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The following is pretty standard among expert USA players Open 1NT with most all 5332 and 15-16 With most 17 point hands that have a good 5 card major, treat it as 18 Play either 2NT or (more common) 3c over 1NT as Puppet. You only show 5 card majors over this bid. Otherwise you make the cheapest call to shoW no five card major (with or without a four card major). Partner can then show a stiff or a fragment so that you avoid 3NT with a weak spot. You typically only use the Puppet bid with something like 5143 Cheers, Mike

The following is pretty standard among expert USA players Open 1NT with most all 5332 and 15-16 With most 17 point hands that have a good 5 card major, treat it as 18 Play either 2NT or (more common) 3c over 1NT as Puppet. You only show 5 card majors over this bid. Otherwise you make the cheapest call to shoW no five card major (with or without a four card major). Partner can then show a stiff or a fragment so that you avoid 3NT with a weak spot. You typically only use the Puppet bid with something like 5143 Cheers, Mike

If you play either (a) Meckwell Precision or a variant or (2) kickback with spiral scan asks after specific Kings, this isn't hard. Otherwise, settling for 6NT seems very reasonable to me.

First, in the auction you provide, a X of 2S is not a support X, because you don't want to be at the 3-level on a 4-3 fit. Generally it shows a very good (at least 16+) hand, short(ish) spades, and no clear call. Often you will have 3 hearts, but not always. The following are good examples: xx Qxx AKxx AKQx x Qxx AKxxx AKxx Second, after the opponents bid and raise a suit, the "standard" way to distinguish a competitive hand from an invite hand is by using good/bad 2NT. Cheers, mike

I wouldn't open 2NT with this hand. It's pointless. *If partner has a bad hand, you'd rather play 1D than 2NT. *If partner has a minimum sort of responding hand, you'll get to the right game either way. *If partner has a decent hand, you'll often miss a slam if you open 2NT. For example: Kx xxxs QTx Axxx This will make 6D easy-peasy, but not if you open 2NT. Cheers, mike

I think others have provided the right answers, but in general, I think you both underbid your hand. Partner's hand is too strong for 3D. With 20 HCP (yes, I know the stiff Kc isn't worth full value), he wants to be in game opposite even a minimum 1S response. So he needs to make a forcing bid, not a invitational bid like 3D. As others have pointed out, with three spades, a 2H reverse is the right call here. This might look odd, but it's actually a very standard treatment. If partner raises hearts, showing 4, that means he has at least 5 spades (with 4/4, he'd bid hearts first), so you just correct back to spades and reveal your little lie. Your hand is too good to pass 3D, which shows about 16-18. Even opposite a minimum 3D bid, you should have excellent chances for game. There really isn't a good way to find out if partner has a H card, but with your club stop and Kd, 3NT ought to be a decent shot, so you should just take the bull by the horns and bid it. Cheers, mike

With respect to strength, I suggest you change to 20-21. The 2NT opener has its strengths and weaknesses, but dealing with a three-point range is very difficult. Open 2C with 22+, and if you want to eliminate the three-point ranges there, use Kokish relays. With respect to shape, it depends on what your reaction will be if your 1x bid is passed out. I generally open 2NT on 5332 hands on the following hands: 1. 5332 with a five-card major 2. 4441 hands with a stiff in a minor (NOT with a stiff in a major, even a stiff honor) 3. 21 counts with 2245 or 2254 With 20 and two doubletons, there generally isn't the need to open 2NT for fear of a passout. If partner can't bid, you probably aren't making game and will be much better in 1 of your five-card minor than in 2NT. Cheers, mike

The LAW is a very good guide at the 2 and 3 levels. The LAW would say that the odds favor East bidding 3S over 3H (that should be competitive; a X would be maximal and a game try). You have 5 spades. In your system, your partner probably has 4, but if they have 3, they will have extra shape. So you either have 9 trump or else 8 trump with a double fit and very few SSL (short suit losers). You have a stiff heart. East rates to have at least 6. So the opponents rate to have 9 (if the remaining H are 3/3), but should have at least 8. So what are the possibilities: 1. Each side has an 8-card fit, but with a double fit and shapely hands. Then the total tricks are likely to be 17, rather than 16. You probably do best to bid 3S at MPs and pass at IMPs, but bidding 3S at IMPs will generally work out fine (only time it won't is when the opponents have 10 tricks, you have 7, they X, and most the other way don't find their game). 2. You have 9 and the opponents have 8. That means partner is 4/4 in the majors. TT=17. This one is likely a wash. Again, you may do better to bid at MPs and pass at IMPs, but bidding at IMPs should be OK most of the time. . You have 8 and the opponents have 9. Now the TT are 17, but now since partner is shapely, both sides should have a double fit with few SSL. So again the total tricks are likely one higher - 18. Now you need to bid 3S, as it is quite possible both contracts make. 4. You and the opponents both have 9. Now you clearly need to bid. So in two cases, it's close, and in the other two cases, it's right to bid. Seems clear, therefore, to bid 3S. Cheers, Mike

Not sure you're going to get to slam on this one. You can start with a cue of 2S or 2NT (some play 2NT shows spades and 2S shows shortness), but when partner retreats to 3H (which he should, as he has a minimum), you are pretty much stuck bidding 4H.

