AL78

♠AT ♥KJ632 ♦A94 ♣K93 MPs Green against red. Partner is dealer and opens 3♣, RHO passes. What do you do?

What would 2NT and 3NT by opener have shown on the second round?

Well done on finding the good slam. I don't have many agreements with my partners so would bid 3♦ as a slam try, which would likely result in us playing in 3NT.

Despite the occasional silly nonsense that passes as bridge at my local club, I still like to try and treat each hand as a logic puzzle and attempt (with mixed success) to work out the best action based on the available information. This is where the gameplay lies for me. These days I primarily play because I enjoy the company of my partners, without that there would be little incentive to keep playing. On another table this hand got passed out. The EW pair who decided not to open on either hand were the eventual winners. Given I have no interest in online bridge, my only options are persevere at this club or find another hobby. Since the pandemic the better players have stayed online which means the F2F standard has dropped off a cliff, and there is little chance of that changing anytime soon.

Although I have arrived at this thread late and have seen the hand, my inclination before seeing the hand was to bid 4♠, not necessarily because it might make but because it might be better than letting them play in a club partscore, and at my club, players tend to be super-aggreessive and will bid 4♣ at the slightest excuse (and make it). Turns out I would have massively fluked it on this layout but that doesn't mean it was the right bid and I can see the reasoning for a more disciplined 3♠. Presumably if defending a club contract, you lead the spade ace, partner signals for a diamond switch with the 2, then you underlead the ace and take three diamond tricks, followed by the heart king eventually.

My thinking was that declarer has a big minor two suited hand and there was a risk that major suit losers will get discarded on clubs. Assuming declarer is short in hearts they might not be able to get any of dummy's heart losers away without drawing trumps as partner is very short in clubs and probably has one or two diamonds so will ruff any immediate attempt to discard losers, therefore no rush to take our heart trick. There might be a need to start off active in the spade suit since if declarer has the ace and partner holds the queen, we need to knock out the ace before declarer knocks out my diamond ace so any spade tricks our way can be established before they can go on the clubs. If partner holds the spade ace then that will be fine as well. I therefore decided to lead the spade king and immediately gift wrapped the contract to declarer as this was the full deal: [hv=pc=n&s=sjt832haqt7dtcq52&w=saq64hj853dqj965c&n=sk7hk942da83ct763&e=s95h6dk742cakj984&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=ppp1c2c(Michaels)2d4h5dppp]399|300[/hv]

To answer your questions it is a mixed field, overall the standard is poor. As for the Michaels bid, it is the first time it has come up with this partner so all I can deduce is that she holds the majors. Assume it is futile trying to predict the field, it is often all over the place especially in these competitive auctions.

[hv=pc=n&n=sk7hk942da83ct763&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=ppp1c2c(Michaels)2d4h5dppp]133|200[/hv] MPs, your lead?

If you have misbid, your partner's explanation is unauthorised information to you during the auction and play so you must carry on bidding as though partner has interpreted your bid as you do. If you have bid correctly and partner has given a misexplanation you should inform the opponents at the earliest legal moment, which is at the end of the hand if you are defending or at the end of the auction and prior to the opening lead if one of you is declaring.

Blasting slam with two keycards missing (although South holds two, not one keycard) and three diamond losers looks to me like a bad idea. South cannot hold four keycards. Did North interpret South's 4♦ as a control rather than one keycard?

You can in some sports at least. Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven TDF titles after he was found to have been doping. It is not unreasonable to take titles off sports participants if they have later been found to have cheated.

If the major is good enough that I am not embarassed to rebid it, I open 1♥ in favour of 1NT. The suit here is good enough IMO, and with aces and kings and two suits holding no honors, it says suit oriented hand to me.

What would 2NT have meant on your second turn?

I held as North: ♠93 ♥2 ♦QJ653 ♣QT863 Partner was dealer and passed. After West opened 1♥ I decided not to bid an unusual 2NT even though we were green against red, as I felt it was most unlikely we would buy the hand and it would just present a map of the layout to declarer. I guess others thought differently.

First board of the first round of the evening: [hv=pc=n&s=sak943ht943d2ckj3&w=sjt7h2dqt97ca9876&n=sq86hkj75daj84ct2&e=s52haq86dk653cq54&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=pp1s2n(unusual)3s4dppdppp]399|300[/hv] We were playing 5CM strong NT. I wanted to bid 3♦ at my second turn to show a good hand with spade support but it is likely that would confuse partner, and in the past she has interpreted 3♠ in analogous auctions as invitational. When 4♦ came round to me I took partner for a minimum opener and decided opponents have gone too far so hit it. We can get it three off but I or we didn't find the perfect defence but +300 was a top as everyone else is playing in a major partscore or going off in game. They got their revenge with interest on the next two boards: Board 2: [hv=pc=n&s=sht7542dkq963ck73&w=skt932hakq8da5c92&n=saq874h9djt72caq5&e=sj65hj63d84cjt864&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=pp1sppp]399|300[/hv] I made a mistake in the defence and let this through (I should have led a club later in the play but tried to endplay declarer in case he held the club king and blew a trump trick. Partner didn't provide a signal to suggest a potentially useful club card. I should have played one anyway, if declarer had the club king I am endplayed and it makes no difference). That was worth 10%. One pair played in 4♦X=, two were in 3♦, one took 1♠ one off. Board 3: [hv=pc=n&w=sk874haq984dac754&e=saqjhkjt53d82caj2]266|100[/hv] Opponents bid to 6♥ on these cards making which was worth 10% for us. Only one other pair found the heart slam, one went off in 6♠, the rest were in game. My defence still needs some work and I am not quite managing to use the available information optimally to find the best play.

