HeartA

There are two cases I could get 3 tricks. Case 1, East holds singleton K or Q, or KQ doubleton in either hand. In this case I cash Ace and then play small from hand toward dummy. Case 2, West holds singleton 10 or 10x doubleton. In this case, I play small toward dummy first, and cover whatever card West plays, and finesse back (if West plays small, I play small from dummy and play Jack back). There are 3 distributions in each case. But to play small first is slightly better, in case you change your mind because whatever reason (hcp calculation, for example) and decide to drop East with KQ doubleton.

Nice line.

7NT, never! Where is the entry to South's hand?

I will bid game on all of the four hands. With #4, I might bid 3H (slam try). If pd bid 4S, I would try 5C. If pd bid 3S, I bid 4.

Pass.

Unless partner has a passed hand, 2/1 or sayc or whatever natural system, 2S is forcing (pd will not pass 2S). However, I will bid 3C. If pd rebid 3D/H, I would bid 3S. If pd bid 3S, I will bid 4D (cue-bid). I re-read the post again. pd did have a passed hand. And I assume 2C is not (rev)Drury. In this case, I assume pd has at least 5+ clubs. I would bid 4D.

It losses to KJ doubleton as well.

That is the only case you might loss. but there is a chance RHO hopped with King. Or you decided to play Queen for some reason.

To make 4 tricks, you cash Ace first, which guards against singleton King (and J) and KJ doubleton off-side. Then from hand to dummy, covering whatever LHO plays.

I bid 3D.

I would bid 3C. This reminds me of a hand I played yesterday. Both Vul, my LHO as dealer, opened 1H-pass-pass-3S by me. My LHO bid 4H again. My pd, holding ♠52, ♥A92, ♦AQ53, ♣QJT8, passed all the way. 4♥ went down 2, while we had cold 5S. My hand was ♠KQJ9863, ♥-, ♦T874, ♣K5. Who took the blame?

I don't understand, Ben. How do I loss in those cases? When Q appears, I cover with Ace, then cash Jack to confirm. When it is 3-2, I don't loss. If RHO shows out, I make the marked finesse.

Uh .... no it isn't. Correct play is low to the jack, then the ace. Cashing the K first (the correct maneuver for 4 tricks when the hands are Kxxx, AJ9x) still loses a trick to T87x on the right. low to the J will save you if RHO has the stiff Q. Stephen is right. That is what I was going to say. But busy in doing fred's question, still missed one :(

Fred, I added another line before seeing your comments.

Cash Ace first of course. It becomes simple if one of the honors (K, J or 9) drops under Ace. If 3-3, it does not matter how you play. So let's assume none of the honors appear and the remaining cards are 1-3 distributed (if 0-4, you can do nothing). If all three honors in one hand, you will lose 3 more. Now it becomes clear to play Q at the next round, because it losses only to stiff King while wins against stiff J or 9. Actually, to play small wins against stiff K or J, and losses against stiff 9. So to play Q or small are equally good.

Great idea. But I don't have a pd here yet. :D

1D for me.

With 4=4=3=2, (12-14 or 18-19 since my 1N range is 15-17) I might open anything: 1C/1H/1S, if the suit has more than half of the hcp. With scattered hcp, I open 1D.

13 hcp, flat hand, pd is silent after your lho's overcall, I don't have any other choice but "pass", unless your minimum opening strength is 0 hcp. Totally agree with Fred.

I would dbl for take-out.

Dbl for penalty. 2D as invitional take-out. 2S as g/f take-out. 1NT as natural: good 8 to bad 11, good stoppers in opps' suits. As for the hand given by jillybean, I tend to bid 2H.

OK, with 5th ♣ to South, the bidding was different (I was assuming South with 3=5=1=4): S W N E 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♠ - 3♣ - 4♦ - 4N - 5♦ - 6♣

I am curious, if there are hands where jacoby 2NT is ok on a three card suit, what kind of hand is it. I mean this one is 18 hcp, 7 controls, ruffing values, two honors in support of partners suit. What more or what less do you think you need for jacoby 2NT with three card support. It is simply the four card spade suit (Iif spades and clubs were reversed would that be ok for jacoby 2NT? IF the majors were reversed and partner opened 1S, would that do? Ben Ben, You said all for me.

Ditto.

holding #4, I wouldn't bid 4S. pd could have a "dbl and bid" hand. I would bid 4S only when I have a solid (usually one loser only) 7+ cards, not interested in other suit. As cardsharp pointed out, there is another bid (2♥), forcing to game. But it does not apply here since you have only 7-9 hcp.