luis

S AQJ86 H 85 D J C AQT97 S KT753 H KJ74 D AQ7 C 4 I like 2s after 1s-2c;2h I play 2s as interested in distribution of opener's hand while 3s is interested in controls. So opener now bids 3d and we know he's 5-4-3-1. Then we will probably reach the same slam after bidding 3s over 3d since opener has the heart control and receives the lead. The play... Mmmmm maybe I'm going down 1, I'd discard a heart inmediately on the dQ and play a club to the ace and a heart back to hand. Even without luck in hearts you can win the hand on a crossruff when west returns a trump.

Being east a client the hand is laydown. Play a heart to dummy and call the sJ, even if he doesn't cover he will consider or think about it if he has the queen. If he plays low quickly just overtake with the king and finesse the pro for the sQ. Piece of cake ;-)

2d automatic. Bidding a 4 card suit before a 6 card suit is beyond my imagination. 1s is a good bid when you want to practice the 4-2 mini-moysian.

Idea: Add a checkbox option to the table settings labeled "players must accept their pds" so when a new player wants to seat south -for example- at the table if there's no player in north the player must be accepted by the host but if there's a player in north and this new option is checked then the player must be accepted by north and not by the host. This can relief the host from the task of making partnerships and might eventually make partnerships last longer since you won't be playing with a pd choosen by the host but by you. Basically If permission requiered to play then if player has a pd and table option set to rely acceptance to players then ask player already seated to accept pd else ask host for permission else allow player to seat end This may have derivations and improvements as an idea... what do you think?

This topic appeared in my last teaching session at the Beg/Int lounge so I'll post a quick summary here. After a 4NT bid asking for key-cards responses are: 5c = 0 or 3 5d =1 or 4 5h = 2 without the trump Q 5s = 2 with the trump Q 5N = odd number and a useful void 6x = even number and a void in the suit bid (if suit is trumps void in a suit above trumps) You can change the 5c/5d responses to play 1430 instead of 0314 and you can also change the way you show voids, that's a partnership agreement. (Usually 1430 is slightly better than 0314 but no big deal) After a response showing 0/3 or 1/4 the 4NT bidder has the following options: * Signoff in the trump suit * Ask for the trump queen to play 6 or 7 * Bid 5NT with all the keycards and interest in grand slam It is important to bid 5NT only when you have all the key-cards, if a key-card is missing signoff or ask for the queen but never use 5NT. Why? Because responder is allowed to bid 7 after 5N if he thinks that's right. When responder can't count 13 tricks he can show either specific kings or the number of kings he has, you have to agree with your pd what you bid after 5NT when you can't bid 7. Example: AQx KQJxxx Axx x Opener 1s 2h 2s 3s 4N 5s (2 + Q) 5N 7s Since we have solid hearts so 5 spades, 6 hearts and the minor suit aces will produce 13 tricks. How to ask for the trump queen: A "relay": the cheapest bid available asks for the trump queen. Example if trumps = spades 4NT 5d (1 or 4) 5h (Q?) Now responses are: 5 in the trump suit: I don't have the queen 5N: I have the trump queen and extra values 6 in the trump suit: I have the queen and no extras 6x: I have the queen and this nice King Important: When you know your side has 10 or more trumps bid as if you have the queen even when you don't have it. Because the Q drops. So if you have 5 card support for a 1s opening and pd ask for aces if you have 2 bid 5s (2+Q) if you have another number and are asked for the Q say that you have it. This is a quick summary of the basic actions after using 4NT RKCB there're many variations and advanced treatments if you want more information. Check this actions with your pd it can be good for your partnership slam bidding. Luis

Good players don't lead from shortness against grand slams, that's why I don't think the heart lead can be a singleton or doubleton.

