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I don't know what bidding method you use, but in the USA, your partner is much too strong for a 2NT opener. That is 20-21, and he has 22, all in Aces and Kings (which upgrades his 22 by a bunch). If your partner opens 2C and rebids 2NT over your 2D, you are looking at a moose (you have an 7-loser hand opposite probably a 4-5 loser hand; that's 6 and maybe 7). "Standard US expert" is probably something like: 2C 2D 2NT 3S(1) 3NT(2) 4D(3) 4H(4) 4S(5) 4NT(6) 5C(7) 5H(8) 5S(9) 6c(10) 6NT or 7D(12) (1) relay to 3NT (2) forced (3) one-suited hand in diamonds; slammish (4) cue (5) cue (6) RKCB (7) 0/3 (8) Qd? (9) Yes (extra length will do the job), and Ks (could also bid 5NT here, as you've already shown the Ks) (10) We have all the key cards; can you bid a grand (11) 8 diamonds; 2 spades; a club and a heart is 12 and only accounts for 19 of opener's 22+ points. Kc or Kh will do the job; a Queen might do it; or a five-card rounded suit might do it. Take your pick of 6NT or 7D (not 7NT, if partner has a five-card H or C suit, you might need to ruff the last one good. Cheers, mike

With 22 high, there's no reason not to open 2C. Probably you don't get to 6H, but it's not like that slam is clear-cut. You need the Kc onside and no 4-0 h break. Cheers, mike

Tc Partner has 5-7 HCP with nothing in spades. We start with two spade tricks; how do we get three more? Outside of clubs, we have nothing, and partner will be able to contribute at most two tricks (he has at most two red cards that will produce tricks). So if we're going to beat this hand, we have to take at least one, and more likely 2, club tricks. So let's build our club trick(s). If partner has Ax(x) or Kxx, the Tc works quite nicely. Even Kx might work if declarer goes after red tricks before knocking out the other spade. And if partner has Jx or Jxx, along with the Qxx of D and the Ah, that could work, too. Cheers, mike

Tc Partner has 5-7 HCP with nothing in spades. We start with two spade tricks; how do we get three more? Outside of clubs, we have nothing, and partner will be able to contribute at most two tricks (he has at most two red cards that will produce tricks). So if we're going to beat this hand, we have to take at least one, and more likely 2-3, club tricks. So let's build our club trick(s). If partner has Ax(x) or Kxx, the Tc works quite nicely. Even Kx might work if declarer goes after red tricks before knocking out the other spade. And if partner has Jx or Jxx, along with the Qx of D and the Kh, that will work, too. Cheers, mike

I assume you mean on opening lead. Later in the hand, of course, it's often right to do so. For experienced players, 10/10 for "almost never." Didn't say never; said "almost never" (i.e., very rarely). I think I do it about once a year. Cheers, mike

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A bit unfortunate, if you ask me. West has a choice between 3H and 4H. Double is not good at all, Badger; partner will pass with a lot of hands where 3cX comes rolling home and you can make 4H. I personally prefer 4H to show a much better hand (I might possibly make that call if my heart spots were a lot better, like AKT9xxx), and generally a hand that wants to play H regardless. I would bid 3H. Then I think you can get to a small slam easily enough, probably 6D. Grand is much harder. Over 4H, it's tougher. If you play it as wide-ranging, then I sympathize with East's pass, although 6D is possible (you won't like that if partner has JTc and a d void or even 4711). If you play it as a very strong hand, as I do, then I think you can pretty much force slam somewhere. Maybe 5D (forcing) and if partner continues with 5H, try 5S. Cheers, Mike

