crapdown4

Interesting that nobody mentions that you should have opened 1S. I know you (and many others) like your weak notrumps, but you don't HAVE to open 1NT when you have a five card major (and the hand otherwise qualifies). The trouble here was that almost all of your values were primary, which argues for a suit contract. 3 1/2 quick tricks and certainly, at least a couple of spades in a suit contract. In notrump, you couldn't assume you would ever get those spade tricks. The opponents bid like they fell unconscious, and that's certainly the reason why you got a bad score rather than any real fault in your bidding per se, but I would view a 1S opening as less likely to lead to disaster. The trouble was, you were going to be at least somewhat anti-field. I would NEVER open 1NT at IMPs, and would only open 1NT at MPs if I felt I needed a swing. I of course realize the inherent value of opening 1NT with a 5CM (rebid problems solved), but this hand wasn't remotely suited for that IMHO.

OK, first of all, there is no "right" bid on this hand. It's too good for 4S and too weak for Jacoby 2NT. If you cook up some kind of temporizing bid like 2C, then fourth hand might preempt you out of your shorts and you'll never be able to show how strong your spades are. Because there is definitely a danger of preemptive action by fourth hand--he's short in spades, after all, and if pard has a minimum he might have considerable strength--I vote for the least lie--4S.

In the somewhat ossified world of bridge, one topic has predominated. You HAVE to play SOMETHING over their 1NT opener. Frabulon. Hambone. Snapdoodle. CAN'T. WON'T. Modified Osscowinsinsisky. If you don't--well, you're not manly. This has resulted in a perversion wherein people will waltz into the auction after their opponents open 1NT pretty much regardless of their holdings. Minimum requirements seem to be 0 hcp and 4-3-3-3 shape. I frequently feel sorry for the poor slob in fourth seat who now has to bid with his balanced three-count and hope he doesn't get doubled. You see, I've found one simple truth. Particularly if they're vulnerable, you very often score better by keeping your mouth shut and leading your best suit. Many's the time my partners, who of course all play Snapdoodle, drag out a +110 or a -50 only to find that if they'd just defended, we would have gotten a +200. But noooo. Aside from the fact that most people hate to defend, I wonder why all these conventions over their NT are so %^%$@#$ popular. I don't see good results when we use them or our opponents use them. Could it be simply that many pairs are poorly prepared to handle interference? (It's childishly easy, but you DO have to talk about it.) Also, there's always a regional perversion of some kind. Roll into Skeleton Flats on a Saturday afternoon, and you'll find that everyone plays Modified Yeehaw, where an overcall of 2C shows an unspecified three-card suit and both red fives. It all seems ludicrous to me, but I'm sure many of you will tell me I'm an idiot and avow that without Enhanced Snapdoodle, they would NEVER have the 80% games that they routinely achieve.

I bid 3C, my pard bids 3NT with a club stopper, otherwise he bids something and goes down horribly bwahahahahaha. Actually, I can't conceive of any bid other than double. So I'm a wee bit offshape. That's more than compensated for by having 17 support points (counting the club K as merely a singleton) for whatever partner bids. If he jumps, he's in game; otherwise, he'll make one happy heart or spade. (If he bids 2D, I AM trotting out the 3C cuebid.)

It's kind of creepy that I have my own personal stalker. Clearly, you have far too much time on your hands.

My POV on hands like this is that I really can't describe my hand to my partner, as wacko as it is, so I just revert to the Stone Age and bid what I think I can make. My diamond holding dampens any enthusiasm I have for slam; ordinarily I might have time to throw a diamond or two on pard's black Aces, but I'm getting a diamond lead. I also doubt that 4H will score badly--others will be in the same boat, after all.

BBO doesn't use robots. It uses robidiots. Playing with one is an exercise in frustration. I recommend just playing with regular humans. Try to use BBO's messaging functions to set up semi-regular partnerships and play in the "competitive" practice area--start your own table if you wish. Stay out of the "casual" area--people there are awful and they often leave in the middle of a hand. You should also consider playing in some virtual club games. You can contact a club that runs them and ask to be put on their roster. The level of competition will be similar to that of a "live" club game, and you might be able to form partnerships for subsequent times. I am of the firm opinion that you have to play with actual people people to get better.

As others have said, not bidding 3H was terrible--you must support with support. That said, pard should not have passed 2NT--he should have bid 3H, on the premise that you should have a doubleton heart on this auction. That bid wouldn't be forcing. I see this all the time, pard makes a subminimum bid and then tries to compensate for it later in the auction. Best course would be a negative double followed by a heart bid. Shows exactly what he has.

If you will carefully read the last sentence of my post, I'm not saying that what I did was right or wrong, nor am I seeking approval. I don't remember enough of the whole hand to accurately provide it. My RHO had 3-5-4-1 shape, with the spade and club Aces. The "normal" result in all sections was 5H, making if RHO declared it and down 1 or 2 if LHO declared it (because a spade lead murders it, but if my hand was on lead, a club lead does nothing).

