AL78

6♦ is makable double dummy if West plays it (by ruffing out clubs I'm guessing). If East opens a strong NT and West does a minor suit transfer, with West super-accepting, is there a way to get there (not saying you should). What would 3M by East mean now?

Yes, I've shown a good 15-bad 18 HCP, North can put South with at least 6 HCP, trick one shows they are not in spades, and trick five shows they are not in diamonds either. There must be an ace in South's hand because I have shown up with 13 HCP, I can only hold one of the two unseen aces. I guess North just lost concentration, maybe he thought the ace of hearts had gone when he bared his king.

Somewhat inspired by Pilowsky's adventures with robots, I thought I'd post this ridiculous hand from a club competition yesterday evening (against humans). Partner and I were playing a weak NT. [hv=pc=n&s=sjt9764hjt72dca64&w=saq3ha9da64ck9875&n=s82hk64dt752cqj32&e=sk5hq853dkqj983ct&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1cp1d2s2np3nppp&p=s8sks4s3ctc4ckc2sas2s5s6sqh6h3s7dad2d3c6d6d5dks9dqstd4d7djsjc5dtd9h2c7c3d8h7c8h4h5hthahkh9cjhqhjh8cac9]399|300[/hv] I don't get why North bared his king and South threw two hearts when they are not squeezed. North just needs to hang on to ♥Kx and a club, they hold me to 11 tricks.

If you are going to play (1C) - 3C as natural and weak, why would you not also play (1C) - 2C a natural two level overcall? It doesn't make sense to me to treat one bid in the opponent's suit as natural and another as artificial, and I'm not sure holding a suitable Michaels hand is significantly more likely than a good holding in opener's minor worth an overcall.

I'm almost tempted to offer.

Small diamond to the nine. If East play the ten or jack, cover with the queen. West has to open up the clubs, lead into the diamond tenace or give a ruff and discard. That generates a ninth trick, I'm struggling to see the 10th trick at the moment, there looks to be at least a couple of endplay possibilities. I'm sure there is something I've missed, I struggle with mentally constructing all possible layouts and finding a line that works in all of them. I'm looking at a line which involves throwing a club on the second round of hearts, then ace, ruff, back to hand with a trump, ruff last club, diamond to the nine or queen if East covers. I haven't got time to check it out properly at the moment.

You may think the bidding nuts, but at my club that sort of bidding happens frequently, and unfortunately I lack sufficient skill and/or judgement to regularly punish them for it, or bid on to whatever our best contract is (or the cards lie very favourably). What slightly concerns me is people who bid like this will learn that it works frequently against me, so will keep taking liberties. I like to put the hand up on here to check whether I could have judged better.

The hand looks too good to me to open 4♠ in 1st seat. There are hands partner could have that are barely opening strength where slam is a good shot.

That sounds like a two places to play bid.

What do you think West should bid if they are going to bid anything? If I were sitting West I would pass, the hand doesn't look good enough for 2♦, unless you play a system where direct bids after an overcall are weak and reasonable/strong hands go through a double first.

I'm surprised, I thought everyone would say bid 5♠. It crossed my mind and I decided to pass, for the reasons Douglas43 posted. Here is the full layout: [hv=pc=n&s=sj43h64d94cakt932&w=s52hqt9dqjt853cj4&n=s6hak752da7cq8765&e=sakqt987hj83dk62c]399|300[/hv] 5♣ made +1 for a 27% board for us. Eight out of 14 Easts were in 3, 4 or 5♠ making or going no more than two off, sometimes doubled (four players bid to 5♠). The only pair to do worse than us was the one who defended 5♣X+1, -950. Four pairs in spades managed to make 10 tricks.

[hv=pc=n&e=sakqt987hj83dk62c&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=1s2cp5c]133|200[/hv] Do you bid 5♠ or pass?

Thanks very much.

I didn't realise it was possible to see the play of the hand at other tables. How is this done?

I use them as an initial guide to what the theoretical maximum number of tricks in any contract is, compare to what I did, then try to see how that number of tricks can be made. If it means having to take unlikely plays like dropping stiff king or doubleton queen offside in a seven card fit, or it requires guessing a layout correctly with insufficient information, I'm not going to beat myself up for not finding it. It is better to look at what the other players sitting your way did on a board. If the majority made more tricks than you, that is more likely to suggest you made a mistake, even then you can get bottoms through no fault of your own because you have no influence over your opponents at duplicate.

