TheoKole

5 ♦ If the opps bid 5 ♠ or 5 ♥ I will probably sacrifice at 6 ♦ unless partner doubles them. Cheers

Opening 1NT with a 5 card major is perfectly acceptable and legal, I regularly open 1NT with 5 ♥ if it will cause a rebid problem by opening 1 ♥ instead. MUCH rarer is opening 1NT with 5 ♠ or offshape 2-2-3-6 for example but I have done both if my spades are VERY weak (23456 for example) or I have a rebid problem with long ♣ or long ♦. If the opponents ASK my partner tells them, yes we DO open 1NT with a 5 card major if there is a rebid problem however an alert (could have a 5 card major) isn't necessary in my opinion or I presume in the by-laws. Just because your opponent assumed that you wouldn't open with a 5 card major (probably because he never has) isn't your problem. Cheers :)

Definitely 1♠ Mike Lawrence has a book out on Overcalls which says an expert trick is to overcall on a GOOD 4 card suit with an opening bid when your hand is not suitable for a take-out double. This just takes it a step further of balancing on a GOOD 4 card suit in the pass-out seat with a 10 pointer. You will not go higher than 2 spades, and even if they compete, and can push them out of their comfort zone (you have spades). :-) Notice that you want a spade lead on any contract that they buy (the 10♠ makes a BIG difference in the quality of the suit). If you pass these types of hands you will lose a lot of part-score battles. Cheers :)

I think that 3NT bidder has a long solid minor hand with a ♠ stopper, probably Kx(x) ♠. If I double they will probably run if I can beat 3NT and pass if I can't get to partner in time. Since I have hopes for beating 3NT, (I will lead A♥ and if partner encourages, Q ♥ and then 10 ♥ to strip him of his hearts until he overtakes with the K ♥, and has no choice but to lead Spades, (make things easy for your partner I always say :) ). I expect to find a x♠ in dummy although it is possible to be unlucky and dummy comes down with a stiff Q♠. If partner discourages on A ♥ lead, dummy will show me if declarer has solid ♦ or ♣, and I will obviously play the other suit to get to partner's hand so he can play ♠. It is very possible that we can get the first 8 or 9 tricks against 3NT, but that we have 5 quick losers in 4♠. I would try for the plus score and Pass. :unsure: Cheers

With my regular partner, I would bid 3 ♥ forcing, (we would not play weak over weak). I am already thinking about slam in hearts and I have to assume that I must protect my K ♦ from 2 fast losers until I know otherwise. With the A ♦ instead of the Kx ♦ or a singleton , I would probably bid 3♦ wanting to here from partner. Partner's bidding will take into account how many quick losers he has in Diamonds, so if he insists on Spades I will trust he has the A♦, a singleton or void. For now I want him to know that I have good hearts, and I probably expect a 3 ♠ bid from him, if he does bid spades, I will cue bid 4 Clubs as a waiting bid to see if he can cue-bid ♦. If he goes back to 4 ♥, I will use RKC 4NT, but in reality I really can't see him having the A ♦ if he can't cue-bid diamonds. (He may have a void though) Most likely after I cue-bid 4♣ is a 5 ♥ bid by partner asking for ♦ control after which I would bid 6 ♥. :) Cheers

[hv=d=e&v=e&n=saqjhk4dakxxcakqj&w=skxxha1098xxdj10cxx&e=s109xxxxxhqxdxxxcx&s=shjxxdq9xxc1098743]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Dealer East E/W Vulnerable Bidding goes, 2♠ - Pass - Pass - Double* 3♠ - Pass - Pass - 3NT Pass - 4♣ - Pass - 4♦ Pass - 5♣ - Double** - Redouble*** Pass - Pass - Pass 2♠ (any old 6 card suit will do) Double* - Takeout 3♠ (I actually have 7 spades but am REALLY WEAK) 3NT - Partner I have 25 - 27 points in MY HAND (2 club opening) :) 4♣ - Partner I have a weak hand with clubs (problem with entries) :( 4♦ - (ok Clubs are fine) Cuebid (looking for A ♥ - thinking of 6 or 7 clubs) :) 5♣ - Nothing to Cuebid (6 clubs is probably on a finesse of K ♥) :unsure: Double** - Penalty (trusting her partner) ;) Redouble*** - (*A GIFT* :lol: she really shouldn't have trusted him on this occasion) 5 ♣ xx +1 = 1000 This hand came up with one of my regular partners on BBO a few days ago. As we have a regular partnership at our club (ie. we trust each others bidding) we seem to play a redoubled contract (1 which hasn't made) on average once every 2 to 3 months. (This usually happens when one of the opponents steps a little out of line) I have noticed that this goes up on average to about twice a month when we play on BBO. My opinion is that alot of players on BBO don't take their bidding very seriously. If some opponents want to bid like this fellow i'll be happy to redouble the contract when their partners are deceived by their bidding. B) Cheers

