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My style is N can only x holding either 4 spades or strong enough for another bid to adjust. So here it would have to be 1H-p-p-1N-p-3N. On a good day your KQ S is instead AC, on another day we go -1 on a H lead, as here

If you are looking for the latest gadgets to heaven- good luck-and if you insist on opening 2NT with 5/4major from hell :)- click down over this… I’ll just offer something on your “long minor” question: After simple transfer e.g. 2N-3S(=C) now the 2NT bidder have quite a choice of next bid- simple transfer 4C (what that implies and what controls will you show) straight 5C (what do you need to move on now) 4N (RKCB I suggest, bypassing 5C) and e.g. 4H (breaking the transfer and cue bidding and denying 4D) PS or even 3N

It could well be that after Trams advice you have all you need! But in passing he says 3C is just a “sign off." And your question suggests you have formed the view that 3C/D is best just after your partners 1N, I just wonder if I could offer a bit more... To clarify this: “you hold a long minor suit with no points- do you bid 2C-2 {any}-3C, or do you just pass?" By the by Jennifer suggest you just try 3N based on a long half decent minor and solid entry too. But your question suggests its not so strong. And even if it is surely invitational is better than just a punt? But if Jennifer is with Cyber and Steve’s quite clear view that: "with zero points you go bidding to the 3 level?" Well thats helpful: I’d offer this: Certainly if the (“no points minor opposite a WNT") opponents just supinely pass throughout then yes, you’ll get a great score (they have game) But in a half decent field opponents will deal with a ("no points minor opposite a WNT”) perfectly easily. In practice you will just offer opponents a choice of either X or 3NT- two ways to get a rotten score without even knowing whether you could have explored 3N or not Anyway, I could be wrong: your call: Good hunting! :)

Just one thought: if the minor holder has no points you’d just pass, moreover your question implies that opponents are silent so the long minor holder have a few points... On that assumption the 1NT bidder could easily make 3NT based on six solid minor tricks, a trick on the lead and a couple of fast tricks outside: 3NT makes but with sub minimum 25/26 points. So the 2C-2 any- 3C might be treated a invitational and not just to play. The 1NT bidder is looking for at least one and better two top honours in the minor with three or four in the suit to go onto 3NT (In modern Acol 1NT-direct 3 any suit is strong and slam try, so you wouldn’t be able to use it as an invitational bid to 3NT; hence the “false Stayman” bid suggested)

Q You're given 13 cards and the auction below, and you're already running well behind. Do you bother to look at your hand? A Time Management. This can be a problem in any busy life! Write down a personal plan, decide what most is important, be realistic, avoid distractions and put a stop watch in your pocket Partnership breakdown. This is never easy. Reflect on how much you shared together and how much you would lose now. Fortunately your issue is completely private and the less said now the easier it will be in future. Lucky day: Tuesdays!

True, so even clearer not to bid 2S? :)

Here is a typical layout I generated: I've saved the layout but I'm not sure how to display it here. Its called this http://tinyurl.com/yck8td23 North: AJTxx,Axx,Kxx,xx West KQxx,KQx,Axxx,xx South 654,J8,6542,QJ93 East x,xxxxx,QJT,AKxx N/S are going for -2 for +300 (6 tricks) E/W can't make 3N but 3H is best: 3H tick (9 tricks) East gets the +300 in 2S* cf +140, or +90/120 in 1N

