benlessard

What wrong with 50-50 ish ? Its very possible the only way to beat this is ruff-H Ace and ruff. Im glad partner double and give me a chance to get it right instead of plainly leading my H Ace. I agree that a xx is a possibility but in practice most players are way too passive with the business XX.

1- For me 4D is keycard, so i have to bid 4S as a cog bid. Partner will assume that ive got 4D and 3S or more likely Hx--3 diamonds. 2- i could go either way. Double is risky since partner could have limited values and extra shape (D void) but didnt want to bid 3H because we are red against a partscore. Also many make agressive limit bid these days. For me a limit vs an overcall is slightly stronger than a limit vs an opening even by a passed hand. I slighly prefer a H lead to a S lead. 3-Pass WTP 4-Pass WTP 5- Without the X i would bid 2C and bid 2H over a 2D preference but because of the X im not so fond of going to the 3 level so ill bid 2D wich seem more foward going than a 2C followed by a pass of 2D. (ps with 4D and 5C i frequently open 1D)

our 1D is always 4 and unbalanced 11-22, could be 4D and 5C or any 4441 with 4D after 1H relay our continuation go pretty well that i think it might be good to play NF responses since with 95% of GF hand its better to simply relay. Opener already has made 1 natural bid and is shape is often very easy to describe. While responder 1S response (or much worse 2C) and opener rebid take enough space than a adequate description is impossible. I dont expect the gain to be great but ive never played 1S as non-forcing so i dont know. 1D-----??? 1H = relay (at least 3H if weak) usually a D tolerance 1S = 5S non forcing 1Nt = 5H non forcing *(or maybe forcing) 2C = 6C non forcing 2D D raise 2H nat *(or maybe both M if 1Nt is forcing) 2S Nat The main advantage is that we will be able to play 1Nt. The 2nd advantage is that a further 2H is a GF relay 1D----1H 1Nt (showing 6D)-----2C is inv,2D is weak 2H is GF relay 1D----1H 1S (D+C)----1NT is inv,2m is weakish 2H is GF 1D----1H 2C (S+D 12-14 or GF)-----2 pointed is to play, 2H GF 1D----1H 2D (D+S 15-17)-------2H GF before it used to be 1D----1S ?? 1Nt = clubs 2C = 6D or reverse H+D 2D = 5D+4H 2H = 12-14 or GF S raise 2S = 15-17 raise rest is GF showing very precise hands now it can be pass = dead minimum or only 2S 1Nt = s shortness NF tend to show 4H. 2C = nat tend to show 5 2D = nat 6D 2H = H reverse or 12-14 or GF S raise 2S = slight extras rest is GF not so precise hands

Yep i agree that why ive removed my old post your line is clearly better (playing twice to AQ9) because ill never be able to read diamonds.

Sorry if im wrong again.. A of S lead. TRump switch won in dummy. S ruff AK of D. Honor appear and lets say youre sure hes got 2 of them.. H to dummy. ruff the last spade 3rd H to dummy low club and cover if LHO has 2 diamonds hes endplay for clubs or ruff and discard

s lead trump won on dummy ruff a S AK of D, west drop and honor. H to dummy now you can ruff the S and play for the elimination ? Maybe he didnt play the J smoothly so my subconcient (lol) was sure he had the Q of D so i ruffed the S get back to dummy and played the T of D but the technical once he showed an Hx line is either the elimination or the double finesse.

That what i thought but you just play clubs and cover and west cannot exit in diamonds.

removed yep justin line seems way better

Your 7 card ending still need a big read. If they discard a club from (5th or 2) or 2 diamond from a 5 card suit and you are screwed because you will orientate your squeeze on the wrong side but i agree that cashing AK of D before the S ace might be better depending on the discards Not if hes got both black guard.

I agree i should have put it in interesting hand. Its just that this hand look so much like a constructed problem its hard to believe that its was a real hand. 1- need to keep the 3 of trump 2- exactly the correct number of entries is needed. 3- need to unblock AK of diamonds before playing a 2nd trump 4- perfect endplay AQ9 holding (KTx happen quite often but aq9 ?) 5- LHO had the club king 6- they have a strong counter with trump at trick 2 7- i had the counter breaker of loser on loser play of the T of diamond 8- LHO had QJ of diamond ! Ive never played a hand that was as textbook as this 1.

Assuming you are in 6Nt T --- x x vs --- --- AKx ---- is the ending you want to reach you will make if east has KJ of spades and LHO has the club guard.

1&2 dont matter ! Because in a perfect both RHO and LHO will play their A in the correct ratio that will give you no advantage for winning against A9 or for guessing who has the A and who has the 9 and for beating AQ97----X. However if hes that perfect and know youre biased they will beat you. In wich case the correct strategy is something like... further post to come a third of the hands will fail because AQ or A9x is in RHO All 4-1 split are bad except AQ9x If JQKA shows up the only case that are relevant are Q7x-----A9 (RHO will of course never duck with this holding) Q9x-----A7 (RHO will duck g% of the times) Q97-----Ax (RHO will duck g% of the times) Q97x----A is not relevant because you are not going to finesse against the 7 (unless they spill their cards too) If JQKx the relevant case are AQx---97 (LHO will play the A vs the Q in H% of the times) AQ7---9x (LHO will play the A vs the Q in H% of the times) AQ97----x (LHO will play the A vs the Q in H% of the times) AQ9x----7 (LHO will play the A vs the Q in H% of the times) Q9x-----A7 (RHO will duck g% of the times) Q97-----Ax (RHO will duck g% of the times) IF declarer ALWAYS plan to finesse the 8 after the A show up and play the T when the A isnt played he will lose big time. Im supposed to go to sleep now and this problem is driving me crazy... However im sure you have to determine LHO mixed strategy before handling RHO strategy) With AQ7 AQx AQ9x AQ97 he will play the A or Q in a certain ratio At first i was thing that he should always play the Q with those holding but he need to protect AQ9x and AQ97 The 4th case magically dont exist. Because LHO should always cover. With Q97x he will always make 2 trick because you wont finesse against the 7 anyway and with Q?? he has to cover to give you the chance to go wrong.

