luis

I won't pass 3NT I would bid 4♣ as "pick a major" and pass afterwards. Thanks to RHO for leeting me bid 4♣ when he could bid that himself and give me a headache. Luis

1♠, by Luis' rule 1♠ is never wrong, in any hand. So 1♠.

Double, light but I might have a terrible problem in the next round so do I owe pd a Jack or 2 ? Not a problem, do I owe him some clubs? Not really. Double is fine. Luis

[hv=d=e&v=n&e=sxxhdaqjxxcajt98x&s=skqt3hk875d8xxcqx]266|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] The bidding was (only EW bidding) 1♦ - 1♥ 2♣ - 2NT 3♣ - 3♦ 3NT Everything natural. Pd leads the spade 9 (2nd and 4ths) I destroyed this hand :-) but want to compare my thinking process to some of you to improve it What is your defensive plan? Luis

Vulnerable 2NT 21-24 should be automatic. And I wonder why is this a question, can I have this hand for 2NT? yes? then 2NT... Luis

I don't know what you bid or what your pd thought was right but I'm quite sure he was wrong saying that your bid is wrong. Either dbl showing a one suited hand, or pass, or 3♣ or 2♣ can be rightish or wrongish, it's a very gray bid. Luis

Actually a negative double denies support, that's one of the reasons they are called "negative" doubles because you deny: - a biddable suit - support for pd - a penalty double in the opps suit Luis

Diamond ace and then the ten seems to be right to me, covers a lot of possible holdings in pd's and declarer's hands. Luis

DBL in the first one I think it's quite clear. Pass in the 2nd one, I like to bid but broken suits and a void in pd's suit coupled with QJx in the opponents suit are really not my idea of a negative double.

I don't think the idea of this thread is to start a debate about what is the best overcalling method over 1NT, we have had enough of that so whenever something posts a thread saying "you are playing chupa-chups and they open 1NT" let's just try to tell the poster what would we do based on the conditions. Did free ever asked "what do you think of Dont" or "what do you play over 1NT?" I don't think so. Ok after the ramblings here is what I think: I don't think we can have a spade game here, even when pd has good cards on a trump lead we are going to have problems, we might have a partscore in clubs but from the hesitation I might think opener has 5 hearts, so probably a 2♣ bid might help them find a heart fit something like p - p - 2♥ when it could have been 1NT passed out. Since I don't think it can be our hand and I think that opener has either 5 hearts or 6 diamonds I think I will pass. Without the hesitation then playing don't I bid 2♣ when pd is NOT a passed hand (we may have a spade game), when pd is a passed hand I prefer to X to show a one suited hand, in this case clubs. Luis

5♣ looks clear Double IQ or not IQ looks like a very nice way to practice playing 5♥ in a 4-3 fit. Not to mention when pd can't find a good bid over the double and decides to pass with something like JTxx, Kxx, Kxx, Kxx quite a perfect recipe for disaster. Luis

Pass, a lock

5♦ over 4♦ is very interesting how fast can you run after tabling dummy ? There are 3 things that can go wrong with the double of 3♣ - Pd can bid 3NT - Pd can bid 4♦ - Pd can pass 3♣x Only when pd has a 4 card major AND decides to bid it instead of leaving the double or bidding 3NT only then you have made the right call with dbl. I would say it is risking too much. Luis

4♣ pick a major. Doubling with a void is terrible to me. Luis

1) Lebensohl is a normal treatment agaisnt weak 2s when pd doubles. 2) 3♣ showing values (2NT and pass 3♣ would be weakish) 3) 3♣

1) It's fine as long as what they bid is a real suit, you need -in my opinion- to have different agreements for 2♣ capp and 2♦ capp where the minors are not real suits. 2) From the Law Of Total Tricks perspective Pass is the right call, they have 7 trumps we have 7,8 or 9 in diamonds, not enough to bid 3♦ over 2♠. Note: I wouldn't have passed 1NT I would have bid 2♣ Stayman, over 2♠ then I have an easy invitation, over 2♦ I can pass and over 2♥ I can stretch to bid 2NT and only then I'm overbidding a little. Luis

