karlson

I'll go 2d...4h. If partner has some normal balanced hand, we still need a lot of cards to make slam. Hopefully partner will be able to bid on if he has a trick source, or a useful black suit doubleton.

I dunno. Partner opened some junk like Axxx Jx QJ QJTxx? That seems to be what you're saying he's showing. Is it possible partner forgot the agreements? If not, I'm just going to bid 4s I guess. What's partner supposed to do if I cue 4c, anyway? He's already denied anything in the reds -- is he supposed to cue HJ and DQ?

I'm sure someone who knows the laws better than i do will comment on the first one, but I would guess that when dummy plays a card and rho follows, the card is played. The second one seems more subjective. I would definitely give declarer the rest of the tricks, I don't see how he can mean anything other than the normal line.

Partner could have a constructive hand with 5 or 6 of one major, which he's about to bid. If you bid 2♥ you get to play a level lower.

Looks like unless righty has KJT9 he just endplayed himself for no reason, no? If he had that, he might have doubled stayman. I win the ace and play one up.

I think this is a spot where expert standard is not very well defined, but I would assume that this is 4 hearts with another place to play, that other place not being 3N.

Whew. And I thought I was crazy for thinking I'd bid 3♣. Score one up for partnership harmony.

I'd pass opposite myself, since I make pretty light takeout doubles, especially opposite passed hands. So if partner has anything, he probably has three hearts. That means 1h is going down, perhaps 2. Lefty has the long hearts and the entries, they could easily hold me to 1, or even set me in 1N. And 3N seems a long way off (a source of tricks is unlikely when partner didn't overcall 2m). In fact, I balance with 1N so rarely on these auctions, that I play it as minors with some partners.

Maybe the term "falsecard" is bad. Is it really deceiving the opponents to not play a particular card from your hand? PS. Oh, and of course I agree with everyone else about the kibitzer. He should be barred from the rest of the event at the very least.

I led the K and switched to a heart. With regards to the Qxxxx or Qxxxxx (no one mentioned that one!), we figured out that it's pretty easy to get partner to overtake when you have AKJ and not when you have AKJT. You lead the top one, then the J, then the other top one, then the T. So you can do this regardless of what you lead, and he doesn't even need to be sure you lead A from AKJ. It would have been nice to have the agreement that we switch to attitude if dummy hits with a stiff. We didn't, and it's not really our style to make such things up on the fly. I think one key on this hand, which no one mentioned, is that declarer bid 3N with nothing in diamonds, surely not expecting a running suit, and at most the Q of spades. I think he is a lock to have AK or AQ of hearts, so switching to that suit is probably hopeless. Maybe a diamond is better at least, trying to squeeze his hand or getting him to misread the ending. Anyway, this time partner had Qxxxxx of spades. I'm still not sure what to lead at trick 1, attitude would have surely worked better this time.

I always wondered about situations like this. Can't you claim that it's a valid bridge reason to think about which one would be a better falsecard?

I think this is pretty far from a wtp. I would bid 5d, but I've changed my mind a few times in the 2 minutes I've thought about it. I'm assuming imps. More likely to pass at mp.

Sorry, edited.

1d is standard, strong NT context, 4 cards unless 4432, we open pretty sound in the minors.

I would also bid 2N. It's possible that we're in the best contract if I pass, but I don't see how I can take that chance. Partner can still bid 3d with a weak 5-5. 2s would also not occur to me with so much stuff.

matchpoints, w/r x x AT9xx AT9xxx 1 ♦ by partner. Your options are - Any level of diamonds is natural, weakish - 2♠ showing a game force with diamonds. Partner will show shortness. - 2♥ showing an invite with diamonds (usually, but not always, 5+ diamonds, you also have 2N invitational). Partner will show either concentration below 3m, or shortness with a GF. - 3M splinter - 2♣ game forcing

mp, all red. AKJT xxx x KJxxx You deal. 1♣-2♦-p-3N all pass If you lead a spade, you can lead the A for attitude (showing AK), or K for count/unblock. Hidden dummy: Hidden partner's card if you led ♠A Hidden partner's card if you led ♠K

[hv=d=w&s=sxxxhqxxdacajtxxx]133|100|Scoring: ?[/hv] 1♥ on your left, 2♦ by partner, pass on your right. You've agreed transfer advances here, with 2♠ showing clubs. Your agreements are that 2♠ followed by 3♦ shows a constructive diamond raise with club values, and that partner accepts the transfer with most minimums (you're allowed to have a 3-count with 6 or 7 clubs). If you bid 2♠, partner bids the expected 3♣. Feel free to comment on this hand, methods, and if scoring/vul matters. Edit: posted the auction. Weird, thought i had it in with the hand.

