TheoKole

My apologies, I thought that the rules of 10 and 12 were well known. It goes like this, The best part score doubles occur when 3 conditions are present. 1) A misfit with partners hand. 2) Having a preponderance of high card points for your side 3) You or your partner have length and strength in their trump suit. (Length can be a combination, strength needs to be in one hand) For example partner opens 1 NT, RHO overcalls; you can add partners known length (2 cards) to your length. Rule of 10 deals with trumps strength and the Rule of 12 deals with trump length. How much do you need? Rule of 10: 10 - number of contract tricks = number of trump tricks needed Rule of 12: 12 - number of contract tricks = number of trumps needed How many tricks have they contracted for? Level 1 = 7, level 2 = 8, level 3 = 9 ex. against 3 ♦ = 9 tricks Rule of 10: 10 - 9 = 1 trump trick needed (a modification also exists that if you are in front of declarer you need 1 extra trump trick) Rule of 12: 12 - 9 = 3 trumps needed Trump tricks are self explanatory, trump length is needed because the less trumps that declarer has, means the more off-suit cards he will have, which will mean that partners high cards will pull more weight and take more tricks. How exactly do you calculate trump tricks? You assume that declarer will play trumps from the top and you calculate how many tricks that will give you, add an extra trick for any trumps over 4 You have KQJxx, in trumps calculate 3 + 1 = 4 trump tricks, obviously you want to ruff 1 time. You have QJx, calculate 1 trump trick You have QJ9xx calculate 3 tricks (in this example do not calculate +1 for trump length - it will be taken up by the AK of trumps the spots may play a factor) Your specific trump holding will probably indicate the defense that you want to follow also. The rules of 10 and 12 also exist for 3/5 leads but are a separate part of the game. Thanks for the comments, Theo

I am wondering how often others use these "rules" as a guideline as to double part score contracts by opponents. By my own records in match-point and team play, they are correct about 5 times out of 6, providing that you have a misfit with partner and a majority of the points for the deal in question. This corresponds very closely to what I have read should be the average success rate of these doubles. I tend to use them in match-point and team play with the same frequency. For information purposes only I have played in about 30 national tournaments in my country and my average success rate is between 1st and 6th place in open competition, however; I have never played in an international tournament or against international players in tournaments. I noticed recently in Vugraph that very few part score contracts were doubled for penalties in team play, and the commentators went on and on as to how you NEVER double a part score contract unless you are 100% sure that the contract is going down. The obvious questions come to mind then, Does the level of play between national and international tournaments matter that much in doubling? Are swings so rare that even with the mathematics backing you, you just cannot risk being wrong even once? Am I completely wrong in doubling part scores in team play without 100% certainty? I have read in Justin's blog, that sometimes paid professionals will not take a semi risky decision that they cannot explain to their teammates if it goes wrong, due to the risk of being fired. Do part score doubles fall into that category of "decisions" and perhaps is a major reason for the "certainty" criteria of the doubles? All comments and suggestions are welcome but I would truly like to hear the experiences of players that have played in international competitions or against top flight players. Thanks, Theo

A few years ago me and my regular partner decided to go into an open category tournament team match just for the experience. At the time we both were at a very low category and were favorites to finish in last place. In our first match, I had the honor to play against the number 1 and number 3 players in the country. In a 4 ♥ contract that I declared the cards were just terribly placed and I had to endplay the opponents 2 times to get out for -1, after a surround play by my RHO. The declarer at the other table ended up at 4 ♥ -3. In any case the number 1 player (my hero) gave me a well played, truly unlucky compliment that I will always cherish. Theo

I play full garbage stayman with my regular partners, (this includes short ♣, short ♦ and short ♥. So this sequence would be weak stayman with short ♥. This treatment is not standard though and trying it with a weak hand without an agreement is asking for trouble. With a pickup partner or someone that I have no specific agreement I would treat it as an invite with 5 spades and 4 hearts. Theo

