bluenikki

Famous apocryphal London headline: "72 again today. No relief in sight."

But, as in my preceding post, partner's rebid will focus on finding a reasonable partscore strain. You wish he would know to suppress a bad suit. You will not get useful information.

"So you bid 1H. If partner responds 2D, you can either (A) launch exclusion with 5C (same as before) or (B) bid 2S (partner won't raise; he doesn't have four) and then over partner's D, H, or NT rebid, launch exclusion (5C will be exclusion with D as trump over a D or NT rebid, and exclusion with H as trump over a 3H rebid)." So you bid 1♥. Partner, who does not know the deal is slam-zone, will not hesitate to rebid 1♠ with xxxx or to rebid 2♦ with 10xxxxx. The reason for jumpshifts is to prevent bad suits from being bid.

In your plan, if the first chance you have to rebid hearts is 4 ....

But your table will NEVER finish the round on time.

Not many commenters talked about the main risk of leading the ace: That your partner doesn't have the king. This is especially relevant when the opening bidder is on your right.

A different strategy from 99.9% of badly taught players maybe. What all of you overlook is that in the vast majority of cases it is wrong to cash the second high honor even if partner can ruff. The point of the equal honor signal is that the leader can underlead at trick 2 and retain control of the suit.

There is no bar to opening leader deciding the best chance is to try for the ruff. Especially if the contract is 5.

My signalling strategy is not something I made up. I learned it from books. Getting a 3rd round ruff is great if the contract is 5. Otherwise, it sets up a winner for declarer he can't develop himself.

No no a thousand times no. When the queen is not in dummy, encouragement shows the queen. You apparently are a partner who needs to be re-educated by underleads.

"Likely" is not the same as "almost certain." Playing a 5-1 fit at 3 with 13 facing 10 35% of the time is unacceptable. None of you are addressing the fact vthat you are sticking partner with declaring. Taking a shot when you yourself will have to play the result is completely different. You don't believe in training partner? If partner plays a high spot on your lead from AK against a suit contract with the queen not in dummy, you should underlead without pause for thought. No matter what partner thinks he *should* do, if he knows how you will react, he will adjust his habits.

When partner is 2=3=5=3 or 3=2=5=3 he is forced to bid 3♦. YOU forced him to, without any preparation. Those are not rare holdings. The only way the double works out is if opener has 4 hearts. In all other cases, you have forced him to play a difficult or hopeless partscore. Maybe he won't pass in the future, but after the 2nd unprepared neg dbl, he will attempt to train you somehow. I personally would begin responding with a cue with every hand lacking 4 hearts or 5 clubs. And if partner then refuses to bid his own suit, sticking me with declaring, I inform him that we are no longer playing negative doubles above 2♥.

So partner gets the 5-1 fit. That will convince partner to pass your neg db in the future. (Or to cue and then let you play whatever you bid.)

But what do you do next?? In real life, opener will bid 3♦. What are you doing then? Bidding 3♥ would urge partner to pass with a minimum misfit. Will you enjoy the 5-1 fit?

The sensible approach is to reserve a (possibly artificial) rebid for opener to show a king above the agreed range of "minimum opening" and have all other rebids be as descriptive as possible and deny such extra. As to last chance: I meant last chance below 3NT

You are talking about the inherent difficulty of arranging responses/rebids to allow opening bids like this. But if you agree to open junkpiles like this, you are insane if you haven't done that arranging. This is your *last* chance to show ♦ support, rather than tolerance.

Goren never jump-raised with only 3-card support.

Your partner thinks that weak jump shifts are so universal that you c an spring them without notice. Give up on this partner.

If both you and your partner agree that this is a normal minimum opening, then why would you not raise to 3♦? Carl

If both you and your partner agree that this is a normal minimum opening, then why would you not raise to 3♦? Carl

Why robust? looks like11 facing 13.

♠ A? How embarrassing if your partner's K unblock creates a 10xxx stopper!

are you trying to beat the contract (always best) or afraid of overtricks?

You have distorted the question (maybe intentionally) by giving north the ♠ 9. Leading an honor from AQJ2 will block the suit too often for my taste. Carl

But will partner know not to bid slam with 2 ♠ losers? I think 5♦ must strongly urge slam with ♠ control and demand a pass with none.