You are quite right, Graham. Any lead here is a guess, and you have to play the probabilities. If partner has a red Ace, you have to get busy NOW. If partner has the spade Ace, it's a bit of a coin toss. Declarer might have good spades and be able to discard a red card or two from dummy after knocking the Ace out: that suggests a red suit lead. Or partner might have good spades (as in the case you posited), in which case a passive lead is going to be best. Of course, there is a slight clue that partner does NOT have good spades: he didn't double 3S. With AT9xx (which is what he would have on your hand), he might have done so. I'm sure it took Garozzo 1 second to realize that. On the whole, I think a diamond lead is best, but there are certainly hands like the one you provided where it will be costly. Cheers, Mike

I didn't respond earlier, but I would have picked a diamond after 10 minutes of study. At the table, however, I have no doubt I'd have led a trump. That's what separates the Garozzos of the world from players like me. It takes me 10 minutes to figure out what those folks can infer in 10 seconds. Here's the logic: Opener, not responder, asked for key cards, so he had no clue his partner was dead minimum. If n/s had all the key cards, then South likely would have bid 5S, asking for Kings, just to give his partner a chance to bid a grand if he had the hand for it. Since he didn't, partner is likely to have an Ace. North has one key card -- where is it? Clubs, right. So South likely has AQ or KQ of clubs and two outside Aces. Which Ace does partner have? If he has the spade Ace, there should be no hurry to get it. Declarer isn't going to be able to set up a red suit to pitch spades from dummy, because you have the reds guarded fairly well. Indeed, if partner has the spade Ace and declarer has any chance to make, then we're going to have to set up a red trick quickly before our spade Ace is knocked out. That means partner has to have a red Q, too, and the more likely second round trick is in diamonds (we have long H, so dummy is more apt to have a stiff there). If partner has a red Ace, one or both of our tricks might go away if you don't hit him on lead. Declarer could run spades and pitch cards in that suit from dummy. If the opponents know what they are doing and haven't bid a totally hopeless slam, then if partner has a red Ace, we must take the first two tricks to beat this. And as between the red suits, we are more likely to be able to take two quick tricks in diamonds, as again, dummy is more likely to have a stiff heart than a stiff diamond. So a small diamond it is. Cheers, Mike

Ugh! I would open 1D with the North hand. The South bidding seems fine to me. Norht, however, needs to have his head examined (hope that wasn't your best friend). After the 1S opener (which I don't like), I don't have any problems with the first two rounds. 2H in "standard expert" isn't game forcing after the 2C bid (just 10+ or so), so very similar to the 9+ you described. Now North has a choice between 2S (a non-forcing underbid); 3D (a bit of an overbid, but doesn't N/S have to have a fit somewhere, and if so, this is a big hand); and 4H (seems odd on only 2H with 6D). None of those bids describe your hand very well, but none of them are entirely unreasonable, either. I don't have a huge problem with 3D, and oddly enough, this is the only bid North made that I think is defensible. 3H seems right, showing six hearts. At this point, I think North went completely off the rails. Once South shows 6H, North should just bid 4H and go quietly. 4D is nuts. 4S by South is fine. 5D? Really? South is showing 2 card spade support, so why not just pass? After 5D, I think 6S is OK. It looks like South has some sort of gigantic 6/6 hand. You have the AKs, the AH, and a second round club control. It doesn't get a lot better. Cheers, mike

+1

A lot depends on the opponents' bidding style. If you can trust RHO to have five hearts, then it seems like bidding is right, especially at IMPs. The opponents have a 10-fit; you should have at least a nine-fit. If they can make 4H, you should be down only 1 in 4S or 2 at 5m. Even if they can make 5H, you at worst should be -3 in 5D. And of course, if partner has something like Qxxxx x Ax xxxxx you will make 4S and/or likely defeat 5H (though probably not 4H). I think I would X and correct 5C to 5D (assuming you play equal-level conversion and partner won't take this as a huge hand). This is especially true at IMPs, where the reward for being right is huge and the risk for being wrong isn't hideous. Now, of course, if the opponents bid 4H on a wide variety of hands, then it's a whole different story. Cheers, mike