3 ♦, 4th suit if partner bids 3 NT I would bid 4 ♣ which should clearly be a slam try in ♣, why would you go above game if you did not want to investigate a slam? 4 NT by partner should be a clear sign off at this point, which I would expect with QJx. If partner cue bids 4 ♦ I will cue bid 4 ♥, if he cue bids 4 ♥, I will sign off in 6 ♣. Good luck, Theo

A ♦ lead would have set the slam that is certain but it is too late for that now. What you do not want to do is play a ♦ now, decalrer will win the Ace play a trump to dummy's Q and ruff a ♥ high making the ♥ good. With the Q ♠ in dummy you can be sure that his trump suit is self supporting. He will then take out partners trumps and go to the A of ♣ for discards on the ♥. Your plan of defense is evident, take out dummy's entry NOW, before the ♥ are good and lead a ♣. Good luck, Theo

Win the A ♠, cash the J ♥, if the ♥ are 2-1, cash the AK ♣ (very very low probability of a ruff). ruff a ♠ ruff a ♣ with the 10 ♥ and ruff dummy's last ♠. Take the last trump and play the Q or 8 ♦ from your hand ducking if LHO does not cover. Either RHO is endplayed in ♦ or he will give you a ruff sluff to get rid of your losing ♦. If ♥ are 3-0 the play is trickier. The same basic play is needed but you are trying to count LHO hand pattern and trying to figure out if he has the K ♦. You will have a good count of the ♠ and ♥ by this time and probably a good count of the ♣ suit, if LHO shows up with the top honors in ♠ and some ♣ honors I would place the ♦ K in RHO's hand and play accordingly. Good luck, Theo

6 ♦ if playing 4th best leads, 2 ♦ if I am playing 3/5 leads. nothing in the bidding indicates that a ♠ or ♥ lead would be better, so Ill try my longest and strongest suit. Good luck, Theo

In any system, I would open 3NT, even if I was playing precision sayc, 2/1, whatever! This is a specific Ace asking system almost always with a void. Precision players should also have some kind of system like this, in my opinion, for goulash type hands like this. Precision loses a lot of its value with goulash type hands. Opening a strong 1 ♣ (Precision) on these type of hands is like sticking your head on the chopping block. Don't be too surprised when the bidding comes back to you at the 5 or 6 level, and then you will be guessing. Guessing which slam to bid is a situation that should never ever happen when you play precision. You have to foresee the possible or likely bidding of the opponents and get your asking bid to partner RIGHT AWAY. Opening 2 ♣ playing sayc or 2/1 is basically the same situation. I guarentee you that if an opponent opens 2 ♣ and I have a spade suit like the one floating around in someone's hand on this board (2 to 1 it is in an opponents hand), that I will bid. What if it is in partner's hand? How do you try and stop him from bidding spades to the hilt, sitting down like a good puppy on this hand and simply answering the question of aces that you need to know. This is a COMMAND BID situation if I ever saw one, especially since it is not a goulash tournament. Partner will never imagine this hand. Especially if he has a void in ♥. Command bids basically say to partner, I am in command on this hand. Answer the question and nothing else, no opinion is required from you on this hand. Best of luck, Theo

