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South final pass was stupid. I do not mind opening such hands, but if you do, you should not leave your partner in the rain. This is what you see all the time. People take initial aggressive action and then chicken out, like passing forcing sequences etc. I think also that North doubles are typical. You can name them as you like, but in the end they show cards. The best description of doubles after opponents (jump)raise each other is Power doubles. This is what North had and what he wanted to describe. Penalty? How often will you hold a big trump stack after such bidding? Rainer Herrmann

Thank West for his club discard. Cash your diamond tops to find out if diamonds break. If yes, go to the king of clubs to cash the fourth diamond. Come back to hand with the last club, which will tell you whether East has a club left (probably not) Throw East in with the last spade if he has no clubs left and otherwise take the heart finesse which is a favorite if East has 9 black cards. . If East shows out on the diamond you aim at squeezing West in the red suits, playing him for 1=5=4=3 or 1=6=4=2 Duck a spade. Win any return to cash you black tops If West has the ♥K he will be squeezed. Rainer Herrmann

Win in hand. Cash 2 top spades to find out if they break. If yes, cash one high diamond and play a diamond towards the jack. If you have 3 diamonds you are home and if East has the ♦Q and diamonds do not break you have the heart finesse in reserve. If spades do not break and East has five spades it is probably best to cash both top diamonds. If the diamond queen has not dropped you play a third one and know to take the heart finesse if West wins and plays a heart. If East drops the queen I see 2 possibilities: 1) Try to run the ♥7. If West plays low, play also low. You can now win any return cash your minor suit honors and you have a double squeeze. West has to keep diamonds and East spades, so no one can keep hearts. If West plays a card higher than the 7, cover. If East wins and returns anything but a heart you can cash the remaining minor suit honors in dummy and execute the same double squeeze. If East returns a heart try to squeeze West in the red suits. 2) play a diamond to the jack. Then play all your black cards and throw East in with the last spade to hopefully force him to return a heart. If West has 5 spades I could make if West has the queen of diamonds and the king of hearts. I give up on this and cash 4 spades followed by 3 clubs. After that I play diamonds from the top. Hopefully East will get endplayed to lead hearts, either because West has Qx♦ and East gets endplayed on the fourth diamond or East has ♦Qxx and had either only 3 clubs or discarded some on the spades. (he has to find 3 discards on the spades) Rainer Herrmann

Out of curiosity One of the biggest problems with the 2♣ strong opening is that the strong hand seems never to be in a position to know whether the responding has values or not. In your sequence from top level play what bids by North did indicate to South that he would find values in dummy to make 6NT worthwhile? Or is that a case to fill out a recorder form? Thanks Rainer Herrmann

Unblock a spade honor from hand on the ♠A. Win second spade in hand and play ♦6. If West goes in you are obviously in great shape with 3 entries to dummy. For example if West continues spades, win in dummy and run a diamond honor. If East does not cover, discard. Whenever diamonds are no worse than 4-2 you are home. with 3 diamond tricks. So let's assume West plays low to the first diamond. Now comes the critical play, duck in dummy! If diamonds are 4-2 either way your best chance is that someone holds ♦Kx or ♦Ax. Your intention is to ruff a second low diamond from dummy and if an honor drops give up a third diamond to the remaining honor. If no honor drops hope diamonds are 3-3. If West has ducked with ♦AKxx the first diamond from hand look for different opponents. These ones are too tough. How good is this line? After the trump lead and continuation chances that there is a singleton or void in diamonds must be negligible. Assuming West would not duck with ♦AKxx the line is somewhere between 85 and 90% and this assumes West would lead a trump holding a small doubleton in diamonds. Rainer Herrmann

These 2 statements contradict each other, don't they? Rainer Herrmann

You are right. I overlooked the initial DBL Rainer Herrmann

What is poor partner supposed to do with that sort of combo information, say with no hearts but some clubs? Look to the ceiling for inspiration? Rainer Herrmann

Hard to construct a hand where hearts will play better than spades here. Even if partner is 4-4 in the majors, I would worry about hearts not breaking well for us. Rainer Herrmann

If East is past the beginner stage he would go in with ♥A8 if a diamond ruff loomed. Nevertheless play the ♥K. West is a passed hand and is unlikely to hold the ♥A. Rainer Herrmann

Deception is fine if the card played, say from equals, does not matter. But when you prefer deception against technique there should be a rationale for preferring the "wrong" card. What do you expect to gain by playing the six unless RHO holds a singleton ace of spades. Do you want the defense to duck the ♠A? The defense will likely continue clubs whichever spade you play. So what would be the point of playing the six except creating problems for you? The ♠Q by the way does not unblock anything it only avoids a blockage. Rainer Herrmann

If I would know a deal to be a misfit I would keep quiet most of the time. The problem does not arise when we do not have a spade fit but when we do. How do you find that spade fit when you pass initially. e.g. 1♥ (DBL) Pass (2♦) Pass (3♦) ? Of course most of the time LHO will hold 4 spades. So "values to respond 1♠" should mean a reasonable suit. Rainer Herrmann

Obviously North is likely to have 4 spades. With all 5 he would have led the ♠K. If he has a singleton diamond I do not think you can make, but proper technique should see you home if North has 2 diamonds. Win and play a spade to ace. Then switch to hearts, ruffing the third one and ruff a diamond. If North has to follow you can ruff your last heart in dummy. Now play your second high diamond. The defense will only come to 3 trump tricks and 2 clubs. The key play is not to cash your second high diamond prematurely is dangerous, because if North has only a singleton diamond you are down two instead of one. Rainer Herrmann