I still can't work out why righty won ♣A, thereby rectifying the count for a squeeze. After the spade switch it should be relatively easy to rise with the ace and play the way MikeH did. If LHO is 4-2-3-4 which I think he is, he will be squeezed. If he ducks the club on the second round, it will be more difficult. Now I have to read his shape. If he is 4-2-3-4 with the spade jack, I can cash two top spades to see if the jack drops. I assume not, so now I take 4 rounds of hearts (finessing the jack). When I finally play a diamond off dummy, RHO is squeezed. He must bare ♣A and I can now endplay him in clubs to lead away from ♠Jx into my Q8 tenace. This line is quite spectacular actually. You started with ♦AK opposite Qx, and you end up squeezing an opponent when you cash the second round of the suit. Not sure at what point in the tournament this happened, but to me it seems like an error to win the ♣A. Roland Well the last time I refused to take the club ace vs 6NT to prevent declarer from rectifying the count it happened that when pd took his ace he was out of clubs :-) and started to yell "what did you do Luis, what did you just do?!!!" I mumbled something about not rectifying the count but he couldn't get it so I ran as quickly as I could.

So 1-14 never play agains 1-14, why is this better than a big Mitchell and then 2 Howells? I'm not arguing just asking you because it seems you know this quite well :-) Thanks for the answers Gerben. Still looking for the best solution :-)

How do you take 3 diamonds with AK and Qx ?? :-)

Yep seems it is impossible to do it perfectly so I wonder which is the best compromise solution. They need only 1 pair as winner because it's a sort-of national competition (sigh) Why do you sugest a barometer? What is good with a barometer? I keep listening to ideas and suggestions so far the best I have is: A 22 tables Mitchell with 14 rounds of 2 boards each (28 boards) the first day. You don't play against 7 or 8 boards. So we have to make sure the seeding is very accurate to make sure the pairs that each one don't face are of the same weight. Then 2 11-tables howells playing against 21-22 pairs (2 boards each round). Luis

Seems that you have to play low and finesse for the sJ since the squeeze is ruined after the spade return. Then herart to dummy cash the spades and finesse in hearts hope the heart Q is onside with hearts 3-2 and the sJ is onside too. Sort of 50% since the heart position is always needed Luis

I hope you mean 2nd session :) Each session is one night :-) from 8pm to 12am aprox. Let's see: 44 pairs, 14 table Mitchell (13 rounds) and then an 8 table howell. So the first day/session pair #1 will play against 13 pairs in the mitchell, then what do you do in the 2nd session/day ? Is this the most fair movement we can use? Thanks for the help!

We'll have from 40 to 44 pairs since the inscription is not closed yet, will be closed today. We have two sessions as I described, the score has to be IMPs and the organizers want each pair to play if possible against every other pair. The first idea was to split the pairs in 2 sections and do a Mitchell one day and 2 Howells the second day but the problem is that for 22 tables we can't do a Mitchell with only 1 board per round to play 22 boards that will not be accepted. So far I think about a Mitchell of 14 rounds of 2 boards and you don't play against 7/8 pairs, we'll have to make sure the categories of the pairs that you don't play are more or less the same for every pair. Any better ideas? Luis

Well let's see: Club to the K is of course a given, then enter dummy again with a spade and lead another club, if clubs are 3-2 then I can play the safety play in hearts for 12. If clubs happen to be 4-1 then I only have 2 club tricks so I need 4 hearts then heart to dummy and finesse the Jack, then I need the spade+clubs squeeze. Luis

I'm helping organize a local tournament here Pairs, IMP scoring. About 40 pairs. We have 2 sessions for this tournament, about 4 hours each one. What format do you suggest? I mean 1 zone? 2 zones? One Mitchell and 1 howell? Any help will be appreciated.