Joe de Balliol

For both of these, you play 5cm, weak nt, and it's IMPs scoring: 1) Red against green, you're dealer with xxxx AJx AK97 Jx You open 1N. Pard bids 2D (trsfr). RHO comes in with 3D. Double would be pens from either you or pard. Your call? 2) T9x KQJ9 Jxxx Tx Pard opens 1D in third seat. RHO bids 2C which you double (neg). LHO bids 2H and this is passed round to you. Your call? Cheers for your advice/opinion J

I'm not doubling on the first round or even considering it. If I do, I've already overstated my hand and pass from now on. Not sure how great 3H is - I'm definitely passing but I think it's the least of the evils (doubling on the first part of the problem being one of them :)) J

I suppose EW are complaining that North psyched - arguably he did but I don't see any grounds for adjustment. J

At matchpoints I'd be much more tempted by 4C. Against most dummies I'll be making ten tricks and 4M will be drifting off slowly. At IMPs it's 5C for me by a long way. I'm doubling 5S iff I'm sure pard will take as Lightner. Otherwise I'm passing as smoothly as possible. J

North 96 - KQT7543 KQ76 W N E S 2♦ ? 2 is your standard 3 way multi. You are at favourable vulnerability. Your call.

Any other stories Luis? Those two cracked me up!

I'd expect partner to hold eight clubs and not much else for his bid, so I pass without thinking hard. I'm okay missing this slam. J

Board 1: 2♦ seems fine. It's not likely to get into serious trouble. If pard is interested in game, I'm quite happy to hear a 2♥ or 3♦ probe. If not, I'll be passing 2♠ or 3♣ Board 2: I quite like 4♦ hoping for S cue, but partners have a tendency to pass bids like these. I'll go with some kind of RKCB. Board 3: I pass. Not a big problem. Board 4: 3♦. I want more info. J

Afraid I'm placing all blame with East for 4D - 3D not out of this world, 4D is. I'm assuming x of 3S is pens...

Well, in the Portland Bowl last year Oxford B won two matches by 2 IMP My first-round NICKO match this year was tied after 24 boards and went to a tie-break. Everyone's drawn some Swiss teams matches. In my Crockford's Cup match this year my team was playing against Forrester, Mizel, Allfrey, and Tosh. After 8 boards we were 57 IMP down. While we 'only' lost by 70 or so overall, for boards 9 onwards the idea was to lose by as little as possible, hence it was purely take the odds as we had no chance of winning and knew it. Finally - I think the contract matters. Safety plays are not usually best in part-scores, worth taking in games, should be taken in slam, and should generally be taken in grands unless the chance of an overtrick is VERY high :P J

I think opening 2♠ with both and following up with 4♥ gets across your hand beautifully. Even undiscussed, partner will be able to place you with something similar to your current hand. With the second, I'm slightly hesitant because to do so risks missing slam, but I think that's a small chance. As for the other side of the question, I think I'd go for 4C, because 3C makes it too easy for a 4C cue to land them in the right 4M. J

4♥ seems absolutely automatic. You *could* be missing a slam. You *could* be reaching a non-making game. But if you play pard to have xxx xxx xxxx xxx you're hardly ever doubling in the first place. 4♥ is the practical bid. J

This isn't the right hand to be a joker on, and 1D isn't really enough of a jokerish bid for me anyway. 5D (which I bid at the table) is imo fine. If pard has three aces, he's likely to go on. If he doesn't - you might miss a slam and you might bid a non-making slam, but you aren't going to get a silly result. Incidentally, something occurred to me: You [Owen] said to pre-empt to the level where you don't know whether to be happy if opps double or not but you really want to be doubled here - I still think you'll be happy sitting a double but if they're doubling it's quite like pard has a major-oriented weak hand in which case you're going for 200 or 500 or even 800 against nothing. J

Red on white you've got a pass imo. "Takeout doubles with weak NT hands are losing bridge" With a bit more shape I'd X. J

If I hadn't looked at this thread and a beginner had asked me what I thought of 3C I would have explained that it is an atrocious bid. I still don't like it, though I have some sympathy with the MP lead-directing aspects. J

When you play with a somewhat inexperienced 15 year old, you can't expect her to play perfectly. J