ochinko

I'd lead ♣4. RHO's clubs are 4th suit, so he seems to be strong enough for a game, willing to play 3NT if his partner stops them. Not that it would hurt to cash ♠A first, but still.

What I am likely to hear from my partner if LHO passes is 2♣, meaning he isn't able to pick up a major, so I would have to do it. Then I'll pass 2♣, and while all the others are looking at me I'm going to check the paint job at the ceiling. This is, of course, the best case scenario. As with any other psyche there are many more bad scenarios, and they are not enjoyable to contemplate.

Once more, just in case, as it is my first poll: You are dealer at IMP, unfavorable vulnerability, and your hand is [hv=d=s&v=n&s=shjdk106cakq1097532]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

Nah, this means "You have no idea of proper bidding, but at least you got lucky as declarer." ;)

Me too. Partner has on average a six loser hand, so game is where I wanna be even if we aren't vulnerable.

I would risk 3♥. Hopefully partner will bid 3NT with a heart stopper, or 4/5 m without one. I didn't double, so I can't be expected to have four spades.

I was amazed to find out that in most of the recent polls my vote corresponded with the majority. Well, not this time. I pass. In reverse vulnerabilities I bid 5♥. I don't consider double as an option with that hand and at that level. Edit: Oops, sorry. It was we that were vulnerable. Then it's 5♥ from me too. (What's the matter with me? Have I lost my individuality, or have I begun to understand bidding? :) )

To me a small spade looks best. Partner is known to be broke pointwise, but he could still hold ♠10, and with ♣A and one of the diamond honors in my RHO I'd be able to set the contract single handedly. If the remaining spades are 2-5-2 I am still able to unblock them.

O Lucky Man! Life of Brian

I am not sure the result will be the same. I prefer a lead from their stronger hand that participated in the bidding.

With seven losers opposite an opening hand, having four trumps and no wasted values in opp' suit, I always want to be in a game. But I picked 3♠ instead of 4♥ because it describes my hand better, and thus allows for finding a slam when partner has extras.

How old are you, 18? When I blink we talk about years that disappear unaccounted for :P

Cheer up, dude. She didn't deserve you anyway. A woman that can't appreciate a nice beer belly, let alone the spare tyre around the waist is not even worth talking about. Sheesh, some women... Makeup, eh? Like you'd care. B)

Yes, sorry that I took the thread off-track, but it looked exausted. Admittedly, none of the opponents was an expert. LHO overcalled my 3♣ with 3♠ holding AQ542 KD94 A85 2 He could have doubled or bid bravely 4♣. RHO passed with K8 A7532 103 10987 You can't blame them too much. My point was that when I believe there is not much value in describing my hand to partner, I can at least make opps' task more difficult. That's the link between the examples and the original hand in question.

I would have passed 4S as slam is too unlikely. Your partner's 4S bid is very poor; he has an obvious 2H bid. The point of bidding 2H is not to find another 5-3 fit, but rather to investigate how the 2 hands fit together. That is why Ochinko's 2D bid is fatuous - it does nothing to diagnose a possible double fit. I agree that 2♥ is the correct bid. It's just that it works only for specific distributions in partner's hand - like the one HeartA pointed out. While I dreamt of writing a bidding bot, I don't bid like a bot myself. Here are two examples from last night: 1. Both vuln, you're in 2nd position after a pass K3 Q9 KJ75 AJ1072 I was the only one that opened 1NT (15-17). Only one other player reached 3NT from my side, but the pair explained all their cards, and opps found the spade lead from 92, and it went two down. 2. Again both vuln, you're in 3rd after two passes J73 J8 94 AKQJ43 I was the only that opened 3♣ instead of 1. Opps stopped in 3♠ for +1. On most of the tables they played 4♥ for +2. I certainly don't pretend to be a bidding genius, but I am happy when I could find a non-trivial bid that works.