Sectional tourney, not vul vs. not vul. In third seat, you pick up: _, x, x, KQJxxxxxxxx As you contemplate how many clubs you are going to bid, your partner opens: 2S BLAUUUUUUUGH Your RHO doubles. Your first thought is, Jesus Christ, they probably have a slam. I don't expect more than one defensive trick from my partner, and I have no defense at all. Should I bid five clubs? Ten clubs? Fifteen? Jump to four diamonds? Hide under the table? I decided to PASS. I expected my LHO to go slightly bananas no matter what---and I thought that if I preempted over my pard's preempt, I might provoke them. So my LHO bid 3H, pard passed and RHO bid 4H. It still didn't seem like I should open my mouth. LHO passed, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Pard led the spade K, and dummy came down with Axx in spades and a pretty good hand. Declarer put up the Ace and I ruffed it out. Declarer ruffed my club return, but pard got in with the Kx of hearts and cashed two spades. Down one. Pard had KQJxxx, Kx, xxxx, x. The goofy part was that at most other tables, when my hand bid, it wound up being on lead. The club lead was won by declarer (A vs. void), but when he lost a heart finesse to my partner's hand, it was too late to give me a ruff. Also, if I had ever bought the hand, I was off all three Aces, so 5C= down one. So the upshot was that we got a complete top for being the only pair with a plus score. Other pairs either saw hearts making five or six or some amount of clubs down one or two. Other players asked me, "What did you do on Board 19?" When I answered "I passed throughout, and we beat 4H one trick," they looked at me like I had lost my mind. I'm not saying what I did was right or wrong, and I'm sure that somewhere out there is Dinkle Finklestein's "How to Bid Eleven-card Suits," which I haven't read, and never will.

I wait to evaluate a hand's distribution until I hear my partner's first bid and/or the opponents'. A hand like AKxxx, x, QJxxxx, x certainly has good playing strength, but its actual value varies wildly depending on what partner bids (1H, yuck, 1NT, hooray, 3C, I want to shoot him, etc.). I was once dealt (in a tournament no less), void, x, x, KQJxxxxxxxx. Before I could figure out what to bid, my pard opened 2S. Talk about the most deflating bid in the world. Distribution is nice, but sometimes...

Pretty simple. "Pard, I think I can make 3NT under my own power as long as they can't rape us in spades, and I'm hoping you at least have enough in the suit to prevent that from happening." Point count is irrelevant here.

No need to get snarky. Personally, I wouldn't WANT to get to 6S on this hand. A what, 15% slam, when the dust settles? Whoopie doo! We, of course, would still "need" to play it correctly, so your remark is incorrect. At matchpoints, making 5 versus 6 could be critical. The fact remains that the opener's hand was bid too aggressively, and while I certainly agree it is a perfectly legitimate opener, it is a MINIMUM opener and should be treated as such in the subsequent auction. Yes, I see that it has considerable playing power and is worth even more after a fit is discovered. That means that 4S should be a good contract. After all, pard put down a whale with FOUR card trump support and it's still dubious to make six. And yes, I know if pard had the Joker of Bananas, slam would have been cold--but he didn't.

The OP didn't mention whether it was matchpoints or rubber. Partner is marked with at least 9 hcp. At rubber, I lead low from my Qxx and hope to hit partner with help. The diamonds don't figure to set up in time. At matchpoints, I don't want to underlead ANY honor...so I lead the diamond 9. The diamond 6 might be misinterpreted by partner. I expect to see declarer struggling somewhat, but usually making his contract (dummy will have a little something, otherwise pard would have acted). I want us to be the pair that holds him to one or two. So I lead the diamond 9, which can't possibly hurt us, rather than trying to find the short suit honor xx killing lead.

Yes, yes, yes, we all know you posted this hand to show some justification for your bidding. I'm not focusing on the result--I'm focusing on the rotten contract, whether or not it may have made. Even accepting your estimation, a contract that ONLY has a 22% chance of making IF the opponents don't lead a plain suit is pretty bad. I, or you, could justify ANY bad bid by showing how it led to a makeable contract. If you play Jacoby, then a 4S response is systematic. Don't forget that opening 1S with that hand was already an upgrade--a justified one, but then treating it as a more-than-minimum opener by rebidding 3S is applying that same upgrade a second time. Also consider that the hand only had a chance because partner had very little wastage in clubs...a perfect heart holding opposite your small doubleton...and that chance was something like 15%, even so. But whatever happened, hooray for you.

