phoenixmj

I recently came across some good players who declared that they played journalist leads against NT. I have never heard of this so I looked it up. Curious to get opinions of these types of leads. I have read that 3/5 works better against trump contracts and 4th best works better against NT contracts. Any and all help appreciated.

Got to love the word fatuous:) We used to do 1/2 round controls for cue bids and we were advised to switch to 1st round only. Recently we have had hands where 1/2 round controls would be better. I take it you advocate for 1/2 round controls only. Thanks again.

Hi -- if I don't bid 5C what would I bid? From my perspective, I am not thinking slam even if partner has an opening game force hand. Also, I have no 1st round controls until I get to 5C. Thanks in advance.

[hv=pc=n&s=sat875hadakqjck82&w=sq9ht976542d943c9&n=sk2hkjd765caqt743&e=sj643hq83dt82cj65&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1cp1sp1np2dp3cp3dp3np4cp5cp6cppp]399|300[/hv] We encountered this hand yesterday in a f2f game. Let me explain the beginning part of the auction. I opened the bidding 1C. My partner then bid 1S. Our system is that if the opener does not have shortness and has 12-14 hcp, (defined as a singleton or void) then we bid 1N, even with a semi balanced hand. Not sure if this hand is too unbalanced for that treatment, but the alternative would be 2C which is not any better. This way partner knows that you have at least 2 of their suit. My partner then bid 2D, which is xyz and an artificial game force. I obviously still know nothing about diamonds at this point. I bid 3C indicating real clubs and likely 5 decent clubs. My partner then bid 3D, which I took as natural. Knowing that the lead would be coming to me, and still not knowing about support in clubs, but now knowing that diamonds were covered, I bid 3N. Now the questions we had -- Partner bid 4C, which I took to be some support in clubs, a run from NT due to a distributional type hand (he in fact did have 1 singleton) - and I felt that we were strong enough so I bid 5C. My partner having such a strong hand, and likely influenced by his singleton AH, bid 6 clubs. We got a mediocre result because 7N makes, as does 7C. In fact, we made 7C. My partner was "hoping" that I would respond to his 4C bid using Q-Gerber. I told him I thought that was not on even though the last bid was NT because I had bid clubs 2 times during the auction. Even if it were, I would have responded 4D indicating little interest in slam. At that point, he would have bid 4H saying tell me anyway, and my response then would have been 4S (we play 1430 Q gerber). Not sure that this would have changed the bid to NT vs clubs anyway - again given his singleton heart. Given the bidding sequence to get to the 3N bid, is there any way for partner to ask about key cards, or given that partner has all but one anyway, is it better to just go to 6 and hope that is good enough. Curious as to how the bidding should have gone so that we at least get to 6N instead of clubs, and of course it would be great to get to 7C or 7N. Thanks in advance.

Curious - what do you think of this logic? I am past 3N, and now I am committed to clubs. It is pretty clear that 3N will make more than 3, and 5C will make with the question being will 6 make. Should I say - 5c is likely a loser whether I make it or not. I am past 3N. I should just go to 6c with a 50/50 chance that the ace of hearts is onside? Else I am likely getting a very bad score anyway. Thanks in advance.

I do agree that 2N would have been a better bid. After reading the Larry Cohen article on this issue, he says that 2N could either be a minimum hand or an 18-19 point hand, so it really does not give much info to partner on strength. Neither did my bid. I agree that it is better if I am the declarer because of the K doubleton of hearts. As it turned out, according to double dummy - 6NT does not make. So, we either have to play 3N or play 6clubs. And if we are in clubs, partner is always the declarer leaving me with the heart lead issue. I rebid the diamonds to see if partner might have clubs and diamonds, and I am not worried about a pass since we are in a forcing auction. If I were bidding it today, I would have bid 2N - then depending on what partner did - we might wind up at 3N or possibly 4N. Still having a problem getting to 6C. I appreciate the analysis. I looked at the hand again this morning to see if I could determine from the bidding that partner had the Q of hearts based on points, and I still cannot get there. Any help is appreciated.

Does 2NT show 18-19 points while in a 2/1 auction? What do you bid if you have a balanced hand and 14 points, both unbid suits stopped and no other good rebid? For us, it does not show 18-19 points. It just shows stoppers. We are already in a game force. Also, the 4c invite to slam does not tell me about the Q of hearts - which turned out to be the key card. Else, they can take 2 hearts off the top. We have the same problem with Q-minorwood I think - the 2 potential heart losers somehow I need assurance that hearts are covered.

Thank you. Curious - what high end methods would work - I can look them up.

Hi - since we are inside a 2/1, we treat 2NT as showing stoppers in unbid suits. Says nothing about strength. We have to discuss what 3NT would mean. I don't think we have ever bid that. I guess I thought that I needed to show that I had real diamonds - but I like the idea of showing stoppers. That is probably the best avenue since we don't want to wind up in a minor unless we are in slam. Edited - I just read the Larry Cohen article on jumping to 3N. He basically says that with 18-19 I should still use 2NT, and that he never recommends jumping to 3N. But, if I bid 2N, I am guessing my partner will say 3N - leaving me with the decision to "accept playing 3N' or pursue the possible club slam. I guess I would pass 3N - which would have been a better score.