I remember this hand as Jec's hand in one of his matches. I commented at the time that I would open it with a regular partner as a 3NT bid asking partner to bid the suit of his lowest Ace. If LHO bids a suit, an X by partner shows the Ace of that suit, pass shows no Ace and a bid suit shows the Ace of the suit and denies lower suit aces and the ace of the preempt suit. If LHO passes partner bids his suit Ace and 4NT for no Ace of a suit. After partner passes or bids the lowest NT bid other than 6 or 7 NT asks for a higher suit Ace or a King of a lower suit (in that order of preference). This bid rarely comes up in my partnership but I find it is very valuable for Goulash type hands like this where everybody else is simply guessing. Every time it has come up in the last 5 years, about twice a year, I have gotten a top on the board. As I have no other use for a 3NT opener, I find a Gambling 3NT opener, is both useless as a preempt, easy to bid against, (X for the majors, minor 4 bid for major-minor 2 suiter), easy to defend against, (lead an Ace or King, look at dummy, continue or switch accordingly) and very very rare. I have had a classic Gambling 3NT opener once in the past 5 years. The hand is very very unlucky, in that what looks like the best contract (6 or 7 ♣) from your hand goes down from a horrendous split. I admit that I would have been in 7 ♣ probably down 2 because of the splits. But the 5 ♣ punt by Jec as I recall was really really lucky and definetly an underbid. If I had no agreement or with a pickup partner I would probably punt 6 ♣. Just my thoughts, Theo

1. Ace ♣, to look at dummy most of all but perhaps I can get a club ruff. 2. King ♠, to look at dummy again and make a decision. We have 1 ♠ trick at most and it may be important to keep the lead. If partner wants to he can always overtake with the Ace if he has it. 3. King ♠, partner may have a ♦ stopper and I am hoping to hit his length in ♠. The fact that he did not open in third seat does not really mean he doesn't have ♠ because it would have to be a very weak suit with the honors I have. Well done for second place, Theo

1. Pass, I don't have a reasonable bid. Whether I will leave in a reopening X by partner which is sure to come is uncertain. I have to REALLY know the ops style and even this is uncertain. Even unsound bidders sometimes have their bids. If I REALLY know this op I will leave the X by partner in. 2. Pass, no need to push on an unlikely game. My spot cards make this hand a very bad 11. 3. I am torn between X for ♥ and an immediate 3 ♠ splinter in support of ♣. I do not want to miss a ♥ fit for game, but I think that if we have a slam it will be in ♣. The hand seems very slamish and I admit it could be very wrong not to X for ♥, but I am really worried about a 4 ♠ call by South. I think I will go with my gut and bid 3 ♠ splinter. 4. WHACK. X for penalties. How you did well, Good luck, Theo

