paulhar

Assume you and your partner play some "standard" system where a 1C opening bid shows and opening hand with 3+ clubs (4+ if that's your style) and doesn't imply or deny extra strength. Also assume that you are playing "negative" doubles where the opener is expected to bid over the auction 1C by opener, 1S by overcaller, double by responder (i.e. they are not playing penalty doubles.) I have a definite opinion here but have seen some conflicting opinions in bridge literature, and would like to get a consensus about this auction. Thank you in advance for your answers. Also, if you think one of the above choices is totally rediculous, let me know that.

Because this topic was more popular than I thought, and because I was later in posting opener's hand than I should have been, here it is: S - A J 9 H - K 6 D - A 7 4 3 C - K J 6 3 As you can see, you need a winning club guess PLUS nothing foul, such as a 5-1 heart break or a 6-1 club break. With a trump lead and 4-2 hearts, you need to ruff diamonds several times to trump the hearts good and to lead up to the club. I'm not sure you can handle this. All in all, I don't think you want to be in slam. This looks like a pretty darn good hand opposite a 4D cuebid. I'm guessing that most of you holding this hand would get to slam after the 4D cuebid. The responder was hoping partner had the same hand with the ace of clubs instead of the king-jack. The opener thought that holding AJ9, K6, A743, A643, that he would have made a stronger move than 3S over 3H; something that says, "I didn't superaccept originally for lack of 4 trump, but now my hand's a monster!" Unfortunately, most cuebids would be taken as support for hearts. When opener corrects to spades, hopefully responder will get the picture. Any ideas? By the way, would any of you 4D bidders have stopped short of slam with this opener's hand? And of course, reached it with the same responding hand with the doubleton Queen of clubs? :P No. You don't show a hand that is only interested in game across from an opening hand and assume partner can bid again. That's like saying that partner can bid again over the auction 1NT P 3NT. Partner has already shown slam interest by bidding 3S, so I think your 4S would end the auction.

S - K Q 10 8 3 H - A 10 8 5 4 D - 4 C - 7 2 The auction to date: Partner You 1NT 2H (transfer to spades) 2S 3H (5-5 majors, game forcing) 3S* ? * 3S is stronger than 4S. Are you content with 4S or do you cuebid 4H? This is a two-parter; after consensus of this question, in a few hours, I'd like to post opener's hand and get ideas about that too.

While that's what my partner and I play, there are some matchpoint players who ask for Kings without all the Aces in an attempt to reach a higher-scoring 6NT instead of 6 of a suit - choosing to play in 6 of a suit off an Ace and a King hoping that the King isn't an important one to the success of the contract.

Hi - the reason behind the poll again. I had assumed it was fairly standard practice to cuebid with 4-4 in the majors and invitational strength. When we saw something in the ACBL Bulletin this month about it being forcing to game, we looked at some of our resources and the first one I found also claimed it was forcing to game (by a respected teacher.) Also, the last version of the Bridge Encyclopedia that I have (not the latest, I'm afraid, I think it's sometime in the nineties) claimed that forcing to game was standard although some hardy individuals might do it on less. I'd like to take it one step further. What if you hold something like: Kx xxxx AK9x J10x The auction is 1D Dbl P 2D to you. I don't think you want to force to game; furthermore, a jump to 2H risks playing in an unpalatable 4-3 fit. I would prefer to cuebid, raising 2H to 3, but bidding 2NT otherwise. It seems that a lot of the answerers to this poll would want to play this forcing. Why not just jump to 3NT on the 'forcing' hand and have partner correct to his other 4-card major, just as in a Stayman auction? After all, there must have been some reason I cuebid instead of just jumping to 3NT in the first place - and I would thing it must be another 4-card major. While I might get overboard opposite the most minimum of doubles, the cuebid gets me to the correct strain most of the time which might be important if my partner has the little extra he needs for game. Ideas?

OK, the reason behind the question. While gathering material for a course, I've seen in print that the answers for kings are the same as for aces, only one level higher. (i.e. 6C with all 4 kings) It appeared once again in this month's ACBL Bridge Bulletin. I think that bidding 6C with four kings is an insult to partner. Yes, partner should be always able to know the difference between four aces and none, but I can imagine situations where no kings or all four might be in doubt! Even if your strong partner might not have all the aces, his reason for asking must be that he intended to play 6NT opposite all the kings, perhaps for safety reasons, like to avoid losing an ace and a trump on a really foul trump split - or to avoid going down to ace and a ruff. So, it seems clear to me to bid 6NT. If anyone can shoot a hole in the above argument, I would look forward to hearing from them.

