miamijd

You'll only miss a 44 spade fit when responder has less than an invite. With an invite or better, responder can use any of several conventions (NMF, two-way NMF, xyz, etc) to check on a 44 spade fit. Cheers, Mike

As others have mentioned, you need to have an agreement on these sorts of hands. Pros for bidding 1NT: 1. If you reserve 1S for hands where you actually have 4+ clubs, partner will be better able to determine whether you belong in clubs or NT. 2. 1NT slows down the auction, which is advantageous if you have 12 or a bad 13. If you bid 1NT, partner won't raise to 2NT without an 11-count (your max is 14). If you bid 1S, however, your upper limit is 18 or so, and partner will be forced to bid 2NT with a decent 10-count (6-10 is too wide a range for a 1NT call). Now if you have 12 or a bad 13, you are in danger of going set. 3. You give less information to the opponents. Pros for bidding 1S: 1. If partner is 44 in the majors with a hand not worth an invite to game, you will play 1NT instead of 2S. Personally, I think the advantages of bidding 1NT on these sorts of hands (and indeed, with a lot of 4234 and 4324 hands) outweigh the disadvantages at any form of scoring, but many disagree. Cheers, mike

As a couple others have mentioned, West should bid 4H over 3S, not 4D. No, West's pass after 1S did not show 2 or fewer hearts. He could easily have 3 hearts with a 1 count. But if West has enough to bid 4D, then with 3H, he probably would raise 1H to 2H. Moreover, Kx isn't so bad even opposite a decent five-card suit.

Meckwell played it for years; not exactly a pair of bums. They now play 2NT as Puppet Stayman, which is probably a bit better.

Not quite. As pointed out earlier, your treatment wrong-sides all kinds of contracts, which is a major drawback. It also allows the opponents to know pretty much declarer's exact distribution before the opening lead goes down. In addition, your treatment doesn't allow for so-called "Garbage Stayman," because if I have a horrible hand with 45 in the majors, or even sometimes 44 in the majors, in either case with 3 or fewer diamonds, I probably want to bid 2C and then 2H over 2D, telling partner to pass with 3H and bid 2s with 3S and 2H.

Either a H honor or a small club seems reasonable. If you lead H, you have to hope partner has a spade trick and a H honor. Then declarer may only come to 8 tricks before you run H. If you lead C, you have to hope partner has K fourth or fifth. And by the way, 4S makes 4 easily. Not sure how anyone went down. It will make 7 on a H lead if you guess the diamonds right.

What sort of ignorant directors work at your games?

I think 3H ought to show either (i) 6+ hearts; (ii) 5 really good hearts that can stand a raise on honor small; or (iii) 5 hearts and a hand that has slam ambitions and is good enough to sign off in 4NT later on. If you want 3H to show 6, then I would recommend a 3S bid at responder's second turn as a temporizing action (though if opener rebids 4D, you will be stuck in an awkward spot). You can always sign off in 4NT later if you can't find a trump suit (you need some agreements on that, so partner doesn't think it's key-card). A 3D temporizing bid, as I think you recommend, is an excellent choice, but only with prior agreement that this bid shows nothing in particular. Otherwise, you will never be able to play clubs (partner will always correct back to diamonds). Since I was assuming "standard," I didn't include that as a possibility. My main point was that 4C is a poor bid (you really need at least 5 clubs for that). 4C makes the auction unmanageable. If opener now bids 4D or 4H, does that show (A) phony clubs (4D) or 3-card H support (4H) or (B) a cue-bid with clubs agreed as trump? However you answer, you'll have a major problem with certain hand types. This sort of "phony suit jump shift" is why Jeff Meckstroth developed the "Meckstroth Adjunct" after 1M-1NT (forcing). It doesn't work after 1m-1M or 1H-1S, however. Cheers, mike