Dbl

Ruff the spade and play a diamond. I think I will play to ruff two diamonds in dummy losing two diamonds since the heart finesse should be working. Maybe this line is too simple :-)

Hi Misho. This is very interesting that you played this hand. I would like to see the hand records, could you provide a link? I got this hand from kibitzing Flatbrain (who is a team member of mine in Abalucy) on Oct 20th, and of course you and rumen were not playing or I would have been kibitizing you guys. Also, I looked for recent 6S hands by you and couldn't find this one. I was unaware that hands played in one team match also showed up in other matches. The link to the hand record from which I found this one is... http://bridgebase.lunarpages.com/cgi-bin/h...066682339-31803 Well, I have to disagree a little with the theory that if one line works then the other does not and vice versa. This can be demonstratably not true. One example will suffice. Give WEST S-Jxx H-Jxxx D-QT9 C-Qxx Now you can safely ruff a diamond, and both opponents have a stopper in both minors. But west with heart Jack is exposed to the compound squeeze. On the fourht trump, he already has to abandon one of his minor stoppers (a heart discard is instantly fatal). And the fifth trump makes the ending easy to read. But it is true that if ruffing a diamond doesn't work, then a squeeze pretty much always works. The logic there is that the hand with long diamond either has the heart JACK, in which case a red suit squeeze, or the hand does not have the heart JACK, in which case there might be a double squeeze. But as you can see from the example I gave above, you can squeeze sometimes when both opponents stop both minors. The possibility of a compound squeeze when heart JACK doesn't fall is pretty good. I have to wonder if Rumen was only thinking about double squeeze (one short in diamond, other in hearts) or simple squeeze (one long in heart and diamonds) and didn't consider the compound squeeze when he said when one line works, the other doesn't and vise versa. When you factor in, as luis did, the heart lead is very likley from legnth (as it was), I think this makes playing for the compound squeeze, heart JACK drop a big winner, even larger than the odds might otherwise suggest. Because when WEST is long in hearts, the squeeze/drop heart jack line ALWAYS works. If I was in 6S, I wouldn't give this hand much thought either. But if you bid 7S at imps, you have every reason to believe the other table might not have bid the grand. In the match I watched, one pair bid 7, one did not. In the match you quote, you guys did not bid 7. To bid 7 vul, requires something like 74% to make or it probably should not be bid at imps (you win 13 imps if you are right (+750) but lose 17 imps (-1530) if you are wrong. So odds best be heavy in your favor. This grand slam is no where near 74%, as four/five spades to the jack offside (and even onside as you will not guess to hook) will sink, the odds of such a split is 26%, but you then have to factor in the odds of managing a 13th trick. What this suggest is even in a long match, and even with good opponents, if you are in 7S it is time to find the best chance line. This is the kind of hand that will make or break a match. And indeed if declearer makes 7S he's side wins the match. I am not trying to say the squeeze or the line luis suggested (trying hearts first) is better than just playing ruff a diamond. If I was absolutely certain, I would not have posted the hand. But I don't accept take the simple line becasue it will be taken at the other table, or take the easy way out to save energy on a vulnerable grand slam hand at imps. By the wai I gave him our problem at 3NT and he played it simple for 2 right K. Ok. I give. If both you and Rumen (both of which are superior players to me) think it is must be better to play EAST specifically for club king and WEST specifically for Kx or Kxx in hearts, than it is to play EAST for just the club king, I must be totally wrong. It is just that I don't mind wasting my energy looking for the exotic plays. In fact, that is what I prefer to do (I often go down in simple to make contracts because I think I found an esoteric line). It is just that the vulnerable stopper squeeze just seemed to jump off the page to me on that one after the diamond switch, just like on this hand a potential compound squeeze on west seems clear to me after the opening lead as at least a good option. For anyone interested, the 3NT hand misho and I are discussing is hand 2 of the following thread.... http://forums.bridgebase.com/in...y;threadid=1235 About 7s I don't know I think that trying hearts first is the best line because either the hJ drops in east or west is surely squeezed and you can also play to ruff a diamond if you decide that is the best play if the hJ doesn't drop or you can't see the ending clear. This is based on the asumption that the heart lead is from length. Nice to discuss. About the 3NT hand that line my friend Misho is just lazy, after the overcall playing hearts from the top is best, the K might drop singleton and if not you can play a squeeze that is going to succeed, the ending is very easy to read. So I don't buy that.