Can I offer three further points: A “Part score must be contested” Maurice Harrion-Gray” In 1951 Boris Schapiro wrote an article giving his opinion of the top players of the day. This was his assessment of Gray: "Brilliant dummy player, very good defender, inclined to overbid in competitive situations but always liable to 'slip a contract through'. Concentration poor; difficult to play against My view: If you want to model your bridge career on Gray and play bridge in the fast line don’t be surprised if you end up with too many broken bones B LOTT. Lets go back to basics here. A statistician look at the hands during a decent standard Congress and concluded that there was a fair correlation between total tricks part score hands from both sides of play. Hence Joe Amsbury’s book (we ate it when we was young) on total tricks. Our conclusion then was that it was just a useful guide, not quite as useful as Milton Work points but better than nothing for part score tussles. Now I understand Larry Cohen has taken the work further and polished it and offer the law. One output seems to be “8 fit- bid to 2 level etc” Now I honestly accept that I haven’t read his book and I might well be worse of for it. But the reason is that I doubt if there can ever be compelling law between our scoring system, players judgement and computer generated hands In my view you just have to think about everything at the table. A simple law is going to get your into trouble, sometimes C The example is great to bring this out! We are in a congress and Brian sits down and I know he will relies on LOTT. I’m in East and he bids 2S after the initial pass. Partner has 12-14 for the 1NT and I have 10 points. I know south is relying on an 8 fit. What do I know? We have quite a points advantage here. My partner has a useful S suit. That suit might be badly placed but North might long to reach dummy but can’t- dummy is too weak. Its match points. OK, I might catch the odd 2S doubles tick with a very useful side suit and or shape, but I’m going for the match points now and double. I find that quite an easy decision. I expect +300 for 90%

Pass Not the right time to use “the law" North and West have the points so either would struggle- playing away from their suits whilst defenders use their tempi to good effect If South bid 2S now then certainly East lost the option to play in 1N. But East now has two options because South is so weak: 2N or X The weaker Wests NT the more East has to beat North honours. So with a weak NT I’d expect East have the best of both worlds: the effective 2N they already had plus now the X, and going for -300 will lose all the match points

Having “correctly” passed can I raise a nasty awkward issue after seeing the whole hand (after yet again an excellent question from Tramtick): To open 2H South almost universally announces 6-9 points and a half decent suit in H. Moreover in first position vulnerable South should show top end of the range. I’m expecting South to open 8/9 points and a good suit Here 1 of South points is a Jack in Jx spade and I think it should be ignored. So effective South opened 2H vul in first position on KJTxxx. Thats only 4 sure tricks, potentially 4 off vulnerable. I think this is quite wrong and in my personal view a psyche North now has such a cracking hand! Surely slam should routinely be explored with a 2N bid? North didn’t do so: went straight to game and no more! Sadly I think North must have been well aware that South could open sub minimum and has fielded that. That is so bad! And how can E/W know? Poor East is asked to make a sensible bid after this. For my money GJepson made a very sensible 5D simply assuming 4H makes without any slam interest, and that bid will now be zapped I’d be curious what a Director would make of this?

Pass I presume South hasn’t got a spade suit as well as the 2H bid. And North has chosen not to Ogust 2NT so the direct 4H could have anywhere from a weakish pre empt to a very solid 4H game. There are 9 clubs out, so I could easily see N/S making 4H based on a H/C double fit So 4S is an obvious bid, hoping for a S/D double fit? The trouble is on the H lead and ruff I’m already down to Qxxx trumps opposite quite possibly Honour xx. Where is my play now? If I play on D one opponent often ruff painlessly and another H. If I try to pull a few trumps before turning to the D they have another tempo or two with H taps. I can see an extremely expensive lesson in 4S doubled, no thanks. :)

Yes, fair points, thank you :) Q4: I doubt if south knows for sure that north can have the trump Ace (for the “my singleton/her trump Ace” combination), so focusing on south and “my void/our Ace combination, (*) then the double now makes sense, but only provided south just doesn’t push declarer from the losing 6H into a making 6N Even Nostradamus in south can’t possibly be sure that 6N alone makes or not, so the LDD X (after 6H-P-P-X) must be something of a punt..declarer knows that south can’t know what she said she knows but south knows that west knows that...Epimenides (almost!) comes to mind! So its late Sunday afternoon and you are on top table, you've had a fair tussle and its the last hand, and its just gone ....6H-P-P-X-? Why should south potentially lose by taking a risky position? The more I think about the more Alice in Wonderland it sounds.... *(North cashes an Ace and then gives the ruff. Or South has the trump so waits for one ruff on the lead and then hopes for a second ruff. Or north gives the ruff with clear suit preference for the Ace entry for the second ruff) Best wishes David PS: I wouldn't X in the last example because partner will give me the spade ruff anyway and I can't guarantee another trick elsewhere....