I posted my system for goulash a while ago. It works quite well for me and I invite others to try it and see if it works for them. So I'll copy my goulash strategy here for comments and critique. A complicated bidding system, with lots of relays will not work in goulash in my opinion. The opponents will have lots of opportunities and hands to pump up the biding to the 4 and 5 level so a strong club system will not work out well. There are some basic rules of bidding and doubling that I subscribe to that I have found out work out well. 1. When you have an opening bid with points you open at the 1 level. 2. Assume that a 1 ♣ or 1 ♦ opening bid is a long suit and support with 3 cards, it will be over 95% of the time in my experience. 3. When you have a barrage type hand open up at the level indicated by your hand pattern, level 2, 3, 4, 5 or whatever. 4. You ALWAYS support your partners suit with 3 cards, ALWAYS means you never miss an opportunity to support partner. There is one exception to this, if your partner has bid game with barrage bid. Then you can support or not whether you judge if the ops have a game slam or not. You can support with different bids, simple raising, splinter, Ace asking, cue-bids, delayed support, weak jumps, whatever, don't worry if the level has reached the 5 level, support your partner. 5. Rule 4 is the reason for rule 1. Your partner with support must know what type of hand you have, an opener plus or a barrage hand. 6. Except with OBVIOUS sacrifice bids by opponents, do not double ops contract without, a. SURE trump tricks, AK, KQ, QJ98, and so on b. Aces or AK in SHORT suits of yours. c. Do not double with Aces in long suits of yours, or with 4 or 5 trumps to 87532. d. QJ's usually count for nothing on defense in goulash. 7. Even doubling obvious sacrifice bids with defensive tricks, expect to be unpleasantly surprised sometimes. One op will have a void in 1 suit and the other in the other suit. Cross-ruff time is upon you and they will probably make. B) 8. In bidding it is very useful to have some type of Ace asking system with voids. I use a 3NT opener to ask for specific Aces, do not do this and do not play Exclusion blackwood without agreements. Also it is advisable to play DOPI or DIPO because many times ops will have the suits to interrupt your regular RKC responses. 9. If you are bidding with points in what seems to be a misfit auction, a 3NT bid should guarentee a solid suit to run for tricks, either you have one or you can fill out your partners suit. If you are counting on a suit with AQ108xx in a misfit auction, you are living in a pipe dream world. 10. Although it just seems common sense, I mention the following point because I have seen it many times, do not introduce new suits at the 3 level or above (unless it is a barrage opening) that do not have body to them without some type of escape. To clarify, your partner opens 2 ♠ weak and you hold 976432, of ♥ with a singleton ♠, and scattered honors KQ in other suits, do not bid ♥. But you say I have a 6 card suit, if I have a fit... yes you do and if you get Xed I can tell you what the opening lead will be... 10 ♥ followed by the J and so on... you will probably take 2 or if you are lucky 3 tricks. Yes ops may have a slam on the hand, but who says they are going to bid it? Give your partners preempt a chance to work. So when can you bid a suit of your own, well an example hand would be if opponent opened 1 ♦ partner over-called 2 ♣, followed by second op bidding 3 ♦, I would bid 3 ♥ on AQ10976 ♥, with 10xx ♣ support. Notice that the suit has body to it and if it gets doubled I have an escape, supporting my P's suit. Unless my partner has a good lead of his own, I would like a ♥ lead on defense, plus I want to explore a fit above ♦ on the bidding ladder if we have one. 11. If you are sure that you can control the bidding, bid slowly and forcing, DO NOT JUMP unless partner is likely or able to pass the bidding on his turn. To give you an opportunity to show you what I mean, I recently held... ♠ AKQJ10976542 ♥ - ♦ Kx ♣ - ;) and my partner opened in first seat 1♣!!! :o I bid 1 ♠, p bid 2 ♥ I bid 3 ♦ :o , Why you ask? Because I wanted to see if partner could give delayed support to ♦. even 2 cards. If he supported ♠ I would have been shocked even in goulash. So how does that help you ask, well if he supports ♦, I can bid 5NT Grand slam force, this COMMANDS partner to bid 6 ♦ or 7 ♦ with 1 or 2 of the top honors in ♦. With no top honors he bids 6 ♣, it also COMMANDS partner to pass whatever you rebid. No discussion or opinion from him is required on this particular hand. Even better partner bid 3 NT after 3 ♦, I now bid 6 ♠. The entire bidding went 1 ♣ 1 ♠ 2 ♥ 3 ♦ 3 NT (X) 6 ♠ - P - P - X all pass. Partner had the golden 8 ♠ and 2 Aces and 2 Kings so the contract was book on any lead, I made +1 on the ♥ lead. A cool 95% matchpoints. I knew that even if partner had Jxx in ♦ I would almost assuredly have some kind of play on the lead, My one worry is that they would lead a trump. But I was going to 6 ♠ anyways, I controled the bidding to get information from partner, and the key point is I KNEW that I could control the bidding because I had the boss suit. 12. The example hand brings up rule 12. Never pass a command bid by partner and always assume he or she knows what they are doing. Even if p's bidding seems screwy, assume they know what they are doing. I can only imagine what my partner thought when I bid 6 ♠, especially after RHO Xed. 13. On defense this is in conjuction with rule 4. Do not double a slam after screwy bidding without SURE trump tricks. RHO obviously had ♣ 's to double 3 NT and as it turns out the A ♦. She should have realized that something strange was going on, and should not have Xed. If I am going down they will get a good score anyways. By the way I might have bid the same way with 12 ♠'s and a singleton ♦, then I would have XX and they would have no place to run. 14. Learn to recognize "Key cards" that fit your partners hand. For example. Your partner bids 1 ♥, ops bid ♠ then he bids 6 ♣ You have Q ♥ singleton and J1032 ♣. These are HUGE cards for your partner. You have to remember that he is bidding slam by himself without these cards. He is not worried about a ♠ or ♦ loser, bid 7 ♣ with these cards. Same thing when partner bids 6 of a slam by himself, and you have a top honor in his suit A, K or Q bid the grand. Just my thoughts, Theo

