AL78

I go along with other replies and bid 2♣. If partner has a heart, he will bid them now, so no need to lie about a five card suit. If partner doesnt bid hearts, I invite game with 3♠. Why did your partner say you should respond 2♥? Did he have a 6♠-4♥ shape and jump to 3♠ which put you in an inferior spade game? If so, then that is one of the awkward bidding decisions with a 6-4 opening hand, whether to rebid the 6 card suit or show the second suit. Sometimes you will do one when the other would have worked out best.

I have some sympathy with the double, it is not obvious East isn't taking liberties and it is a double fit deal (East's semi-solid diamond suit is self supporting with the 3-3 break, so there is effectively a double fit EW) where the offensive-defensive ratio is high. It is not obvious what is best to do, you have 4♥ on your way despite both hands having eight losers, because the hands fit perfectly, and you have a solid double fit to draw trumps and throw a loser on the last club. I may well have done the same thing.

I don't give 3 points for a singleton, I have always used 1,2,3 for doubleton, singleton, void. I wouldn't call it eight losers either, QTxxx is almost three losers. At best the west hand is eight and a half losers, if the DT had been the jack, I would class it as invitational and respond 2NT. The problem I had at the table is this is right between invitational and pre-emptive, one is an underbid and the other is an overbid. It is unfortunate that we both took the conservative route at the table which together led to missing the game. If playing mixed raises, does a jump in a new suit below the three level show a hand with near invitational values and a side suit with a feature?

[hv=pc=n&s=saj7542h3dkt94cq8&w=skhaq86daj73cakt2&n=sqt983h752d652c95&e=s6hkjt94dq8cj7643&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=2h2s4h4spp5hppp]399|300[/hv] 2♥ showed 5-5 or better in hearts and a minor, weak. I have realised now that I was half asleep on this hand, and forgot partner held a minor as well as hearts. If I'd had been awake, I would have punted slam, which makes on a very fortunate layout. In the event, after opps bid to 4♠, I had to decide whether to go for a penalty or bid 5♥. After a bit of thought, I decided that getting +800 out of this was against the odds, but 5♥ was very likely to be there, so bid it. It turns out that +800 is there, it requires accurate defence. I have to underlead my heart honors to partner's king, then she has to switch to a diamond. We take one heart, two diamonds, a diamond ruff, and two clubs. Whether we would find that defence is another matter. Put club Qxx in one hand instead, and we only get +500, with 5♥ still cold.

I seem to be on that list as well, or at least my partner and I combined. April Me average HCP 11.94, partner 8.94 May Me average HCP 10.33, partner 9.33 Me average HCP 8.67, partner 9.5 Me average HCP 8.72, partner 9.11 So far in June: Me average HCP 11.28, partner 7.61 Me average HCP 7.89, partner 10.44. This one was particularly bad, I declared once in 18 boards, together we defended 12 times. So far, one or both of us is dealt worse than average hands, often much worse. That is why we have defended over 60% of the hands. When one of us has the ability to get into the bidding, the other is eerily silent. I think all but one we were EW.

MPs, vuln against not, 5 card majors. [hv=pc=n&w=sj432hadqt743c975&e=skqt87hk42dkcakt2&d=n&v=e&b=9&a=p1sd3sppp]266|200[/hv] Partner easily made 10 tricks which was worth 11%, 11 tricks are there as the clubs are 3-3, so she can throw one loser and ruff them good, only losing two aces. I have started reading through Partnership Bidding at Bridge, The Contested Auction, and I picked up on something I haven't previously thought too much about. In competition, there are hands you want to pre-emptively raise, hands you want to constructively raise, and hands with a reasonable side suit you want to get across to partner, to allow him/her to judge more easily what to do if the opponents raise the bidding. It also says that some hands do not fit neatly into one category, and sometimes there is some overlap. My hand is one of the latter, it is too weak for a constructive invitational raise, but it is a bit too good for a pre-emptive raise. I chose the pre-emptive raise and it went wrong. I am not sure my diamond suit is good enough for a fit jump (if we were playing that), so my only other option would be 2NT which partner won't need to think hard about raising to 4♠.

The idea of bidding two suiters on weak hands is partner can hopefully ram the bidding high with a good fit, which will sometimes make it difficult for the opponents to judge whether to double or bid on. I've normally played Michaels as split strength, either weak, or strong. The advantage of this is that the bid is either constructive or destructive, doing it on intermediate hands as well it makes it harder to judge what to do if partner can have the full range of hand strength and you are often nearly at the three level, there is not enough room for the Michaels bidder to narrow their strength down. One of my current partners wants to play it as any strength, so I do with her. It matters little in reality because it comes up very infrequently.