5♥ is not exclusion blackwood in this sequence. You mean it's just a cue-bid? Why would you cue in hearts if you don't have controls in the minors? Care to show an example hand that would push towards a slam with no stoppers in the other two suits? In a word, No. Instead why dont you look at the hand in question and tell me where your diamond control is. 'Cause I sure dont see one. While a 2nd call isnt out of the question, you need to find out if partner has a diamond control or not. I think the best way to do so is to simply cue 5C and let them show diamond control if they have one. If they do so, now you can bid 5H. Why complicate things that dont need to be complex? Voidwood may seem unnecessary complex, as you're not strong enough to have any hopes for a grand. But it also puts a bigger burden on the defense than 5C. It could turn out that 5S or 6S make only on a bad lead.

5♥ is not exclusion blackwood in this sequence. You mean it's just a cue-bid? Why would you cue in hearts if you don't have controls in the minors? Care to show an example hand that would push towards a slam with no stoppers in the other two suits?

That seems very wrong to me. It is a textbook 1NT opening if I ever saw one. Why would you lie both about your strength and your distribution? When you hear 1H from your partner he could very well have 5 of them. You bid 2S, and you end in 5C in no time with 4 clubs in partner's hand. They'll go down when you could make 3NT or 4H, or make when everyone else made 6H. Or fail in 6C when there were 7H. Or you could have only 9 tricks, but end up in 4S. Such bidding begs for one disaster or another.

With such hands I sometimes bid a cunning 2D because searching for another 5:3 fit is somewhat pointless, and partner would still bid 2H with 5-4. From time to time LHO would indeed try a heart sacrifice, and I can only hope that partner doesn't bid 5S just because he was 1-6-3-3 :) And, of course, opps are not likely to lead a diamond when I do that, so our chances to make 4S increase. Bidding a slam without a first or second round control in diamonds would be slightly less suicidal if you do it directly. You should at least not draw a map to defenders.

I don't fool my partner just to fool the opponents too. Must have a better reason for that. What if partner is 4-4 in the majors, and corrects your 3NT to 4S after 1NT - 2C - 2H - 3NT?

I can't consider pass even for a second. Partner thinks we have a game with a normal seven loser hand from me. I have two losers less, which is translated to two tricks more with enough certainty. If partner was too weak for his/her bid, I can always try and find another partner, or try to talk in order to see if we can find an agreement. But if I pass a strong 4S raise here, partner would rightly avoid playing with me anymore. Trust is extremely important, and pass looks like an insult to partner.

I don't agree here. 1. You don't have a ruff anywhere before the fourth round. Why do you think you could make more tricks in 4S with 4:4 than in 3NT? 2. All your points are in the majors. If it goes 1NT - 3NT, opps are much more likely to try a lead in the majors. But if it goes 1NT - 2C - 2H - 3NT, opps could well clear with the lead the only stopper that the declarer has in clubs.

I need to know two things: 1. Do we play Bergen raises? If we do, I pass. 2. Do we play exclusive Blackwood? If we do, I bid 5H. If both answers are negative, I bid 5C as the lowest possible cue-bid.

Quite true. It just adds the high card controls to the HCP (A - 2; K - 1). And it's a good way of evaluation but only for trump contracts. At NT Milton Work does better if you also add some points for suits long enough to provide extra tricks.

If you play that a new suit after a double is non-forcing, then 1♠ is a very bad bid. Your partner could be with 2=6=2=3 and very few points. If your partner would start with a redouble with 10+ points, then your opps have more points than you. Why bid all the suits when you have neither points, nor a chance to find a fit? I would prefer that the opps play in spades. This could easily happen if you allow them to make a mistake. Pass 1H, then if it goes Dbl-Pass-Pass to you, bid 2♦. This provides the opps with another chance to err, and points to the suit that you really would prefer to be lead if opps buy the contract. What would a third double mean if there are two unbid suits? Are you sure they'd be sure? You could even escape without a dbl in 2♦. How would opps know you don't have a 6:2 fit? Now I really don't know what to do, so I'd probably pass.