My first instinct is that trying to ruff a diamond in dummy is too dangerous because there're really a lot of good things that can happen. If the opening leader is a good player the heart lead is from length looking for the safest lead, probably with Jxx of spades. If this is the case then he maybe short in diamonds. I think I can safely cross with a club honor and cash the hA and hQ if the jack drops the hand is over if the jack doesn't drop I can still decide between the diamond ruff and playing a squeeze. If the heart lead is a safe lead from 4/6 small cards then the hJ must be dropping. I'll go with the "esoteric" line for the posted reasons maybe it's time to ridiculize myself if a diamond ruff was the right play at the table. I don't mind. :-) Luis

If partner had opened a weak NT I would have passed without giving it a second thought. I don't think the club fit (which may only be 8 cards) is enough to change my bid. Eric Yes it's different than a weak NT opening. Now you have the option to play 2c that is a lot better than 1NT :-) Luis

I don't think it's worth the try because you have to try for a game in NT while your best denomination is clubs. That's why this is probable not worth the risk even 1NT can go down with 8/9 tricks in clubs, so bidding 2NT to go down 1/2/3 in 2NT or go down 1/2/3 in 3NT is not sound because you'd probably be +something in 2c.

2c, signoff. Chances for game even vulnerable are rare and the hand will play on clubs a lot better than in NT. I'm tired to run a simulation but my instinct says that 3nt might make in about 15%-20% of the cases, certainly not enough 8/9 tricks in clubs should be the percentage bid.

Cuebids are usually hard to understand for beginners or int players but there're some positions where cuebidding is easier and it's a good way to get a first understanding of what a cuebid means and when to use it. This hand was played in BBO recently: Nobody vul. You have: Tx AKx Txxx QTxx Bidding: Pd RHO You LHO p p 1s 2h p ? Being already a passed hand you have a very nice maximum for a passed hand, excellent 9 counter with AK in your pd's suit so a 2s cuebid carry the meaning to pd: "I have a super-maximum for a passed hand." When you are already a passed hand and your pd bids if you have one of the best hands you may have for your pd being a passed hand a cuebid is usually the right bid to send him the message. I bid 2s alerted as "I like your t-shirt" :-) Opener now rebid 3d which actually helped pd to determine that I might have AK of hearts and the cQ for my cuebid he checked with 4NT and over a 5d bid by RHO I bid 6h since no matter what pd was asking for I must have it. Pd's hand: AK9x Qxxxx x AKJ Making 6 on a diamond lead. 4NT was a very nice bid by 2over1 who was my pd at the table. He was just checking for AK of hearts since it was almost evident that I should have the cQ after opener showed spades and then bid 3d. No pair got to this nice slam and many languisehd at 2h making 6. I decided to present this hand to show a very nice bid by 2over1 and that cuebids sometimes are easy to understand and provide very useful information to your pd. Hope it helps. Luis.

I'll go wrong in the three :-) Hand 1: Club Ace, spade to the Ace, ruff a club low, ruff a spade with the hJ, heart to the Ace, ruff a spade with the hT, cash the hK, cash the cK discarding the last spade. The dQ or low to dummy endplaying east. Depending on what I've seen one or the other to get the extra chance of making 13 tricks if there's a signleton dK in west or dJ in east. Hand 2: Take the diamond in dummy and play the hA, if the hK does not drop continue hearts from dummy. Then if they win the hK and play a diamond win in dummy and play all the hearts. Exit with the last diamond and there're a lot of chances to make 9 tricks. Hand 3: I'll play the cQ and cJ from dummy trying to get the distribution of the hand, chances to make 5 or 6 are very good. I need to know what happens on the cQ play and if that is not ruffed what happens on the cJ.... Luis

Are you suggesting that if partner has one key for hearts slam is 90%? I find this hard to believe. I think you are retreating to after 1NT opening bid and before any other bid by opener, the slam is 90%. However, if partners one key card is the diamond ACE, they can cash two top hearts. If it is the heart king, in 6S you might run into a lightner double when you bid 6S and a heart lead through the king to the AQ could crush you (6NT woudl be better shot, for if partner has heart king, he is likely looking at great diamonds and the club QUEEN). But I agree that 2D was imaginative, he is worrying about the same problem we all worried about. He can find out the solution to the problem but he can not stop in 5S if he discovers somthing horrible. So he might as well have bid 6S like everyone else. You transfer to hearts, ask for key cards in hearts, get a 1 KC response and bid 6s. Even if you are about to lose AK of hearts they not going to lead hearts unless the opening leader has AK of hearts. I'd say that the clever transfer + RKCB bid does the trick to make the slam in spades a very good bet even when they have AK of hearts They won't lead the hA or under the hK on that bidding. Stopping in 5s is a losing strategy on the posted conditions even when 5s is your best contract.