Again, you are playing in a strong rubber bridge club with strangers that don't play most duplicate conventions. Your RHO opens 1D, you double, LHO passes, partner bids 2D. What would you expect from him? (I have pretty definite ideas about this but have seen some conflicting advice printed in popluar bridge magazines and am doing a sanity check.) I expect your vote to be based on the above conditions. If you would do something else with your favorite partner, please post that. Thank you.

You are playing in a strong rubber bridge club with strangers where most duplicate convetions are not used. Your partner asks for aces (4NT), you answer, and your partner bids 5NT. You have four kings. Your bid? (If it would be different with your regular partner AND you play standard Blackwood, let me know. Thanks.)

Bidding 1NT is just begging to play 3NT losing the first five heart tricks. Put me in the 2 Club camp.

This is the first post I've seen after a long hiatus - and as is frequently the case, I disagree with everybody. :rolleyes: I unashamedly double 1D. I have 8HCP plus 5 for the void. Yes, I lack aces, but those 10's and 9's will help partner in a low level contract should we be hammered. My partners tend not to pass 1Dx without four trump tricks and another trick, and if that's not enough, then I'm -140 for 1Dx making instead of -90 for 1NT making. Partner will not be happy if he bids notrump, but partner is odds on to have a 4-card major and we either get to a game y'all aren't getting to or we get to push the opponents around some.

I'm sure you must have a good one from one of your late night team games, otherwise check with Phil - he frequently comes up with some interesting hands...

Isn't East on lead?

What about drawing 2 trump (assume East shows out), then diamond Ace and a low diamond, finessing, and endplaying East with Qx? If East has three trump, I would think that one of the minor finesses must work.

Problem with that is that pard with the double and bid NT hand with strong diamonds might sit for 2Dx. How do you play 2S over 1D x 2D?

Good clue about the bidding and lead. Why did West choose an aggressive diamond lead rather than a club which the auction seems to call for? (A trump lead is stupid even with small trumps unless West has the spades all bottled up.) If West had the guarded queen of clubs and queen of diamonds, wouldn’t West choose a club? Maybe West has the queen doubleton of clubs. Could be, but not that likely. How about small clubs? Seems logical to lead through dummy’s supposed king. What else is there? Maybe West has the ace of clubs. With the ace of clubs and the queen of hearts, the club ace lead would be fairly automatic. So West has the CA and East has the HQ. Based on that analysis, my hoped for 12 tricks (based on West’s four card diamond suit) are 5 hearts, 2 spades, the king of clubs, three diamonds and a diamond ruff. So, win trick 1, play heart to King and run the Jack of hearts. If hearts are 3-2 and the jack is not covered, SA, ruff a spade, ruff a diamond, ruff a spade, draw the last trump, cash the diamonds (or only one diamond, if the spades are good), lead a club toward the King. If the trumps are 4-1, I need East to be 3-4-4-2 or 2-4-4-3. If East covered, play all the diamonds, ruff a diamond, play S-AK, ruff a spade, out with a club. (Works even when East has the club ace!) If East didn’t cover, play S-A,K,ruff, then D ruff, then S ruff to set up suit if necessary, then C to K.

I find that I sleep better when I'm not playing in a team match :P

It sure does, but that doesn't help if West withholds an honor on your queen. 2. Very interesting problem indeed, but pretty tough for intermediates and almost impossible for beginners. First, if you play the ace and it goes low, low, nine, you must play for J9 doubleton. Given that, an expert can 'force' you to guess to play the queen by playing the 9 from K9x. However, since the queen and ten are equal chance plays, I'm going to pretend that my opponent dropped the nine whether he did or not (he could have if he held it), and play the queen, picking up all the jack thirds and J9 doubleton. (He might get me by playing the jack with J9 but fortunately few players are that good.) So, ace and low to the queen picks up KJ, some J9's, J96, J94, J93, J64, J63, J43 over the Q10 hand. Ben's line of leading the queen picks up K64, K63, K43, KJ3, KJ4, KJ6, J9, K643 over the Q10 with no chance for a falsecard from J9. So Ben's line is technically slightly superior, and he also gains more from possible misdefense. If my opponent was an "real" expert and thought I was a turkey (probably likely :lol: ), there's a lot to be said for playing ace and low to the 10 when the 9 shows up, since he would play the jack from KJ or J9 and would only play the 9 from K9x to try to dupe me for playing him for J9. 1. Everybody gets this one right, low to Jack picks up 5-0 on either side. 3. No difference between running the 10 and leading low to the 8 (except a weak opponent.) All 3-2 splits make, all 5-0 splits don't make. Everything loses to QJ9x offside. Running the 10 also loses to Q9xx offside. (By offside, I mean sitting over the 5-card hand.) Leading low to the 8 loses to singleton 9 in either hand. Here's where the weak opponent comes in. If you lead low toward the 8, and the 9 pops up before you play the 8, are you really going to go up with the king and finesse on the way back? Good! Your expert opponent just dinged you out of your winning position by playing the 9 from QJ9x. If you don't think your opponent would ever do that, then by all means, play low to the 8, and then pick up QJxx offside when the 9 comes up, which is superior to running the ten. 4. I think most people got this one right (or at least played as I did :lol: ) Run the 10, planning to take a ruffing finesse after the 9 or 8 drops.

