luis

3♠ is a great bid and 5♣ is not bad either. Double might work only if your pd takes out to 4♦ and you pass. Assuming the 3♦ bid is a psyche.

Maybe 5♣, 4 cards, singleton in diamonds, both majors hidden in case they bid 5♥ or 5♠ over 5♣. 3NT is also an option, not balanced, no diamond stopper, no source of tricks, both majors hidden. If double was for penalties that could also be fine but I guess is takeout here so it is a problem, I can play in any suit that pd has and I have the values pd will expect for a takeout double so it is doubtful. So I bid 3♠ showing spades, if pd has 3 spades and 4 hearts he will correct to 4♥ otherwise we can play 5♣. It's the most flexible bid.

That would constitute an implicit agreement. Exactly.

This is the root of all evils. People think that playing online you have to alert what you have in your hand for your bids when they are not natural. Absurd! As some posters have said you only have to alert what a bid means when you have an agreement with your pd, the agreement can be either implicit or explicit. An example of an implicit agreement is when you repeat a bid that was made in your partnership before expecting pd to remember what the bid showed the first time, then you can alert and say what the bid is supossed to mean since you do have an agreement about it. Let's say you get x, xx, Axxxx, KJxx. You pass as dealer and after 3 passes your RHO opens 1♠ in 4th position, you bid 1NT as minors since you are a passed hand, do you have to alert and say "minors" not at all unless this has happened before with your pd OR you have discussed what NT bids by passed hands would mean. I see a LOT of confused players alerting things they shouldn't and I see a lot of (****) players demanding explanations about bids that don't need any explanation. Luis

i)1D - 2C (by p) Here I strongly recommend you to play 1D - 2C as game-forcing following the 2/1 spirit. Then rebids are more natural and easier to make, Kokish rebids are particularly useful: 2di = 5+ diamonds any 2he/2sp = exactly 4 diamonds and 4 in the major, balanced 2nt = balanced hand without 5 diamonds or 4 in a major 3c = 4 card raise If 2c is not game forcing I think you will be forced to bid 3NT with 18-19 balanced. Luis

I Love dogs, recently wounded both my knees and destroyed a pair of expensive pants when diving into the asphalt to rescue a running dog that was headed directly into a big avenue ;) I'm also allergic to cats but I've been doing some treatments and now I must say I can be in a house with cats for a long time without any complications :-) My mom has a Dog and 2 cats, including a strange variation of a "smart" car that responds to his name, opens doors, asks for food and does other interesting tricks.

4♠ of course!

Depends on the rest of the hand, which honors you have, what are the spots in each suit etc. Saying I would lead a spade or a heart with Hxxx/Hxx is a very simplistic position. I strongly recommend you to ignore any recommendation that doesn't take into consideration the whole hand.

Agree, my "standard" is very similar to the others. 1NT reopening 10-14 X followed by 1NT 15-17 2NT reopening 18-20 "The good thing about standards is that you can choose among many" :-) Luis

Seems like a normal 1S bid. Its not strong enough for 2S. Pass might be right, but thats too big a position for me. Josh, I don't know you personally but from your posts here I think you are a good player and a smart poster. So I'm perplexed, how can you bid 1♠ with 7 cards? And how can you even think about passing? I'm asking not because I want to smash your bid but because I'm really interested in knowing why a good player would consider a 1♠ bid holding 7 cards and what kind of advantage do you plan to obtain bidding 1♠ instead of 2, 3 or 4 spades.

The following Philosophical debate emerged at my local club: Bidding: 1♦ - pass - 1♠ - pass 2♦ - pass - 2♠ Now everybody knows 2♠ is non-forcing (tadah!) but the question is: What does the 1♠ bidder need in terms of values to bid 2♠? Is there a hand that the 1♦ opener can have that will bid over 2♠? Can he? A group here says "2♠ promises nothing, absolute signoff, opener will always pass" The other group says "Without values responder can pass 2♦ so when he bids 2♠ it's non-forcing but shows values, at least the values to decide not to pass 2♦ so opener with a good hand can cooperate and bid again" Do you join the dark side or the light side and which one is each? :-) [Edited Note after Knx... comment: 1♦ - 2♠ is strong or some gadget WJS not in use] Luis

Well my pd thought it was clearly forcing and I took it as 100% forcing. But neither of us were sure about 3♣ promising diamond support or not. My pd argued "why would I bid 2♠ If I can show my hand bidding 3♣?" and that makes sense to me, the hand can be a partscore a game or a slam and if you start with a nebulous 2♠ holding AJT98 of clubs chances are you will never find out your perfect strain. I'm very sure 3♣ is forcing over a 2♦ overcall (you can always pass 2♦) I'm not sure about 3♣ showing support or not I'm not sure 3♣ is better than 2♠ but I kind of like the way my pd explained it, maybe that's why we play together?

I guess you had a club missorted with your spades....

I believe a passed hand MUST show support with support, the auction is potentially competitive so supporting should be the first priority. Because of that I find the 1NT bid plain horrible. 2♠ seems to be fine, if opener has a good hand he will invite and responder can accept based on his good distributional values. About your pass of 1NT I don't like it with a 5-4 hand it is always better to show your 2 suits, you can have a nice diammond fit and go down a lot in 1NT. Luis

In your context 4♥ is automatic. Not only you can make a game when 3♥ was invitational (heart J = good) But you also cover against the chance that your pd intended 3♥ as forcing. So I would protect with a 4♥ bid and find out what 3♥ was for pd for future reference. Luis

Thanks for the comments, When I polled this at the club most players said they would bid 2♠, some conservative guys declared preference for 3♦ and of course my pd bid neither of those he bid 3♣. I kind of like the 3♣ bid and I was interested to know if this by an unpassed hand is ok or not, after all a change of suit from 2♦ to 3♣ by an unpassed hand has to be forcing and gives more information than 2♠. My hand was: AJTx 9 AKTxxx Qx Luis

Good reference Obviously I don't have the book and my understanding is that in 4th position the most standard view is that a jump to 3♠ shows a hand from 11-14 HCP with 7 spades.

Preemptive in 4th seat ? Cmon!

Well, if you wanted to bid 4NT before, why don't you do it now that you know pard has cards? :) Because: 1: I can't have the hand I have (I would have overcalled before) 2: They have already found they have a spade fit after I let them bid 4♠ in comfort 3: Because my pd and I get quite irritated when you pass initially and discover you have a two suiter later

yes you did Well I would never pass 3♠ with 6-5 in the minors. So I'm happy to abstain :-)

[hv=d=w&v=n&s=sqhj873dq84cajt98]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] LHO opens 1♠ and pd overcalls 2♦, pass by RHO. What do you bid now? What would you bid assuming you have passed as dealer?

Abstain! Did I just pass 3♠ ???

3♠ seems to be right. 1♠ is ridiculous and I have a lot of shape for 2♠, 4♠ may work but seems to be an overreaction. Luis

You and your pd are guilty of the same problem: Not bidding NT with a balanced hand. Your pd has a clear 1NT bid with his balanced hand, 1♦ - 1♥ ; 2♦ is always unbalanced. Once pd showed an unbalanced hand you have some reasons for not bidding 3NT but somehow I think you still have to bid 3NT because you have a balanced hand with only 4 hearts. Luis

Well I fail to see the point of your post this time Roland. For everybody here pass will be automatic, responder is not supossed to bid 4♠ with a diamond control. If this is something like "for his bidding, he can't be lacking the diamond control because..." I just don't buy it. If in this partnership responder might have a diamond control then south has to guess and I dislike the method.s If in this partnership responder can't have the diamond control pass is automatic. It's boring either way at least to me. Luis