3 ♥

I would suggest that you either play Suction convention or even better a new convention called HELLO over ops NT. I only play Cappiletti if partner insists or if he doesnt know any other convention. Kind regards, Theo

I remember the hand now, I had forgotten about it :) I had the choice of a ♥ or a ♦ lead on the hand, rightly or wrongly I decided that on a ♦ as the least dangerous lead I could find. Leading is not an exact science and sometimes as in this case a ♥ lead would have made it easier to defeat the contract. The reasons I played the 10 on the second trick was to show partner that I did not have a 4 card suit and in order to which to a ♥ when he had a chance. When this did not work out as planed. I played the Q ♣ knowing that partner had a second ♠ stopper (I had a count on the entire hand at this point) and switched to a low ♥, if I wanted to continue ♦ I would have either continued them myself or led a HIGH ♥ to my partner for him to play ♦ through declarer. By the way the opening LEAD of the 10 from 10xx will cost a trick as many times as the opening LEAD of a low card from AJxx. After the lead and return however I could SEE that declarer had no other way to make 3 diamond tricks (if he needed them) other than playing the Q on the 3rd round, I also knew that this play would work, so the playing of the 10 cost nothing but it permitted me a way to try to send a message to my partner. Theo

Im a 775678. Postmortems always should wait until after a session is over, in my opinion.

Play the A ♣ and see if you can drop a singleton K, If the K does not drop go to the opposite hand and lead towards the Q. This play works if there is a singleton K in either hand, if the clubs are 2-2, or if the ♣ are 3-1, with 3 trumps before the AQ. If the trumps are 4-0 then there is no play that works and if the trumps are 3-1 with the K offside then also there is no play that works. I assume from the layout that you are also missing the J10 and 9 of trumps. Good luck, Theo

I remembered something else that I forgot to mention. Learn to recognize "Key cards" For example. Your partner bids 1 ♥, ops bid ♠ then he bids 6 ♣ You have Q ♥ singleton and J1032 ♣. These are HUGE cards for your partner. You have to remember that he is bidding slam by himself without these cards. He is not worried about a ♠ or ♦ loser, bid 7 ♣ with these cards. Same thing when partner bids 6 of a slam by himself, and you have a top honor in his suit A, K or Q bid the grand. Good luck, Theo