Sometimes you just have bad luck. There's nothing wrong with the 1S overcall. 3S isn't my style on the East hand, as I play 3S preemptive on this auction. I'd settle for 2S and see what developed. But I can't fault 3S; East has good 4-card support, so the Law is satisfied, and he has a side A and a ruffing value. No, you just got fixed by a poor South player (or else a gambler). South doesn't have a 1H opener in anyone's book. North's X of 3S isn't a penalty double; it's cards. There is no way South ought to pass with a stiff spade; he needs to bid 4C. He deserves to find partner with: xs Qx AKQxx KQxx and watch the opponents score up +730 (or at best set them one) when he can make 4H or 5C. So South made two awful bids that worked out for him. Good for him; I'll take my chances against his type any day. Cheers, mike

As other posters have indicated, 6H requires a 3-2 H split and no really weird splits in a couple other suits, so it's a good spot. As to how to get there with standard bidding, I prefer something simpler: 1D 1H 3C(1) 3H/3S(2) 4H 6H (1) 2NT is also possible, after which it is very easy to find 6H. I think you want to force game, however (2) 3H would be my choice; you need to show the fifth heart in case partner has 3. You can then correct 3S (asking for a stop) or 3NT (showing a stop) to 4C to show club support, and if partner has <3 hearts and a phony club suit, he'll bid 4D, after which you can retreat to 4NT. 3S as a fourth-suit bid is OK if partner responds 3NT, 4C, or 4H, but if partner bids 4D, you are stuck. The bid I don't like at responder's second turn is 4C. Too often, the 3C bid turns out to be phony, and if that's the case, the auction will be unmanageable. If opener doesn't bid 4D or 4H at his next turn, there is still time to show clubs later.

Kantar is right, but that doesn't mean you should strain to lead away from a King. At NT: Here the only real decision is whether to (i) try to establish your suit; (ii) try to establish partner's suit; or (iii) play passively Generally you lead fourth best from your best suit, but there are two exceptions: 1. If your hand is very weak, you should consider leading what you think might be partner's suit 2. If the opponents have crawled into game and you have a balanced hand (no 5-carder), consider defending passively The particular strategy you elect to follow will dictate your lead, not whether you have Kxxx or Kxxxx somewhere. At a suit contract, it's much the same story. The most important thing to do is to select your strategy. There are four main strategies on opening lead: 1. Establish / take tricks for your side 2. Set up a ruff for your side 3. Cut down on declarer's ruffing 4. Defend passively Often, you'll have an obvious lead. If you have AK or KQJ or QJT somewhere, or if partner has opened 1M or overcalled, your troubles are generally over. But sometimes, you'll have to think, and here again, you have to use the bidding to decide what the best strategy will be. #1 is appropriate where you think the dummy will have an outside source of tricks. #2 is good if you have a singleton, especially if you have trump control and even more so if you also have a way to reach partner. #3 calls for a trump lead; there are certain auctions that hint that declarer will try to ruff loses in the dummy (especially true if you are strong in declarer's first suit and the opponents end up in declarer's second suit instead). #4 works well if dummy is expected to have neither useful length nor useful shortness (you don't want to kick tricks on lead). Determining which strategy you need to use will tell you whether it's safe to lead from a King or not. If #1 is called for, by all means lead away from a King. You'll hope partner has the A or at least the Q to set up a trick or two for the good guys. If the opposition has the A and Q between them and dummy has a long, strong side suit, you weren't going to score your K, anyway. Alternatively, if you think #4 is called for, don't lead from a King if you can avoid it. This is especially true at MPs, where overtricks are key. Everyone -- even the world champions -- sometimes makes opening leads that don't work out so well. But if you focus more on what the strategy should be, given the bidding, you'll have decent success coming up with a reasonable lead.

I think the preceding posters have covered the play, but what strikes me about this hand is the auction. Why 4N? North doesn't have enough power for a NT slam; he needs to find a suit fit. How about a pedestrian 4C over 3H, after which you'll reach a 6C contract that is much better.

