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The opening bid did NOT deny 4 spades if the hand was too good for a 2D opener. So 3S can show either 3 or 4 spades. An example of a hand with 4 pieces that would bid 3S is something like: AKxx AKxxx Qx xx So 3S here can show 3 or 4 pieces. Yet another reason I hate Flannery. Cheers, mike

If 1S shows 5, then I agree with others that 3S is about right here. You aren't quite good enough to insist on game. In addition to the modifications to LTC that Stephen discussed, remember that LTC is geared toward nine-card 5/4 trump fits. With eight-fits (or even with 6-3), it doesn't work as well. If you had enough to force game (let's say the Qd were the Ad), you would need to choose among (1) 4s (not good, that should be balanced or semi-balanced), (2) 3D and then support spades or (3) 4C (I think this should show four pieces, not three). My choice would be (2) -- yes, that suggests four diamonds, but we can't have everything, now can we? Cheers, Mike

Hi Russell. I admire your desire to improve your game. David Bird (you know, the Abbot guy) wrote two books entitled "Bridge Endplays for Everyone" and "Bridge Squeezes for Everyone." Both are quite good. If you are a beginner to intermediate player, I would learn basic endplays and what are called "simple" squeezes and stop there for the time being. I wouldn't spend any time on complicated stuff like strip squeezes (also known as squeeze endplays), criss-cross squeezes, or the like, because they are too difficult for the beginning player and only come up very rarely. You'll improve your game more by learning solid declarer play and defense.

A single raise of a minor over a double doesn't show much, but it ought to show something beyond four pieces. You have absolutely no offense at all. No useful high cards (C honors may or may not be useful); no particularly useful shape; your D support is lousy. A raise ought to be slightly better than this. If your 4 HCP were the Ad, so that you had Axxx of D and out, I could stand a D raise. Beyond that, a 2D bid has absolutely no preemptive value at all. The bidding isn't going to die at 2D. If advancer passes and your partner has a minimum, then doubler is going to X again or else bid a suit. All the 2D bid does is provide advancer a convenient way to distinguish bad hands (he will pass) and 6-9+ hands with a major (he will bid 2M). Here, advancer will bid 2S. Doubler can now bid 3D to force game, and then it will go 3S - 4S. If you pass the X, advancer will bid 1S. Doubler now has a major, major headache. He is no longer good enough to cue bid, as advancer could be broke. It will actually be much more difficult for the opponents, oddly enough.

I probably pass with your hand and then come in with diamonds at the three level or lower if I get the chance. That would seem to describe your hand. I don't like the immediate raise to 2D because (i) your hand is ridiculously bad, so you will cringe if your partner bids more than 3D or makes a penalty X later on and (ii) you don't want your partner leading diamonds unless he had a natural diamond lead anyway. Yes, North overbid; he should X again the second time round. Yes, South underbid; he should bid 2S over 2D immediately; having failed to do that, he should bid 4S over 3D. Hey, sometimes you get fixed. That's the game.

Partner had a lot of options to choose from. X should be cards, not penalty on this bidding, as it's evident the opponents have 11 or so diamonds. 5NT is probably "pick a slam," although if you don't pick spades, partner can go back to spades to convey the idea. And then there is always 6D. Instead, partner bid 6S, which sounds a lot like "I think you can make it if you have a halfway decent 4S bid." Since you need Ks, Kh, and AKc to make 7 a good gamble (yes, ATc might work, but then again, it might not), I would just pass, take my +1430/1460, and move on to the next one.

There are some hands that are extremely awkward to have to bid. These are in that group. With the first hand, I would make the dreaded three-card raise (I never raise on three unless there is no alternative), although I could tolerate 1NT NV (vul, there is just too much danger of being set a lot of tricks). With the second hand, I think the three-card raise is pretty clear. Cheers, Mike

Paid

I play all of the daily robot tourneys almost every day. Distributions seem pretty true to me. Half my finesses win. It does seem, however, that lobbing finesses win more than 50%, pushing finesses win 50%, and xx opposite AQ win less than 50%. Probably just my imagination.