A complicated bidding system, with lots of relays will not work in goulash in my opinion. The opponents will have lots of opportunities and hands to pump up the biding to the 4 and 5 level so a strong club system will not work out well. There are some basic rules of bidding and doubling that I subscribe to that I have found out work out well. 1. When you have an opening bid with points you open at the 1 level. 2. Assume that a 1 ♣ or 1 ♦ opening bid is a long suit and support with 3 cards, it will be over 95% of the time in my experience. 3. When you have a barrage type hand open up at the level indicated by your hand pattern, level 2, 3, 4, 5 or whatever. 4. You ALWAYS support your partners suit with 3 cards, ALWAYS means you never miss an opportunity to support partner. There is one exception to this, if your partner has bid game with barrage bid. Then you can support or not whether you judge if the ops have a game slam or not. You can support with different bids, simple raising, splinter, Ace asking, cue-bids, delayed support, weak jumps, whatever, don't worry if the level has reached the 5 level, support your partner. 5. Rule 4 is the reason for rule 1. Your partner with support must know what type of hand you have, an opener plus or a barrage hand. 6. Except with OBVIOUS sacrifice bids by opponents, do not double ops contract without, a. SURE trump tricks, AK, KQ, QJ98, and so on b. Aces or AK in SHORT suits of yours. c. Do not double with Aces in long suits of yours, or with 4 or 5 trumps to 87532. d. QJ's usually count for nothing on defense in goulash. 7. Even doubling obvious sacrifice bids with defensive tricks, expect to be unpleasantly surprised sometimes. One op will have a void in 1 suit and the other in the other suit. Cross-ruff time is upon you and they will probably make. B) 8. In bidding it is very useful to have some type of Ace asking system with voids. I use a 3NT opener to ask for specific Aces, do not do this and do not play Exclusion blackwood without agreements. Also it is advisable to play DOPI or DIPO because many times ops will have the suits to interrupt your regular RKC responses. 9. If you are bidding with points in what seems to be a misfit auction, a 3NT bid should guarentee a solid suit to run for tricks, either you have one or you can fill out your partners suit. If you are counting on a suit with AQ108xx in a misfit auction, you are living in a pipe dream world. 10. Although it just seems common sense, I mention the following point because I have seen it many times, do not introduce new suits at the 3 level or above (unless it is a barrage opening) that do not have body to them without some type of escape. To clarify, your partner opens 2 ♠ weak and you hold 976432, of ♥ with a singleton ♠, and scattered honors KQ in other suits, do not bid ♥. But you say I have a 6 card suit, if I have a fit... yes you do and if you get Xed I can tell you what the opening lead will be... 10 ♥ followed by the J and so on... you will probably take 2 or if you are lucky 3 tricks. Yes ops may have a slam on the hand, but who says they are going to bid it? Give your partners preempt a chance to work. So when can you bid a suit of your own, well an example hand would be if opponent opened 1 ♦ partner over-called 2 ♣, followed by second op bidding 3 ♦, I would bid 3 ♥ on AQ10976 ♥, with 10xx ♣ support. Notice that the suit has body to it and if it gets doubled I have an escape, supporting my P's suit. Unless my partner has a good lead of his own, I would like a ♥ lead on defense, plus I want to explore a fit above ♦ on the bidding ladder if we have one. 11. If you are sure that you can control the bidding, bid slowly and forcing, DO NOT JUMP unless partner is likely or able to pass the bidding on his turn. To give you an opportunity to show you what I mean, I recently held... ♠ AKQJ10976542 ♥ - ♦ Kx ♣ - ;) and my partner opened in first seat 1♣!!! :o I bid 1 ♠, p bid 2 ♥ I bid 3 ♦ :o , Why you ask? Because I wanted to see if partner could give delayed support to ♦. even 2 cards. If he supported ♠ I would have been shocked even in Goulash. So how does that help you ask, well if he supports ♦, I can bid 5NT Grand slam force, this COMMANDS partner to bid 6 ♦ or 7 ♦ with 1 or 2 of the top honors in ♦. With no top honors he bids 6 ♣, it also COMMANDS partner to pass whatever you rebid. No discussion or opinion from him is required on this particular hand. Even better partner bid 3 NT after 3 ♦, I now bid 6 ♠. The entire bidding went 1 ♣ 1 ♠ 2 ♥ 3 ♦ 3 NT (X) 6 ♠ - P - P - X all pass. Partner had the golden 8 ♠ and 2 Aces and 2 Kings so the contract was book on any lead, I made +1 on the ♥ lead. A cool 95% matchpoints. I knew that even if partner had Jxx in ♦ I would almost assuredly have some kind of play on the lead, My one worry is that they would lead a trump. But I was going to 6 ♠ anyways, I controled the bidding to get information from partner, and the key point is I KNEW that I could control the bidding because I had the boss suit. 12. The example hand brings up rule 12. Never pass a command bid by partner and always assume he or she knows what they are doing. Even if p's bidding seems screwy, assume they know what they are doing. I can only imagine what my partner thought when I bid 6 ♠, especially after RHO Xed. 13. On defense this is in conjuction with rule 4. Do not double a slam after screwy bidding without SURE trump tricks. RHO obviously had ♣ 's to double 3 NT and as it turns out the A ♦. She should have realized that something strange was going on, and should not have Xed. If I am going down they will get a good score anyways. By the way I might have bid the same way with 12 ♠'s and a singleton ♦, then I would have XX and they would have no place to run. Just my thoughts, Theo