This is kind of a silly question, as you would wait a lifetime and never get this situation. No one simply opens 6NT. Why wouldn't you explore by opening 1C or 2C (depending on your system)? As it is, it looks like declarer has long clubs. Otherwise, there's no way he has 11+ tricks in his hand. You don't want to lead your stiff club in case declarer has AKQTxxx and dummy a stiff with no entry. So which Jack do you leae? If your 2D bid isn't a weak 2 (i.e., it's Flannery, Multi, Mini-Roman, etc), I'd try the Jd (partner didn't open 2H or 2S). If a X of 6NT would ask for spades, then I would try a red Jack. If neither of these are true, you have a guess. So visit the nave and then pick a knave. Cheers, Mike

Well, if you play 4H as showing a void, then that would be a good bid, yes. But after agreeing spades, I think most experts would play 4H as "Last Train," which isn't what you want here. Yes, 3H is a game force for me. I don't like using 4H as a GF splinter, b/c then there is no room to explore controls without going to the 5-level, which is awful. But even if you play it as not a GF, it ought to be invite or better, not simply an invite. Now partner can at least bid 4D over 3H to show a hand that's better than just a simple accept (where he would bid 4S), but not good enough for a serious 3NT bid opposite an invite. Now with clubs and hearts locked up and a fine hand, you can use exclusion as before (or bid 4H if that's not Last Train for you). If you don't play Last Train, you should consider doing so. Makes slam exploration a lot easier. Cheers, Mike

The big culprit in your auction was opener's 3S rebid. That is merely an invite. Opposite an invite, responder isn't strong enough to try for slam, so you will languish in 4S. I suspect a number of pairs took that approach. At his second turn, opener needs to force a game. It won't always make, but you want to be in game with this hand opposite as little as Kxxxx xxx Qx xxx, so you need to make a forcing bid. 3H, if that is a splinter in your system (it ought to be, as 2H would be a reverse) seems like the best bid here, as your diamonds aren't good enough for a 4D call (that shows 4+ spades and a good 6+ diamond suit). After 3H, something like the following ought to do the trick: -- 1D 1S 3H(1) 3NT(2) 4C(3) 4D(4) 5H(5) 6C(6) 6D(7) 7S(8) (1) splinter (2) serious slam try (3) cue (4) cue (5) exclusion key card (6) 2 no Q (not counting Ah) (7) Grand try (8) Qd seems to be the missing card

In 2/1, Precision, ACOL, or any other system that uses weak 2M bids, 2S p 3S (X) is common enough. The X here generally shows short spades. Remember that when the opponents preempt, your expected length is 2 (for a 3-level bid) or 2.33 (for a 2-level bid). You should strive to take action if you are short in the opponents suit and be cautious with length. In this auction, the doubler will generally have a shapely hand with 0-2 spades and support for the unbids (yes, he might have 2S, 4H, and be 25 or 52 in the minors). Rarely, he might have 46 ih H and D intending to correct 4C to 4D (equal level conversion). Either way, he needs a decent hand. Or the doubler could have a true one-suited moose, but that's even more rare, as most really good one-suited hands are generally suitable for a 4H or 5m bid. Yes, there are certain hands where the doubler will have 3 or even 4 spades, but they are so rare as to almost be non-existent. So what do you do with your hand after this auction? You can't bid 3NT; you don't have a stop. You shouldn't bid 4H; you will be on a 4-3 fit vs. preempting opponents; not good (H aren't likely to break). So your choices are pass for penalties or 4C (your clubs are better than your diamonds, so you are less likely to be Xed in 4C). Either bid is reasonable. But at this vulnerability, I would pass, especially at MPs. The opponents have 9 spades; you have 8-9 clubs. If you can make 10 tricks in clubs, I would wager a large sum the opponents cannot make 9 tricks in spades. +200 beats any club partial. And if the opponents can make their contract, you will be down at least one (likely doubled) and maybe two (almost certainly doubled) at 4C. -500 and -530 are likely to be the same round number. As it happens, 3S goes -1 for +100. 4C goes set two, though undoubled (neither opp can X) for -200. Which score would you rather have? Cheers, mike

