JohnnyH7

I would double with the south hand to be followed with diamonds to show a more flexible hand type, but south's bid is certainly OK especially with a pard who likes to sit for the takeout Xs with marginal holdings. 6D was a good bid.

2254 with have his choice of 2H, 2N, or 3D depending on honor structure, none being ideal. I have never heard of bidding 2S with this shape, ostensibly showing short hearts. That seems like the biggest misdescription.

2N? 4th suit forcing when partner failed to jump shift the round before makes no sense. If he wanted to game force opposite a minimum, he would have bid 3C over 1H. His bids all show extras and are patterning out.

As for BAM vs IMPs, the comparison you need to be making is BAM knockouts vs IMP knockouts. BAM knockouts are certainly the least random form of the game, I don't think people would argue with this. In a BAM knockout every board matters equally, in an IMP knockout the bigger boards are what is important.

This is a lead problem. I would lead a diamond.

The 2C bid over 1N is not as ridiculous as it seems btw. Assuming the 1N bid denies a 4 card major, the only time you will not have a minor suit fit is if partner is 3334. In all other cases you will have an 8 card minor suit fit and just xx of hearts opposite 2-3 hearts with partner, a suit they may easily run. Also gibs hand was very suit oriented, and if he ended in 2C in a 4-3 he was fine with that. I would not be shocked if 2C was a long term winning bid. Making a game try with the 9 count gib had is also not hopeless, albeit most likely a long term loser. Especially if you have 4 spades, gibs hand is very bid, and even if you have only 3 spades some hands that you can have make game. While it is probably an inferior bid, I've seen much worse. As for gib pulling to 2S in front of the redoubler, if he had a shortness somewhere and was not willing to sit for a double in that suit 2S may well be a good bid. Sort of a "delayed" game try, if partner has the magic fit in spades game now be on. Keep an open mind. One of the great things about the bids gib makes is they do not come with any biases that humans have. Like uday implied, you both have to play with a bot. These things will average out in the long term, and if you learn how to handle the bot you will have a huge edge. Knowing how to handle partner is always a critical skill.

I use pass pass 2M p 2N as a shortness ask. If you're going to bid game with few high cards, you need the right shortness and no wastage. p p 2M X XX would not exist for me.

1) 4S. I'm bidding to make. 4H has merit but I don't want to tip off my distribution to the opponents, and I may want a club lead against 5D X anyways. 2) 2D. This suit will play opposite a stiff so I'm not going to show a 2 suiter. 3) 1D. My hand is just too heavy (2 first round controls, stiff K, and AQxxxxxx of trumps, 8-4 etc) for 5D. 4) 3D. I see no intelligent way to immediately get both suits into play, and it seems like I should be preempting. 5) Diamond. Time to attack.

Why is the 1N bidder likely to have heart honors but not spade honors when partner has shown both majors? Did you think partner bid 1H?

This hand is not very consistent with the auction and is very contrived. Partner happens to have 5 hearts for his negative X, the opponents have 11 diamonds and 25 HCP and bid 1N. Partner will know that trump values are good for game, a club card is useful, and spade honors are likely better than diamond honors. He will know that a fifth trump is very good, and more honors are better. I think he has a generally good idea of what a good hand is. Why is 4D a splinter for hearts? If it is a splinter for either major, how can partner accurately evaluate if his hand is slam suitable? How can he take over and bid keycard? Sure you can contrive some great minimums for partner that fit well and make game when he would pass. Just remember many of these hands make game for the opponents as well, and partner rates to have both diamond length (meaning club shortness) and diamond honors (meaning wastage). When you get tapped at trick one and are facing a stiff club, things are not going to go that well if you don't have sufficient firepower.

3H. Forcing to game seems like too much.

I would bid 3S planning to bid 4H later showing a strong raise. If LHO bids 4S I don't mind going to the 5 level. I don't need much for a slam to make (club ace, 6 hearts to the ace).