Nice questions: In my experience LDD applies only where defenders hope to knock a contract, and not just to save an overtrick It shows a certain trick in one suit and the need to develop a trick in another, typically either by ruffing a void or uncovering a K So in my experience the prerequisite condition for a LDD is that declarer is missing an Ace. Before only declarer and one defender knew that, but after the LDD everyone around the table now “knows” that an Ace is out Applying those “principles” to your examples: Q1: a spade lead for partner to ruff and cash her Ace. Q2: yes, I double the 5S, and if I don’t and then double only after the 6H I expect partner to lead a useless Diamond, first suit bid by dummy and not rebid. Q3: as declarer I “see” a S ruff and cashing minor Ace. I assess South as best I can, but if the LDD is truthful and sane I move to NT. If I am wrong I make an excuse to leave early after paying for the first round of drinks My rule for playing in (the very rare) 5NT is to make an “impossible” bid, here xx is the only way and my angel partner will dutifully bid 5NT for me to pass Q4: there is plenty of space for North to hold 5 diamonds so I follow Q3 Q5: no

PPPS: Can you use (WNT full xfers and stayman) 1NT-2C(stayman)-2S-3C as North stressing H values and 1NT-2S(Xfer)-3C-3H(nat) as North stressing C values? South likes Kx H and the four clubs but hates North declaring in clubs using stayman, but much prefers protecting the red kings on lead....

Forgive me can I offer a little more:-(prompted by Cyber above) (PS: ….although holding KH improves 3N a lot!....ooops…) and, more importantly- PPS. In Acol WNT full Xfers maybe 1N (12-14 inc 5M)-2S (clubs- usually minor slam try, have 2 first and 1 second round controls and a decent suit)- 3C (transferred)-3D (first or second round control below RKCB)- 3H (ditto)-3N (deny S control at all- content if you subside in 3N)- 4C (I have the spade control and I like my clubs opposite your long clubs north)- 4H (I have first round control H now)- 4N (5 Ace RKCB)- 5C (3 “Aces”)- 6C look good now

My favourite system: what a lovely question! I’d never reach 6C After the 1S I’d reflect: E/W have ~ 14 points and quite possibly ~9 diamonds but not a peep from them at Match points- what’s going on? Anyway I’m north and I’m going to be the decider on that particular bridge conversation so I will seek information (rather than give information hoping south can make something of that) If I ask partner 4th suit 2D now either she will bid 2/3NT or she can’t, but to save time let’s just look at the 2N reply For 2N I need my partner to have 6 clubs, a diamond on the lead and my Ace hearts= tick. To make 3N partner needs a quick trick too- exactly the Ace spades and not the KQ because the diamond ceiling will otherwise hit our heads. For running 6 clubs I can only really rely on 3 opposite so I need 2-2 or missing Q in finesse, and to rely on AS is by no means a certainty. All in all a bit too much So at match points I think I’ll just retreat to 3C and hope that gives us a decent MPs return. It’ll be great if either of the black suit misbehave- a great MP in prospect (If she essays 3N I’m hoping she has more D stops, more tempi to deal with the black suits, and I’d hope for a half decent MP result for our efforts. If she can’t stop D at all then slightly better chances for 5C but I’d likely still need running Clubs- a solid 3C again looks best, certainly not a speculative 6)

Pass If I try 1NT it might well be passed out and I’ll likely pull a misfitting blizzard opposite. On a likely heart or club lead this ain’t going to be fun. If we are vulnerable I could easily see -200 when I could have picked up +100 for most of the Match points by quietly defending. (PS: Suppose partner balances in 4th, likely 2C, what now? Well I’m going to pass again and hope she can make 4 clubs + 2 diamonds + 1 heart + 1 spade for tick + 90 and hope that we get a token 35%. She might get +110 to beat the other +100 to scoop everything but I’m not sanguine)