I did a quick sim. I assumed that partner would correct with 2 hearts (unless he has so many diamonds that it probably doesn't matter), so I only looked at hands where he has stiff or void in hearts. You would have to do a separate sim for passing vs. bidding. Here are the parameters I used: predeal south S, HJT97532, DAKT4, C82 east2s = shape(east, 6xxx - any 65xx - any 6430) && hcp(east)<11 && hcp(east,spades)>3 west4s = spades(west)>=4 && not shape(west, 4333) northX = hcp(north)>=10 && hearts(north)<2 && diamonds(north)<7 && clubs(north)<7 I did 36 hands, and looked at all of them together with the DD analysis. A few of them didn't really look right (generally partner didn't have his double) but I kept them all for now. Generally the hands seemed more or less straightforward to play and defend (though certainly some interesting problems) so I only overruled the DD on one or two hands. Also, I'm not as quick as Mike or Francis with the single-dummy analysis, so it would have taken me a while. What's funny is exactly half the time you were completely dead, that is, no game was making (possibly doubled). On those hands hearts was the better strain by a large margin. On the hands where we were making, however, diamonds was the better by a huge margin. Table: Hearts better Diamonds Better Doesn't matter Making 1 15 2 Down 10 1 7 Link to the hands

I would bid 4N. I'm not totally convinced that diamonds will play badly even if partner is something like 1-4 in the reds. If partner's stiff heart is a small one, we're just down off the top in 5h, and at least we have chances in 5d. If he has a spade card, they may not be able to get the tap going. If he doesn't have a spade card, then his clubs rate to be extremely good, and he may just be able just set up clubs and then draw trumps. So it seems that choosing 5h opposite 1-4 or 1-5 is catering to stiff heart honor, an unfavorable spade position, and bad diamonds. Something like Kxx K xxxx AQxxx. On the other hand, something like xxx x QJxx AKJxx and 5d is very good, while 5h is just down off the top. Simulation anyone? (Hm, I suppose I could do it myself).

Especially since dummy probably showed diamonds on the auction, I can't imagine the lead being from AQx. If it was from AQxx and she was planning on giving partner a ruff, then I don't see why she would have changed tack. Perhaps righty discouraged on general principles thinking that the diamonds were setting up, and a switch was needed to attack dummy's entries. Students/clients have been known to follow partner's signals blindly.

It looks right to start with a club. Unfortunately, they can start attacking my entries with either a heart or a spade, and I won't be able to ruff a club and draw trump. I'll be reduced to playing for 3-3 trumps, or what seems to be the extremely unlikely diamond finesse. The alternative is perhaps drawing trumps right away, cashing the spades pitching a diamond, and exiting CK. If lefty wins this and led the stiff DA (if we're really sure lefty has CA, we can maybe cash DK too), or if righty has both the A and Q of clubs, this will work. Also, if trumps were 3-3, we can play DK, ruff a diamond, and then club, catering to 3-2 diamonds and losing only to CA on right and CQ on left if that's the case. I think I'll try the second line. The chances for misdefense if I play a club now seem negligible -- I can't see them playing anything but a spade or a heart. Other alternatives like playing a diamond now don't appeal - they risk going down on very common layouts.

I think 3D should logically be forcing. Responder has a very narrow range, so it's pretty safe for opener to either GF or pass 2D (with some "courtesy raise"), and otherwise there's no way to show a diamond raise under 3N. It's an even stronger argument I think than for playing 1s-2d-3d forcing when playing 2/1 not gf, which (I think) most people who have thought about that system seriously do. (With Apologies to ACOLers and all the other "nothing is forcing systems", which I just don't know).

Partner couldn't make a takeout double with presumed short hearts and I have this piece of crap? Bidding seems mildly insane.

4C here would be interpreted by my partners as "I don't know what to bid but I'm too strong to bid 3NT or 4NT" It must imply some club length, because you are implying that you can't bid anything else naturally, but I don't think it has to have extreme length. What would you bid on A AQJxx KQx KQxx ? I like this I think. How are you going to continue though? Whatever opener bids, you're not going to have a forcing raise of that available. Will 4N then be keycard for the last bid suit? Will new suits be cues for the last suit? Seems everything can be natural. It seems like with this hand, you should just bid 4d, keycard, try to find out about HK, and then bid the right number of NT. I agree that it's guessing a bit, but I'm not envisioning the intelligent auction after 4c. Enlighten? I think that by my rules, 4c would definitely a cue for diamonds on this auction. Maybe 4d can just be a diamond raise without a club control?