jdeegan

:) At matchpoints, cash the spade before it goes away after declarer drops your doubleton ♥ Q while in the process of cashing out. At IMPs, play back the J of clubs and pray for a miracle.

:) Pard jumped to five ♥ over the 3♠ bid?? Was it a quantitative bid? Nah, uses up too much bidding space for that to be it's purpose. Was it asking about trumps (in this case clubs, you "raised" them, remember)? Nah, He doesn't know who has the ♦ ace. Gotta find that first. Plus, if he had a spade control, he might have bid 4♠, planning to correct any subsequent club contract back into hearts. Was it asking about spades? I guess it is, but how he could bid that way w/o knowing about the ♦ A beats me.

:) Bidding looks OK to me. Four ♥ is a fairly decent contract, but far from a sure thing. You have as potential losers one spade, one diamond and two (possibly three) hearts.

:) 3NT with 2NT as a close second. RHO will be subject to working finesses and frequent endplays, and my diamonds should run, and my ♥ J figures to be worth a trick. By the way, seven responders chose DBL. Wtf is that all about? Take out? So, what is pard supposed to do? If for penalties, then why pick on a possible nine card fit for them?

:) PASS. I'm not risking life an limb to save against -140.

:) Why isn't Pass a choice? True, if we have a game, then we have to hold them to four tricks, but nobody thinks we have a game for sure. If no game, then holding them to 5 or 6 tricks will be an excellent result.

:) I can pass on one fact from experience: opening a 10-12 HCP NT opposite a passed hand is murder. The opponents know its either their hand or a 50-50 HCP split. Opening 11-14 HCP a la K-S or Acol seems a little safer, but still a little dangerous. So, I can sort of back in to how to answer your question. Stronger NT openers in third or fourth seat make sense to me. What one does first and second seat is what it is.

:) 2♠ It's very close to the dividing line for me. It only matters in two cases: pard is broke or pard has a near game try hand. Broke: 4.25 tricks in ♠, 1.25 tricks in ♦ ruffs, 1.5 tricks in ♥, and 0.25 tricks in ♣. A total expectancy of 7.25 tricks. Useful fitting cards for pard to hold would be the ♠ Q or QJ (+0.5), the ♥ K (+1.5), a fourth diamond (+0.75), and the ♣ A, K or J (+0.75 or more). Pard needs TWO cards to make 3♠ a 50-50 chance -- this is too much, I think. Of course, we may go down one in 3♠ when they have a part score in clubs or diamonds, but they face an uphill struggle to find it over 2♠. Close to game hand: I'll bet that most games reachable only after this particular super acceptance will depend on the heart hook. Vul at IMPs it might be worth the stretch. If you super accept with this 15 HCP (albeit a very good 15) hand with a useful doubleton, pard will learn to be cautious opposite the next super acceptance, and you may miss a game. Can one afford to play such a wide range of the super acceptance (16 dummy points up to 18)? How would you like to give up the 1NT-Pass-2NT (or equivalent) game try? Pard opens 1NT and your choice is Pass or 3NT.

:lol: I don't see anything fancy to do here. Take ruffing finesse on the club ace (it ought to work). Either pitch the losing heart or ruff out the club ace if it is covered. Either way, I'm going to pitch my losing heart and hook the spade, hoping for one trump loser. Bottom line, if lucky, is to win five spades, one club, and four diamonds- i.e. losing one heart, one club and one spade.

:lol: 3♦. Probably ought to just bid 4♠, but, I guess, the hand is worth a very mild slam try just in case partner is 4-5-4-0 or 4-5-3-1 with just the right cards. The idea would be to win four spades in one hand and three ruffs in the other along with four diamonds and one additional top trick. Partner will have to drive the bidding to six; I'm through and ready to settle at 4♠ after my 3♦ bid.

:D Opponents have a diamond fit, but probably not a heart fit. 2♠ has the virtue of possibly buying the hand and shutting out their diamond fit. 2♣ is best if you expect to have to make a choice over the opponents 3♦ bid. Hmmm............ I'm going to take a feel of the table. If the opponents look eager, I bid 2♣. If they look lethargic, 2♠. Otherwise, it depends on the caliber and temperament of the opponents and the state of the match. Against high quality junior opponents (i.e. eager and confident of their dummy play), I suspect 2♣ would recommend itself more often than not.

:D RHO has only two minor suit cards. I got the ace of one of them (I hope). I'm gonna grab it (if its there) before it goes away. IMO all other leads ZERO.

:) Whether to open these sort of hands, I think, should be based on purely tactical considerations. Probably, the best situation to open the East hand for 1♦ would be third seat NVUL early in a match against moderate opposition (it is a perfect Kamikazi 1 NT opener first or second seat). Third seat Vul would be nearly as good. You are hoping to scramble the opponents' information exchange if it turns out to be their hand. Fourth seat is a different story altogether. You already know it isn't their hand, but it may not be yours either. By opening, you are, in effect, extending the match by one board. Do you want to do that? Do you need to do that? If so, then ask yourself to what degree do you have an advantage? Well, here your hand here is slightly better than average, and it has spades. This is a slim edge, but an edge nonetheless. On the actual hand, it looks like both sides can make eight tricks in their best suit. Any defensive slip allows nine tricks. If you open 1♦, the most likely outcome is +110 and 3 IMPs for your side. The hidden downside of bidding like this is that it makes life a bit dicier for partner whose life would be easier if he knew that pard's fourth seat openers were never sub-minimum. You may miss a close game once in a while.