Ive never met a hand that was such a textbook example. 1C (strong)-----(1S)------pass (0-4)-------(4S) 5H (showing 9.5-10.5 tricks) all pass [hv=d=s&v=n&n=s863ha962dt65c752&s=s9hkqjt875dakcaq9]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] 1- LHO lead A spades and continue spades. 2- LHO lead K spades (asking for count) and return trumps (wich are 2-0)

Our hands that are in the 15-17 range are opened 1C. So our 1S opening is unbalanced and 12-14 or 18-22. You have 3H and 3S available for 2 preempt range. What range do you suggest ? 3S = 5-9 with 4 trumps (or 5 if no ruffing power) 3H = 0-4 with 4 trumps (or 5 if no ruffing power) The idea here is that over 3S partner bid 4S with any 18-22 and pass with all 12-14 facing over 3H partner bid 4S with 20-22 and pass with 18-19 or 3S = 3-7 with a shortness 3H = 5-9 with defensive values The idea is that if partner is 12-14 he can easily take a save at 4S. If hes 18-22 he always bid 4S. Or something else ? Scoring is imps

3D and even if its going down youre probably ok because they are likely to reach a making 2S or 2H if you only bid 2D. (1H)-----X--------(P)---------2D (X)-------P--------(2S) or (1H)-----X--------(P)---------2D (P)-------P--------(X) (with 4/5S 2H + little values)

I doubt you can use PAS to avoid 6D when opener has only 3 diamonds. The reason is that hand where responder has both M and no D tol are way more frequent than those where opener is 4432. So 1D----(5C)-----5Nt-----(P) 6C-----(P)------6D should show both majors otherwise how do you show them ? 6C doesnt show a first round control by the way. Otherwise what do you do with a huge hand ?

5D and 5M are NF to play using 5Nt as pick-a-slam 5Nt is PAS (are your D long ?) ----6C (no) ---------------6D FORCING = both M please pick ur best M ---------------6H = to play H + D tol ---------------6S = S + D tol ----6D (yes) ----------pass = ive got D tol ----------6H = ive got both M and no D ----------6S = Solid spades thinking about 7 and wanting to know about D quality ----6H = both M im thinking about 7M ----6S = i want to play 7M So responder has to bid 6C with all hands that think about 7 in wich he doesnt care about the quality of diamonds. So 6C is my bid. Thinking about 7 always show 2 keyc+ C void or 3 keycards.

4S is terrible. I think pass is better than X, sure our diamonds are great but the hand looks like a minimum to me and they are NV.

Responder pass of 4H is a joke. Why bidding 3H to show 2 top 3H honnor ? What about jumping to 4D wich hopefully show a void. For my point of view i hate splinter that dont make the difference between a stiff and a void, the difference is too important for a bid that take that much space.

My interpretation of the result is that super-accepting seems like a dubious propositon and that playing GF transfers is awful. The fact that 4M score way better than 3Nt clearly demonstrate that a weak hand with a long suit should play in the suit and not in Nt. So playing 3M instead of 2NT is clearly a good strategy even with a dull 5332. Also facing a strong 2NT i think that 0-3 pts are probably as frequent as slammish hands. So the gain you have by having more slammish sequence is completly annihilated by loss of not being able to play 3M.

(1S)-------X-------(2H)--------??? 2H is constructive raise in S What does X show 1 - a free 2H bid 2- responsive X 3 - other ?

(1C)-----1S------(X)-------2D (P)-------??? 1C could be short as 1 (4441) 2D is transfers advance showing H and 8+ (6H or 5H +2s) KQ98xx Ax --- KJxxx What do you bid ? Would 3 clubs be forcing ? If not would 4C be a splinter or COG ? Our agreement is that a 2C overcall is natural. Also (1C)----1D------(P)--------1M (P)------2C is natural. We like to keep natural bids over PC or SC but we didnt discussed the 3 level.

2D because my 1D show at least 4. After the 2S (X) my 2Nt is scrambling so that what I bid.

I like that responder has to bid 2Nt with all hands with at least half a stop. (here it doesnt matter but most of the time it help rightsiding the Hx) But even if you dont play that way, responder holding a non-slammish with half-stop or + in club can/should bid 2Nt before 3D anyway. So 3D is either slammish or without clubs cards. So in both case you dont want to play 3Nt. It playable that 3H show a nice 4 bagger but i play 3H as a cue.

MP or imps ? IMO for MP the best setup is Non-forcing 1Nt (I think playing 1NT forcing in MP is a mistake) 2 - Opening 1M except when holding 16 pts. (with 15 pts you pass or rebid 1Nt, with 17 you rebid 2Nt). The thin game you ll missed are costly in imps but in MP you are compensated by the good boards when 3Nt is going down. If you insist with 1Nt forcing than it make more sense to open 1Nt with 5M since if you open 1M you wont be able to play 1Nt unless you play KS inversion (wich is highly recommended in all variations) At imps... It depend on the rest of your system way too much to have a definitive answers. We are opening all balanced hands by a strong club followed by 1Nt rebid or by 1Nt except in 3rd/4 seat regardless of 5M or not. Its not that we gain with those hands, its everytime we open 1M with an unbalanced hand that we are getting gains.