I might suggest you give up the multi, since your partner evidently doesn't know how to use it. Passing over 2D is very bad; bidding 5C over 4H is simply insane. Cheers, Mike

I think mikeh had it right. X is awkward with this sort of hand. What can partner do after X, and how will you like it? 1. Pass - this rates to be very bad for us. We only really have 2 tricks on defense, so even if we beat it, it won't make up for the likely game we have. 2. 3D - Not likely partner will bid 3D, but if he does, you can bid 3S relatively comfortably. Your hand wasn't really strong enough to X and then bid, but if partner bids 3D, that improves things quite a bit. 3. 3H - Now we have to bid 3S, and this is a slight overbid. 4. 3S - Easy - raise to 4 5. 3NT - Again, we have to bid 4S, and this now becomes enough of an overbid that we might end up in a bad slam 6. 4H - This is a likely bid, and now you are stuck. You can pass, only to find that partner has 4H, the suit breaks badly, and you go set. Or you can bid 4S, only to end up in 6S -1. I think the practical call here is 4S. It should have good chances opposite most hands partner will have. Happy Turkey Day, Mike

On your two hands without a bid, on (1) you can pass. Partner won't let the bidding die with 9+ unless he has a pile of clubs, and in that case, you may well be better off defending 2C then playing a very thin NT game with no source of tricks. Bidding 2D is actually more likely to slow down the bidding than passing. Partner will pass 2D with a misfitting 9 or 10, and now you are not likely to be in a good spot at all. On (2), I don't think bidding 3C is much of a stretch. What else can you do?

Depends on (i) system and (ii) how aggressive partner is with his 1NT openers. Some 1NT engines allow you to show a hand like this by bidding 2C and then 2S over 2D or 2H to show an invite-strength hand with 5 spades and 5 of a minor. It's actually not a bad treatment. All you lose is the ability to show the 5S 4H invite hand (you just play it in game). If I have that available, then my auction looks like this: 1NT 2C 2H 2S(1) 3NT(2) (1) invite strength; 5/5 S/m (2) 16 decent HCP; fit in minor; stops in the other minor; shown 4H and have K NINE EIGHT x in H. 3NT ought to be halfway decent. If I don't have that available, then it depends how aggressive my partner is with his 1NT bids. If he's like me (I upgrade good 14s to 15 NV, and always upgrade good 17s to 18), then maybe transfer and bid 2NT. If he's more by the book, then probably: 1NT 2H(t) 2S 3D 3H(1) 4D (2) 5D (1) 2 spades; 4+ diamonds (2) Our H and C holdings don't look so good for NT

3H is absolutely standard to show a D fit.

Smerriman is quite right.

A few more observations: 1. There's generally little point asking bidding questions regarding an auction where one player made a ridiculous call that no one else in their right mind would make. Given the actual auction, it doesn't matter what South does, West is going to bid 6H, and then if N/S bid 6S, probably 7C (uh oh). 2. You should have methods over a X of a weak 2 bid. Simple McCabe is halfway decent (then 3C shows spade support and asks for a club lead), but some form of Transfer McCabe is much better. There are two widely played methods of Transfer McCabe. The first one is the better known. Over 2S (hearts is similar) X: With a penalty-oriented hand, you pass first, then XXX is a transfer to C and shows either a long club suit OR spade support wanting a club lead 2NT is Ogust or feature or whatever you play -- invite or better 3C is like XX only for D 3D is like XX only for H 3H is a spade raise asking for a spade lead (has A or Ks) 3S is a spade raise without the A or Ks (but no other great lead) There is also a variant generally credited to Jeff Meckstroth, which is also known as "suit lead": XX generally indicates a good hand with a void in partner's major (so that partner can leave it with a good six-bagger and run with a five-card opener or a bad six-carder) 2NT is a long club suit OR spade support wanting a club lead 3C is like 2NT but for D 3H is a game try in spades 3S is a simple raise Either one of these is a big improvement over standard methods. 3. I would encourage you to scrap your agreement that you never open 2S with a four-card H suit. Every expert in the world is going to open 2S with something like: KQJTxx Jxxx xx x Passing this hand is just silly. Now if you have: KJ9xxx KQxx xx x then yes, I would pass. Cheers, Mike

