luis

This is a post with less detail than the previous examples: I'd define a negative double as a double where you deny two things: You deny a penalty double of opps suit You deny support for pd's suit. So you usually show the two remaining suits. A Takeout double is a double where you show values to compete and not a penalty double of opps suit, you expect pd to take the dbl out to some intelligent contract or pass when he has the opps suit well stacked.

Forgot to add that Priorknowledge's line is down one on the given layout. So there you have YET another example dear PK

Ruff the club and play the 4 spades, if east ruffs just discard a 2nd diamond, and they can't do anything to prevent you from taking 12 tricks (5h, 1d, 3s, 3 club ruffs). if east returns a trump (note he can't return a diamond) you take the trump in dummy, play dA, diamond ruff (the king falling) now trump to dummy and diamonds are good.

In an excess of imagination when the diamond K is offside and the fourth spade is ruffed you are also one down automatically.

Yes with diamonds :-)

Ah how I like aggressive posts .... specially when they are wrong. [hv=n=sakjxhakxxdaqxxxc&w=sxxxhxxdxcakqxxxx&e=sxxxxhjxdkjxxcjxx&s=sqxhqxxxxdxxxcxxx]399|300|[/hv] Your line: Diamond finesse, diamond ruff, one down at trick 3. My line: West ruffs the 4th spade, and returns a club, ruff in dummy, cash the hA, Diamond Ace and diamond ruff. club ruff with the K. Diamond and you can ruff low and draw the remaining trump or overruff the last trump that east has. I'm not saying that I'm sure my line is better it's only what I think. What I am sure is that is not worth discussing with you. Talk is VERY cheap.

After hA and a heart West can take the hK and play a diamond, I have to ruff and can't return to my hand to draw the remaining trump (likely the hT) and can risk a promotion of the hT.

If this has to be alerted then all my bids need an alert. I can imagine my poor pd writing after each bid "he may have less than expected for his bid" , "may be lighter", "can be weaker than the panel", "may be a little lighter", "he has done that before with 0" etc etc etc

2♣ in Landy is Majors If I remember correctly, since it's the same as in Woolsey (mind the spelling) I have a prepared defense with my pd: Dbl: Competitive in clubs, if they bid to 2M opener can compete to 3♣ with a suitable hand. Pass: Can have a penalty double of one or both majors. 2♦: Natural and non-forcing (compete in diamonds if they bid 2M) 2♥: Forcing hand with clubs 2♠: Forcing hand with diamonds 2NT: Invitational with something in the majors typically 8-9 HCP with balanced or semibalanced shape and one or two honors in the majors. (opener's 3h/3s now show a weak doubleton) 3♣: Preemptive 3♦: Preemptive 3♥: 3-1-5-4 or 3-1-4-5 GF 3♠: 1-3-5-4 or 1-3-4-5 GF 3NT: To play Hope you like it. Luis

You are in dummy after the club finessee wins (either jack wins, or Queen covered by king and ace wins). So it is not convenient to ruff a diamond yet. Can we assume you play ♥ to ace and ruff a diamond? Ben If the cQ is covered and I take the Ace and run the hQ from dummy, East is likely to have the hK for his vulnerable 2d overcall, if he doesn't have the hK then it depends on how trumps are and what west does. Maybe the plan is too simple to be in this phorum :-) But I find it fun, if the club finesse loses, don't take the heart finesse, if the club finesse succeeds take the heart finesse too :-)

You can win the hand even if you can't stablish diamonds. Your line is dangerous when diamonds are 4-1, cashing the 4 spades I think can still succeed if diamonds are 4-1 and trumps are not bad, because you can make 12 tricks ruffing the 3 clubs.

Let's see East has a weak 2 in diamonds, and west has 4/5 diamonds, probably bid 3d only for the vulnerability, first of all I need to ask about their leads, if 3rd&5th the 3 is probably from a 5 card suit unless Hx32. I wonder why west is not leading an honor, maybe he has only xxxxx in diamonds and east has KQJxxx, missing the Ace and Ten I don't think he can overcall a vulnerable 2d on a suit without the K or the Q of diamonds besides the Ace and Ten that I know he is missing. So I take the diamond lead in hand watching if east plays the expected dJ and inmediately play the club finesse. If the club finesse loses and I conclide that East started with KQJ of diamonds and the club King I'm going to play trumps starting with the Ace since I think the hK will be offside because with hK, cK and KQJ of diamonds a 1d overcall looks more normal. If the club finesse wins ruff the diamond ten with dummy's 9 of hearts and run the heart queen preventing a promotion of the heart ten if west has KTx. So that's my line, use the club finesse as a discovery play to know what to do in trumps.

No it's not possible. Pass and pass.

A spade suit and values. I think this is very very clear.