Pass. Experience dictates taking the cash when your game is not sure. Things will split poorly, you possibly have only an 8 card fit in spades (on a really bad day a 7 card fit), you have no aces, etc. I'm willing to take 300 or 500 to avoid going -50.

That would constitute an implicit agreement.

2C for me. Xing and bidding 2N or pass over 2D doesn't appeal.

The spade spots are weak, and I only have 2 tricks in my hand. I don't think this is worth a X.

I'll predict a unanimous vote.

I think the most common approach for a hand between a 1N and 2N opener is to rebid 2N, and then later bid 4N after a 2/1 (quantitative). A good thing to discuss with partner is what does a 3N bid show over 2C. I prefer not to have this show any 18-19, it eats up too much room and the 4 level is usually safe anyways. I typically play it as 4441 with 15-17. As for inverted minors it depends on your whole scheme. "Standard" inverted minors are woefully inadequate with 2N being passable, in that case you have to improvise with some stopper showing bid and hope for the best.

Hoping that partner will work out the meaning of your bid based on bridge logic does not make it alertable. The same bridge logic is available to the opponents. You ARE damaging the opponents if you give the opponents an explanation of your bid as if it is an agreement and your partner then takes it as something else and bids according to how he takes it. The opponents could draw incorrect conclusions from this. Here is an example... 1C (p) 1S (2H) 3H* (p) 3N** 3H alerted: good spade raise (what you actually have, not your agreement but you are trying to be helpful). 3N: bid on the assumption partner had long solid clubs with no heart stopper, OR a good spade raise (will correct 3N to 4S). If the opponents believe, as they should, that you were alerting what your agreement was then the 3N bid would show something like weak trumps and a double stopper in hearts, not prime values (to suggest 3N with an 8 card major suit fit). However, the 3N bid is actually ANY hand that has a stopper. The opponents may now draw incorrect inferences and make a wrong lead or defense as a direct result. Had you said "undiscussed" the opponents would obviously realize 3H is not natural. When you later raise spades, it's clear you had a good spade raise. This can be figured out by bridge logic which is available to both your partner and your opponents. No incorrect inferences will be drawn.

If you have not discussed it and have no implicit agreement, then undiscussed is the proper answer. In fact, any other statement would be misinformation.

Hi, I believe even if NS played standard leads you could figure out that south was very likely to hold the HK. A stiff queen is not possible as it would give north 8 hearts and he passed throughout. Qx is also unlikely as it's not a very attractive lead, and north would have passed throughout with 7 hearts given the chance to preempt twice. Much more likely is that south would be making a "tricky" lead because you are in a slam. Of course, in retrospect you realize you should have asked what their leads were. It's always a good policy to ask what kind of leads and carding the opponents play. The only way to make 13 tricks is on a major suit squeeze against south. If you think south has the KQ of hearts, you can get him as long as he has the SK, but if north has it you need to finesse. After ruffing a heart (just in case of KQ tight) and running all of your clubs except one, the discards may give you some insight. If you think south has it, cash another club and run diamonds. If you think north has it just run diamonds and finesse in spades without cashing the last club (as you may go down if you are wrong). You probably got a poor MP score because the field found 6N.

Off the top of my head trumps for no losers is about 52 %. Subtract half a percent or so for a potential club ruff, and it's definitely a marginal slam. No big deal to miss it.

2D then 4C for me as well. It's very hard to construct hands where partner is 4-6 in the minors and has 1 heart stopper where 5C goes down and 3N makes. However, it's very easy to construct hands were 5C makes and 3N goes set, and 6C is still in play if partners stopper is the ace. Opposite a typical hand like x Kx Kxxx KQxxxx I would want to be in 5C. Opposite a hand such as x Ax Kxxx AQTxxx I would like to be in 6C. Both of these hands will rebid 3N if I try 3S after partners 3D bid.

Well, the main problem is that if neither player is willing to bid with a weak NT, you will miss game when you both have the weak NT hand type. You will also lose partscore swings when you have a majority of the points and perhaps a fit and sell out at the 1 level.

4S. I have great honor location. I would take 3S as just competitive.