If 2♥ is forcing rather than disturbed bids are weak then I bid 3♣. If partner forces me to bid, I make a bid compatible with my hand and it goes badly wrong, it is partner's fault.

On a related note, one thing I have noticed with beginners is the misuse of the Acol 1NT dustbin bid, which they are taught as showing 6-9 HCP after partner opens 1-suit and unable to bid a suit at the one level. They have a habit of only absorbing the first criteria so when they have 6-9 HCP and partner opens, say, 1D, they respond 1NT because they think they have to immediately show they have a weak hand, even if they have a four card major. One of these two on a later hand responded 1NT to a 1C opening with a 4441 shape because they had 7 HCP.

Thanks for the responses. I should have mentioned this was another hand in the informal beginner section but East was an experienced player mentoring an improver, so no Lebensohl available. After some thought he bid 3♦ and played there. As it happens his partner held a very suitable hand and he made +2. [hv=pc=n&s=sj432hatdt94ct964&w=s85h9872daq83c852&n=sa976hkqj643d65cj&e=skqth5dkj72cakq73&d=s&v=n&b=15&a=pp1hdp2d2h3dppp]399|300[/hv]

That is how some of the veteran members at my club were taught but we don't teach that to beginners. A 2/1 in Acol shows a good nine count minimum. My understanding (and I have mostly played Acol) is that a new suit by opener after a 2/1 is forcing for one round.

[hv=pc=n&e=skqth5dkj72cakq73&d=s&v=n&b=15&a=pp1hdp2d2h]133|200[/hv] The person sitting East had judged their hand too strong for a club overcall but was unsure what to do now. What would you do?

This hand came up in the informal beginner practice session (i.e. not a duplicate session). I thought the two beginners I observed did well to go for the slam: [hv=pc=n&s=s7ha32dkjt4cakt62&n=sak643hkq98daqcq7&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1sp2cp2hp3np6nppp]266|200[/hv] They were playing Acol, weak NT. Initially I thought North was strong enough to jump to 3♥ to get the strength across but that consumes a lot of space and 2♥ should be forcing anyway, although somehow North has to find a way to show their extras. As it happened South went straight to 3NT which must show an opening strength hand so North went straight to the slam. Is there a good way to find the grand, it can sometimes be tricky with a lot of power but no fit.

If you had a spade control, why would you not bid 3NT yourself? It is useful to know what the various bids mean after the 3♣ response. You have 3♦,♥,♠,NT available which can be used to show/deny controls in the major suits. What are your agreements?

Surely holding three quick tricks and doubleton support opposite a non-minimum partner with a long spade suit West can find a bid on the third or fourth round of the auction. What hand could East have that can bid their suit three times, is marked with diamond shortage, but game has no play?

Thanks Mike. Paulg was correct in that Pianola has gone haywire with the stats. Over the last 12 sessions we are defending about 53% of the time, which is a slight bias but nothing like what Pianola suggests. I believe there is an issue with my game but I can't put my finger on it, hence why I post hands on here to try and identify a common factor to work on. I can't really find one other than my partner seems to get blamed quite frequently, which doesn't help me find the problem with my game. Recently I got a game with one of the club's better players who is considerably better than my regular partners and we still didn't reach 50%, although partner only declaring once in 24 boards didn't help there. I feel I should be able to do better in a club field of mixed standard and I used to do better 10-15 years ago, but troubling the scorers seems elusive these days. It is harder when you get nonsense like this against you a handful of times in most sessions: [hv=pc=n&s=sa965ha3dk7caq976&w=st32hq9752daj4ckj&n=skjhj864dq8652c52&e=sq874hktdt93ct843&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=pp1c1h2dp2sppp]399|300[/hv] I was East. We managed to get it one down but that gave us 1/8 MPs when all but one of the field is going two or three off in 3NT. If there are three or four hands like this it means we have to nail the bidding and play in the other boards to do well, and I don't have the necessary skill/judgement.

I have found out how they got there: [hv=d=s&v=b&b=7&a=1n2n3s4d4s5ddppp]133|100[/hv]