AL78

In contrast to missing a cold slam because I should have taken a better view and cuebid instead of trying to sign off, here is one we bid that wasn't there. [hv=pc=n&w=sat2hakq83dkca832&e=sqj7h2dq9765ckqj6&d=n&v=e&b=9&a=p1dp1hp2cp2s(FSF)p2np6nppp]266|200[/hv] I was East. The spade finesse works which gets me to 11 tricks but I couldn't find a 12th. If I hadn't received a heart lead I could have tried a red suit squeeze after the opps take their ♦A (which as it turns out wouldn't have worked anyway). 6♣ is there. How would you get to it, or would you get to it?

MPs, playing 5CM, strong NT [hv=pc=n&s=s754h86dt97ck6542&w=sak6hakt92dqcqt98&n=s982h54da8432cj73&e=sqjt3hqj73dkj65ca&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=p1hp2n(Jacoby)p3d(Diamond%20shortage)p4hp4n(RCKB)p5d(1%20key%20card)p5hppp]399|300[/hv] I was East. My thinking was when partner showed a diamond shortage, my KJ were likely waste paper, and any slam aspirations went out of the window so I signed off in game. Partner bid Blackwood and signed off in 5♥ when I showed one key card. This was a bottom as the other tables had bid the heart slam. She claimed I should have cue bid 4♣ so she knows which ace I have. I claim she could have cued 4♠ if she was still interested in slam and was interested in a specific ace, rather than going through Blackwood. Was my thinking flawed here?

Interesting you say 2NT is fine with a stop even on a minimum overcall. I thought you had to have something extra to bid NT, and a minimum overcall goes back to their suit.

This was with a different partner to the other posts I have made, but I see what you mean, I should change mentality towards doing my best, but not expecting to be competitive. This one is more open to discussion on bidding and system modification in general.

I bid 3NT and watched her go down. Going by the responses so far it is safe to assume that this one wasn't due to overbidding on my part, so when I next see her we will have a discussion about what constitutes a reasonable 2 level overcall. [hv=pc=n&s=saqj82hk643dq3cjt&w=sk3haj9dkt5cq8753&n=s97ht85dj98764ck4&e=st654hq72da2ca962&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1s2cp2sp2np3nppp]399|300[/hv] Only three imps out thankfully. Here are the auctions on the other three tables: [hv=d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1s2cppp]133|100[/hv] [hv=d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1s2cp3cppp]133|100[/hv] [hv=d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1sdp2c2h3cppp]133|100[/hv] They all made 10 tricks.

I agree, I didn't bid either of those alternatives I suggested. I decided it was worth a good raise and bid 2♠. The auction continues: [hv=d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1s2cp2sp2np]133|100[/hv] Now what?

Pass or 3♣.

IMP pairs NS vuln. [hv=pc=n&e=st654hq72da2ca964&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1s2cp]133|200[/hv] Your call?

Hard to say without analysing boards where they could have done better in defence and counting the number of times a trump lead would have worked better. I probably don't lead trumps enough, one time I will lead one is if opps have settled in opener's second suit and I hold honors in opener's first suit. The only way they are going to get their losers in that suit away is by ruffing them in dummy. Also if they have bid two suits and settled in a third, that could indicate a cross-ruff situation, leading trumps at every opportunity will cut down the ruffing tricks.

Partner can bid over 4♠ if they have a hand which justifies it e.g. some values and a long suit, but it would be rare for partner to hold such a hand. I remember a hand where I opened 1♦, LHO overcalled 4♠, and partner responded with 5♥. I held a strong hand, heart support, controls and plenty of trick taking potential so raised to 6♥. Partner had a few values with a decent long heart suit.

Unfortunately we don't play Kokish.

Thanks. I judged it as a borderline 2♣ opening but I don't like opening 2♣ with 5+-5+ shape. I wondered after whether my judgement was wrong, but it looks like there is some support for my decision. I'm not going to dwell on it, it is very rare I pick up these big two suiters.

Interesting, two strong and different opinions. I decided to open 1♥ thinking it would be easier to show both suits, even if partner can't dredge up a response, my extreme shape makes it likely the opps will bid something, and someone holds the spade suit. How wrong I was: [hv=pc=n&s=skjt8h92dk43cqj86&w=s942ht76djt87ck94&n=sa7653h53dq9652c5&e=sqhakqj84dacat732&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=1hppp]399|300[/hv] A novel and slightly embarassing way to miss a vulnerable game at IMPS. Opponents have nine spades and 16 HCP between them including four of the top five honors and can't find a bid. What are the odds?

♠Q ♥AKQJ84 ♦A ♣AT732 IMP pairs. You are playing 5CM, 2♣ is game forcing, you have no opening bid to show an Acol strong two hand. First to call, all vuln, what do you open?

I think bluenikki's idea is along the lines of what is suggested here: https://www.bridgewebs.com/porthcawl/DEFENCE%20TO%20WEAK%20TWOs.htm Scroll down to Suit Overcalls and responding, where it says play partner for 8-9 HCP and when responding, only take action if you have more than what partner is playing you for. Hence with 16+ HCP, either jump overcall or double followed by bidding your suit. I've always understood it as expecting partner on average to have half the remaining HCP, so giving opener around 8 HCP, play partner for (40-ME-OPENER)/2, and if ME+PARNER is in the game zone, make a strong bid. Sometimes this doesn't work. A couple of weeks ago I picked up a 17 count with five hearts, 5431 shape. RHO opened a weak two in spades in which I held a stiff king. I overcalled in hearts, LHO raised her partner to 3S, it came round to me, and I made the foolish decision to double, playing partner for 6-8 HCP and thinking we were being robbed or we might get out at the four level for one down undoubled. Partner passed and they made +1. LHO held a 14 count and partner was bust. If partner had bid we are getting wacked for several multiples of 100. If you are fixed, stay fixed.

