karlson

Suppose the auction starts something like 2n-3c-3d-4d. Presumably for most people this is a natural (5+♦) slam try. Suppose you play, as people seem to, that 4n shows a bad hand for slam, and anything else is a cue for diamonds (perhaps something is keycard, or a keycard response, whatever). What do you do with a good hand for slam, but only a doubleton diamond? Suppose you have ♠Axx ♥AQx ♦Kx ♣AKxxx Do you cue and plan to correct 6♦ to 6n? How do you get to 6♦ then opposite ♠Kxxx ♥x ♦AQxxxx ♣xx where you need to ruff the clubs out but to 6n opposite ♠KQxx ♥x ♦AQxxx ♣xxx where a 4-2 trump break might doom 6♦, but 6n has a ton of different chances. Is responder supposed to bid 5n at some point with the latter hand as a choice? Is this still obviously a choice if you go through a keycard sequence? Sorry if some of the examples are not 100% perfect, feel free to adjust them if necessary.

Edit: nonsense.

1n for me.

I think east has a pretty normal double.

Assuming 2♦ was 8-10 or so with 3 hearts, inviting looks right.

Why should partner lead a spade from a tenace with not much outside and risk giving declarer the 9th trick? He had no idea there were 7 diamonds in dummy. Our natural play here would quite possibly be to lead a heart to try to knock out the dummy entry before diamonds are set up, hoping that partner's hearts are as good as K9x(x) or KQxx. Partner is telling us that that won't work. Still, a club rather than a spade is very tempting. A spade needs AQJxx with partner, a club will do if he has ATxx. If he has Qxxx then for declarer not to have already misplayed it, partner must have ♠KQxxx or AQxxx, which means he can still shift to a club himself after a spade through.

BB: 1.USA2 2. Italy 3-4: China, USA1 5-8: Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Netherlands VC: 1. France 2. USA1 3-4: Sweden, Germany 5-8: China, Japan, USA2, Argentina Seniors: 1. Japan 2. USA1 3-4: USA2, Poland 5-8: Canada, Sweden, Italy, England

Would have bid 5♣ over 1♥. Pass now, unclear that double would even ask for a heart lead, and it might not be necessary given how much length he's marked with. Moreover, that's still only three tricks.

It seems right to force partner into a club cue, so I would bid 3♥ splinter over 1♠. Then 4♦ if he signs off.

I think if we have an 8-card fit in both minors, clubs is very likely to be the better spot.

I double for sure. They have heart tricks, so it's extremely likely that the spades, if they were cashing, are going away. And if we don't have two spade tricks, maybe my minor suit holdings will still cause them a problem occasionally. I would expect to beat it maybe 10-20% of the time without a spade lead, and at least 40-50% with one. That's barely enough for double white, but clearly enough red.

3♣, my hand isn't that good.

Love the 1N. Good time for a 2♦ rebid but unfortunately we've already used that card. If 3♦ is nonforcing, I would do that for sure. Otherwise pass. I think that for 3N to make we will probably need the wrong lead and maybe a little more luck later, I can't imagine it being good double-dummy. Also more than occasionally 3N will go down several tricks, which adds up when you're red. (edit: sorry, just remembered we are white, so ignore that part).

I overcall on both. The first seems automatic. On the second, I think it's just too unlikely that spades is better, the biggest upside is if we're really in trouble and need to find the safest spot, or if partner can pass the double (very tempting to double if partner is an aggressive passer).

I pull also. More tempting to sit when we can't show our values anyway, but here we might actually get to 3N when it's right. Also I think 2♥ will just make too often.

Seems like consensus. I also bid 6♠ but one good player I asked afterwards said he'd pass. 6♦ was an easy make and 6♠ will go for 1100 (partner has something like ♠QJTxx ♥xx ♦x ♣Kxxxx)

I'm really surprised at everyone who is afraid that 4 is going for 500. You don't think partner can take at the least 6 trumps (with a good chance of 7) and 2 ruffs? And maybe scrape up a minor suit trick if he has a non-textbook preempt? Unfortunately I can't reconstruct the full hand anymore, but partner has something like ♠QT9xxx ♥xxx ♦x ♣KTx. You can take 9 or 10 tricks in spades depending on how well you guess, while 6♥ is a very touchy contract. It goes -1, but will make if you exchange some diamond spots in their hands. Teammates were -100. I thought 6♠ might be a good save against game, so my plan was just to keep bidding spades. I bid 4, then after 5♥-p-tank pass I bid 5, and after x-p-tank 6♥, I bid 6. I didn't think they'd ever bid 7 on this start no matter what we did, so I don't see why this is any worse than bidding 6 right away, and they did almost double us in 5. 5 right away may well have bought it though.

I passed hoping to beat 4♥. Seems like the votes are split with a slight edge to bidding, but everyone is guessing, as well they might be. Partner had ♠xxxxx ♥-- ♦KT9xxx ♣Ax Diamonds were 0-4 and clubs 6-1, so 4♥ was untouchable and 5♦ was -300 at worst.

Yes, I meant save-suggesting in ♦ (i.e. long diamonds, pretty much undiscussed other than that)

imps against very good opponents ♠Kxx ♥xx ♦Jxx ♣AQJxx red/red 1♥-1♠-x*-1N** 3♦-5♣-6♦-? Double was either std negative or pretty much any GF (they play NFB) Your 1N showed clubs (feel free to criticize)

imps against good opponents ♠AJxx ♥x ♦Jxxxx ♣Qxx white/red 1♥-3♠-p-? What's your plan? Assuming they bid more, under what conditions will you sell out?

Against good opponents at imps ♠KQx ♥xxx ♦Axx ♣Kxxx white/red 1♥-p-4♦-x-4♥-? 4♦ was a standard splinter. Your agreement is that double is save suggesting.

Jlall-jjbrr and rogerclee-jchiu destroyed everybody today to earn a spot as the USA1 junior team. www.usbf.org

I would double, I think it's just too good. Biggest downside is if partner pulls, it could easily be to the wrong spot.

Good point, I didn't look at it closely enough.