I think you are wrong. If west ruffs the 4th spade and returns a club you ruff in dummy, play dA and diamond ruff. And now when you see diamonds are 3-2 why the hell ruff a club? heart to the K, diamond ruff with the hQ if needed and heart to the ace drawing the last trump and cash the diamonds. Making 6.

2NT. I think there's no option. If pd bids 3m I have an easy 3s rebid.

I will take a pedrestrian line. Ruff the club. Spade to the Q. Spade to the J. Spade ace discarding a diamond. If that's not ruffed then spade King discarding the 2nd diamond. Somebody ruffs but I think that with normal breaks I can make 12 tricks ruffing the 3 clubs in dummy or stablishing dummy diamonds in the middle.

I just want to insert a little comment in this thread: While both the BIL and this forum are for beginners we should take in consideration that today's beginners and intermediates can be tomorrows world class players. Everybody started some day ago. Social bridge teachers and some club teachers that I know try their students as if they were incapable of growing past the intermediate level, maybe that's because they need them to be weak to keep paying for lessons :-). In the BIL we have an environment free of nasty habits like the one I mentioned. Nothing is "too advanced", nothing is "too complex" maybe "too soon" but never too complex because in a near future we hope our students to be succesful experts and thus sooner or later they will have to learn what today can be too complex for them. If a hand can be won with an intra-finesse do not refrain from mentioning because "they won't get it", maybe not now but what about in some months? The sole mention to a topic is enough to awake curiosity and make them want to learn new things. Maybe this is not the right way to teach bridge but I strongly believe that no matter what level your students are you should explain everything you can about each hand and let them assimilate what they can now and write down what they don't understand for later. My tip for experts and advanced players posting here is keep posting and for the students keep reading and if you don't understand something write it down and try to understand it in a few months, if you succed then you will know you are better and nothing is more pleasant than that. Luis.

Assuming someone is pointing a gun at me I'd suggest to play responses after opener's relay in transfer and I really would remove the idea of tnis forcing up to 4NT, 3NT must always be to play or you will be in a nasty disadvantage in a lot of hands: 1♣-2♥ (12+ 5+♣) 2♠ relay 2NT = 6 cards in clubs (6322 or 6331) 3♣ = clubs and diamonds 3♦ = clubs and hearts 3♥ = clubs and spades 3♠ = 7+ clubs no side suit, promises shortage 3NT = 7222 1♣-2♠ (12+ 5+diamonds) 2NT relay 3♣ = 6+ diamonds 3♦ = diamonds and hearts 3♥ = diamonds and spades 3♠ = diamonds and clubs 3NT = 7222 Luis

Keep 1♣-2♣ and 1♣-2♦ as 8+ with 5+ cards. In my opinion using 2♥ and 2♠ to show clubs and diamonds is wrong since you want to keep the level as low as possible to determine the best game or slam for your side. As I say "why preempt if they are not going to bid?" Your problem can be solved using a simple method: After 1♣-2♣ or 1♣-2♦ use a relay to ask about a side suit and after that use a relay to determine minimum-maximum. Hands with both minors are problematic in precision so I decided to remove them from 2♣ and 2♦ using 2♥ as an artificial response showing 5/4 or 4/5 in the minors. 2♠ and above are used to show thre suiters, another difficult shape after 1♣. Luis.

I think this might have been discussed before. I have to say that I really don't like when moderators decide to "close" a thread without a clear reason. I completely understand that some posts have to be edited and some posts may even have to be deleted to follow the rules of this site, rules that I respect. What I don't understand is why a moderator can decide when a thread should be closed, if there're some topics that are forbidden I'd like a list of them to be explained in the rules since I really don't like the idea of moderators closing threads just because they don't like the topic being discussed. Luis.

2N as Richard said depends a lot on what you were playing, if 2N is natural as it seems I think I prefer a 3cl bid since 2N should show more cards and values in the red suits. 3N is the worst bid no doubts. Why with 4 clubs and a semi-balanced hand do you want to play 3N if you can double 3cl by them ? If west retreats to 3d after the dbl then north should pass and south will surely bid 3s or 4s ending the auction. I'd blame North 100% for bidding 3N instead of a logical dbl. Luis

I think that pd has xx or xxx in spades and he was checking if he has to play 3NT or 5d in this hand. Example: xx AKxx AKJxx Kx To me 3s asks for a stopper to play 3NT. If he was looking for slam he should have started with a 3h bid over 3d to see if we have a spade control.

Hope your pd uses the same logic as you Fluffy :-)

Paul, I will have to disagree with you, playing "normal" negative doubles I don't think this hand is a hand that can use a negative double. First of all negative doubles usually deny support for pd and AQxx is a lot of nice support. Negative doubles usually show 4+ cards in the remaining suits and you have only 3 in diamonds. If you can't bid 1s because it denies spades or shows 5 in your methods better to cuebid 2h showing a forcing raise with support for clubs. Just my opinion. Luis