The problem is the slow player, and it is often because they are trundlebunnies. I know this because at my club it is always the same people, both online and at the physical club, the ones that have been playing for decades and should know better, but have never been called out so it is now hardwired and they will never change no matter what you say or do. The other reason is if the players are inexperienced* and need more time to think, which is also a factor at my club, and the director gives them some slack and will add a couple of minutes to the round if needed. That is also why we have one evening with 8 minutes a board and 18 boards in total. *I know the people at my club well enough to know if they are inexperienced or dawdlers.

A 12th trick will be made if South tries to cash the diamond ace or South leads a club at trick two and declarer guesses correctly on the second round of the suit. Without that help, declarer is held to 11 tricks. The likely reason you got 91% is because most defenders gave declarer the 12th trick by one of these methods.

I wouldn't pre-emptively raise partner's overcall with four card support on a 4333 shape at red. That is being too aggressive IMO, and is asking for -200.

East probably has a void, singleton or maybe a doubleton and a weak hand, and is bidding to the level of the trump fit. Standard strategy in competitive auctions. Why would that be a psyche? 12 tricks are only possible if you can pick up the hearts for no losers and the clubs break nicely (i.e. a favourable layout, which you seem to get often going by the last of your threads I looked at). Win lead in hand, heart to the jack, if it holds, cash ace,everyone follows, ♣J everyone follows, heart to king, trumps now drawn, run clubs throwing spade losers, knock out ♦A, claim.

I was hoping partner could have had the diamond ten to some number.

This is, I think, an example of one of the primary reasons I lose at bridge, sitting there with two or more options, where at least one of them will be a losing one, and I take the loser. [hv=pc=n&e=sq7hj93daj83cq963&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=p1cp1sp2sp4np5hp6sppp]133|200[/hv] I am on lead with this collection with no obvious good lead visible. I started with the ♦A, got the ♦4 from partner which I took as discouraging, declarer following with the ♦7. What do I do now? I don't want to lead a spade and pick the suit up for declarer. I don't want to lead a heart because it looks like a frozen suit. A club doesn't look very productive either, will I be leading round to the jack? I eventually went along the principle that if I've opened a suit and nothing great happened, don't start opening other suits, so I led another diamond. Unfortunately this was the only lead to let the slam through. Declarer held KQT7 so I set up two discards for him to throw the two losing hearts. [hv=pc=n&s=sa984hq76d92cakt8&w=s52hkt5d654cj7542&n=skjt63ha842dkqt7c&e=sq7hj93daj83cq963]399|300[/hv] I really need to stop doing things like this. There were a couple of other times I took a wrong view, and I'd estimate together they cost us nearly 10%.

Number 1: If I were declaring, I'd win the lead and play ♥K and duck, hoping for a 3-3 break, if the suit does break, that gets me to 12 tricks. If the suit doesn't break, I'd cash ♠AK and all the diamonds ending in the North hand, and pay attention to the defender's discards. If the master heart or the ♠Q hasn't appeared, cash the clubs from the top and hope the lowly 2 is promoted. On the actual layout I wouldn't have to go for the squeeze. Number 2 is similar. Take the heart finesse, if it works duck a heart. Get back in, cash the ace, if they are 3-3 claim. If not, it looks like there are squeeze chances on the run of the clubs. With the hearts 3-3 and the king onside again, no need to go for a squeeze. Number 3: If you are going to treat that as balanced, 2NT is sufficient showing 23-24 HCP. Otherwise, why not bid your five card heart suit? In the event you have three of the opponent's honor cards sitting perfectly so any finesse you take for the 12th trick will work. This is just like people who punt slams against me and make on a hook or when I find an unfortunate lead.

Sorry you are right, I was looking at the deal where he stated he upgraded his 14 count (AAKQJ) which was the previous link. If you are playing a strong NT I don't understand what is wrong with opening 1♥. NS might get to play in 2♥ or East might venture a TOX, and EW play in 2♠ or try for +200 by defending 2♥X. It will likely go down with the unfavourable lie of the cards.

He had 14 HCP, but this all reminds me of one or two notorious pairs at my bridge club who are very difficult to defend against, because they bid so wildly, it is almost like playing against a pair that psyches every third bid (or playing against beginners who have only learned a fraction of the system and are guessing the rest). Occasionally it all goes in their favour and they come top.

Does Acol strictly mean a weak NT?