PMetsch

I play this sequence as a limit raise. If partner has 3♥ he will always correct to 4♥, so there is only a problem if he has only 2♥. Maybe others (BW) play it as forcing, I don't know if that is "standard".

The way I played, I am down if LHO has 3 spades to the ten and RHO has 4 clubs. Better plan: Ruff a club low, now a spade to the queen and if spades 3-1, then a club ruff high. If clubs 3-3 then draw trups and claim. If clubs are 4-2, ruff a heart and ruff another club high. If LHO has 4♣ then spade to the queen, if RHO has 4♣ then a spade to the 9.

I just generated 50 hands to see what game should be bid. Partner's hand is restricted: 4/5♠, 2♥ and 10-12HCP. As far as I can see 4♥ is a good contract if partner has ♥A or both black aces. If partner lacks those aces, then a few times 3NT was a good contract if played by partner. In 3NT you can't establish the heart suit (to weak), but need the spade suit and/or some succesfull finesses.

After the 4♣ bid by south (which must be the ace) the north hand becomes very good. North can almost count 5♣, a heart ruff or two, 1 or 2 ♦, 4 or 5♠, so about 11 or 12 tricks and only 1 direct loser. Bidding 4♦ or 4♥ will not help if south does not have a control in the other red suit. If anybody should bid more I think it is north. Instead of bidding 4♠ he could have tried 4NT and then 6♠ is clear. South can hardly go on after 4♠ without controls in both ♦ and ♥. By the way it takes a high ♥ lead by west and a ♦ swith to have chances to defeat this slam.

I didn't raise spades earlier but rebid a bad 6card, so I won't have 3good spades (maybe 3 small). He should bid 4spades with 5good ones and then you might make 5spades, 1 heart, 2 diamonds, 1 club and 1 club ruff or someting like that. Maybe partner has the diamonds stopped but not the clubs and bids 3NT :lol: It is similar to the following situation: 1♥ - 1NT; 3♦ - 3♥; 3♠ What does it mean? I think it shows doubt about the final contract (5 not so good ♥, ♣ or ♠ unstopped) and is unrelated to ♠. It is a sort of last train, partner should bid 3NT with 2 small ♥s.

Hard to tell what the right game is. I bid 3♠ and hope partner will understand that I have bad hearts and some support for spades. Partner may have only a doubleton heart and 5 good spades in wich case 4♠ may be a better contract than 4♥. Without good spades and good hearts, partner should bid 3NT.

Bad 5card suits or hands with poor controls can be treated as balanced, but good suits with controls should be bid. I don't know your bidding system but suppose it goes: 1c - 2s; {16+, 11-13 BAL} 2n It makes sense to play stayman and transfers. If responder shows a 5card major, opener knows it is 5332 and a bad suit or bad hand (lots of queens/jacks). So opener may try 3NT instead of 4M. Now on the otherside playing 1c - 2c; {16+, 5cntrls} 2d - 2n; {®, clubs} 3c - 3h; {®, singlesuiter} 3s - 3n; {®, 5332} as a good suit, opener may look for a slam, that is otherwise hard to bid.

small club ruffed, spade ace, spade queen, another club ruffed etc.

One final change. Maybe you should put the 5332 hands in the single suiter, so 1c - 2c; 2d - 2h/2s/2n/3c; ® - 3h = 5332 or 6 (single suiter); ® - 3n = 5332, 4suit = 6 bal, 4newsuit = spl Now direct responses of 3d and higher are free to resolve major minor canape hands and solid suits: 3d 5+d + 4h 3h (R) 3s 5d + 4h 3n 6d + 4h 3h any solid suit 3s (R) 3s 5d + 4s 3n 6d + 4s The whole structure is then: 2h hearts + other (maybe canape) 2s spades + minor (maybe canape) 2s/2n (R) 2n h + s 3c (R) 3d 5+h + 4s 3h (R) 3s 5h + 4s 3n 6h + 4s 3h 5h + 5s 3s 5s + 4h 3n 6s + 4h 3c 5M + 4+c 3d 5M + 4+d 3h (R) 3s 5M + 4m 3n 6M + 4m 4c 5M + 5m 3h 6M 3s (R) 3n 5M bal 4x 5M spl 4M 6M bal 3s 4M + 5c 3n 4M + 6c 4x 7M + 4x 2nt clubs (may have diamonds) 3c (R) 3d 5c + 5d 3h 6c 3s (R) 3n 5c bal 4x 6c spl 4c 6c bal 3s 5c + 4d 3n 6c + 4d 4x 7c + 4x 3c diamonds (may have clubs) 3d (R) 3h 6d 3s (R) 3n 5d bal 4x 6d spl 4d 6d bal 3s 5d + 4c 3n 6d + 4c 4x 7d + 4x 3d 5+d + 4h 3h (R) 3s 5d + 4h 3n 6d + 4h 3h any solid suit 3s (R) 3s 5d + 4s 3nt 6d + 4s I think you should add another relay (4m) to ask for short suit and/or queen-ask.