East is more likely than not to have a red 2 suiter. If he is void in ♣, then the only play that works is to run the J ♣ on the first round, if West covers the Q and East shows out you can still pickup the trump suit. I agree with others that the vacant spaces calculation, suggests overwhelmingly to play West for the Q. Theo

I don't think that there is much to think about here. Double and lead a trump. If partner does not lead a trump when he gets in, he better not have one to lead, then play accordingly when you see the dummy. If his partner corrects to spades, do the same thing on defense. Once you have gotten as many trumps out of the hands as possible, try to tap the declarer, for the rest of his trumps. Declarer will be trying to score as many tricks as he can on a crossruff on this hand and you must stop him. It is a real wonder why so many people are unwilling to double low level contracts like this with a trump stack and defensive tricks. If your partner takes out your double he better have a damn fine hand, and I would explore slam in clubs. Just my thoughts, Theo

In your ops position I play the 2 !S call as natural. Also I would play (1 ♦ ) P (1 ♠) 2 ♦ as natural but obviously I would need a much better suit than the 2 ♠ over-call. This is not alertable in my jurisdiction if it is natural. However some people play 2 ♠ as Michael's, I have no idea why, when you can have a takeout double and Unusual NT to describe your hand to your partner. I think you should have asked, as should your partner, because people screw up in this game. Once describing their agreement I would make sure that they bid according to their hand AND the agreement. Since I play the Unusual vs Unusual convention, my bids would have different meanings according to what their agreements are. Something very similar to this happened to me when ops where playing Ghestem. I asked and his partner explained their agreement. It seems that his partner had screwed up and bid our 9 card ♥ fit with my partner. His p with 4 cards in ♥ and 2 ♦ did not put him back to ♥. After the director was called, he gave them a stern lecture about bidding according to their agreements, penalized them with an 0 % in matchpoints tournament, and put the partner of the Ghestem bidder on notice of disiplinary (sp?) action if it happens again. The partner by the time the bidding had got to 5 ♦ knew that his partner had screwed up in the first place. Instead of taking his lumps like a man, he tried to plead innocent and con the director. The director understood everything that had happened and ruled accordingly. Theo

Quote: "Sure, it's Hearts or Hearts and a Minor - and the partnership has no penalty double. Go peacefully into the night?" Yes. Theo

Thanks for the responses everyone. My first thought when I was dealt this problem hand was NOT NOW!!! Last hand, in a matchpoint tournament that you are leading is not the time for a problem hand with a pickup partner. Like you guys suggested this hand can be bid in several different ways, but only with a regular partner that you have discussed various sequences with. I also had to remember that the bidding would probably be all over the place on this hand, (who really knows what can make on this hand opposite a 1NT bidder?), so my main concern was to land in a decent contract, not necessarily a game contract. If my partner was strong in the majors with a 4 card ♥ fit, 4 ♥ is probably a shoe in. If he was strong in the minors 3 NT or 5 ♣ is better. That was why I was going to bid 3 ♣ over a 2 ♦ response, basically a "where you live" bid. As someone suggested, of partner can bid 3 ♦, over 3 ♣, I could make a 3 NT bid to give my partner a choice of contracts. Over 2 ♥ or 2 ♠ response, I really need no or very little ♦ high cards in partners hand to make game. I was planning to be a bit conservative in the bidding due to the fact that I was leading, I would probably be aggressive in the bidding if I was trailing, and these where overriding considerations. Anyways obviously anything I do could be right or wrong on a given day, Thanks again for the responses, Theo