In general, playing 15-17 NTs, with four hearts, a five-card minor, 2/2 in the other suits, and 15-16, you should always consider opening 1NT (with 17, you can reverse, and with spades, you can always rebid 1S). This hand in particular is well-suited to a 1NT opener, which, as earlier posters have mentioned, saves you a lot of difficulty on ensuing rounds of bidding.

Incidentally, playing 5 of a major is an abomination to be avoided at all costs. The only time you should play 5 of a major is when you determine you have the strength and controls for slam but then you use key-card and find out you lack two keys. Cue-bidding needs to be done at the three and four levels, not the five level. Fred Gitelman has an excellent series of articles on that. Cheers, Mike

I generally agree with what mikeh wrote about showing "perfectos." I think here that it's better to start with either 2s or 2NT (depending on your style) to show a game try or better with spades. Some people (like GIB and generally me) play 2S as showing a game try or better with unspecified shortness and 2NT as showing a game try or better with spades. Best, mike

Penalty 10+ (or a good 9), and if partner's suit is a major, no 4-card (or better) support. The reason you don't want to X with 4-card support for a major is that the opponents have a fit, and LHO is now going to bid something. If the bidding gets to the three-level before you can make another bid, you're going to have a tough time describing your hand. Better to just bid 2NT (cue-bid, 4-card support, limit raise or better).

If I hold that hand, I'm calling the director! Seriously, assuming you have 6412, I would open 1S. Not sure I'd consider anything else for a second. Cheers, Mike

Yes you are right. 2+Q, which makes 7NT simple. After 1D 1H 3C ?? 3S is a type of fourth suit forcing bid that first asks partner about a spade stop. I'll get to it in a minute. Unless you are 5/6 or something like that, there is no point exploring a spade contract, because you know partner doesn't have four of them. If you want to explore a heart contract, you should have five really good ones or else six, because it's unlikely partner has 3 on this bidding. Possible, certainly (he could be 1354 or 0364), but not likely. If you have five good hearts, you can bid 3H. 100% forcing; shows five goodish hearts or else 6+. 3S is used for hands that don't really know what to do at this point. There are two main type of hands like that: 1. You have a weak hand with no spade stop. You want to play 3NT if partner has a stopper, but in one of partner's minors otherwise. 2. You have something like 5-6 in the majors with strong suits and 0-1 of partner's diamonds 3. You have a strong hand with support for one of partner's minors (too good to just to raise to 4m; you plan to remove 3NT to 4m to show this hand) 4. You have a rock-crusher opposite a jump shift When you bid 3S, partner will generally do the following: 1. Bid 3NT with a spade stop 2. Lacking a spade stop, bid 4C with 5+ clubs 3. Lacking either 1 or 2, bid 4H with 3 hearts 4. Lacking any of the above, bid 4D Here, you bid 3S because you have the slam-force rock-crusher. I suppose you could just jump to 7NT over 3C (GIB would do that), but it doesn't hurt to bid 3S, remove 3NT or 4C to 4D to set trump (if partner rebids 4D, that will do it), and then have somebody key-card just to make sure you have the Qd. Once you find out about that card, you are in 7NT all day. Cheers, Mike

Cyber: I was going by the original poster's account of the bidding, not giving the bidding as I actually think it should have gone. That is, the OP (Dinarius) stated that if you open 1D, your partner would respond 1S. That is silly (1H is correct), but I didn't see the whole hand when I posted, only Dinarius' statement that if you opened 1D, your partner would bid 1S. And of course, 3NT is awful after 3C (you are much too strong), but Dinarius said that if you bid 3C, partner would bid 3NT. That's all I had to go on. Looking at both hands, a fairly simple auction seems to be something like: 1D ***** 1H 3C ***** 3S 4D ***** key card 0/3 **** queen ask Qd+Kc ** 7NT There are many other roads, of course. Shouldn't be that difficult.

Playing a standard expert type 2/1 system, I'm tempted to say WTP? 1D 1S 3C 3NT 4D Now what?

