luis

It's probably a partnership style question. If your policy is to invite very light then 2♠ is enough, there is no reason to go down in 3 when pd has a very bad hand with 5 spades and was just signing off. If you invite solid then a jump to 3♠ to protect is mandatory. Luis

2♣ looks clear.

I would name it Wendy Sounds like a good name for it.

I bet you a beer 2♦ is not alertable in Germany with the 1NT overcall in the middle. You owe Sigi a beer. Sorry Luis, but it is very dangerous to assume that German bridge regulations make any sense. (Unfortunately, there are way bigger L&E problems than this in Germany.) Arend Well I owe Sigi a beer :-)

3♥ is fine, 2♥ is shy, pass is horrible Luis

2♣ of course And I have a wonderful 2♥ rebid if pd bids 2♦

I agree with the bidding so far, I have a lot to risk a tactical approach, pd hates me if I miss a slam or grand because I decided to be very smart. The serious options are 4♦ and 5♥ exclusion The funny options are 4♣ and 5♣ exclusion So I think this depends on the state of the match if we are doing well I would bid 4♦ if we are behind I might try 5♣ exclusion. Luis

I bid 5♦ I don't like to leave potentially agressive doubles with a 7 card suit and a void in clubs. If they are good players they won't be bidding 5♣ to go for a number. 5♦ might make, or 5♣ might make so only when both contracts are down pulling the double is wrong based on that I think I have a good reason to pull.

South is going to pull to a 4 card suit? What hand would that be. South will very rarely pull to even a 5 card suit, if he has a second suit he will probably try a more flexible 4N. Probably not but if you play the double as takout as I do then sometimes South will pull because the penalty in 5x might be better than 4♠x making one or two overtricks I agree a 4th card suit will never pull but with 5 maybe...

I bet you a beer 2♦ is not alertable in Germany with the 1NT overcall in the middle.

I thik North's double is borderline I'm not sure if he wants to play at the 5 level with 8 or 7 cards in hearts. Once North doubles pass by south is automatic to me, nothing to justify a 5 level bid in diamonds.

So not only you harrass the players with uncalled lectures from an authority position when you are in the AC but you do that with "some" players in a clear discriminatory way. Let's just say you like to lecture and humiliate players because if you try to fix it you make it worst :-)

Is there a "not" missing here? I can't conceive of a playable regulatory regime under this bid could be considered alertable 1. Natural non-forcing is the "standard" meaning of this bid 2. 2♦ is a natural bid If we're now extending alerts to natural / standard bids the system is unredeemable Yes a "not" was missing :-) The bid is clearly non-alertable and the harrasing lecture approach in an appeal is horrible.

[hv=d=n&v=b&s=sk3h87652d6ckq864]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Pd opens 1♠ and you bid 1NT (forcing) Pd bids 2♦ and you bid 2♠ Now pd bids 3♣ What do you bid?

4♠.

I'm not trying to find a way to "not get stolen" but what I really want to know is the merit of a 2♠ call instead of 1NT. With 2♠ they will play 3♥ or you will play in 2♠ with a battle for trump control to get +110 is this any good? And I wonder If you bid 1NT (natural 16-18 in sandwich) and it goes 2♥ pass pass Can you now bid 2♠ and do both things that you wanted to do at once? Luis

I agree the bid is alertable but I find your methods to handle an appeal terrible. If my pd has a strong NT and LHO opened and I have X I don't care what can the 2foo bid have, what you have to analyze is if there is missinformation or not not lecture the players. Of course this is a clear case but I still find your comment very irritating. Luis

Maybe Luis and/or Gerben can comment on this (since they play a Fantunes derivative). Thank you for the comprehensive answer Josh. --Sigi I've been playing 2x as 9-13 unbalanced with 5+ cards for about 2 years and a half. It's very very hard to evaluate how the openings result without a lot of subjective factors. From my experience my comments are: My best advice is: It's better to overbid than to make a conservative pass over 2x, if you have a "chance" at game then you should bid, sometimes you will end down 1 in 3x or 3NT or some game but defense is hard and some bad games are made while you reach all the good ones. We went for a number twice but they went for a number too after overbidding over a 2x opening in a missfit, hands where you open 2M and they overcall 3m with an average hand are potentially great for your side. From the 2 times we went for a number one was my fault because I opened a bad 9 count vulnerable and that is not mandatory they found a takeout double and the suit was 5-1 so bad luck yes but my bid was horrible too. The worst side of 2x is that since you start high sometimes it's hard to find the best game or slam for your side. For example pd opens 2♥ 9-13 and I got last week: AKxx - AJxx AKQxx Some layouts produce 3NT only, in others you are cold in 7♣ and you can bet you can't find out. In this case I asked and when pd showed hearts only I made the healthy bid of 3NT which was the only makeable thing in the hand. My conclusion is that the openings are good, I like them, you have to be in overbid mode and you have to simplify auctions where you can't find the perfect cards you need for a slam or grand. Luis

Well do you have that agreement with your pd? What do you bid with AQJxxx x Axxx xx After 1♥ - p - 1♠ ? I think that for any pair in the world 2♠ shows a strong spade suit and shape or values to justify bidding a suit that is already breaking badly. But does this mean that you have 19 with 5 spades? I don't think so and I don't think it makes sense to agree that 2♠ is a "strong" hand. Luis

Thanks for all the answers. I posted this hand because an interesting debate emerged in the analysis after the match. In particular I don't like the 2♠ bit at all but since many good players here bid it maybe I have something to learn, my argumentation against 2♠ is that with a very strong hand and only 5♠ the only thing that 2♠ can achieve is a trump control battle to reach +110, I really don't think it's worth the effort. And the big problem is that they might be stealing this hand in front of your noses, the vulnerability and your cards are in my view a big warning sign. The call I prefer is a natural 1NT, which in that position should be 16-18 balanced with the specific purpose of preventing a steal, you are bit heavy for that but if the opponents are stealing and pd can make a move over 1NT you know you have a shot in 3NT. As the cards lie 3NT was cold, opener had QJ9xxxx of hearts, the club ace and a spade void. Responder Ace sixth of spades and out. That was an unlucky coincidence, true but don't you think you have to find a way to protect your side against this ? It's becoming very common in modern bridge. Luis

1) Yes I think this is worth an invite, but If I have to invite. 2) I bid 4♠ I expect to be down 1 but I don't think they can double 4♠ 3) Over 3♠ I bid 4♥ 4) Double? Not even drunk I would double 4♠ Luis

Opening or not opening 2♠ has nothing to do with the disaster at your table. I can't see why opening 2♠ will propel any decent person to 6♣ while passing will make him behave like a human.

#1: Pass, what else? #2: Automatic 2♠ I'm very surprised by all the passers too #3: Spade. Pd has all the high cards but he didn't double 2♣ and he didn't bid 2♦ over 2♣ so a minor can't be right. A heart is only good for declarer so I'm going to lead a spade. I believe this is the only lead that can work unless pd forgot to double 2♣ or bid 2♦. Luis

If you bid 2♠ it goes 3♥ pass pass Do you do something now? What?

1) 3M Competitive with 6 cards in hearts. Usually minimum or something like that. 2) 2N Invitational without a singleton. 3) Implied suit cue bid (say 2♠ over 1♥ - (P) - 2♥ - (X)) New suits are invitational showing shortness (singleton) 3) XX XX desire to penalize the opponents, now all doubles are 4+ cards and for penalties 4) P and then 3M if possible This shows 5 cards in hearts just to take them out of their LOTT comfort level 5) P and then X of 3 level bid Takeout 6) New suit at 3 level Invitational, shortness