Yes, you make up your mind, but since the chances are about equal, it doesn't matter. You still have the chance for queen doubleton of diamonds. Play AK of hearts (no doubleton queen), jack. Opponents take queen and play another heart. You pitch a diamond, a club, and a spade. Now, you can cash AK of diamonds and if the queen is doubleton or singleton, you pick up the suit. Otherwise you need four the club tricks. I think this is better because the lead makes Qx of hearts more likely than Qxx onside. However, a problem comes if RHO has queen fifth of hearts and ducks a heart. Now you still have to set it up and have to pitch a second diamond from hand. Now you have to give up on the queen singleton of diamonds.

This is much too harsh.... Actually, if taken correctly, I don't think it's too harsh at all. While I was reading this thread, I had formulated a reply that isn't much different that hrothgar's and I'm on ArcLight's side of this argument! I also enjoy the game for deductive reasoning, and because I play seldom enough that I have to pick up most of my partners, I am totally helpless against an unfamiliar convention, having to hope to guess that my made-up defense (on the fly) to the convention is that same as my partner's. However, here at BBO, it seems like the opposing opinion is prevailing. I enjoy bridge very much but there are games that I enjoy more because they require deduction but don't put the infrequent player at a disadvantage (at least not for any reason except lack of practice.) I haven't played a lot of spades, but I think there is a lot of deductive reasoning required to play the game well, and this shouldn't be taken as an insult. Personally, I was going to suggest Acquire. Fortunately, I haven't found Acquire online or I would never get any work done. I'm sure that there are many other excellent games that require good deductive skills where you don't need to memorize anything except the rules. If bridge becomes a game of 'le'ts see how you handle my new conventions', maybe more people will flock to these other games.

If slam is better than 50% then partner should have done something else other than bid 4H.

So true! In bridge, to give an expert a problem that you faced, he might ask for breaks in tempo in the bidding or play, or the skill level of the opponents, but this usually is a fairly minor factor. In poker, it's the whole factor. The expert would not only need to know the cards dealt, but all the mannerisms of the other players, and what was true other times these mannerisms occurred (and what was true when other mannerisms that didn't occur this time occurred.) I've got fair card sense and a good feel for probabilities which help me at bridge, but because I'm oblivious to table action, I'll usually be the biggest patsy at a competent poker table.

I agree with Jimmy - partner's 2H rebid shows a hand that wants to play in 2H opposite your 1NT rebid and is intended as signoff. The only time I would bid again (and certainly not game) would be to try for game - I would have to have a hand not suitable for a 1NT rebid, but had it thrust upon me because my 1S rebid was taken away. For example: AK32, 4, Q6432, A53; what else can you do except rebid 1NT? Here, you shoot out 2H as you certainly don't have a game and might as well play in the weak hand's long suit. But, you might have had AKJ4, 4, KQT95, K103 and been forced to decide between a 1NT underbid and a 2NT overbid. Having chosen 1NT, you still have a chance for game despite partner's 2H bid. Here, I think it's OK to try for game with 2NT, which partner can try game (presuming you have a singleton heart), or might, with a suitable hand, correct to 3D, reading your shape to be what it is. Not wanting to play 4H opposite a singleton, I wouldn't correct 3NT to 4H either. I might have opened 1NT as well, but Kaplan-Rubens tells me I'm wrong, rating this hand as 14.25.

If the auction goes 1S by partner, 1NT overcall raised to 3, they've been warned about spades but I usually lead one anyway because it works more often than not. Is this much different? For all you know, the opponents might think that you would have bid seven without their "good lead directing" spade bid.

Sorry, but I have to play devil's advocate again. The CK is certainly useful, and unless the opening leader has a couple of aces or an AK or KQJ of a red suit, the lead will probably be a spade, and your AK will provide two immediate pitches. They won't help solidify a suit, but when your partner has a bushel of clubs, they won't have that many cards outside clubs to have to deal with.

It would seem that one would need less than 10,000 hands of bridge to identify strengths and/or weaknesses in a bridge player. After a couple of sessions, you have a pretty good idea of his bidding skills, declaring skills, wildness, etc.