LBengtsson

X for ♠ lead. I know also :) 3NT may make but if partner leads any suit other than ♠ it will probably give a tempo to declarer. How do we know partner has nothing? East/West could be push bidding 3NT vulnerable game with 23 count. I will X anyone other than Meckwell. Would even X Meckwell if I felt my Dala horse was winking at me lol!

Simply NO. 3 aces, 2 out of 4 honours in trump suit, and all the '10' cards have no compensation for the balanced 5332 shape. when exploring game with a trial bid, that suit should either be A) a side suit where with partners help tricks can be established, or B) a possible weakness such as Kxx where partner can cover with an honour in his hand. A trial bid of 3♦ does not meet criteria, so I pass 2♠ bid except perhaps that bid is constructive and shows 8-11 instead of weaker hand with a direct raise. If partner is 8-11 then I might make continue on, but how I am not really certain myself?

I am only making a guess here but did your 1NT hand have a poor 4 card ♥ suit and you missed a fit? 1NT after partner opens either 1♣ or 1♦ shows that you do not have a four card major. Even with ♥/♠5432 you should respond with either 1♥ or 1♠ as that is how bidding works. It may not the best bid to make but it is most accurate as partner now knows you have 4♥/4♠ or longer. It just as important to find 4/4 major suit fits at a low level as 5/3. Bidding them at the one level allow you to do that.

You bid 1Nt instead of 4 card major suit. partner knows this. his 2♥ shows shape of 5+♦ and at least 4♥ (could be 6♦5♥ hand) with about 17+ points and bid is forcing. you need to say whether you have some support for ♦ suit (3 or 4 card) by bidding either 3♦/4♦ depending on strength, or whether your hand is 3♠3♥2♦5♣ by bidding 2NT, maybe 3Nt if you hand is maximum. you could use control of 2♠ bid , or maybe 3♣ after 2♥ looking for 3nt contract depending on your methods. some may play 3♣ as suit here depending on agreements with 3♠3♥1♦6♣ hand but I prefer control.

if 3NT is slam try, and 4♣ shows control, 4♦ followed by 4♠ (if north bids 4♥) would indicate that trump suit is not great. I think you have said enough already. If after cue of 4♥ by north you are interested in slam zone, surely you would bid 4NT Rkcb? 3nt says extra values, 4♠ later says trump suit may be problem, I guess. open to interpretation, I am not familiar with your methods so just my take.

how are you going to get to slam??? I can not see any sensible auction that gets there except if north super accepts on the transfer, which is not possible on this hand. without that most pairings will play in 4♥. period.

I will try to set up 2♣ tricks and hope ♠ suit is blocked, if west has ♠suit ♠AKJxxxx we are finished when east gets in with ♣A. precise sequence of tricks I do not know now but I will go with winning ♥ in dummy, ♣J, etc. if ♠ suit blocked then I hope to lose just 1♠1♦2♣ or 2♠2♣ if west is 7222 0r 7123 shape. some partial elimination will have to be made but I have flexible entries in ♥ suit so will probably win first trick in dummy with ♥Q throwing ♥J from hand, then lead ♣J and see what happens... I might go down -4 but I also might make contract lol!

I think this is acceptable natural bidding [hv=d=w&v=0&b=8&a=p1c1hp1n(8-10)p3hp4hppp]133|100[/hv] East hand is strong (3 aces and six card suit) so can make invite with 3♥. west accepts invite. after passing on first round west should show hand type and point range opposed to poor 5 card ♠ suit. if east has 5/6♥ + 4♠ then he can make a bid of 2♠ here imo so ♠ fit does not get lost. if east had a better hand with ♥ + ♠ suit here then east would not have made overcall of 1♥ but would have made a takeout X. both east as overcaller, and west as passed responder have described their hands correctly with these bids. I think it is right to have 1NT by west here as either 8-10 (9-11) balanced. but easier to judge having seen both hands, though east hand is more like 15-16 count because of aces and ♥ suit quality.

its all or nothing on the ♣ suit for 4 tricks as I see it. you can play from dummy and finesse ♣10 on first round, or you can lead to ♣Q and finesse ♣10 on second round. much smaller percentage to pin the ♣J or ♣9 on some distributions. I would take second option and lead to ♣Q and then finesse ♣10 on way back.