It is a structure of showing different strength hands analogous to a rebid after an opening. Over a 2-level pre-empt: Simple overcall -> hand that would open 1X and rebid 2X. Jump overcall -> hand that would open 1X and rebid 3X. Game overcall -> Strong hand with a self supporting suit that just needs a few HCP for game, e.g. an strong Acol 8-9PT hand. X then bid -> A hand that would open 1M and rebid 4M over a 1 other M or Acol 1NT response, or the upper end of a 1M opening followed by 3M rebid. Seems a logical structure to me and is comparable to the bidding structure you would have in Acol, with the difference being you are starting your constructive bidding higher, so have to utilise the double to make up for lost space. The thing with jump bidding over a weak two is that it consumes a lot of bidding space on top of the opening consuming a lot of bidding space, and if it is your hand, you need as much bidding space as possible to work out where you are going. Thus I think a natural jump bid should be a hand defined down to a narrow strength range so partner, as often as possible, has a fair idea of what to do with his balanced 7-8 count. Normally in a bidding structure, jumping in a constructive auction shows a narrowly defined hand.

A jump overcall over a pre-empt to me shows a hand that is solidly good enough for an opening bid followed by a jump rebid if no raise, so about seven playing tricks. That hand doesn't qualify.

I discounted double as partner might have taken it as penalties, and I didn't want to defend 3♥X, and it is embarrasing to write -730 on your scorecard. I therefore opted for 4♠. The full deal: [hv=pc=n&s=saj9832ht8da75c65&w=s7hkjdqj643cat842&n=skqh753dt92ckqj93&e=st654haq9642dk8c7&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=pp2h2s3h4sppp]399|300[/hv] -300 for a bottom, although it can be played for two down (partner ruffed small on the third round of hearts allowing the spade seven to score a trick). I may be out of touch with modern bidding style, but I expected a better hand than this for a vulnerable two level overcall missing two top honors in the suit, which IMO should be constructive over a pre-empt. My partner seemed to think differently, claiming "it's just an overcall". I would like to know if my thinking/logic on these kind of hands is reasonable, because it appears this partner and I have different ideas on bidding, and I am starting to wonder if it is me that is too conservative, maybe even old-fashioned. I do enjoy her company at the table but we do seem to come a cropper every so often like this in the bidding, and it is one contribution to the sub 50% scores I keep getting.

I'll put this one down to playing a different system to the field then: [hv=pc=n&s=sj8652hj43dk75ca6&w=sq7h986dq8643ckqj&n=sakt3hakq75dtc873&e=s94ht2daj92ct9542&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=ppp1hp2hp3hp4hppp]399|300[/hv] I would have liked to make a trial bid instead of bidding 3♥, but since such a situation hasn't come up for years, I couldn't remember if we were playing long suit trial bids or suits with 2-3 losers trial bids, or even short suit trial bids, so made a completely unambiguous invitational bid. A bottom, the room is in 4♠+2, we can only make 11 tricks in hearts because I cannot get both club losers away on the side suit winners. The 4 card major bidders are always responding 1♠ so they land in 4♠.

The problem is I have little confidence in my judgement in competitive auctions, and this is an example of what happens when I take a more cautious view. It doesn't help when I get the "I would have overcalled with your hand" response opposite.

MPs, I was North: [hv=pc=n&s=sk6432ha75d973c93&w=st87hj82da64cakj5&n=saqj95hk4dt52cq72&e=shqt963dkqj8ct864&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=1np2dp2hppp]399|300[/hv] We (or rather I) failed to find the optimal defence and they made 11 tricks for a 50% score. When she found out I had a five card spade suit she claimed I should have overcalled. I didn't think it was good enough at the vulnerability the first time. I almost did it the second time but chickened out, since the opponents were still unlimited at that stage, and I was wary of going for -200, although we conceeded that anyway in a different way. Should I have been bolder?

♠KQ ♥753 ♦T92 ♣KQJ93 MPs, game all. [hv=d=w&v=b&b=4&a=pp2h2s3h]133|100[/hv] I decided this wasn't quite worth an opening bid, and it came round to me again working out what to do opposite this overcall. What would you do here?

♠J8652 ♥J43 ♦K75 ♣A6 MPs. After three passes partner opens 1♥ (5CM). Do you show support or show the spade suit first? If it influences your decision, the field is playing 4 card majors.

Having never come across this sequence before, I worked out that since 2♥ was forcing and strong, 3♥ is either a strong very distributional hand (e.g. 6-5) or a splinter agreeing spades. As I wasn't sure, I therefore decided to make what I thought was the least encouraging bid possible. The auction and the full deal is as follows: [hv=pc=n&s=sk654hjt75daj763c&w=sahakq3dk98cj8653&n=s872h86dq2cakqt97&e=sqjt93h942dt54c42&d=e&v=0&b=14&a=pp1cp1sp3hp3sp3nppp]399|300[/hv] Three down for a bottom. Now I have the hand deals available I realise I was dealer and LHO had passed, in which case maybe there is a stronger argument for passing. It is a horrible deal with nothing making but we got out worst. Partner said she was trying to show a strong hand, I pointed out she could have done this with 2♥, but it all came down to her not expecting me to have a 3 count, so I now know in future not to do this again. We do play weak jump shifts so she reasoned I couldn't have a weak hand with 6+ spades.

I decided to bid 1♠, partly on the basis that a former partner used to expect me to respond on such hands opposite a 1♣ opener. The auction proceeds: 1♣ - 1♠ 3♥ - ? In the absence of discussion, what do you think 3♥ means and what would you do now?