No you aren't nuts; your partner is. Very much so, in fact. First, his double is just awful. He has all of 10 HCP outside spades, 4333, and no source of tricks. Is he going to be happy when you bid 4x? Certainly not. Is he happy when you pass the X? Not really; he has only 2 defensive tricks. He ought to pass. If he wants to be insanely aggressive, then he should bid 3NT. At least that has a chance to do some good. Double is going to be disastrous more often than not. If you are weak, your side is up the creek. If you have a decent hand, you likely belong in 3NT, but you'll never be able to bid it. There is a very simple solution to someone who suggests a 3NT call with your hand. Smile; say "I didn't think of that" very politely; and after the event, promptly find a new partner. And yes, I can blame your partner for returning a heart at trick 2. Another trump is blitheringly obvious. It's highly unlikely declarer has only 2 clubs, because with 5 clubs and two small spades, you would have bid 4C. Likewise, declarer probably has at least 3H, because with 4H, you probably would have bid 4H. So declarer ought to be 6313, and your side needs to prevent a club ruff. As for your not ducking the AH, that only helps if you then duck a second round of H, win the third round, and switch to a diamond. That is very tough to find at the table. Cheers, Mike

Old-school bridge is that 3D shows 16-18 and good diamonds (6+). In fact, that's generally new-school, too. With 15, you just rebid 2D, and to make a jump shift forcing to game, you need 19. I don't see a lot wrong with the auction; sometimes it's hard to find slams like these. Minorwood does you no favors on this auction, however, which is why Kickback is more popular. Query: how do you play 3H here? Natural? Artificial force? I think natural is the most common treatment, but I like to play artificial strong force, on the grounds that opener is highly unlikely to have 4H (he would have reversed, not bid 3D); if responder has no slam interest with 54, he can just bid 3NT; and if responder is 5-5 strong, he can start with 3H artificial. This treatment works particularly well if you play Reverse Flannery responses to 1C and 1D (which I do with my regular pds). If 3H is an artificial force with a strongish hand, I think all roads will lead to 6D.

1. The GIB bots could have 3-4 clubs and 4 hearts on this auction. Not all paris play that way. Some pairs rebid 1NT on all balanced hands on this auction, so that 1H would show 5 clubs and 4 hearts or possibly 1444. The rebid depends on how frequently you bypass diamonds in order to bid a major. The more "up the line" you play, the more you will tend to rebid the major. The more you bypass, the more likely you are to rebid 1NT. Another factor as to whether to rebid 1NT or 1M is the strength of your hand. Ask yourself how thrilled you would be if partner rebid 2NT. If the answer is "not happy," consider bidding 1NT to slow the auction down (partner won't raise to 2NT with 10, but he might rebid 2NT with 10 if you rebid 1M). Personally, I like to rebid 1NT with most balanced hands (I play 2-way checkback), but most of my partners aren't enamored with this approach. 2. Depends on partner's hand. 1NT looks like the obvious rebid with your hand. 3. If opener has 64, I would expect some sort of club rebid (2C with a minimum; 3C with an invite). 4. You are a passed hand, so 1S probably ought to show spades. If you weren't a passed hand, then 1S and 2S are both game forces. One shows spades and the other denies spades. If I recall correctly, GIB plays 1S as 3- spades and 2S as 4+ spades. Many players play it the other way around. I don't have a strong preference. Cheers, Mike

+1

Rainer's post above is correct. There are several things responder might want to consider in deciding whether to use Stayman with a 4432 hand (one 4-card major; with two, you're better off using Stayman), as follows: 1. Hand Strength: If you have 28+ HCP, you may not need the ruffing trick; you might be able to make that trick on power instead 2. Holding in your Doubleton Suit: That's where the ruff will generally come from (not always, but most of the time). If you have the Queen, then the chances are greater you don't need the ruff. If you don't, the ruff might be useful. 3. Trump Intermediates: Sometimes, the trump suit will break badly. If it does, you will be more likely to survive it if you have cards like the J, T, and even 9 in the trump suit. 4. Side Source of Tricks: Is your side four-card minor strong? If so, that could provide a discard or two and make the ruff unnecessary. 5. Honor Structure: Qs and Js work better at NT. As and Ks are good at any contract. 6. Form of Scoring: This decision is more important at MPs, where you need to select the right strain. At IMPs, you just have to make your contract, so the suit has to be 2 tricks better than NT to be right. That is most likely to happen when the opponents can run five tricks vs you, so unless you have Jx or worse in your doubleton suit, NT is often right. Cheers, Mike