I have thought this out several times. I have no idea what is going on - with the bidding or the play? with a doubleton honour it is usual to play honour card instead of small. declarer has what??? ♠KJxxxx ♥Qxxx ♦-- ♣xxx so I am going to play small and put declarer on a guess? I am guessing myself lol!

little or no chance of ruff with doubleton ♠, also partner is under strong no trump bidder so ♠ lead may give tempo. safe lead ♦K. set up a trick or tricks quickly.

longest strong suit so if using 4th lead ♥4. partner could have ♥A or J, or 10xx and dummy has Jxx and declarer Axx and makes wrong guess. trying to find partners suit by leading anything else is guessing...

as other forum posts have said, the 2♦ overcall is light. you have confidence the ♠K is a good card as 1♠ is opened on your right, so you overcall 2♦ thinking you have fair value. but your overcall suit is not good, just five cards and your shape is 2254, let me put this another way. if you had ♠x ♥kxx ♦aqxxx ♣qxxx would you feel good doubling a 1♠ opening on your right? that is borderline also and gives three places (suits) to play but the hand is also sub-minimum so you should be disciplined and pass. with the hand given ♠kx ♥xx ♦aqxxx ♣qxxx you should be equally disciplined and pass here.

it is 6502 with good ♠ support. just bid 4♣ splinter. 65 hands are very distributional strong. in support of ♠ this hand is 18/19+ count. tell partner the good news by a splinter

the most important thing in bridge about opening is do you have a good rebid if partner responds? the answer is 'no' so do not open as other players have said.

that is such a good hand to post, nige1. although I say if west has stiff ♠ and ♦AQxxx with ♥KQ(J) as assumed from lead, then only vulnerability and shape 1354 (?) may prevent west from bidding.

my advice. never come in over a preempt with a poor hand. 7330 is good shape with ♦AK but without one ♦ honor this hand is also a preempt. vulnerability right to make a bid but I would not. pass

Its best to learn judgement than complicated system. Against many ordinary (Acol) players, I guess, a complicated system frightens them into submission. It is like a oppressor. Precision is a complicated system but is near natural. If you are using artificial bids and relay system that is near expert level bridge so you should only be playing against expert players imo.

I was having a senior moment :( you are right, of course

its a strange hand. e/w can make 3nt as cards are. with best defense n/s go down -2 in possible 2♠ contract. but all human north would open 1♠ imo. what happen after that is anyone to guess?

2♥ reply sound like weak opening bid with 11-14 points and 3 or 4 trump support. 3♥ at least tells partner you have 4 card trump support with stronger hand. so 3♥ for me at red. if you only bid 2♥ partner will never go to game with a reasonable hand such as ♠xxx ♥Kxxxx ♦Qxx ♣Ax

there is no right or wrong answer to this imo. players bidding like this in first position will usually hope to make the contract, or be just one trick from making it, hoping for some defense error. I agree with nige1 opener could have 0-0-8-5 with something like ♦akjxxxxx ♣Akjxx. I do not think opener will have a pre-empt here but a genuine strong hand. it depend if you are a poker player or not also. 6♠ or X if you are. I am not so 'Pass'. 'Pass' will not land you with big penalty. most partners and/or teammates do not like players who turn up with a bad penalty score. a bad penalty is worst than bidding only game when slam is on imo. it is probably wrong to 'pass'. it is probably impossible to pass without hesitation lol! so, it look like I will bid 6♠ also. if big penalty I will buy drinks for my teammates for rest of the tournament :)

I think 3♠ is waste of space bid with superfit of 11 cards. probably prefer 2♦ relay with precision. though i agree its not an easy hand to bid to slam

it's a difficult hand to bid. [hv=pc=n&s=sahkq8dq732cakj32&n=s96ha9532dk94c654&d=n&v=e&b=9&a=pp1cp1hp]266|200[/hv] I do not like reverse of 2♦ with very poor suit. I think some players play 2NT here as not just 18-19 balanced but 18-19 unbalanced also. But if you do not have this bid available then I think sequence would be 1♣ - 1♥ - 2♦ - 2♥ - 3♠ - 4♥ or 1♣ - 1♥ - 2♦ - 3♣ - 3♥ (forcing), etc.

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