PMetsch

Why is his pass a slam try, afterall he only bid 4♥ on the previous round? He didn't have a slam try then. If opponents didn't save, I wouldn't have bid 5♥ and we wouldn't have been thinking about slam. Pass is certainly forcing, but I think partner has not a clear double (diamond strength, short on controls) and let me take the decision. If I had a strong hand (which is still possible from the viewpoint of partner), I could bid 6♥, but not with this hand.

If you can not bid 2NT, because you have no stopper in their suit, then you can either raise partner with a doubleton or bid a negative double. But if partner bids 2♥, you should give preference to 2♠. You bid exactly the same as in an uncontested situation, say: 1♠ - 1NT; 2♥ - 2♠.

The 2♠ bid and 4♦ bid maybe too encouraging, certainly if it shows reversing values and short clubs. The main problem is the response of 5♣. I guess south was thinking it shows 1/4 keycards.

Double Six hearts might be made if partner has ♠K, ♥AK and ♣AK, but then 6♦ doubled will be more points then our game. I don't think many people will bid the slam, I would have doubled 5♦ in the previous round.

I try: 1 take club lead in hand 2 ruff a heart 3 duck a diamond 4 say defender returns trump, take with ace 5 spade to ace 6 ruff a heart 7 ace of diamonds 8 diamonds ruff if diamonds break, I have 2spades, 1heart, 3diamonds, 3clubs and 3ruffs if diamonds don't break 9 draw last trump (discarding diamond) 10 ace of hearts (discarding diamond) 11 spade finesse if spade finesse holds and spades 3-3, I have 4spades, 1heart, 1diamond, 3clubs and 3ruffs I think this play is somewhat over 50% with reasonable breaks in diamonds and clubs

Sure, it can be slam, even 7♣ is still possible with a perfect hand. I bid 3♥, showing a stopper for 3NT. If partner bids 3NT over my 3♥ bid, I will continue with 4♣ which must be a slam going hand and so 3♥ was a cue (denying a ♦ cue). Now that partner bids 3♠, I guess he has a half stopper in ♦, so slam is off and I bid 5♣.

If declarer has KQ9x x 8xxx Qxxx If you play a low spade then declarer can make 3 spade tricks, but if you play J and duck the next spade, then delarer will make only 2 spade tricks.

The discovery play in diamonds will yield 11 tricks if diamonds are 3-3 and hearts are 2-2. If you take the heart finesse first and it loose you only make 10 tricks. No play will work, if west has 6=1=4=2, then I loose 2 clubs and 2 hearts. The squeeze will be for 1 down instead of 2 down.

Ruff high, play K, Q and a small diamond. If diamonds break, then hearts break also. If west shows out on the 3rd round of diamonds, then hearts are 3-1. Either he discards and you can finesse the hearts or he trumps and then you can draw trumps and pitch a spade on the diamond ace.

I cannot find out if partner has 2 aces (at least not below 3NT) and I will not play in a partscore. I don't have much aces, but a strong suit and stoppers, so I bid 3NT.

How about: 1♥ - 2♣ 2NT (1) - 3♥ (2) 3♠ (3) - 4♣ (3) 4♦ (3) - 5♣ (4) 5NT (5) - 7♥ (1) = MAX, 1-suiter (2) = stronger than 4♥ (3) = CUE (4) = CUE, so AK♣, 3 keycards (turbo: 4NT would be 2) (5) = check for trump queen

I have played several systems and I think with IMP-scoring (teams) it doesn't matter much what system I play. But with matchpoint-scoring I think it does matter. Playing a simple Blue Team Club it was (for us) difficult to get reasonable results. It is very hard to get to the best partscore when the bidding goes 1♥/♠-1NT, because a 2♣/♦ rebid is made with both 5/4 and 4/5 handpatterns. With matchpoint-scoring I would prefer playing something like SAYC, because it gives freedom to choose between 1NT and 2♥/♠ or 3NT and 4♥/♠.