Just on 5 card majors in 1NT: Advantages- Really important to win the part game tussle as if we get it wrong we can lose shoals of points at MPs and even lose half a dozen imps. So giving your partner a good picture of our hands straight away after your 1NT has got to be good. Even if we use 5 card majors, provided we use puppet so we can check the underlying security of the better 5-3 fit Disadvantages My 1NT broadcasts my points positionally to opponents and they could disrupt your puppet stayman particularly if we are and they are not. If they use Multi Landy then partner might feel less anxious at missing a major on my NT if they bid 2C but a bog standard P-P-1NT-2C alert Cappelletti can be troublesome

BBO is trialling quantum computers and like ksk2005 posting with 14 cards in South I relied on the unusual number of hearts for dummy! :) The point is North didn’t squeak over the 2C so looking for 5m tick looks very unlikely If Janis asked about norths bidding I missed it: sorry. And yes, I’d vote x on that My very quirky pass and not 2C? My point is what are you hoping to get after 2C? Likely west has H and can bid 3 or 4 and likely North will pass. You’ll have to make a decision now anyway. I’d have to rely on a now possibly pressured west’s bid now. And if it’s passed to North for a x or just a 1S bid Ive got a lot more to base on now...and I’d be surprised if it was passed out but even if it does....anyway only my little view.....x

Janis- thank your questions! 4N- no-prefer pass. Its not clear they can make game. And its asking too much for my passed partner to fill 3 of my 5 losers (on few points) for a game for us. You definitely don’t want to be down and then at the bottom of the field. Your aim is for a decent MP score anyway from good defence even if their make 4H 2C- no prefer pass. Majors beat minors. No pre-empts- don’t give the robbers the blueprint for your alarm. Highly likely West has hearts and it’s only a question of E/W finding their best level Menagerie factors? Well on this hand I’d defend as accurately as I can and let the standard of the other pairs speak for themselves.Decent East/West players will manage a barrage perfectly well and I’d end up just giving them more information and choice Janis I know your hand shows my partner holding 2 Aces. It’s an illusion. The second you bid 4N the Aces disappear and are left with only QJxxx spades, 5 small hearts and bust minors in dummy for your trouble

In my view first call is find the best game. The more balanced the suit controls across the whole hand the easier to make a 9 trick 3N. And even a featureless 3-3 fit often makes 3N as opponents have a 4-4 fit only Only once you are in the best secure game can you check which game you prefer. If you have the luxury of a solid game then consider 3N at MPs ………………………………………………………… Forgive me if you already know this: Quite why King David (KS) needed only 10 tricks to win the battle whilst Caesar (KD) needed 11 moreover for a smaller castle- well our ancestor card players have bequeathed it so... And quite why the lady on Vanderbilt’s ship suggested vulnerable...but here we are! At least being vul or N vul won’t make a difference in your questions. One final piece of magic- the imp table. It turns scores into a new number- imps. I’m told you can generate a new range from the previous range by multiplying the end point by root 2, (except when I check it doesn't actually work like that- maybe its a standard deviation model), but the main thing it gives quite an advantage at low end scores but at the top end your money hardly increases. So that said: If you are playing in a team of 8 or more- say in inter town matches we compare scores, imp the difference and at the end you VP the result If you are playing just as a pair you compare your score with other pairs and there are two different ways of assessing things now. One score system is to use the imp table: Pairs imps. Your score is compared with the average of the aggregate of all scores and imp that And one scoring system is Match points: 2 points for every other pair in the field, 1 to tie, usually shown as a percentage So the difference between 4M and 5m as compared to 3N in the three forms of scoring, in a field of 8 pairs: At teams 4M beats 3N/5m by 1 imp. Sadly only 1 imp is lost in the noise- the team result after Victory Points would be 10-10 (you share the pot of 20) At Pairs imps you also get a useful 1 imp in 4M compared with 3N and 5m, but only 1 imp At Pairs MPs in 4M you get 14 points (in my chosen field)- 100%. Everyone else in 3N or 5m only get 6 points- 43% If you can make exactly 10 tricks then of course it is a disaster in 5m (-100 cf +630, 12 imps out at imps and 0 points at MPs) but 3N+1 are now the real winner over 4M in the MP system Finally I’ve scanned all my previous 3NT on BBO to find one of my scores where only 5m would make (whilst 3NT would go down) to suggest some bidding. Sorry I can’t- its a rare bird to require 5m…I’d go to the books!