In "standard" methods, the auction would be very uch like this one, except that 5H, not 5NT, would be the Queen ask. Then in standard, 5S (Queen of D + King of S); 5NT (anything else you want to tell me); 6C (I have the King of clubs, too). At this point, South knows 16 of North's HCP: Ks/Ah/Qd/AKc. So North can't have a lot more (maybe a Jack). South can count 12 tricks, so 6NT is fine. The question is whether partner has a doubleton spade (third-round ruff); the AKJx of clubs (J is trick 13); or a five-card H suit (fifth heart is odds-on to set up). None are likely, but the doubleton spade is the best bet. Since 6NT is safe, probably South's best bid at this point is 6H, showing second round H control. Now North can bid 6S, third round spade control, and now South knows N has Kx in spades and can confidently bid 7D. Not easy. Cheers, Mike

Your argument that reaching grand slam is easy is based on knowing that 3nt was bid with a lot of points. No, it wasn't. 3NT is an awful bid. Start with 2H. If in this bidding sequence 3nt shows 18+ HCP you are right but that is a wasted agreement because how often will this specific situation happens. It doesn't. And it shouldn't be bid. If 1 hold Q JT9xx Jxxx Axx I would not bid 1nt but wait for a re openings double from partner (or support with 2♦ if you think the hand is not strong enough for that) and in this case he would not do that and bid ♠ to show a uneven pattern and then I would support ♦ with a jump and your partner knows you had a penalty pass for ♥ and good diamond support. Huh? My response was to your suggestion that 1S is the proper opening. You would pass a 1S opener with the following 8-count: Q JT9xx Jxxx Axx ? I sure hope not. I didn't mean after a 2H overcall; I meant in an uncontested auction. The point was to illustrate that a 1D opener can work better on these sorts of hands, provided you have the right agreement with partner. Cheers, Mike

Opening 1D doesn't stop you from getting to a grand. 7D is not that difficult to reach. As for your point about not being strong enough to reverse, that's a matter of partnership agreement. A lot of partnerships play that with 6m/5M and a decent hand, you are allowed to open 1m and then bid the M twice. I have found this method works quite well. This is actually a very strong hand if partner fits one of your suits (a 4 loser hand). If he has a 6-10 hand with nothing but a pile of hearts, you might get to a poor spot, but 98% of the time, nothing bad will happen, and if he fits you, you'll find games you otherwise wouldn't. For example, let's say you open 1S, your partner bids 1NT (forcing), and you rebid 2D. What is partner supposed to do with: Q JT9xx Jxxx Axx I think everyone would pass pretty quickly. Yet 5D is gin. Cheers, mike

7S is very hard, I think, but 7D ought to be quite reachable. The first question is what to bid over 1H. 3NT is wrong; it shows 12+ to 15 or so; we have 18, 17 of which are outside the overcaller's suit. If partner is short in H (which seems reasonable, given tha we have four), we could miss a diamond slam. X is a possibility, I guess, but you'll have a tough time convincing your partner you don't hold 4 spades; you certainly don't want him correcting a D slam to a S slam. What is so wrong with 2H over 1H? Yes, in theory, it suggests 4D, but we do have AJx in diamonds, and if partner is minimum, he's going to be looking for NT anyway. After that, opener ought to recognize that if his partner has a limit raise in diamonds, his hand is absolutely HUGE. It's a 4-loser hand, so if partner has no H waste, even a limit raise should offer a good play for slam (Qx Jxxx Axxx Axx and six is icy; even with xx QJxx Axxx Axx it's still on a hook). Opener needs to show that with a jump to 4H, showing a H void. Forget about spades. If partner had four of them, he'd have made a negative X. If you're going for slam, a 10-card suit (partner has shown 4) beats a possible 8-card suit. After that, a reasonable auction playing very standard 2/1 methods would be: 1D (1H) 2H 4H(1) 4NT(2) 5D(3) 5H(4) 5S(5) 5NT(6) 6C(7) 7D(8) (1) Good hand; h void; at least five diamonds and likely 6 (could be 4054) (2) key card (3) one key (you've already shown the H void) (4) Queen ask (5) Qd and Ks (6) I'm interested in a grand; what else can you tell me? (Note: not "pick a slam" here; diamonds is agreed) (7) I have the Kc; does that help? (8) Sure does Cheers, Mike