New ideas. Say the response structure after 2d relay is 2H : H + other (might be spades, either might be longer) 2S : S + minor (either might be longer) 2NT etc. as above Then you can relay after 2H with 2S and after 2S with 2NT, with the following responses: 2nt h + s 3c (R) 3d 5+h + 4s 3h (R) 3s 5h + 4s 3NT 6h + 4s 3h 5h + 5s 3s 5s + 4h 3NT 6s + 4h 3c 5M + 4+c 3d 5M + 4+d 3h (R) 3s 5M4m 3NT 6M4m 4c 5M5m 3h 6M 3s (R) 3NT bal 4x SPL 3s 4M + 5/6c 3nt 4M + 5/6d 4x 7M + 4x Now youre shape is known at the level of 3nt/4c, unless you have a canape. It is also still quite easy to memorize. In most sequences you have 4m left as a queen ask or end signal.

That might be a problem. I wanted to have 4d as the last relay step, so opener can sign off in any game, and responder can then continue with extra queens. Maybe you should use 4c as a further relay or break relay chain earlier. I have not think about it a lot, also because 2c is forcing till 4NT. It is nice though to play the same structure over 1NT and 2club response. Maybe this is better: 4c (r) 4d = 64 4h = (r) 4s = high shortage 4n = low shortage 4h = 5422 4s = 54 high shortage 4n = 54 low shortage Now responder may have a couple of queens so 4nt is not a good idea. Also you might end up in 5h. I don't know. I think you don't need an end signal, unless you need a specific agreement about 4h etcetera (RKC Blackwood, spiral scan for example). In your case you know already the number of controls, so I think you are more or less interested in the number of queens. If you have a quantitative 4NT available it should be OK. ----------------------------- To add more shapes to the structure also 7-4 are possible, for example: 1c - 1n; 2c - 2h; {4+ h} 2n - 4c/d; {7h + 4c/d} also 1c - 1n; 2c - 2nt; {5+ c} 3c - 4d/h/s; 7c + 4d/h/s ====================== Have you seen notes on Volmac Precision (you can find them on Daniel Neill's site) ? If you have a 5c hearts or spades you respond 1 heart or 1 spade, other responses show controls either bal or 3suiter or minor(s). Maybe this will solve your problem, because the number of shapes is reduced.

I think the room to describe all possible hand types is very limited, but you may go for a symmetric structure. The sequences won't come up a lot so the simpler the better. I have only thought about a short while so the structure below can certainly be improved. 2h hearts + other (maybe canape c/d) 2nt (R) 3c/d nat 3h (R) 3s canape 3nt (R) 4c 54 4d 64 3nt 55 4c 54 4d 64 3h 6h 3s (R) 3nt bal 4x spl 3s 5h + 4s 3nt (R) 4c 54 4d 64 3nt 5h + 5s (better/longer hearts) 2s spades + other (maybe canape c/d) 3c/d nat 3h (R) 3s canape 3nt (R) 4c 54 4d 64 3nt 55 4c 54 4d 64 3h 6s 3s (R) 3nt bal 4x spl 3s 5s + 4h 3nt (R) 4c 54 4d 64 3nt 5h + 5s (better/longer spades) 2nt clubs (may have diamonds) 3c (R) 3d 5c + 5d 3h 6c 3s (R) 3nt bal 4x spl 3s 5c + 4d 3NT 6c + 4d 3c diamonds (may have clubs) 3d (R) 3h 6d 3s (R) 3nt bal 4x spl 3s 5d + 4c 3NT 6d + 4c 3d/h/s/nt 5332

Sure, I am down if diamonds break 5-1 (I finesse the ♦T if nothing good happens). But I have improved my chanches if hearts are 5-1 or 4-2 and RHO drops the queen (then I play for the drop).

Is this right? I think a priori chances are still valid at this point, so finding east with a 5=2=3=3 has a greater chance than finding him with a 6=2=2=3. If that is the case you can not add two chances but have to weight them (I hope you understand my bad english). NOTE: I don't believe west swichtched, because he has no more spades. He switched because he didn't want to give away the 9th trick in spades. So there is no clue about the spades being 5-2 or 6-1 in my opinion.