2NT Partner has probably just used 4th suit forcing and is looking for a Spade stopper from you in order to play in NT. 2 NT describes your hand as a minimum opener with spades stopped. You will probably play in 3NT, but if partner is strong he may start cue-bidding. :P Cheers

I bid 4 ♥, if they bid 4 ♠ I will pass and will have to lead, there is no way that I want to give away my ♦ suit information, and help declarer play the hand. :rolleyes: Cheers

I read partner for a 6 card ♥ suit, most likely as he probably would have continued otherwise, also if declarer is a good bidder he wouldn't jump to 4 spades with 4 immediate losers. Partner has the King and Queen ♦ or King and X ♦ doubleton. You must initially encourage partner to play a second diamond, so that declarer doesn't have a chance to make a loser on loser play on second round of hearts. Overtake the second round of diamonds with the Ace and play a third diamond hopefully uppercutting declarer when partner ruffs with his hypothetical J spades. This will cause a trump promotion for your Q ♠, down 1. :rolleyes: B) Cheers

A well played hand by you, West however, made a serious mistake covering the second club with the J ♣instead of the 7 ♣ (I assume he panicked after seeing dummy and did not see the spot cards played on the first trick), if he covers with the 7 ♣ then you don't have enough trumps after drawing out the opponents trumps to set up the club suit, (I assume that if he didn't cover high, that you would have just given up a diamond to set up your hand) Once he does cover high and you trump, you have a second decision to make, do you try to set up the club suit for an overtrick or go for the sure thing by giving up a diamond, (if you're wrong, you go down because if South wins the King ♣, he will surely return a ♦ - and if you trump and North has the King ♣ then you must lose the A ♦ and the King ♣ (play it out)) I assume that you would have discarded anyway by analizing the lead, but honestly, at the table were you THAT certain with a diamond loser staring you in the face. :lol: In any case, West should not have covered the Q ♣, which would leave you a chance to go wrong. Well analized and played by you and maybe a little bit lucky. :) I don't think I would have the guts to go for the overtrick, and probably gone for the sure thing, there's something about making doubled slams that just brightens my day. :D B) ;) Cheers :D

Here is my play which I have to assume is possible from the bidding and play, Cheers B)

Since my partner and I play Lightner doubles, I would specifically lead the 9 of hearts. In this instance, I don't want him to read me for the J 10 ♥. and the lead should be suit preference return for a diamond. I believe it is just possible to get a cross-ruff going on defense. Cheers :unsure:

Thank you for your comments, Inquiry, are there different resonses if the trump suit is a minor? In general I try to forsee these situations and will cuebid or splinter the void suit after trumps have been agreed upon but once in a while, partner has a mallot hand and will suprise me after a simple limit raise. Has anybody had any problems with their systems or things that I should watch out for. Will the systems work as well mith minor suit slams and voids in a major? :) Cheers :)

Hello, my partner and I are discussing different ways to bid slams with voids. I would appreciate to know your favorite bidding system when responder is void in 1 or (2?) suits and is responding to RKC Ace asking? Have you noticed any problems or misunderstandings with your system, have you managed to bid slams that the field missed or stay out of slams with the wrong void? Thanks, appreciate any comments. :P

A strategy that I use with my regular partner is a Lightner double. If I preempt and then double their game, I have a void, and it is up to partner to find it. Whatever suit he chooses (hopefully Clubs) :rolleyes: , the opening lead will be Suit-Prefernce. If this situation happened and he still lead Q of diamonds, he either forgot our convention :( or has a singleton Q and his entry is in diamonds with a ruff. :lol: Anyways since we play standard carding I'm signalling with the 2. Cheers, B)

My apologies for the misunderstanding, By "take offense" I meant that I disagree strongly with the decision. I have never yelled or even spoken strongly to even my pick-up partners for any mistakes they make. If my partner who did this was a beginner or even intermediate, I would have a talk with them (away from the table) about forcing bids and partnership trust. With an advanced or expert player, (who should know better) I would take the bidding as a sign of distrust and would probably refuse politely to play with them in any scoring games. Just my thoughts, Cheers