The fact that both double and 3H could lead to awful contracts steers me toward 2NT. That, or (eventually) 3NT, is unlikely to be an absurd contract. The only issue is missing a 5-3 heart fit, but I'm less enthusiastic about playing suit contracts when the opponents have preempted---more bad trump breaks than normal.

Misreading a book is not "learning." How does giving your partner a third round ruff "set up a winner for declarer," in any scenario? In point of fact, it might PREVENT declarer from eventually developing a winner in that suit...for instance, if he had QJx opposite xxx (after you've led the A or K from AK). What you're failing to understand is that partner's first signal is ATTITUDE...he wants you to continue the suit for one of two reasons: he has a doubleton or he has the Queen. Play two more rounds of the suit and you'll find out which. He should play small from xxx (or Jxx), which would show both count AND attitude. From xxxx, he would also play small, which would tell you he is not interested in seeing you continue the suit. He could also play high with xxx or xxxx if he has a yarborough and thinks that cashing your other high honor would be the best course of action (rather than him switching and underleading a Q or something like that).

There are several bridge comic books, and I've had partners who obviously had read all of them.

And then you banged down the spade Ace, dummy had Kx, declarer ruffed, played a trump to dummy's Ace, pitched his singleton club on the spade K...making four. And you went out and got drunk.

I'm optimistic. Responder's 3H was weak, after all, so declarer isn't going to discard all his spades on dummy's AAAAAAKKKKKQQQQ of diamonds. If we have nine spades, it might be that when they're 3-1, dummy has the singleton...again, given the weak jump. I stop both minors. So I lead a trump, with the idea that when in with the spade A, I lead another...and in the best case scenario, declarer loses his third spade (or has to ruff it with a natural trump trick). I don't see any real risk that my spade Ace is going away. Sometimes, it might. But that's counterbalanced by the times when leading the spade A turns out to be wrong, or at least unhelpful. (And let's not forget the times when declarer has Kx of spades opposite a small doubleton...ouch.)

There's no line that makes it more than a very poor slam, and whatever you're suggesting is similar to what I suggested--strip the hearts and clubs and play for something funky in the diamond suit. Maybe a low one to the 9 or something. I can't see what would really work other than catching someone with Kx or Qx and they don't go up on the first diamond. As far as whether you had a "duty" to bid 4C...well, I've played with a LOT of partners who make a bad bid and then feel like they have to "compensate" for it, such as responding with a subminimum and then passing a rebid that should be forcing. The truth was, you painted yourself into a corner, but a bid of 4S would have been more truthful than 4C. You had those five losing spot cards in your hand, and it was very unlikely that your partner would be able to cover four of them.

So...opener has a minimum (2C rebid) and a shapely hand (long clubs, 3 hearts, we presume). So let me cut the Gordian knot. Opener raises 1H to 2H. His hand should be a good dummy in hearts. Responder can proceed on the assumption that partner may only have three hearts...perhaps rebidding in NT with only four hearts himself. I don't know if this makes me modern or old-fashioned, but I support with support. ALWAYS raise responder's major with three card support, some shape, and a minimum hand.

Well, where to begin...opener's 1S is OK, but if 2NT was Jacoby, he should have signed off with 4S...as it was, North's 3NT rebid was grossbuckets. It was South's responsibility to put on the brakes, though. The cuebid of 4C overstated his values (accurate as far as it went, but his 3S rebid AND 4C bid together, implied he had a much better hand). Opposite those two bids, North would have been justified in bidding 8 spades, maybe 9. Best auction: 1S--2NT--4S then MAYBE 5D (please please please?) 5S (no no no). There are basically two things to try, neither of them very likely to work. You can hope that one player guards both hearts and clubs, or for some very unlikely double squeeze or pseudo-squeeze where each opponent guards diamonds and one of the other suits. Alternatively, you can strip the hearts and clubs and hope to find someone with the Kx of diamonds. That can be thwarted if that player is smart enough to dump his K under your Ace. That's why if you went that way, you should cash the diamond Ace before you start your strip. If you go for the squeeze(s), ducking a diamond early helps. It's probably something like 5% either way.

That statement is fundamentally wrong. First of all, "encouragement" never shows any particular card. It shows A DESIRE FOR PARTNER TO CONTINUE THE SUIT. This could be because the leader's partner has the Queen OR can ruff the third round. If the leader's partner does not have the Queen and CANNOT ruff the third round, then he plays low to discourage. This is to prevent the Queen from being established in declarer's hand. This would be particularly useful if the opening leader had, say, AKJx. With Qxx, the leader's partner would play his highest spot card to encourage. This means that the opening leader will not know immediately WHY partner is encouraging. But it's simple. Just play the other top honor and a third round. Partner will win the third round, one way or another. If you follow the "rule" espoused by bluenikki, you'll never get a third round ruff when you have a doubleton, because you'll always be playing low (lacking the Queen). That can lead to letting a lot of contracts that should go down making.