apollo1201

[hv=pc=n&s=sq8642hk5dk984c86&n=saj95ha8742daj6c5&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=1c1h2cdp2sppp]266|200[/hv] [YES, 2♠ is N's bid but I don't manage to edit the diagram] Despite ♠K offside, 11 tricks duly made, and +200 was replicated at the other table. FWIW, I was S and on the positive side, I had a 5th trump and a fitting ♥ honor for partner, but my ♦K could be lost, I didn't have muche more than promised, and partner could be weak with 4522. So 3 against, 2 for, I passed. With the ♦A I would have proposed 3♠. So any comments are welcome!

Hi Eagles. Hiding controls is rarely a good idea, especially when you are not ashamed of your hand (an undisclosed C with AK will make 0 trump loser most of the time, and the ♥ headed by AK will be easier to establish). Partner cooperated after (I imagine) showing a hand interested in slam setting trumps low (I am not sure what the 2♦ bid means, though). We all started cue-bidding (could he have shown a ♥shortness? I usually prefer to not cue in 1st stage a shortness in partner's suit, but could cue a Q), so I really don't see why you should stop now. Unless you take control and ask keycards and trump Q directly of course.

Which hand were you😕? Without prior discussion I would guess a good 13 to a bad 15 with clubs over declarer to penalize if they rescue. And some kind of tolerance for S in case the balancing was particularly weak or shapely. Maybe sth like Qx AJx Qxxx KQTx Which is a normal pass over 1C. So, what happenned?

The famous Diamonds problem. I think 3H is ambiguous, either H stopped or longer S (5+). Opener with C stopped bids 3S with a 3-card fit or 3NT w/o. If C are not stopped he can try sth else, anyway 3NT did not rate too good a contract... 3S on tgis sequence denies long S and should mean C stopped I guess. D problem is kinda complicated :(

+1 for gwnn. It is so much safer when you have S's. Obviously on the Stayman if opener answers 2S, the 9-card fit plus singleton make you worth 4S.

Haha reminds me of a hand where I was 1345 and bid 3NT with singleton K. And made as LHO duly underled his SA. But I wouldn't be trying it twice. As I'm not overexcited by partner playing the hand with the lead going through my K, I'll bid 3NT which is not down yet (say DK or DQ and an entry and some inspiration on cardplay can be enough). I probably have better chances of making or being -4 than partner in 4C.

With a more robust D suit like AQJxxx and 5 small C' I'd probably open some number of Ds and W would propell me'into game very soon. Here with this more balanced 2-suiter I've always been told pass and show your 2 suits in one bid later. So original pass can't be criticized too much imo. So maybe Pass 1C 1H 1NT 2D 3C 3S all pass But if E mentions his D, W is criminal not to fit them...

W with 18 prime HCP should jump for his 2nd bid. I usually bid the cheaper of my secondary suits to save space so here I would hit jackpot. Even if the rebid is 3D it is not over yet. Over the likely 3NT (3H would be a real suit in case partner is 5341 or 5332 sometimes) W could bid 4C visualizing 4 or less (or 5 bad) H but it will be tougher to get to 6 and someone will probably be punting rather than declare it scientifically. Still it scores as much than a scientifically bid slam.

X as I live a dangerous life. I hope those two K will be enough when it gets passed out (they probably sit after dummy's honors) but I'd like a small spade to fire back through declarer (red the suit should be decent-ish though). Or maybe dummy with 12HCP and a small doubleton S will bid 3S over partner's suit and I'll have done the job.

Another one from yesterday's IMPs, green vs. red, you decide to open 1S (2NT would be a small distortion vs. system but we've both done it once or twice before) the following nice lot: KQ942 A94 AQ A32 And it goes pass pass 2D, you X (2NT is probably too much especially since you didn't deem your hand worth a 2NT opening), it goes pass, 2H, pass, and now? If you pass, your LHO offers you another try bidding 3D, but partner suprisingly bids 3H, passed to you. One more for the road? Maybe I could have saved partner (he had the strong hand) some headaches by jumping to 3H on the X with T8 KT862 643 Q95 What do you think? Anyway, opponents should have let us play 1S as I made 11 tricks on a soft defence. Would you balance red vs. green with what opponent had J QJ7 KT9872 J87

Dears, an issue from yesterday's IMP where both I and pard had some borderline hands (all green). Auction starts with pass 1C (3+, 12+ playing 5 cM) and you have A6 AKQ54 85 AT73 What is best? X, 1H, 1NT? The latter actions will let you play there and easily make... but my pard Xed and exciting things happenned. Responder bid 1H and now my borderline hand... JT92 8 QJ973 J64 How would you rate (forgetting pard's hand obviously) 1S, 2D, pass (or others)? I opted for 2D, thinking I would introduce my S after a likely follow-up like 2H pass pass or X pass 2H. Well... things didn't go that way and we ended up in 3NT with opponents remaining still. Pard bid 2NT, which I took for a 19-21 HCP, i.e. a better hand than a direct 1NT overcall, I proposed my S and pard rejected my efforts to play a suit contract by bidding a final 3NT. Both opponents handed him the contract by leading and continuing Cs to set up our JT, and kindly discarding a H from Jxxx on the 3rd round of clubs. Overall we definitely overbid but can't decide who did too much. After the X, was I too ambitious planning bidding twice, or should I just pass 2NT? After an opponent bids Hs, is 2H by pard natural (kind of anti-psychic) or a cue-bid? Thanks all for your answers!