My point was that this partner made a unilateral decision that wasn't his to make AND that he had no idea and no information to make. There ARE hands that you can have that require you to make a unilateral decision with EXTREME 2 suiters or even an extreme 1 suiter. For example, once I held a 11 card AK suit and 2 small in another. However even in these situations you at least TRY to get information from partner (or maybe from oppoments bidding) to make the right decision. If my partner makes a forcing bid, I play as a rule that I ALWAYS try to give him the information he needs. It may be that only 1 bid will give him that information, maybe it will need 2 or 3 bids, my partner knows better than I do, BECAUSE he made a forcing bid. If he needs more information he'll keep on making forcing bids until I give him the information he needs (if this is possible). At the end of the auction, he decides what the contract will be because he is the Captain, rightly or wrongly, that's the way it is in these situations (at least with my partners). The trust built up in the partnership goes a long way, in much more difficult decisions at high levels. I find I can't play bridge at any good level, with partners that I can't trust, so if he doesn't trust my judgement, why should I bother. I am very forgiving in any and all mistakes in play or defense, (I've made some doozies myself- so who am I to criticize). The situation of the original poster and the one I described displayed lack of trust and was not a simple mistake, which is why I took offense. <_< Cheers

[hv=d=s&v=b&s=sakqj982h102daq8ca]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Not long ago I opened this hand as 2 clubs, with an on occassional partner at our local club. Thank goodness he didn't pass as you did, but he gave me misinformation in our subsiquent auction that made me believe that 6 spades had a 75% chance of succeeding which I subsiquently bid. He then CHANGED!!! the bid to 6NT because he had a singleton spade. I made 6NT contract on a double squeeze, all the time sweating it out because my opponents were good enough to break the squeeze if they realized what was happening when I intentionally lost a trick. 6 spades also made on the hand against ANY defense without a trump lead. Even though we had a good result on this hand (through a bit of luck) my trust in him is 00000. I think it is a given that I haven't played with him again. Just my thoughts, ;) Cheers

Very challenging hand for both sides. Declarer must set up diamonds right away (and risk a ruff) while he still has the Ace of clubs in dummy.as a stopper and the 10 of hearts. As declarer, I would play the J of diamonds hoping South would not cover with the King. (If South is enlightened enough to cover and block the suit - much easier if the Queen is led) then a second diamond must be led to unblock the Q and remove the 10 of diamonds. By this time South, should read declarer as having a singleton club K and knows that declarer doesn't have an immediate entry to dummy. Now declarer has a problem in communications but as long as he keeps the A and 10 of hearts he can endplay South. The Q and J of hearts are now lead, South MUST duck both times or declarer will win any return and draw trumps ending with dummys 10 of hearts to run the daimonds. When South holds off for 2 rounds of trumps, a spade is ruffed in dummy club ruff back to hand for declarer. Ace of trumps drops the King and a spade is lead to South to endplay him for a spade finesse or to dummys A of Clubs to run the diamonds. Very interesting hand, indeed. :D :lol: :) !!! To answer the question, if declarer is good enough to find this play, I would rather have him as my partner (which would make me dummy :lol: ) At the table I'd like to be declarer and see if I could make it, but then I'm a glutton for punishment. B) Cheers

A Clubs and then J clubs for partner to ruff and asking for a Heart return (if we are very lucky declarer and dummy will have 1 each then 10 Clubs for a heart continuation, if we get that far. A ruff- sluff should make no difference at this point. :) Cheers

4 Hearts Cuebid Mild Slam Try, if Opener can Cuebid Spades then bid 6 diamonds to play in 4-4 fit :) Cheers

4 hearts now and always Cheers

I would start with a negative double and then mention hearts and maybe diamonds in turn. For my partnership methods this would describe an 18+ point hand. If the bidding goes 1C - X - P - 1S P - 2H - P - 2S P - 2NT Partner is allowed to Pass 2 Hearts or 2 NT or correct to 3 hearts if he is broke and has a heart tolerance. (If he was "forced" to respond 1 spade with 4 small ones). If he truly has spades and about 6 points he'll go to 3NT. The bidding may also go 1C - X - P - 1S P - 2H - P - 3H (3D) P - 4H (5D) I would expect to make in both cases as the outstanding high card strength is marked to my right and in a diamond contract, partner will make the contract ruffing 2 spades and finessing the Q Clubs. Cheers :)

Can't declarer make with by playing 2 rounds of trumps (Run the Queen of spades and small to King of spades, 4 rounds of clubs finessing the King and discarding the small heart from his hand) From the double, the declarer should place you with 4 spades to the Ace, especially when the 8 and 9 of spades falls from partners hand. If you trump and play a heart, he trumps and plays diamonds forever making +1. If you trump and play Ace of spades and a heart he trumps with his last spade and makes all his diamonds for a similar result. The key play seems to have been on the third trick when he didn't cross over to his hand. B) Is there a defense to my line of play by declarer? :) Cheers B)

I like to follow the Law of Total Tricks in competition bidding. If I don't have an aggreement with my partner of "slow promises, fast denies" then I would pass and then come back in at the 2 or 3 level depending on if we have 8 or 9 trumps between us and if the opponents bidding stops at a low level. This would obviously be weak, and partner should pass unless he has the distribution to continue. Cheers :)