t lie on your number of S, sth that could be key in the card play. Partner after passing has gone to the 5 level and Xed the slam, while also being on lead. You should trust him and pass. You didn’t promise any defense, just some kind of S suit with overall weakish strength. Partner hasn’t counted on you to defeat 6H, he has 2 sure tricks in his hand. Maybe QTxx trump while opener has AKJ 8th and his partner a void in what looks like a 2065 hand, +/- 1 card in the non-H suits. If partner Xed with the SA and the HK, or an AK in a side suit, it is a bad reasoning as the honors might not cash. Passing will also help him remember this for a future occasion when S duly scores 6HX rather than 5H+1. Your minor K‘s could be a pleasant surprise, though, that will ruin the slam and the lesson at the same time. I doubt S has a strong extreme hand (0850 distribution e.g.) and « knew » he would be « pushed » to the 6-level and bid deliberately like that to play there rather than defend 6SX for a cheap penalty. But if that is the case, you should congratulate him.

We could also discuss pass vs 1S, or blasting game vs inviting😉

When partner opens 2C, you usually don’t care shutting out opps... For this method to be good, you need a good suit quality. KQTxxx as a real min. Kinda playable for 1 loser facing a singleton honor or a small doubleton. With that hand, it is unlikely partner has a ~25 HCP balanced hand but rates to have a big 1 (or 2) suiter. And your suit is not that strong. So you are virtually taking all the space to let partner introduce his 1st suit at the 4 level. In all cases, I’m just bidding 6C as N.

I was too puzzled by the forcing « 1 round » if it is jute forcing « 1 bid » and therefore only half a round of the table...and that « forcing » already existed. I like the « auto forcing » term. You actually promise another bid unless partner bids game. For instance (reverses are auto forcing for me) 1D - 1S 2H - 3NT pass is an ok sequence

These are definitely not common where I live, thanks for sharing. Here, it is more basic, but no memory load. 3m - GF with fit for opener, either mildly slamming or just GF but with a likely side singleton that prevents being sure of what the best game is, NT, m or M 3om - checkback of M 3M - 5-cd, slammish 3OM - if H, 5S + 4H, if S, 4H + 4S in case opener skipped his S (depending on honor position we might bypass S to rebid 2NT, but it would be better to swap 3H/3S so that opener becomes declarer in S) 4m/4om - clearly slammish So not really sophisticated!

Interesting methods, thanks (not « advertised » in my country). With a former partner we had actually tried to imagine some kind of transfers but just played in one event.

How do you manage to stop below game after a 2NT rebid by opener? I thought all calls responder makes after that rebid are GF. Except pass of course😉 So here you can also end up in 2NT, not the best contract of your life...

2/1 becomes NF, probably sth about 8-9 HCP and a good 6-cd suit. With less, you probably prefer opps to bid and play. Or balance if thing stop low enough. The tricky situation arises with invitational hands that are insufficient to XX then bid the minor. If you like your hand (e.g. well positioned K/Qs, other major well stopped...), you can try the GF way. If you’re (quasi) balanced and don’t have as attractive assets, you might survive a 1NT call (or XX then 2NT).

It seems you didn’t carefully read what previous posters said😇 This « mess around » is required because knowing if you have a 8 or 9-cd fit is of an extreme help for opener to assess game prospects, or more. Should they need to set up a secondary suit by ruffing in dummy, or should they have AKxxxx and not worry about the trump Q, the combined length of trump suit will often be the key between a cold or good game or slam, and a bad or hopeless one. As regards risk of interference, it is usually smaller when you have 3-cd. I see 2 reasons for that. First, your fit is shorter, so opp’s suit is also shorter, so less total tricks and less risk of opps overbidding you, for they would be out of the « LOTT protection ». Second, you’ll have on average around 2 pts more vs a direct invite w/ 4 trumps, which will also lead to less risk of opps bidding, for they might not have values to overcall. In all cases, I am not sure that the bot facing you will use the fact that you have 8 or 9 trumps as intelligently as a human.

I’d do it with a S more (but I’d probably have opened 2S in that case), or a bit more strength (DQ for instance). Or a H more (5341 distribution) but less confidently (to pass 3H). Here, we could possibly end up in a 52 fit at the 3 level, or in 4D, with only half of the deck, red. Pass and 3D are probably safer calls.

David, Stephen, seems I miscounted opp’s D (thought there were 5 out rather than 6), so you don’t really want to finesse the D9 on the way back when all follow suit. And as always, your comments are very valuable. The funny thing is that 5th D is the key in the 7NT bid (3NT is 25-27 for the bots, the hand has 24 but a good 5-cd suit, a 10 working with a J which is now the key in the play of 7NT).

First you need to see that it will be necessary sooner or later to test the D to be sure they run for 5 tricks. Small to K of course. To see if you need to finesse against E. If you banged down the A, Q or J, too bad. If E discarded, some counting of the hands would be required so cashing the high H before testing the D probably doesn’t hurt. Lots of variations’ thereafter (finesse, drop, squeeze) for the black Q...and some table sense (<mode joke on> or peek in opp’s hand🤣🤣🤣, un bon regard vaut mieux qu’une mauvaise impasse as we say <end>) too. Beyond my level of a novice probably as well... Eventually, E would be more likely to have the black Q. Just wandering, though, leading a H from a short suit rather a low diamond from 5 small is riskier against 7NT. Blame W for not leading a S. So what happened on this deal???