I think you were badly fixed. I'd have passed too, but not without some trepidation, because as Edgar Kaplan noted a long time ago, 4H is a transfer to 4S. Cheers, Mike

I can't understand why so many on these forums appear to be so focused on stopping short of game on marginal hands. In the long run, it's far better bridge to bid your thin games. Sometimes they make. Sometimes normal defense won't beat them. Sometimes the opponents don't find the best defense, especially the best opening lead (yes, even world champions often don't find the best line of D). Much better than being too conservative. This game will make if hearts are 33 or if they are 42 and West doesn't find a spade lead. On the actual lie of the cards, of course, you will go down at 4H, but you will also go down at 3H (3H being better at MPs of course, but not substantially better at IMPs). Cheers, Mike

It seems that opener plays 2D as "opening bid or better" and not "minimum opener," as in standard Reverse Drury. When the OP said "min," I don't think he meant a light opener. I think he meant a minimum 12-13 opener: a full opener without the values to force game opposite a Drury bid. At least I hope so; very few folks play 2D as a light opener any more. I would not have bid 2S with your hand over 2D. If partner has a minimum opening hand, this hand is worth a game try if not a game force. Being aggressive on bidding game, I would simply have leaped to 4S, but at least you need to bid 3S to show extra values. If opener is playing standard reverse Drury (where 2D shows specifically the minimum opening bid and never more than that), then opener's 2NT is just odd. If he has a minimum opener and responder has a hand that wants to sign off in 2S opposite that, he wouldn't bid again. So evidently opener plays 2D as minimum or better. Not the standard treatment, but very playable. Then 2NT probably shows 14 balanced or so. I would now try 4S. Cheers, Mike

You probably can't stop below game on this hand, and with a three-loser hand, I don't see why you would want to. Even with the N-S hands, you make 4H if H are 33 or if West doesn't lead a spade. Not so awful. And of course, there is no way to know partner's hand is truly this ghastly, even if he makes a 2H dbl negative bid (or some other similar dbl neg bid). Cheers, Mike

Can be, depending on partnership agreement. One very common difference is that many play some form of Smith (generally Reverse Smith) vs NT only

I think you are taking my example too literally. My point is that downgrading a hand in a non competitive auction at IMPs is not winning bridge. As for partner going on over 4h he shouldn't without an opening bid of his own. If you have a true moose you need a bid other than a raise to game to handle it. There are lots of alternatives. 4h shouldn't be bid on 19 good ones and a stiff for example. And there is no need to be nasty. If you think I'm wasting your time please be nice and just not respond Mike

I dunno. A lot of folks here seem to want to be extremely careful not to bid games that don't make. To me, that's losing bridge. I'd much rather bid a game that doesn't make than miss one that does. At IMPs, of course, the rewards for game outweigh the downside of overbidding. But even at MPs, declarer play is a whole lot easier than defense Meckwell has shown that for decades.

Your 3H bids must be a lot stronger than mine. After 1C - 1H (opps passing), I would bid 3H with AQx QJxx x Axxxx which doesn't play very well at all for 4H opposite the hand I gave earlier. But that's just me. Cheers, mike

I don't see what is so awful about the pedestrian 4H bid. Sure, 3NT could play better, but a 3NT call directly shows excellent clubs and a hand that hopes to run nine tricks, not a moose. As for 2NT or 3H, you can't make those bids at IMPs, where you gotta bid your games. If you bid 2NT or 3H, you deserve to play there when partner tables: xxx Kxxxx x QTxx Best, Mike