:) Looks like a comfortable 3♦ bid. Only danger is our missing a game if partner goes ultraconservative. 3NT makes opposite a 10 HCP magic hand: Ax in diamonds, the ace of spades and the queen of clubs (I don't mind missing the game opposite this particular hand). I would hope pard can bid on with most 12+ HCP hands since my 'free' 3♦ bid does promise extra values and 6+ diamonds. Busy bidding opponents reduces the likelihood that pard has extras.

:) Ruff ♦ A. Play ♠K. If spades not originally 4-0, I am home free with enough entries to ruff out the hearts if need be. If spades started 4-0, then RHO will tap dummy again with a diamond. So, I finesse the spade and hope the hearts run. Losing cases require LHO & RHO to have been either void ......................... AJ7x Jxxx .......................... xx x.................................AQJ10xxx AKJ10xxxx...................void or void............................. AJ7x xx ............................... Jxxx xxx ..............................AQJ10x AKJ10xxxx.....................void or void...............................AJ7z x...................................Jxxxx xxxx..............................AQJ10 AKJ10xxxx......................void None of these (except #1) appear to be even remotely likely given the auction. Of course, what can we expect from a pair where LHO sandbags an eight bagger, and RHO doubles with 12 HCP and a void in an unbid suit.

:) Let me just say what I would think (and might sometimes say out loud) if my partner bid in the way you described. Hand 1: Considerable underbid, but it is one way to shoot for a swing. I don't like it, but I must repect partner's right to take a view on the hand. Hand 2: Same as for Hand 1, except this is even more conservative. Borderline just plain wrong not to make at least a try for game. Hand 3: Partner has evidently forgotten how to play bridge, if, indeed, he ever knew. I wouldn't even bother with a game try on this one. Just bid 4♠. Hand 4: Looks like a pass, playing the old Roth-Stone bidding system. Otherwise, how can one open the least bit "light' as a rule and yet pass 12 HCP with 2.5 quick tricks and a useful ten? Unlike hands 1&2, partner is not shooting by taking an off-percentage view hoping for a specific situation.

:lol: I would have doubled at my first opportunity. With a six bagger in the higher ranking of the unbid suits, my order of battle is: 2 of the suit shows at least an SAYC 2/1 (shaded just a tad), a negative double shows the in-between hand (as shown in this problem), and the lowest is a pre-emptive jump shift indicating (at best) AQ10xxx and out. Does this sound OK to you?

:P Thanks for all the commentary! It turns out that the North hand is considered to be right on the boundary line between Dbl and Pass - 50% for each action. The choice likely depends on one's estimate of pard's orangutanic tendencies as first chair opening bidder. Panelists also seem divided on the matter of South's bidding 2 ♣ after partner passes or doubles. For what it's worth, [hv=d=s&v=b&n=sktxhqj97xdxxcqxx&w=sxxxxhaktxdakcktx&e=saxxh8xxxdt9xxxcx&s=sqjxhdqjxxcaj98xx]399|300|Scoring: IMP 1♣-1NT-Dbl-Pass-Pass-Pass[/hv] A double followed by a pass from North gets the magic +200 (probably). If North starts the Q of ♥ on opening lead, then West can win and play back a heart. North must win and force West to win the second round of clubs.

:) Partner is 'reliable' and relatively sound. He did, however, open the bidding with: [hv=d=s&v=b&s=sqj6hdqj52caj9872]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Suppose it goes 1♣-1NT-Pass-Pass back to you? Are you a passenger here? How about 1♣-1NT-Dbl-Pass back to you? Or as it went on the actual hand, 1♣-1NT-2♥(ugh)-Pass back to you.

[hv=d=n&v=b&s=sk107hqj974d87cq63]133|100|Scoring: IMP 1♣-1NT-????[/hv] Playing IMP pairs using SAYC with a reliable partner, early in the session. Your call?

:) How about club to the king followed by the heart queen pitching a diamond. If that lives, try a small diamond toward the A10, and ............??? play the ace followed by the ace and queen of clubs. I am hoping neither of the round suits is worse than 5-3, a fair chance as the opps were silent. If the clubs live, I will exit with the diamond ten and hope for the best. Me plan is to take two hearts, one diamond, three clubs, four spades. It may depend on the location of the spade 10.

:) Looks like a cinch given 7-1 hearts. Pull trumps, unblock clubs and finesse diamonds twice if necessary. If the hearts are 6-2, my plan is to excuse myself from this table and go find an easier game.

:P You are second seat, and the auction has unfolded as follows: 1♣ - 1♠ (by you) - 2♥ - 3♥ Dbl - ??? What would a Pass show? What would a Redouble show? What would 3♠ show? What would 3 NT show? What is my minimum for a 4♠ bid What Is a bid of four of either minor indicate? Thanks, Confused by the Bidding

:lol: Pass, but imo it is close. RHO is odds on to get at least four spade tricks: +1100 for us versus +1390. With one outside trick, is +800 for us versus +1370 (assuming it is bid at the other table). With two outside tricks, it is +500 for us versus +630ish in game. All the foregoing situations favor bidding on, but I need a favorable swing, and +200 or +500 versus -100 is just the ticket. It is also, by far, the single most likely outcome. Further, the contact and/or play at the other table may be suboptimal. Take the sure plus and run.

:D Pass. This is a misfit hand.