Possum, if you want to improve your game, play in the toughest game you can find at your local club. I improved my game most as a young 20-something in the mid-80s playing evening club games in Columbus, Ohio against a lot of national champion and national champion-caliber players. Got my brains beat out at first, but I improved very quickly. Cheers, Mike

A few observations here. 1. At the very top level of bridge, there are two basic structures that are played: 2/1 and strong club (in its many variants). That's just about it. Yes, there are a very few exceptions, but 95% of top, world-class players use one of these two structures. That ought to tell you something. 2. The 2/1 structure isn't THAT different from the SAYC structure. The only major difference is that you bump the requirement for bidding 2x over 1M up by 2-3 points, and with the 10-bad 12 hands you used to bid 2x on, you instead bid 1NT forcing (or 3x, if you have 10-11 with a six-bagger and you have agreed to bid 3x invitational with that hand) . Yes, people generally add lots of bells and whistles, but most of those can be played with a SAYC structure, too. Note that 1D-2C auctions aren't necessarily GF in a 2/1 structure, as there are many treatments (this auction is the bete noire of natural bidding systems). GIB SAYS it plays them as GF, but it doesn't! 3. 2/1 doesn't handle part-score auctions quite as well as SAYC does. It handles slam auctions 100% better. It also handles game auctions better (you can explore the right strain better). In MPs, I'm not sure it has a pronounced edge over SAYC. In IMPs, it's miles better. 4. GIB is a different animal altogether. Bidding, playing against, and defending with GIB are all quite complex; whole books could be written about all three topics. Cheers, Mike

In any sort of strong club system, you're probably going to be able to find 7NT, which at MPs, is where you want to be (probably in IMPs, too). In standard 2/1, East is not strong enough to open. For those who would open, you aren't going to be able to handle auctions like 1C - 1S - 2C very well if 2C could be 10-15. It's just too wide a range. And this isn't even a great 10, because the club suit is awful without support from partner. So you end up with West opening 2NT, and now East has to decide whether to chase slam in H or C. In MPs, I have to admit I would use Stayman and end up in 6H. That's why a strong club is generally better for slam bidding (though it doesn't do so well with part-score hands). But in IMPs, where strain doesn't matter, I would bid 3S (relay to 3NT) followed by 4C, showing a likely six-bagger in clubs and interest in a slam. I'm not concerned about being in 6C rather than in 6H, but I do want to get to the best slam, and it's more likely to be C than H. Also, if there is a chance for a grand, then it's probably in clubs. Then it's easy: 2NT 3S(1) 3NT 4C(2) 4D(3) 4NT(4) 5D(5) 5S(6) 7NT(7) (1) relay to 3NT (2) 6+ clubs slammish (3) key-card (4) two no queen (5) Have all 5; king ask (6) Ks; no Kh (7) 4S + 2H + 1D + 6C = 13 Cheers, Mike

If you play something like SAYC, consider switching to a 2/1 structure after 1M opening bids. It's far better (it's actually also simpler). I would say that nowadays, "Standard American" is 2/1 GF after a 1M opener (there are a lot of ways to play 1D-2C, which is a problem auction in natural bidding systems). Certainly "Standard Expert" is 2/1. In a 2/1 structure, 2NT shows 12-14 or 18+. You can use it with a minimum hand as descriptive bid. You can also use it with 18+, since partner is forced to bid again. If partner bids the expected 3NT, you can bid 4NT to show 18-19, or drive to slam with 20+. If partner does something else, there are a variety of ways to show the stronger hand later on. A jump to 3NT shows 15-17 balanced (the sort of hand where you might have opened 1NT, but chose not to). The real question re 2NT is whether it shows stoppers in the unbids (I think it should show at least semi-stoppers) and how balanced it needs to be (I think semi-balanced is fine). The answer to the first question (stoppers) depends on whether rebidding your major shows 6. Take this hand: AQxxx Axx xxx Kx You open 1S; partner bids 2C. Now what? Some players play that 2s shows (or at least strongly implies) six spades. They would bid 2NT with this hand. But looking at your diamonds, do you really want to do that? Partner might not have a stop, and even if he does, do you want a diamond lead through partner's honor(s)? Other players play that 2NT shows a stop or semi-stop in each unbid (at least Qx or Jxx) and bid 2S if they can't do anything else. I am strongly in this camp and would rebid 2S on this hand. The answer to the second question (shape) depends on whether you treat a rebid on the 3-level as showing extras. I strongly believe it should show extra strength. Look at this hand: AKxxx KJ xx KTxx You open 1S; partner bids 2D. There are three possible rebids: 2S, 2NT, and 3C. Some players would bid 3C here; in their system, that doesn't show extras. I don't like this treatment, because it makes it difficult to sort out really good hands from minimum ones. I think this is a fine 2NT bid. I would also bid 2NT with: AKxxx KJx x KTxx If partner continues with 3D (slammish, because otherwise you just bid 3NT), I can discourage him with a 3NT bid. Hope that helped. Cheers, Mike