My previous was based on some old analysis (when I only got 0.1 imps in 6H imps on BBO) so I checked the imps (correct of course) then then fiddled with slightly different fields and MPs but i might have picked up the stick anyway… So here if a quick replacement please Your issue is under leading an Ace so I should exclude the grand slams and not such an extreme range So I’ve generated a more representative field and asked myself a better question on that (compare make and go down and not compare make with “average” score) The result is exactly the opposite I suggested earlier so I’ll show why and let you decide! (table missing- ask me if you are interested) So at imps if I bid slam over game I gain 15 imps, but lose 11 if I went down. Slightly "odds on" to try slam on this field (table missing- ask me if you are interested) So at MPs if I bid slam over game I gain 9 points, but lose 16 if I go down. Significantly against the odds to bid slam on this field So if I’m defending their slam holding an Ace I’d reflect that at imps they might be stretching a bit and err on a safe leads, but at MPs they’d be expecting to make it and we need something out of the ordinary to knock it Sorry! ☺

Re your "PS" question... At MPs they get proportionately a bigger advantage in a slam over game than they could have at imps. The killer one is if they are in 6N in an easy slam with most others in eg 6H at MPs I don't find assessing their actions based on relative rewards easy. If I’m faced with 3 doors, one safe and two lethal but one lethal get little reward and one door gets a big reward then I’ll stick with the safe door But you might conclude that at imps opponents look solid and I need to “do something” to knock it. But at MPs they might be stretching a bit so a more solid defence might be better

A bit confusing but matchpoints are pairs contrasting teams are imps, see eg https://www.paloaltobridge.com/education/lectureseries/Fall%202012/pairsvsteamsHO.pdf and I think the idea is at pairs some of the room won’t bid game so if you stretch too much and go down in game boy do you lose imps. But at teams its often worth it…incidentally there are super teachers on both sides of the pond and if you are in the UK all my chums rightly rave after taking lessons from AR the thing is always make sure your goldfinch feeders are clean and check on the type of scoring before analysing a bridge hand...

amendment thanks to Graham Jepson: Two points: Slam bidding at “Pairs?” And dogs who don’t bark Our score is compared with those of other pairs. If our score is bigger then we get more imps. And the ones with the most imps win the competition If you avoid bidding a slam at Pairs but everyone else bids and makes it, you will lose a shoal of imps. But if everyone else goes down (even if because of a really rotten split), you get all the imps! Trying to assess the standard of the other room, and then trying to play with or against the room is way beyond me! My call: bid a decent slam if you reasonably can and play it as well as you can The quiet dog? She hasn’t used 4th suit forcing so she has no ambitions- her hand must be limited. But she expects to make 4H (its Pairs- you don’t go down just for fun- it would lose a lot of imps) and she expects opposite few/any H and quite a minimal 1C/1S. So I’m expecting she has just one heart loser. I hold Qx so I’m not expecting to be Hbroken. Like you Pete a couple of bullets could easily fill a very nice slam With ordinary B/W you just ask “how many aces” Answer “Two” Oh dear, I have only 1- so we lose an Ace and a potential H loser- pass the 5H With my 5 Ace RKCB I ask “including the K trumps as an Ace, how many “Aces” have you and can you tell me about the Q trumps” Answer “Two “Aces” but missing the Q trumps:- 5H” I’ve got the Q trumps so no surprise there, and I’m assigning K trumps as one “Ace", so two Aces are missing. 5H it is If you bid and make 6H I hope you don’t have to drive back with that (now devastated losing) pair trying to make light chat….