First of all I like to play 2 rounds of hearts (dropping the 9 under the ♥A) ending in my hand. Something good may happen, either opponent dropping a doubleton queen or RHO showing out. If both opponents follow 2 rounds of hearts with small cards I finesse the ♦T, though I cannot calcultate why.

I would eliminate ♣ and ♠ and play a low heart to the ten. This will loose only if LHO has ♥K and RHO ♥J and hearts 3-3 or 4-2, so 25%. It will win more than 75% of the time because of ♥5-1 with singleton K or J, all ♥6-0 and ♣K doubleton. (If LHO gets nervous he may step up with ♥K doubleton, though he should count you for 3♥s).

Right, this is Dutch Doubleton. It also has specific bids for major-minor two suiters. 2♣ - 2♦ - 3♥ = 5♥ & 5♣ > 4♣ sets ♣ as trump 2♣ - 2♦ - 3♠ = 5♠ & 5♣ > 4♦ sets major as trump 2♦ - 2♥ - 3♥ = 5♥ & 5♦ > 4♣ sets major as trump 2♦ - 2♥ - 3♠ = 5♠ & 5♦ > 4♦ sets ♦ as trump Nowadays Jansma - Verhees play: vulnerable: 2♦/♥/♠ = weak two non vulnerable: 2♦ = mini-multi 2♥ = weak ♥ & ♠ non vulnerable vs. non vulnerable 2♠ = muiderberg non vulnerable vs. vulnerable 2♠ = 0-8, 4+♠

If you are allowed to play a multi 2♦, there is a nice structure for strong hands wth a long minor and a 4card major: 2♣ = * weak 2♦ * strong balanced * strong with ♣ or ♥ or ♠ (but not ♦) If the bidding goes 2♣ - 2♦ opener rebids: 3♣ = 6♣ + 4card major (3♦ asks) 3♦ = ♣ single suiter 2♦ = * weak 2♥ or weak 2♠ * strong balanced * strong with ♦ If the bidding goes 2♦ - 2♥ opener rebids: 3♣ = 6♦ + 4card major (3♦asks) 3♦ = ♦single suiter If the opener shows a minor single suiter responder will bid only 5card majors. Playing these methods the bidding would be: 2♦ - 2♥; 3♣ - 3♦; 3♠ And responder can sign off (3NT), set ♦ as trumps (4♦) or cuebid for ♠ (4♣ or 4♥).

I played the hand with Jack 3.0. After a diamond lead, he plays a ♥ to the queen and then a ♣ from the dummy. If the club wins, he plays 2 rounds of hearts and if the J does not drop, the ♠Q. If the ♣K loses to the A, he wins the diamond return, plays ♥AK and a ♠ to the J.

It is too difficult for me to calculate the best line. Some thoughts about the hand. I like to play early in the game a club to the king, either to get a club trick or remove an entry fom the west hand. I like to drop a doubeton ♥J. I want to duck a diamond some time to cut communications. I don't know what ♦ east plays on trick 1, but lets say it is not the king, then I win the first trick. I cash ♥A and then a ♥ to the queen. If the jack drops I cash the ♥T as well. Then I lead a ♣ to the king, if it wins, then a ♠ to the J, if it looses then I duck a ♦, take the third roud of ♦ and play a spade to the J.

There will be no simple squeeze against east, because it can only be a simple squeeze in both minors and east is sitting behind the length (dummy has to discard first). There is only one entry (♣A) so a trump squeeze is also no option (I think).

It took me about 10-15 sec., but my reasoning is different from yours. I counted losers, one in each suit. There is one way to play clubs (finesse) and two ways to play hearts (finesse or drop). Problems arise when trumps are 3-0, then I cannot draw trumps and ruff 2 spade losers. I never play a suit combination where I can choose my line of play, unless I need to (just an easy rule I use). Either start cross ruffing spades and diamonds or take the club finesse. The cross ruff has dangers of an overruff and I may go down even if the trumps break 2-1. So club finesse it is. In the end when I have to play hearts then I start counting points and shape.

Ruff the diamond and then ♣T, taking a finesse to locate ♣K.

1. 3♥. Bad hand: 3 trumps, no shape , no aces, ♠K 2. pass. Partner has ♠ length but only rebid his clubs in a forcing auction, so he may have a minimum, maybe 4=x=x=5. I think 5♣ is too high and if partner is not interested in NT then we play 3♣.

If west has ♦J9x, then he can know, from the way the hand is played, that his partner has both ♦A and ♦Q. If declarer has ♦A there are 13 tricks and if he has ♦Q he would play ♦ early to set up a trick. Besides declarer has "too many HCP" with these cards. So "falsecarding" ♦ does not give away a trick. I think you cannot be absolutely sure, that west has ♦A, but the endplay is so nice that you must play a ♦.