bid_em_up

I pass. But mainly because I like to trap pass. :P

I wont call you old-fashioned. I will tell you that your RHO beat you to the punch when he opened 1♦ before you had a chance to, which makes it impossible for you to do so. Sometimes it helps to read the whole problem. :P

Just rotate the hands.....post as Northwest? no?[hv=d=r&v=t&n=sqt3ht87dj86ct986&w=sj98ha94dkt954ck4]266|200|Scoring: Matchpoints ][/hv] (we dont really care what direction you were actually sitting in, just rotate them accordingly) :)

Although I certainly have reasonable expectations of beating 4♠, a double in this position (underneath declarer) may just let him find the winning line of play (or at the very least, go down less than if left to his own devices), so no, I dont double. If I was behind him, I would be slightly more inclined to do so, but not by much.

Please put dummy on my left in these problems... :P

I lead a spade to the 10 at trick 2. :P

J♣, it either wins when partner has a club holding or alternatively, is the lead least likely to give anything away.

Hmmmm, I kinda like this.

If we are assuming RHO has all the outstanding HCP...... Just Vienna coup him. spd A, draw trump, AK clubs, heart to the K, run the rest trump. My last 3 cards in hand are the spade Q, the club 10, and the heart 5 with dummy holding AJ10 of hearts. If neither outstanding black card have dropped, play a heart to the A and the Q will fall under it. If a black suit winner has been established, cash it and it will squeeze RHO out of either his remaining heart guard, or establish the other black suit for your 13th trick. This may be the same as mikeh's second line (which I saw later, then added this line to my post) except I am only concerned with the last 3 cards (after the last trump is played).

When in doubt, lead a club (if not leading a trump). Its like Rodney Dangerfield, it gets no respect. Since I have an honor in the suit, and I (probably) wish for partner to continue this line of attack, I will lead the 2 pretending I have 4, instead of the 9, showing no interest in the suit.

Jan 2006? Did they invent time travel while I wasnt looking? :)

Pass seems clear cut, even discounting unreliable pard and above average opps.

I suspect this will be near unanimous. Most "experts" will treat pass as at least a tolerance for defending 1D xx'd, unless I am sadly mistaken. If you cant stand to do so, then you must pull, even if to your cheapest 3 card suit. You have to bid 1H here, you have 4 hearts, your partner said he accepted all other suits (supposedly). 1N is a lie regarding both your hand strength and your HCP.

Just something to add to your thinking. If west has 6 hearts headed by the AK, surely you would have heard something from him over 1♦, either 1♥ or 2♥ (or even 3/4♥!!). Therefore, it is highly unlikely that this is his holding.

Oh? I guess you never heard "Does your mother know that you're gay?" or "Does your priest know that you have sex with animals?"? Ah, the kids in my school were cruel... :P

Other: Because its sensationalism and attracts readers. Which in turn, attracts advertisers, otherwise known as dollars. And money makes the world go 'round. Love has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Ummm, this is not true in the 2nd auction. The NT opener can easily hold AK AJ109x xxx Axx and fully expect to make 6+ tricks. In fact, since partner has already said he has less than 7 hcp, and you will likely be forcing him to the 3 level with a takeout X, there is a lot of merit in considering this X to at least be penalty oriented. You may argue that you would open this hand 1♥, but not everybody plays this way. :blink: However, I also realize this is not the "in" thing these days, so in terms of the question asked, without discussion, both X's are usually considered to be takeout.

Oh, and another thing. Whats up with the 1♠ response? Do you not play WJS? Even if you dont, I am strongly inclined to pass this hand type and then bid 1S if it goes X p p (converting to penalty).

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I have no expectation of a small plus on this hand. There is absolutely no reason to believe we are beating 2♠. If I pass, I actually expect a 5-6 imp minus. (Minus 110/140 at this table, minus 90/120 at the other table). Given that I do not believe it to be profitable to let the opponents rest comfortably in 2♠, I must take some action. Our side holds at least 1/2 the values. 2N, 3♦, and X if cooperative/takeout (not penalty oriented) are all logical alternatives to pass. If the X is clearly not penalty in my methods, I prefer this to tell partner I am max pass and he can choose to pull or defend. If he wants to pull, he can bid 2N (it cannot be to play....if it was, he would have chosen to defend 2♠ x'd instead) with no 5 card suit of his own, allowing me to bid 3♦. A 3♣/3♥ bid from pard should be on a 5 card suit, and I am happy here. If my methods do not allow the above, I will risk a 3♦ bid on the knowledge that partner is balanced and our side holds at least half the hcp. Our side is not vulnerable and I believe the opponents will have a difficult time doubling 3♦ for penalty (yes, it can occur, its just unlikely). I will have no problem selling out to 3♠ should they choose to bid it. Someone commented about the "slow values" in the hand. I think this is an illusion. Allow for LHO to hold some reasonable spade holding, ie KJ10xxx for his bid. Now the maximum hcp partner can hold in spades is 4 hcp out of his 15-17. If he holds nothing in spades, then all of his 15-17 will be working well with our hand. The most he can hold in diamonds is 7 (and then he will hold the AK, most days he will only hold one of these two cards). Any values LHO holds in clubs or hearts will be favorably placed. At worst, I would expect 3♦ to go down no more than one (normally). Am I happy about it? No. Can it backfire? Of course. Would I do it again? Everyday.

Not to mention scaring the dickens out of the opps as well, making them misplay for the next 5 hands!!

Do you really think so? Funny, I never heard of him until I heard about his bridge plans. How did he make his billions? (dont answer that I will find it myself). "Famous billionaires" for me include Gates, Waltons and Kamprath but not Buffett... Warren Buffett is well known in the US for a few reasons: 1. Buffett has had enormous success managing Berkshire Hathaway. As I recall, a $10,000 investment in BH when the fund was founded would be worth (roughly) 40 million dollars today. Well, you're only slightly off Richard :) According to the website, "An investor who subscribed $10,000 in his original investment partnership in 1957 would today have a shareholding in Buffett’s company Berkshire Hathaway worth more than $400 million." Whats a few hundred million when you get to those kind of numbers anyway? :) While gerben42 claims he has not heard of Warren Buffet, I find this difficult to believe. Anybody involved in the investment world certainly knows who he is. He is listed by Forbes as the Worlds second richest person (the Waltons took positions 17-21, and yes, they still own the majority of Walmart. Ingvar Kamprad was number 4 on the list). And everyone heard about the $30 BILLION dollars that Mr. Buffet recently pledged to the Gates Foundation, unless of course you were on vacation then with no news access. (Oh, You mean THAT Warren Buffet, says gerben). :) Mr. Buffet is the founder of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns Geico Insurance Co, Fruit of the Loom, Dairy Queen restaraunts, Shaw Industries, and a slew of other companies. He is/was on the Board of Directors of many major corporations (including Coca-Cola, which he has recently decided not to seek reelection to). It is my understanding that he and Bill Gates also play bridge together. I have been told (by someone who I consider to be a reputable source) that Mr. Gates plays on BBO on occasion. I do not know if Mr. Buffet does, but it certainly would not surprise me.

I pass. Let them compete :)

Since, in my partnerships, a vulnerable overcall is made on values (almost opening hand, if not full opening), 4S is clear at this point. I am still inclined to bid 4S even without this agreement.

I find it also strange that both yourself and dummy appear to hold the Q♦ as well. :)