[hv=pc=n&s=st987hj642d643c73&w=sak2hk7dajt85ca98&n=sj53hat93dk972c62&e=sq64hq85dqckqjt54]399|300[/hv] The bidding started out with west opening 1D, north passes, east starts a 2/1 with 2c, south passes, west bids 2d, pass, then east bids 3c. We used to play Q-minorwood but due to not playing bridge for a long time, we have not reviewed this so it is not on our card. I sense a possible slam, so I said 4NT, and partner responded 5C (1 or 4). Now, I desperately want to bid 6 clubs, but the lead is coming from east and I have a K doubleton of hearts. I am concerned about losing 2 hearts, and I am not sure if partners one card is the king of clubs or the ace of hearts. We played 5c making 6 - and this is an especially bad score because we could have played no trump if bidding below slam. Is there any way I can find out about the critical card which is the QH? Our cue bids are 1st round control, so it would have take a lot for me to show the KH so partner could make a decision based on his queen. Very few people in the field made it to slam - but it is not the strongest field. Most people played 3 NT. Thanks in advance.

In face to face bridge, the partner of the bidder makes the alert. The alert is per the partnership agreement. If the bidder has made a mistake and not followed the partnership agreement, and we wind up being declarer, does the bidder need to announce the mistake and if so, is it before the opening lead? Case in point. Our partnership agreement includes Drury. Yesterday, my partner was a passed hand and I bid 1 heart. Then my partner bid 2 clubs and I alerted the bid as a 3 card limit raise. Opponents bid one time and we proceeded to play 3 hearts. When my partner's hand came down, he had 2 hearts and 10 points. The 2 hearts were the A and the ten. In reality, I would want him to support my suit with the A, 10 doubleton because those are two very valuable cards. He also had 5 clubs. I suspect he was bidding clubs without thinking about Drury, but I surely did not know that until his hand came down. Did he have an obligation to disclose that he did not have 3 hearts or is all OK since I have no knowledge that the opponents do not have. Another example - last week we were playing and I opened 2 NT. We play modified puppet where the answer to 3c is 3H if you have no 4 or 5 card major, and 3NT is you have 5 hearts. I had 5 hearts. But, in a mental lapse I said 3H, when he alerted and said and when asked, said that it was no 4 or 5 card major. He proceeded to bid 3NT. Now, in this case, I had information that he might have hearts, and after the bidding was over but before the lead, I acknowledged that I had made an error. But it was unclear to me exactly how much I had to disclose since he did explain our exact partnership agreement correctly. Turns out, he had 4 hearts and we had a great fit. Also turns out, 3NT played quite well and we did fine - in fact those extra 10 points got us a score in the top half for that board. So, I want to be ethical and not sure what is the right answer when you simply make an error but you partner explains your bid according to the agreement. Thanks in advance.

[hv=pc=n&s=skt5htdak982caqj9&w=sq92hkq72d74ct654&n=sa743ha93d653ck72&e=sj86hj8654dqjtc83&d=s&v=n&b=15&a=1d]399|300[/hv] I had this hand today and not sure how the bidding should have gone. I was south and I opened 1D. West passed and my partner said one spade. east passed. We do not play spiral, and I only had 3 spades. When I opened with 17 points, I did not have the correct shape to reverse. I do not have enough points to do a jump shift. Per partnership agreement, a 2NT bid would promise 18-19 points and a balanced or semi balanced hand - and I have a singleton heart. I wound up bidding 2 clubs and held my breath hoping my partner would not pass. My bid was not forcing in our system. Fortunately, my partner bid. My partner bid 2 diamonds (not sure if he should have bid 2N instead) and I decided to jump to 3 spades showing a strong hand and some support in spades. We wound up in 4 spades which was a good board. How should the bidding have gone? Thanks in advance.

You can set your settings to require an OK for your bid. In other words, you have to verify your bid - so 2 clicks instead of one. If it is a mechanical error - then you can catch it before the bid is in. Without this button, I used to bid inadvertently just by waving my mouse over the bid and lingering while thinking about what to bid.

[hv=pc=n&w=sq9ha984d3caq6532&d=e&v=0&b=14&a=1dp]133|200[/hv] When we learned 2/1 we were told that with this hand, if opener opens 1D we should be 2c because bidding 1H distorts the hand. Now I am told that the correct bid is 1H to show your 4 card major and I gather this is a matter of style. Curious as to how many people play either style. Thanks in advance.

[hv=pc=n&s=saq8h9dkt85ckq765&n=s54hak3dq43ca9832]133|200[/hv] Assume that east is on lead and leads a diamond against a 3NT contract and neither east nor west has bid. What is the best way to play the diamonds? specifically, do you play the 8 or the 10. OK - sorry about not adding more specifics. A low diamond was led and as you point out, we have 9 certain tricks given the diamond lead. It was matchpoints. As for the bidding - neither east nor west bid so not sure that there were any clues there. It is really intended as a general question as to how to play this combination. In the actual bidding, the hand was played by south and the lead came from west - but I was left curious as to how the play would have gone from the other side and curious as to the best chance playing the diamonds. thanks