Uh, I think you probably have the E-W hands backward, no? Surely East didn't X on his 4 HCP. If the E-W hands are reversed, then I have a few comments: 1. E shouldn't X. A much better bid is 4C "Leaping Michaels." This shows a very good hand with 5-5 or better in clubs and hearts. Now at least your side will know to bid 5H over 4S, and maybe even 6H over 5S. 2. If E does X, then South has a wide choice of possible bids. 4S is sort of the obvious one. If you bid 4S, do NOT bid 5S later on. 5S is good, too, as you probably want to bid over 5H, so do it right away and put E-W to the guess. Another possibility is whatever bid shows spade support and asks for a club lead. For me, that's 2NT. The lead doesn't matter much here, but it could. I think I would probably bid 5S. 3. You cannot be sure that the opponents have 10 hearts (partner would open 2S with six good spades and four bad hearts), but it's likely. Cheers, Mike

Not exactly. Playing clubs first wins on that layout but loses on a lot of others. For example, let's say West has this hand: Qxxx K9x KTx xxx If you play four rounds of clubs, E-W pitch hearts. Now you lead a diamond up. East wins his A and returns a spade to West's Q and dummy's A. Now what? You can't lead a diamond from the board, or else the opponents will get three diamonds and two spades. You can't lead a H to the Ace, or else the opponents will get two diamonds, a heart, and two spades. You are dead. On the other hand, if you lead a diamond up at trick 2, the contract is gin. If the opponents continue spades, they get 2 s and 2 d. If the opponents switch to hearts, they get 2 h and 2 d. You get 9 before they can get a fifth. Quite honestly, I think a hand like the one I posited is a lot more likely than the actual hand, because with the actual hand, it is very possible that West would have led H rather than dummy's spade suit (sort of a restricted choice variant). Cheers, Mike

If East has K9x of hearts, then the lead of the 9h will likely beat you when East wins his D honor. If you win the Ace, then West can win the second diamond, lead a low H to East's King, and then have Q8 back of your T7 when East leads his small heart. If you duck the heart, then West can likely beat you by shifting back to spades.

I don't see anything wrong with the bidding at all. I might have started 1C and rebid 1NT, but you'll wind up in 3NT all day. No, I would not open a 15-17 NT on this hand. That is awful is several respects. Yes, you want to be in game here. 25 combined HCP at IMPs -- game every time. Always -- always -- bid close games at IMPs. And yes, I'd bid game in MPs, too, because every other pair (at least where I play) would do so and I have no reason to believe game won't be at least 50% until I see the dummy. As for the play, win the spade K and lead a diamond up. Your best shot is diamonds 3-2 with West holding at least one honor. Since West led what looks to be a fourth-best spade, you would lose 2 diamonds and at most 2 spades. You don't want to cash the clubs first, because then you lose your communications. Cheers, Mike

I think the OP indicated that the 1NT call was 12-14. In that case, if you play X by your partner as 14+ or so, then I'm not sure an 8-loser hand with five playing tricks justifies bidding game, even with most of your hooks rating to be on. I think I might settle for 3S (which I think has to be an invite, not a preempt). I suppose with spades, you could pass and come in later, but what's the point? You aren't going to buy this for 2S. After a 15-17 NT and a X, then I think 4S looks pretty normal.

You were unlucky. Everyone will be in four hearts, so you have to play for the most expected tricks. Three rounds from the top wins if LHO has Jx or Jxx. The hook wins if LHO has x or xx. The former is more likely, so play trump from the top. As a previous poster indicated, at IMPs, you should take the second round hook as a safety play, because then you still make if LHO has a small stiff in hearts. You make one fewer trick if LHO has Jxx or Jx, but it doesn't matter, since you still make ten tricks. Cheers, Mike

I should also add that it depends on your system, too. You can be more free-wheeling with weak 2s if you play a big club, because then your 1H openers can be a bit weaker (you are capped).

The modern trend is definitely for all advances of an overcall of a one-level bid to NF, except for a cue-bid.

A lot of folks nowadays would open that one 1H.