I’m opening 1D on all, because in my system, a strong 2 is a real one-suiter. Ok, I might have a 4-cd minor next to a 6-cd M sometimes, but never 6-5. Either I open 1M, or I open a GF call, if I fear being left in 1M especially 1S. But here with a minor, or even both minors, it is (almost) never happening. Opening 2C here yells for having the 4S sign arrive on you left or your right straight away. Yes, 4NT might bow give you some relief, but.

Opening the bidding the round earlier with a 14 count, maybe? All this is very strange...

Lots of questions! From someone whose advice is usually very clear and well explained, which proves it is not such an easy set. Here is my go anyway. 1) 5+D, 4(+ but rarely)H. No reason it should be forcing. Partner’s pass over 4C is forcing (right?) but could be a minimum hand (right?). 2) With a GF hand, I prefer natural bidding (better picture for partner’s judgment), so 3D rather than X. With an average hand not worth a GF, X is probably more flexible (esp. if there is a tolerance for S). Over X, 3S, I play 4D as NF, logically, probably 6 good D 4H and strong misfit with limited strength (x Axxx KQJxxx xx). Different answer to question 1 might elicit different answer to this question. 3) 5-6 or 6-5 might fare better by bidding H first. Slam invitational hands will’have limited space to expxlore, though. Even if advancer passes. At least you can see if opener bids NT or repeats his S, persists with NT or S after your 2nd bid, or gives a false preference with a H doubleton. Or, jackpot, bids 5D. In all cases, all cues will look like natural bids somehow, except the very high positioned 5C... 4) Natural? With a hand unsuitable for 3NT (too strong, too long D and S or H shortage?). There could be merits for adapting to vulnerability, though. Red vs Green you need 4 down for a profitable X. 5) Theoretically it is NF but there could be merits for making it F. Especially at IMPs. 6) Hard, undiscussed, to assume it is kickback, but questions 1 and 2 might influence that one if 4H is « freed ». All this illustrates how difficult it is when opps crush our bidding space. Scientific approach is harder to unfold. Good set Stephen. Did you find the right contract at the table?

I’d treat the X as a very decent overcall (sound opening) and S support, probably 5-4 since you didn’t use a 2-suited bid over 1D. Having a pen X is not that much useful I think, as responder would likely correct to 2D when we hold such hand, and partner can’t necessarily X that. A hand where you hold Majors is more frequent esp when an opponent just showed minors. The given hand has nothing special so I’d quickly pass. Good partners tend to balance 😉 ! But here N, who reluctantly passed the 1st time, will do the same with the feeling of not giving justice to his hand. Again, it shows that slightly overbidding the 1st occasion is more easily recoverable that underbidding.

1NT is a *non forcing* opening. Therefore, responder is not obliged to bid. That is because it is a very narrowly defined opening, both in terms of shape (balanced) and point count (usually in a 2-point range). If, as responder, you hold weakish values and no long suit, you probably can’t improve the situation and have to pass. True, you might have a better contract in a suit if you have a 4-4 fit somewhere, but you can’t investigate that, since if the search for a fit isn’t successful, you’ll end up in a shaky contract (2NT with insufficient resources, 2 or 3 something in 4-3 fit...) while 1NT was safer. So, statistically, it will be better to pass. Also, remember that the bidding is not finished. Your LHO still has to bid after you.

Tough. S are going to run for declarer, so we need to develop tricks quickly. With the HA in my hand, there doesn’t seem to be a great future there (JX98 would be better as we could hope to trap declarer’s honors or not give anything). It will be the card that will allow me to be on lead another time. D is a complete guess. It could work well if partner has a good sequence there, but statistically, it will often be declarer’s longer suit. So C remains, although Jxxx are often bad suits to lead from and it can help declarer. So I’ll put the C2 on the table. But not thrilled. And revealing how the suit splits to everyone around the table. H might be better after all.

It is often the case with his posts😉 But unless you open flat 10 or 11-counts, your 11 HCPs + side-suit + 4-cd fit will often produce game. Describing where your assets are will also help partner assess potential for slam (if hands fit well or not when he has extras) or decide what to do in the unlikely event opponents compete.

Easy ❤️A lead for the robots🤣 Ah no, they lead the spade K😉 And the overcall is not marginal btw (at least to me). It is min given a bare K in opener’s suit, but is nonetheless quite normal.

If 2D was a GF, then you were right to produce the most discouraging bid with this aceless hand and 3 « small » H (that happen to stop the suit thanks to partner’s Q...but too late for 3NT!). If 2D was not GF, 4D looks like a min hand with long D’s (7 or 8-carder). KQ of trumps will be a good surprise but the rest of the hand will equally be a « bad » surprise, so passing (it was MP’s I guess) is probably safer.

Some players with weakish 33M hands might fake a 1D reply with 3 cards and 4 clubs, to be able’ pass partner’s 1M or « right side » 1NT. They would only bid 1NT with 8-10. So, barring a 7 or a poor 8-count who bids 3NT now after bidding 1D first, we can conclude that dummy’s D are genuine, 4+ cards and often 5 or more. The D lead is therefore less appealing. I think I’m going with my 2nd best H, but the CJ or SA might get better results on some layouts