Thank you for that link. I have downloaded the book, and will read it at my leisure. My partner has agreed to look into support doubles.

This comes down to guessing what is going to happen at the other tables, something I admit I am not very good at. There are times I have thought the opponents are taking liberties and tried to punish them with a penalty double, only to see the contract cold and a bottom instead of an average if I had kept quiet.

I felt I had some defensive potential, my partner had freely made a two level overcall (although I confess I couldn't work out at the time what hand could overcall both opponents in the bidding at the two level but couldn't open 1 or 2♠). The stench of phantom sacrifice was wafting around the table, and I don't like being suckered. I almost was as it happens, but declarer misplayed the contract to go down.

It wasn't intended as forcing. I'm not familiar with playing Lebensohl in a competitive auction situation, I am only familiar with it after interference over a 1NT opening, after partner has doubled over a weak two opening, and in response to a reverse. If I bid 2NT in a competitive situation she would take it as natural (invitational values and stops in the opps suit), although now you mention it I can see the merit of giving up on a natural 2NT bid in competitive auctions, as it is almost never needed, and it would be better to go for a penalty if 2NT is making our way.

I didn't intend it as forcing, I intended it as competing the part score, but I'd rather play in clubs than spades. I thought she would get the message when I bid 4C but she didn't. I knew we had a club fit because as the auction had gone, it is impossible for partner to have only two. It is my understanding that to force in a competitive auction, you either double, bid a new suit, or cue bid the opps suit.

That doesn't make sense if that is really what partner was thinking. South has a horrible aces and spaces eight loser flat hand, which is not suitable to accept an invite. I will investigate support doubles, and I believe doubles in coumpetition can be used in other situations to distinguish between game invitational and competing the part score (e.e. 1♥ (1♠) 2♥ (2♠) X vs 1♥ (1♠) 2♥ (2♠) 3♥.

If West raises to 3H I would probably bid 4C, on the basis it is likely to be a 30 point pack. We still end up in the wrong place when partner corrects to 4S. The problem is it is difficult for me to bid in a way that tells partner I want to compete the part score, rather than I want to force to game, and I only have four spades. Something is not quite right somewhere if I can't bid the optimal contract in competition and play there. If West raises to 3D I double as before, but would pass 3S, because 4S will be too high more often than not, and my DK might be useless. I accept I should trust partner to respond in a major with a good 6+ so should have passed 2S.

Here are another couple from the same evening as the previous two hands, and were the only two really poor scores. Matchpoints, 5 card majors, 1♣ could be as short as two. [hv=pc=n&s=s976hat72da6ca752&w=sqt2h964dqt92ck93&n=sak54hdj543cqjt64&e=sj83hkqj853dk87c8&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=1cp1s2hpp3cp3sp4cp4sppp]399|300[/hv] Not my finest hour, I went one down for a 12% board, turns out I should have left it in 3♠. A few people found a NT contract which may be easier for those playing a weak NT. I knew partner only had three spades at the point she showed delayed support, so attempted to correct to the club contract with a certain 8+ card fit, unfortunately partner didn't read what I was doing. 3♠ and 4♣ both make but we managed to hang ourselves by our own rope. We again got too high on the next one, but this was down to me: [hv=pc=n&s=sjt76hq76dt8c9743&w=s42h854dkj75c8652&n=sk853hakj2da6cqjt&e=saq9ht93dq9432cak&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=p1c1dp2ddp2sp3sppp]399|300[/hv] I got punished with another AQ over the KJ and another pair holding AK and a doubleton getting a ruff to go two off. This was a board of high variance, people in diamond, heart, spade and NT contracts with varying degrees of success. Unfortunately I made one less trick that the other three in a spade contract, if I can get out for one off, it would have been a bit better. I made the mistake of not ducking the opening diamond lead, there is a chance that West would not give East a club ruff (East started with AK), but then again, West might find the club return anyway if I let their king hold. The others in a spade contract didn't get perfect defence.

I can shrug off being stuffed up, and these boards are far from the worst examples, and if I feel I did the best I could on a board, it isn't so bad. We did well in the end, coming second with 59%, my partner was very happy even though she picked up awful hands. It is odd, but since my bridge club has moved to BBO, my partner and I seem to get better results. At the physical bridge club, we frequently got sub 50% results, and were mostly below 55%. On BBO, we are up in the high 50's. I'm guessing that several pairs who often carve us up haven't registered on BBO, so the field is a bit easier or a bit less random, or there are more inexperienced pairs in the online field who throw gifts at us. Sometimes it is hard to tell what it unlucky and what is down to a mistake/error of judgement (or even a combination of both), hence why I post hands on here.

