benlessard

4C seems clear cut. Partner will bid 3S with 5S and 3D. So either hes got short D or hes got 3/4S. Both case tell me that 4C will play better. Over 4C he can bid 4S to show 5S and C support and a maximum.

Preempt in minors are surely underrated, but opening 1M with a no-loser no quick trick is just so bad that I prefer Namyats.

Easy pass, a red vs W 3D preempt is an opening hand so my hope for game if partner cant balance are not so high.

4S here. Partner didnt promise both majors so 4S imply D good enough to play at the 5 level. However Its setup FP, and depending on your opening style partner may think you have 6D and 5S and decide to pass 4S with a 3 carder. With 5-6 and without strong D i prefer to open 1M but im in the minority here.

I like to play that 3H is preemptive style and that 2S show that game is still in reach. Over 2S 2Nt half a stop. 3C K/QQ 3D K 3H nothing. 3S splinter at least 3H. 3NT stopper. 4C A 4D A A fairly rare sequence.

1Nt looks normal.

You never play at the 3 level unless you want to. if advanced is 2452 he will respond 2D opener will pass with 4D and 5M, will bid 2H with both M or with 5H & 4C and will bid 2S with 5S and 4C.

Its a must to know wich suit is longer if you like to get in with borderline 5/4 however there is better setup than vertigo. My favorite for example is. X= 5M and other suit maybe both M 2C= 5C+ other suit (maybe both m if you like) 2D= 5D +4M The idea is that 5M+4m are less suceptible to preemption then 4M+5m. Also what you want is that (1Nt)-----2D------(Z)--------3D is more frequent, if 2D show 5D instead of just 4D.

What we play is that. 1H show 5 and is unbalanced 12-14 or 18-22. 1H-----1S (relay 6+) 1NT 4+♣ 2C 4+♦ 2D 6+♥ 2H 5H+4S 12-14 the rest is GF with 5H & 4S 1H-----??? 1Nt (minor one suiter) or S inv 2C C+ higher suit 6-10 and stiff H 2D D + S 6-10 stiff H 2H (we like to use it as invitationnal with S and 2H but single raise is probably better) 2S Spades INV & (stiff H)

Ax KJ9xx x Axxxx JTx Txx AQxx KQJx Ive played this last week and I owe 99% of the imps to Kelsey. 4H you get a tiny club for lead.

Pass. Ill sometimes gamble a double with 4333, but not with 33(43)

3NT is clear. You are hoping that partner has the A of H or slow H stop and Q of S and Jx in clubs.

South can figure partner is 2551 or 2461 or an unlikely 1561. So i think he can afford to bid 3S. I would probably have bid 3S with north hand but im not so sure.

I think the problem is that people are starting to realize that MP make only sense in a strong field. When you just look at the scores of LMP winners and you often see that its more luck than good bridge. Also people play MP in clubs all year long so it make sense that for tournament they play teams. Here in Montreal LMP has no credits/ compared to KOs or sunday swiss.

Agree with Mbodell. You can play strong namyats and make the 2NT a bit stronger (21-22) and 3Nt is to play. (GF with a long minor or monster balanced). The frequency of bad boards will be quite low.

Than i think 2H is a bit dangerous because of the dreadful -200. I would pass

W vs red you have to get in, and 2H is normal.

At MP im pretty sure that a a sensible use for 2C (5C+4/5 in other suit) will compensate enough for the guessing youll make with a strong hand. But in IMPs too much imps are at stakes on big hands. I know a pair that doesnt use forcing opening and he told me that he was saved by a reopening X. 1S------(P)--------P----------X 6H------(P)--------7H making. I was pretty sure he was joking , but ive asked and it did happen !

4Nt looks like an overbid but other than that the bidding is fine. AK,AK and 5 card suit is a correct upgrade to 1C/2Nt. If Ken say your bidding is strange and foreign, don't worry you are on the good track. (I just couldnt resist on this 1)

Its more a matter of strenght than suit quality. 1H-------1S 2H 1H-------1Nt 2H 1S-------1Nt 2S These show minimum hands. But the suit quality can be anything. 1H-------1S 2m could be up to 18 pts. With Axxx x Axxx JTxx 1H-------1S 3H-------??? 95% of experts will bid 4H despite the singleton. So 3H should show a very good suit not just pts. So with a good hand but bad suit you have to bid a 3 card minor despite holding a 6M, the idea is that partner will only pass holding a stiff in your major and a hand not strong enough to rebid 2Nt or raise your minor or to bid his suit. These hand you will play 2m instead of 3M but since game is unlikely its not a big problem. Im not sure its 100% standard but its a pretty steady way to play.