You didn't indicate what the 2S bid meant. Is it spades and a minor? Or just spades? If it's spades and a minor, whether you bid 4S or 4C now depends on your agreements as to the difference between a direct 3S bid over 2S and a 3S bid after the 2NT relay. If 2NT followed by 3S shows an invite with decent spade support, then by all means try 4C. Partner will know the only cards worth anything are spade honors, diamond honors, and the two red Aces. If he has three cover cards, he'll continue. Anything less he probably will pass (you hope). If 2S just shows spades, however, it's a different story. Partner then likely has a hand like 2452 with lots of useless secondary honors in hearts and clubs. Better just to settle for 4S. Cheers, Mike

I don't care for the 1NT bid on Round 1 at all. It's a decided underbid, and underbidding at your first turn very often leaves you badly placed later on. It's generally better to be slightly aggressive on your first call then to make a slight underbid, because it's easier to slow down the auction later than it is to catch up. Either 2D or 2NT on Round 1 is a better call; they leave you much better placed later on in the auction. At this point, it's highly likely that partner has 1-2 diamonds. He has at least 5H, at least 4C, and very likely 2S (if LHO had 3-card support, he might have raised; if RHO had a decent hand with a six-bagger, he might have bid 2S at some point). Sure, he could be specifically 1534, but the odds are very much against it. Having decided this hand wasn't worth a 2D or 2NT bid on Round 1, you shouldn't try to catch up now. Just pass and take your plus score. If your side doesn't have a game, you'll probably get a good result.

A raise of the fourth suit generally shows 4 cards in that suit (4441 or 5440). After all, responder could actually have 4-5 of the fourth suit. It's also forcing to game in any system. But it is definitely not artificial. Otherwise, you lose the 4S. For example: 1D 1S 2C 2H ?? You have to have a 3H bid available in case partner is 54 or 55 in the majors. 4S 1RF v GF used to be a debate, and about 50% of 2/1 players played each way. But that debate has pretty much been settled, and almost everyone plys 4S as GF nowadays. To your second question, however, if you play a strong club, then 4SF one round works very nicely, because opener is limited, so you don't have the slam investigation issues. Opening NT range doesn't matter so much. Cheers, mike Cheers, mike

There are problems with either approach. The trouble with forcing only one round is that the 4S bid has to do too much work. It shows hands anywhere from an invite to a slam force, from a big fit to no fit. The biggest issue comes in investigating slam. Opener ends up having to jump to game on a lot of hands with 16-17, where you could have a slam if responder has a good hand, too. But now there is no good way to investigate. For example: 1D 1H 2C 2S (one round force) 4H 3H wouldn't be forcing, so opener has to bid 4H. Now what happens when opener has 17 and responder has 15 and slam is icy. Responder can't move, because opener could have a bad 14 or so, so 5H isn't safe. Opener can't do more than bid 4H, b/c responder could have 11. If you say "Oh, but that's a reverse by responder, so it's a GF" then how about this one: 1H 1S 2C 2D (4S 1RF) ?? Opener has: x AKxxx AQx QJxx 2NT isn't forcing, so you have to bid 3NT, which shows 14-21. That may be the right spot most of the time, but then what is responder to do with: Axxxx xx Kx AKTx 6C is a fine spot here. But how in the world can responder bid over 3NT? Opener didn't have to have that strong a hand, and 9 tricks could be the limit (as it is, you only make 10 in NT; take out the Qd and opener still has a GF but you're down to 9). It's a whole lot easier if the bidding can go: 1H 1S 2C 2D (4S GF) 3NT (15-17 unbalanced) Now 3NT is 15-17 with shortness. With 12-14 or 18+ you bid 2NT (and then you bid on over 3NT with 18+). With the balanced hand, you'd have opened 1NT. And with 2524, you make the default 2H rebid (which does not guarantee 6 here). So responder knows opener should be exactly 1534 with 15-17. It's pretty easy for responder to bid 4C, and now you hit your slam. There are a whole lot of auction like this. Cheers, mike