My comment was "tounge in cheek" and not meant to be taken seriously and you are not above making such comments yourself as the the quote above shows. That's no reason to call someone a stupid troll Rainer Herrmann

Do you claim that below expert level Bridge used to be always more competitive? Rainer Herrmann

I agree that a reopening DBL is basically unlimited in a natural system. Nevertheless you need to construct a hand very carfully where we will have game now. 3NT is not at all likely when partner reopens with DBL and did not open 1NT. 5♣ is possible only if 1) reopener is short in hearts 2) has a great club fit 3) a lot of controls. After all you are missing 4 first round controls and two second round controls. If the reopening double does not promise extras why can't opener not raise 3♣ with a suitable hand? If LHO passes twice and opener is short in hearts it is hardly possible that we are broke. I do not subscribe to the notion that pass denies values. A good introduction into this subject is given by https://sites.google.com/site/psmartinsite/Home/bridge-articles/the-cooperative-pass. I agree. This is more of a problem. Maybe a delayed DBL should show this hand after opponents raise each other. Rainer Herrmann

5NT (pick a slam) If partner bids 6♦ I bid 6♠. If partner bids 6♥ I bid 7♣ and over 7♦ I bid 7♥. This hopefully suggests that I do not know whether we should play 7♥ or 7♠. If partner bids 6♠ I raise.

Misunderstanding is not a synonym for difficult, neither is misjudgement. Rainer Herrmann

So you tell us a team in contention of winning a major US Bridge tournament is incapable of properly inspecting false claims made by a pair, which was tainted already for years, at the time of the claim nor within the correction period ? Hard to believe, but if true my pity has limits. Serves them right. Even in a club game if someone would make a false claim against me a second time in a row would make me suspicious. Rainer Herrmann

I do not see how you win on this layout against good defense. LHO simply wins and returns a trump. My guess is you will now lead a spade from hand, which LHO will duck. This way you can avoid losing more than one trick in the black suits, but you have not the entries to avoid 2 diamond losers as well. RHO goes in when you play a diamond from the table to protect the diamond jack when diamonds are 1-4. The defense will either come to a trick in each suit or to 2 diamond tricks because of lack of dummy entries. Chances of making when LHO has the heart king (and the club king) are poor. Rainer Herrmann

How many black cards does 1NT show? My guess is at least 5-5. With only 4 spades double would be more attractive, with only 4 clubs and 5 spades a 1♠ overcall would be more likely. Accordingly West got either a doubleton diamond and a singleton heart or vice verse. Not only is a diamond lead much more attractive with a singleton diamond, I also do not see how we can make the contract if West has a singleton trump and two diamonds. We will loose a trick in every suit, because we have no quick entry to dummy. (RHO will switch to clubs) T1: Win ♦A. T2,3: Play ♥ Q. Whether it will be covered or not, just play exactly 2 rounds of trumps to strip West of red cards. T4: Spade. If West wins, he will be end-played. Should West unexpectedly turn up with 2-2 in the red suits and play another diamond you get an entry in diamonds to discard your club loser on spades. If West ducks, win in dummy and continue spades, discarding clubs. If West is 5♠=1♥=2♦=5♣, I see no winning line. My line looses also when West has 2 red singletons. Here you should only draw one round of trumps before playing spades, but this looses when West has 5♠=2♥=1♦=5♣, because West can win the spade and exit in hearts Rainer Herrmann

I readily admit there is a stronger case for a preemptive bid when partner has already passed (which I overlooked originally). Nevertheless I dislike locking us into hearts when I have such a good holding in the other major and I have serious doubts that a jump to 2♥ will create serious issues for my opponents. I like preempts, but their effectiveness depends to a large extent on level and whether there was a bid in front of you already. The effectiveness diminishes and the risk increases. Many seem to be oblivious to this simple fact. Rainer Herrmann

You need objective evidence if you want to accuse and convict someone of cheating and any Bridge discussion or expert poll will tell you how far experts can differ in opinion on Bridge matters. This makes this game interesting but Bridge arguments are often dubious evidence of cheating and hard to apply, particularly in areas like opening leads. As far as I can tell all the evidence forwarded lately in all cases is by video taping, which allows retrospective analysis by many. I admit I do not like to be taped without my unforced agreement and it is a pity we need this surveillance technique because it seems to be effective. Taping seems to be for cheating what fingerprints and DNA samples did for criminal cases. Video taping is a fairly new procedure. Speaking of decades of failures is a bit besides the point. Rainer Herrmann

The original poster assumes that the remainder of a team know or suspect their team mates to cheat. A very silly assumption. Note, Boy Brogeland not long ago played with F-S many times in the same team and won quite a few national US titles with them. Eric Kokish made some similar silly remarks about the rest of the German senior team when they played with the doctors in Bali. At the time I replied with the Reese Shapiro scandal in Argentina 1965. Whatever you believe about Reese Shapiro, if they cheated you seem to assume that their team mates at the time Jeremy Flint Albert Rose Maurice Harrison Gray Kenneth Konstam either knew or suspected that Reese Shapiro cheated or these team mates are evidence, if you consider them gentlemen, that Reese Shapiro never cheated. Do you really believe Helgemo, Hellness, Zimmerman, Moulton suspected Fantony Nunes of cheating and Zimmeman still payed them playing with them? Do you want to claim that Auken and Welland are of dubious reputation because they formed a team with Smirnov Piekarek? Note that Auken was instrumental in forcing a confession from them once there was serious evidence. To me this is all absurd. Do you really want that based on gossip and flimsy evidence players should refuse to play with each other and against each other? Rainer Herrmann

okay change it to ♠KJxxx ♥x ♦xxx ♣Axxx Rainer Herrmann