On the contrary, isn't there the risk that a direct 7C will push opponents to save, thinking he wouldn't bid 7C if he didn't count 13 tricks by his own? While a slow approach could suggest you are saving against their cold 6S. It reminds me of a top I had following a bidding "accident". Vul vs. NV, I open 1S, LHO passes, partner splinters 4C in my Axx, and RHO bids 5D. I place 5S (while I ment 6), all pass, 680 and a complete top. LHO did not fit his partner (he hold some crap with singleton S and Qxxx D) fearing we would bid and make 6 on 6D. But the save in 7D was only 500 (he was ok to lose 800 vs. 1430 but even more ok to lose 680 only). There were plenty of 300 and 500 in our column... All this to say that I'm not so sure a direct 7C will work. But with goulash hands everything is a bit random...

Both are wrong! But S more :) S (esp. at IMPs) could probe a bit more before committing to 3NT. At matchpoints the bid comes more easily. So N is somehow not too wrong. But S shouldn't blame N for the 2C bid. N was right to bid 2C (but should pull out 3NT to 4C, not 4H). And there is no such thing as a "SYM" 3NT (shut your mouth): N can pull out with undisclosed shape or strength.

2H is not forcing. Encouraging probably but NF nevertheless coming from a passed hand. I'll go with the Law and bid 3H. No easy balance for N!

With 2 useful minor honors, a void, an establishable suit (?) and 4 trumps to the Q, I would tend to consider 5H as an underbid. Partner overcalled at the 3 level vul vs. nonvul so shouldn't be too light, Qxx AKxxx Kx Jxx is a disgusting overcall, but 6H is not even down yet with this hand. We could even have a laydown grand if D can be established. The problem is how to cooperate w/o getting above 5H in case partner has wasted S honors, longer but weaker H and lacks minor strength, such as Axx AJxxxx Qx Qx or Axx KJTxxx x QJx(I think I would overcall, not too proudly though). So facing a conservative partner, 5S should be a safe invite. With a lighter partner, I dunno (is 5m natural, a control bid with fit, a side-suit / lead directing call with H fit?). I might just bid 5S as well to avoid missing 7, and too bad if partner signs-off in 6 and goes down (he will be sympathetic for my bid, hopefully!).

Steal this 4D bid from E's bidding box, he's causing too much trouble. I'm tempting X as my D length makes it unlikely that W will do something so partner should be able to bid at the 4 level and I can handle - running from 4H to 4S and leaving 4S and 5C (Q9x plus side AK and singleton should please partner).

Aren't you leading against 5D? Anyway, I'm bidding 4S as well, I'm too weak to handle all the bad things that can happen after a (TO)X of 4D.

I don't know who bid to make, so when in doubt, bid 1 more :) More seriously, I'm not getting rich in 5HX (I might even get 650 poorer on a bad day!), and I don't need much from p (CA plus a useful K or DQJ as finesses are likely to win) to make 6. And if they compete, at least I will be 200 richer.

I recently encountered 2 hands where I decided to bid NT with dubious stoppers. Both ended well playing 3NT+2 and 4S= but I wonder if they were good bids (needless to say, partner and/or opps were shocked and I was a bit worried before dummy hit the table). What would you have bid (IMP context). Hand 1, R/W, you open 1C (probably bidding 2NT or 2D next depending on partner's bid) but LHO preemps 3S and 2 passes follow: K AJx AKT KT9xxx Hand 2, all red, RHO deals and opens 1D Ax AQxx J9x KQTx Thanks for your valuable comments. For post mortem partner had been conservative on the 1st hand (QJxx xxx xx AQJx) and might not have balanced on the 2nd (KJTxxx Jx Qx Jxx) had I passed.

I would pass as N in MP but trying to reach 3NT in IMP with useful honors and vuln would look tempting (provided the 3D is indeed as strong as "alerted"). I would consider 1NT as S as an option but I would just freak out and open 1D. I opened once a 7222 of 18 or 19 with 2NT and it turned good, but I'm not sure it is systematizable. Anyway it is quite rare...

Hi everyone, 2 deals where my partner and I were not sure of what to do. They are from Le Touquet festival whose open (MP scoring) took place last week-end (field qualified as advanced / advanced+). 1) red vs green, bidding starts 1S (5cd) - pass from partner - 2NT (GF w/ fit): - AKT9xx Qx J98xx 2) red vs green, bidding starts 2H (weak) - 2S from partner - pass: 9xxx Qx KQx AKQx How would you continue the bidding as I have (not that the slam is good after the preempt, but it makes): AKTxx J Axxx Jxx Thanks all fornyour valuable comments.

1) X, if partner leaves it, I'm fine, if he bids 4S, I won't pull and am sure that even in 4-3, there have been much worse 4S before...and even on 5C, he might play better with AK facing Qxxxxx while I might lose 2S and the DA in 5D if partenr is short and they pull dummy's trumps. 2) pass (sadly) 3) pass (on a good day I would try X with 5 better HCPs such as KQxx xxxxxx - xxx), and now 4H (but 4C if I had only 5H in case partner is 4-3...)

If you play X in this position as the 4th suit + tolerance or fit for partner's suit and at least constructive values, you're ok. Then you can raise partner's S bid to 2 or 3 and she will play there. Without this gadget, I would bid 1S and support D at the next turn if partner is not excided by the S. But it would tend to show 5 cards.

I currently play sth close to multi Landy against strong NT with X being a minor one-suited. Same against weak except that X is now penalty and minors are shown at the 3 level (or I strech a little and X after all I have a good lead). I used to play DONT and had lots of fun with it but it is a bit imprecise and you can't have very constructive auctions (and the X for one suited gets easily overbid when respondent moves while advancer does not know the suit). It has a great advantage though against strong NT: high frequency and you find an acceptable spot (not necessarily the best, though) at the 2 level which limits the risks against an opponent who has 15-17.

Thanks again for spotting (edited). I think I will (i) re-read more carefully all my posts before posting and (ii) submit them to you 1st just in case ;).