If you play something like SAYC, consider switching to a 2/1 structure after 1M opening bids. It's far better (it's actually also simpler). I would say that nowadays, "Standard American" is 2/1 GF after a 1M opener (there are a lot of ways to play 1D-2C, which is a problem auction in natural bidding systems). Certainly "Standard Expert" is 2/1. In a 2/1 structure, 2NT shows 12-14 or 18+. You can use it with a minimum hand as descriptive bid. You can also use it with 18+, since partner is forced to bid again. If partner bids the expected 3NT, you can bid 4NT to show 18-19, or drive to slam with 20+. If partner does something else, there are a variety of ways to show the stronger hand later on. A jump to 3NT shows 15-17 balanced (the sort of hand where you might have opened 1NT, but chose not to). The real question re 2NT is whether it shows stoppers in the unbids (I think it should show at least semi-stoppers) and how balanced it needs to be (I think semi-balanced is fine). The answer to the first question (stoppers) depends on whether rebidding your major shows 6. Take this hand: AQxxx Axx xxx Kx You open 1S; partner bids 2C. Now what? Some players play that 2s shows (or at least strongly implies) six spades. They would bid 2NT with this hand. But looking at your diamonds, do you really want to do that? Partner might not have a stop, and even if he does, do you want a diamond lead through partner's honor(s)? Other players play that 2NT shows a stop or semi-stop in each unbid (at least Qx or Jxx) and bid 2S if they can't do anything else. I am strongly in this camp and would rebid 2S on this hand. The answer to the second question (shape) depends on whether you treat a rebid on the 3-level as showing extras. I strongly believe it should show extra strength. Look at this hand: AKxxx KJ xx KTxx You open 1S; partner bids 2D. There are three possible rebids: 2S, 2NT, and 3C. Some players would bid 3C here; in their system, that doesn't show extras. I don't like this treatment, because it makes it difficult to sort out really good hands from minimum ones. I think this is a fine 2NT bid. I would also bid 2NT with: AKxxx KJx x KTxx If partner continues with 3D (slammish, because otherwise you just bid 3NT), I can discourage him with a 3NT bid. Hope that helped. Cheers, Mike

3S needs to be a slammish hand with a solid or near-solid suit. Otherwise you have no bid for that hand. This is pretty standard. What 4C/D/H mean depend on (a) whether you play splinters at the 3-level (I like them) and (b) what key-card ask you use with minors (I like kickback, some use Minorwood, some stick to 4NT). Cheers, mike

Splinter is a rather common treatment for 1S - 2C - 3D/H. You have to agree with your partner on what these bids mean. Regarding 2NT natural, most people play 1S-2NT as a four-card GF raise. That's fine. Works well enough. But a another treatment is to play 2NT as GF 12plus-15, much like in old-fashioned Goren, with 2-3 spades. Then you can use 3C as your 4-card GF raise (3D and 3H are still available for Bergen, if you like Bergen raises). The rationale here is that with 2NT being natural, 2-3 spades, 2C (and 2D for that matter) will almost always show 5-card suits. That makes it MUCH easier to find good minor-suit slams. Not saying that is what I recommend or generally play, but it's a very good alternative treatment (Fred Gitelman, in particular, is an advocate). Cheers, Mike

1S - 2C: 3D/3H: There are two common ways to play this. Method 1: Splinter in clubs (should be 4-card club support) Method 2: 5/5+ in spades and the bid suit with two very solid suits. If you play that 1S/2NT is a natural, GF balanced hand a la Gitelman (using some other bid, generally 3C, to show the four-card GF raise), so that 2C strongly suggests a five-card suit, then I think the splinter is probably the better treatment. Otherwise, I don't have a strong preference. 3S: Slam-oriented with a one-loser (at most) spade suit opposite a singleton. You should play serious/non-serious 3NT at this point. 3NT: 15-17 balanced. For me, it's probably more on the 17 side, because I will generally (though not 100%) open 1NT with 15-16. With 12-14 or 18+, you start with 2NT. Then, if you have 18-19, you bid 4NT over 3NT. 4S: 7+ running spades; no 1st or 2nd round control in D or H. This "picture bid" gives partner all he needs to bid slam with: xx AKx x AKxxxxx and not go beyond 4S with xxx AK xxx AKQJx Cheers, Mike