Badderzboy. I really like your approach so full kudos to you, imagination is important in bridge and you showed a lot of excellent skills: imagination when bidding, not following rules blindly, good slam instinct and also a good way to circunvent bidding problems when you don't have the tools you need. I disagree with all the players that will criticize this approach, if pd shows only 1 key card in hearts bid 6s and hope for the best, slam in spades is 90% anyway so we must bid it. There's no problem, the problem is thinking about stopping in 5s, that's a losing strategy in this hand if you get this hand and even think about stopping in 5s then you have a problem even if you can only make 5s. A direct jump to 6 spades as many proposed is too vanilla, I guess there's about a 45% chances of a grand slam in this hand. If pd shows two keycards in hearts I think I'd bid 7s and hope to make it. Your way to investigate a grand slam was the best given the tools you had. Again congratulations. Luis

Amen, Why is it so hard in f2f bridge to make players understand that once a player claims the hand is o-v-e-r and cards cannot be played anymore? Frequently defenders say "play it" just to see if declarer makes some egregious mistake and goes down (ex pulling out the wrong card).

Well, I am not exactly sure I want to defend a jump directly to 5S on a hand where my actual preference is 4D. We can draw up hands where 5S is too high regardless if we bid 5D or 5S. Likewise, we can draw up a lot of hands where after you hear the response to 5D, you have no idea if you can make 5S, 6S, 7S. This includes hands you drew up. But since you called me out with four specific hands, let's take a look at them, but first, a reminder what the leap to 5S over 1S means. It means: I do have four trumps (after all you may have only 4 I am worried about losing two tricks in trumps for slam Since we are bidding slam if you have something like KQJx or AKJT, I must have quite a good hand With that in mind, let's look at your hands. KQJxxx of spades over 5s I'd bid 6s (Good!) This is an easy 6S bid. I see no problem here, we will not be losing two trumps. AKxxxx of spades over 5s I'd bid 6s (Not good!) Ok, think about this one for a minute. Partner has 4 trumps, I have six to the AK, that is 10. Partner was worried about losing 2 trumps for slam. If partner thinks he can make 5S missing AK of spades, and I have a sixth spade, seven is likely in the offing. Here I would not bid 6S, instead, I would make a try for grand slam, as this hand is the moral equivalent to AKQxx... The nature of the slam try will depend upon your agreement (bid 6 with a normal "good hand", try for grand slam with AK and either extra legnth or AKQ). AKQxx of spades over 5s I'd bid 6s (Not good!) This hand is just like the last, no one would simply bid 6S with hand on the given auction. Partner invited 6 missing AKQ of trumps for goodness sake. On this one, bidding 7S is almost automatic. But if you don't just jump to seven, you would surely make a grandslam try. Axxxxx of spades I might pass 5s (Not good!). See the points above. Partenr was concerned about losing two trump tricks. Partner has four spades. I have six to the Ace. Bidding the small slam here is clearly right. The question might be do you bid the small slam if your spades were Kxxxxx ? I think not, but with the ACE-sixth, yes. Now, having hammered what to do after hearing a jump to 5S, let's change it around and bid 5D as you suggested. Further, let's assume the responses are 5H = 0 or 3, 5S = 1 or 4, 5NT = two without, and 6C = two with. You can do ok after a 5D or 5NT response (below), but you are in the dark after a 5S response. For example... 1H-1S 5D-5H... ok, here you bail in 5S, easy enough,hope it makes 1H-1S 5D-5N ... ok, you caught your partner with S-AK, but is it AKxx, or AKxxx, or AKxxxx... I guess you can ask for the spade Q, and if your partner has 6 he can show the queen rather he has it or not. 1H-1S 5D-5S... you partner's spades could be Kxxx or Axxx or AQxx, or AQxxx, or AQJT9xxx, or Axxxxxx, you are stuck trying to guess what to do. Somehow, I think the direct 5S bid has it all over the exclusion blackwood auction here. ben If your pd will make a non-6s bid when he knows there's no trump loser in spades then 5s is surely a better bid than 5d. I respectfully agree on that. About what to do if you use exclusion blackwood and pd announces 1 key card I think I'll just bid 6s and hope for the best, I'm sure it will be a good gamble. Note that if he shows two keycards he can't have the queen so no need to ask for the sQ for 7. With 6 cards he will surely bid 2+Q with AKxxxx.