4Nt but not convinced.

I think that North-Americans and many Europeens are living in a unnoticed golden age. Life expectancy, quality of life, time for education, arts and leisure has simply exploded. Computers, travels, cars, modern medecine are things that where dreams 100 years ago. The problems is that it may not last. So if it goes badly, in a few century they will look at our era as a "modern" golden age.

1C------1D 1S------2H (3H isnt natural for me) 3S ----??? (3S is probably better then 2S, showing the 6-5 will tell partner that we may not have a full opening in points count and 2S followed by 3S might just be a waiting or control bid) here the misfit is clear as sunshine but still our hand is still powerhouse. So 4D wich is keycard for us (but may include a S fit, I know we have a S void), 4H (1-4) now I think its clear to signoff in 5D but the other option would be to bid 5C (asking for extras) and partner will sign off in 5D. I wouldnt cry if we reached 6D.

I have 8 spades in my hand so im pretty sure partner will not think its an exclusion bid. Also using ogust with a void and GF values is pretty lame. This doesnt hold, partner has limited values its easier for him to see if his values are working than the other way around. 2D----(X)------3S (single suiter GF) 3NT------------4C 4H--------------5C ??? I think all the bids are pretty obvious so far. 3Nt denied a fit, with no points in D 4H is pretty obvious. 5C is obvious too. Now depending the style of preempt opener might bid 6S because of the Q of clubs.

These are fairly common problems hand. But they always bring up heated discussions. I think the main point of the hand is that strongish hands with AKxxxx, AQxxxx or KJTxxx do bad vs a singleton or void but tend to do pretty well vs a low doubleton. So here the fit is promordial in determining if the hand is strong enough for game or not. The old school 3 in your suit bid showed a semi-solid suit so that responder holding 2A and a stiff trump could bid 4M and expect partner to claim fairly early in the hand. I play that style and my minimum requirement is KQJ9xx, anything less isnt solid enough. With that style it doesnt even cross your mind to bid 3H here. The downside however is you need to rebid 2m fairly often. In imps its probably a safe way to deal with the hand, if partner rebid 2H you might even gamble into 4H directly but if he pass 2C youll be happy. Even holding 5C and 2H and some working values partner is expected to false preference at 2H. In Mp however its just doesnt work, 2H making 2/3 is just too likely to beat a club partial so that players strongly stretch to rebid 3M with any excuses. Also at first is something pretty unnatural and disgusting into rebidding Qxx instead of AKTxxx. with A AKTxxx Axx Qxx But you get used to it pretty quickly. If i asked most top players in montreal most would bid 2C, but if i asked on the internet 2C will not get 10% of the votes. The 2nd style is to play that 2NT is 18-19 and may contain 6H. This work but still require that with slightly weaker range (15-17) you still need to bid a 3 card minor even with a 6M. also, 1M---1Nt------2m------2x------2NT is the way to show the 15-17 balanced & semi-balanced hands. The 3rd style is to somewhat overbid by GF on hands that will play badly on misfits or to have less suit quality requirement so that 3M is mostly showing values rather than suit quality, partner will respond 3Nt with + values and no fit rather than raise with a stiff, opener is expected to come back a 4M with an almost self-sufficient suit for fear that partner has aces rather than slow values. Note that Gazilli and 2Nt artificial GF (i hate both) dont really help here. What might help however is the cheapest JS/cheapest reverse as an artificial bid. Switching 3H for 3C 1H-------1S 3H and 3S are GF but 3C is artificial and not GF In the minors its also the same problems 1D-----1M 3D with AKxxxx is something i truly detest but for many players 2D is minimum and 1M or 2C into 3 card is unnacceptable ( esp if you open 1D with 5C/4D) I dont offer any final solutions but i can safely say that if you rebid 2C on the problem hand it will probably work out better than you think maybe not enough to your taste but .... (I play style 1 so for me this hand is close call between 2Nt & 2C and ill overbid 3C before bidding 3H)