I did consider doubling, but felt it was a rather icky 10 count, and with a minimum like that, I'd prefer to have some shape.

Matchpoints.

Another very strange session where for a change, partner and I were NS, right when the cards went EW. 17 out of 18 hands the opponents were in the bidding, and I thought it harsh that three times we ended up in a contract the AQ were sat over the KJ. I had much better hands than normal, my partner was dealt garbage (average HCP 7.61). Here are a couple of hands where we had a couple of aggressive opponents: We were playing a 5 card major system, strong NT. [hv=pc=n&s=skt75h94dq7cajt42&w=sj8432h6d8654ckq3&n=saq6hkjt853dk9c97&e=s9haq72dajt32c865&d=w&v=e&b=16&a=p1h2dd3d3hp4hppp]399|300[/hv] I did the best I could but fell short by one. A better than average result, but a shame we couldn't stop in 3♥ like six other people managed. I felt at the time my 3♥ was on the aggressive side, but we had just gone through a load of hands where we were either outcompeted in the auction, or it was the opponents hand, and I was getting sick of it. [hv=pc=n&s=sak976hj2d62cq876&w=sqhak8543dat53c53&n=sj432ht7dkj9caj94&e=st85hq96dq874ckt2&d=e&v=0&b=14&a=pp1hp1n2s4hppp]399|300[/hv] We got an avg+ from this by getting it down when it should have made (cards lie favourably for EW in minors), and fortunately others in 4♥ made it, but a shame in one sense we were shut out of our making 3♠. I don't know what you think about the leap to 4♥, I wouldn't have done it myself, but what do I know?

I play Benji, not as frequently as I used too but I tend to play it with a pickup partner, as that is probably the most common systems an average club player will play in the UK. I have occasionally played three weak twos which leaves 2♣ as the only strong forcing opening bid. With that, I tended to open at the one level many hands I could open a Benji 2♣ and hope I get the chance next time to game force if partner responds (e.g. 1H - 1S/NT, 3m or 1H - 1S - 4H). The point of Benji two's as compared to basic Acol is that it is wasteful to have five strong opening bids for hands that come up once in a blue moon, so concentrating them into three bids and playing weak two's in the majors increases opening frequency and makes life a bit more difficult for opponents if it is their hand. These days, with two regular partners, I play a 5 card major system with all openings from 2♣ to 4♦ as unusual: 2♣: Standard Acol game force or 23+ HCP bal or weak two in diamonds. 2♦ response enquiry. 2♦: Weak 2♥/♠ or strong two in ♣/♦ or 21-22 HCP bal. 2♥ response enquiry. 2♥: Weak 5♥-5 minor or strong two in ♥ or 19-20 HCP bal. 2♠ response enquiry. 2♠: Weak 5♠-5 minor or strong two in ♠. 2NT response enquiry. 2NT: weak, 7 card club or diamond suit. 3♣: Weak 5-5 shape both minors. 3♦: Weak, 7 card heart or spade suit. 3♥: Weak, 5-5 shape both majors. 3♠: Solid minor, no void, no outside A or K. 3NT: Weak, long clubs or diamonds, a playing trick better than 2NT. 4♣: ♥AKQxxxx(...) or one loser suit with outside ace. 4♦ response slam interest. 4♦: ♠AKQxxxx(...) or one loser suit with outside ace. 4♥ response slam interest. 4♥/♠: weak(ish), long suit, worse than 4♣/♦.

I don't like making a Benji 2C bid on such an extreme two suiter. I'd rather try and give myself room to bid out my shape.

This was the full deal: [hv=pc=n&s=skqj743h42dqt8c74&w=sa2hj863dk743c965&n=shakqt9daj5cakqt8&e=st9865h75d962cj32]399|300[/hv] NS do have a club or heart slam on thanks to a favourable layout. Most of the field were in a NT contract. Eight in 3NT making 10, 11 or 12 tricks, 5NT=, 6NT=, 6NT+1 twice, and 6NT-1 twice. Two were in 4♠, one going off (my novice friend who must have misplayed it), and 5♠-3. Nobody in hearts or clubs. Interestingly, the two pairs who made 13 tricks in 6NT both got a spade lead. Even after that start, there is a bit of work to do to make all the rest, I'd be interested to see how the play went at those tables.

I would have raised to 4♠ as North with six card support. 6♣ looks like a wild punt which just happens to work because West has a stonking hand for the double.

NS were vulnerable.

[hv=pc=n&s=skqj743h42dqt8c74&n=shakqt9daj5cakqt8]133|200[/hv] East passes as dealer and South opens a weak 2♠. How do you think the bidding should proceed? How about if North is dealer?