Because it is the right thing to do. This hand has nothing to do with Kelsey's advice. The number of average tricks in spades after 1h-1s is: 11.10 The number of average tricks in hearts after 1h-1s is: 10.94 Slam in spades is on in 41% of the cases, grand slam is on 21% In hearts you have 12 tricks 33% of the time and 13 on 12% So the hand must be played in spades and slam chances are very very good. The important thing is what happens on average not in just one particular hand. Do you want me to ask why you are playing 6h down 1 instead of 7s making ? I can post "n" hands where you have 13 tricks in spades and only 11 or 10 in hearts.

There is a bid, not sure you want to use it here or not, but if you think like Luis, it is probably better than his exclusion blackwood, and "equally" safe (safe being a relative term). The bid is a direct jump, not to 5D, which is exlusion blackwood, but to 5S (where luis is going anyway). This is a "TRUMP ASKING BID" on this auction, asking for good trumps. Now the meaning of "good" varies, but if opener was just interest in a keycard or two on an auction like this, normal blackwood or exclusion blackwood would be the answer. So "good" in this case would be something more than two of the top three... S-KQxxx is not good, S-AKxxx is not good. A sixth spade, to either of these become good (clearly partner has 4S for this jump, else he risk playing in 4-3 fit at five level with no good suit... since he is asking). AKJxx is probably good and AKJTx is clearly good. Is this leap better than Luis's solution of exlusion blackwood? Hard to say. If partner has something like S-AQJTX and out, how is luis to get to slam? If he ask for keycards he hears one. But has no idea if spades are good enough to go on. After all, his partner's one key card might be S-Kxxx where you could lose 4S (and be doubled at that in slam if S-AQJT is behind the king). I am torn on this hand. Luis's logic of the chance for slam or grand slam is sound. But any jump to 4D (fit) will get you to the slam anytime partner is holding good spades. He will bid 4H (LTTC) with good spades. Now, you can proceed normally. If on the other hand, after a leap to 4D and partner bids 4S, best stop. So while an immediate 5S ask the question you want asked, it may get you to high. I think after 4D, the auction isn't over, so I would probably bid that. Although if we are vul and they are not, I would be much more likely to bid 5S. The reason being it keeps them from dbling 4D and finding a good sacrafice, and keeps the slam in the picture. Ben Ben, don't you risk losing a grand slam with a 5s bid? If I have KQJxxx of spades over 5s I'd bid 6s (Good!) If I have AKQxx of spades over 5s I'd bid 6s (Not good!) If I have AKxxxx of spades over 5s I'd bid 6s (Not good!) If I have Axxxxx of spades I might pass 5s (Not good!) Asking for "good" trumps to play 6 is doubtful -in my opinion- when you can win 7 with AK sixth or AKQ and you can win 6 even when pd has bad trumps as Axxxxx.

At imps the best lead is a spade. If you want to defeat the contract a spade gives the defense the best chances. At MPs a spade is -in fact- the WORST lead and a low heart is best, yes a minor suit is better than a spade at MPs. The logic behind this is very simple a spade lead gives away a trick or 2 more frequently than a low heart lead. So low spades at IMPs and los heart at MPs. Nice example Ron !

luis, i dont think 5 level is safe, what if pd has sth like: S: QTXX H: XX D: AQTXX C: XX this hand is pretty good for 1S responder. Then with 0 keycards we'll be playing 5s probably down 1 or maybe making if we have luck. The chances to win a slam or even a grand slam are so good that the risk of going down 1 in 5s is worth the try.

The hand is slamish when spades are trumps the heart suit might provide all the discards needed in a slam or grand slam no matter how many hearts pd has. I'd never think about playing this hand in hearts.

Easy. 5d Exclusion Blackwood. Then you will know if you have to play 6s or 7s.