PhantomSac

A funny auction from this game. We were playin multiplier if someone was down 5+ points (the stakes are doubled), and I was down 4 points when this hand came up... Kxxx AQJx KQJxx --- AQJx Kxxx Axx xx 1D 1S* 2H* 3H 3S 4D 4S 5S 6S 1S= 4-4 in the majors, but I need red suit leads, obv 1D p 1H would be a disaster, so I bypass hearts. 2H= Wants black suit leads, 4C would often get a heart lead, so he tries 2H. After that, 4S looks like 3361 or so. I now envision a great MP contract of 6S, possibly even 7S, in the 4-3 fit if partner has Kxx AQx KQJxxx x or something for instance. I bid 5S asking for a club control (he might be 3352 and being weird with no club stopper, which would actually be money opp my actual hand). Now my partner should bid 6C, or possibly 6H to show me his first round control, over which we easily get to 7. But he already has a club lead locked up, and he doesn't want to jeopardize it, so he just bids 6S and our cold grand is missed. Somehow we had a 70 % like this lol.

Then we will still be lead inhibiting sometimes if we have lots of odd reds or w/e, I don't want it to be possible to manipulate it (even though it was really funny, seemed against the spirit of the game).

Yes and no. The effect is very very minimal and largely overstated to make a point.

I might like drafting our spots though, I will run that by my friend. It might make it hard to remember who has what though lol, but we can just write the lead down. If we draft then what order should the draft go in though is the problem. The guy with 6 should maybe get the first 2 picks? Unclear, I think we will just go with a non draft.

Most feedback I'm getting (from clee ofr instance) indicates that QJT9753 is better. I guess that's what makes it a good bet. If many people think one is better than the other, and many people think the other is better, it's probably pretty fair. Roger and I were discussing something similar to ken, is the 3>2 or is the 2>3? I was thinking maybe the 3 is better, however maybe the level will be so bad that many people just lead their lowest card, in which case the 2 is very valuable. It will be a 1 session swiss, so if we win 2 matches then we will play others who have won, so I doubt it will be that bad. In fact it might increase the chance we play an entire match against a 3/5th pair, in which case the 2 is the nuts again.... Interesting.

Queens might be more likely because if we are declaring, they have KQ combos less often (since it's more HCP). Do weak players tend to lead from KQ empty, or shy away from it? Tens are nice because they include interior sequences. Jack seems like the worst because often people lead low, and the interior sequences it has are "bad." Who leads from KJT etc? I think A>K>Q>T>J, but could be convinced its A>Q>K>T>J. Ace is clearly the best because AK is always led when held, and they bang down aces sometimes esp in a bad field. King gets the K from AK people, and K is the lead from most AK holdings vs NT also so meh. Bramley thinks 8 is rarely led but I think it's better than the 9, it can be KJ98, or K98, or Q98 etc as well as second or top, and maybe someone will play 3/5th heh. I think even>odd is clearly right. Is giving the best 2 honors + the best out of even/odd giving too much edge to the 6 card person? I think he deserves every edge, because 1 less card is a huge disadvantage.

well I guess it must be true then!

A friend and I had a bet recently on what color the opponents led. If they led a red card I won, if they led a black card he won. The problem with this bet was: 1) I had an edge from picking red (obv) because we are more likely to declare a black suit (spades zomg) and they are unlikely to lead trumps. 2) The bigger problem was we realized we could manipulate the bidding, so I kept bidding black suits and he kept bidding red suits. This was not the point of the bet, and obv affected the bridge a little, (we were doing only reasonable things and not psyching else it would be unfair to the opps, but the bidding was still a bit differnet). So we have altered the bet to even or odd, plus some honors. I proposed that evens are led more than odds since people don't lead 9's very often (1 session at a sectional, so assume standard leads and no 0/2 etc). I also proposed that the ace and king are the most likely honors to be led. So to make up for having only 6 cards, one guy gets A+K+8/6/4/2, and the other guy gets Q+J+T+9/7/5/3. Is this a reasonably fair bet? Who has the edge? Is a king more likely to be led than a queen (we don't know if they play A or K from AK, but in texas I think A from AK is more common vs suits). Could we alter this to make it more fair? I am letting him pick since he let me pick red last time (lol fish).

I can't remember if it was me who did this lol

Spades + minor with 4N = C+D is quite normal over 3H AFAIK**. I don't think 4H S+minor is unusual/rare at all. Minors is less common but also not rare. **Yes I'm aware some people play NLM!

Hmm if I didn't play 4N as minors I would play it as natural probably, 4N ace asking seems very weird. Does it ever come up? 4H showing any 2 suits seems like it would hinder your slam bidding a lot, for the gain of ace asking it doesn't seem worth it.

Damn some long posts to read later. Personally I like cats more than dogs, but love em both. Never had any other pets.

I upgrade spade 1 suiters with good controls, and that's pretty much it (also balanced hands that are worth an upgrade). Spade 1 suiters are easy to handle in competition, others are less so. You can still show strong heart one suiters later by jumping, I mean 1H 1N 3H means something. I don't upgrade to respond pretty much, maybe a shapely hand with an A and K. I would say I downgrade out of a strong club more than I upgrade into one. From what I have seen from Greco/Hampson and Meckwell, my strong club "idols" they upgrade quite a bit, true to their styles.

I'd just pass, stiff K is a big warning sign, as is being red/white.

I never bid 1M 2M with bad hands, I always just overcall or pass, so I guess mine are intermediate or strong? Seems like a bad idea to make 2 suited bids on terrible hands that drive you to the 3 level. For 1m-2m though I'm a big fan of having a very wide range, with the majors there's a lot more reason to get in, and you only force to the 2 level.

So how do you bid A x AKJxx AKQxxx after 3H 4N p 5C p ? 4N shows the minors, and later bidding 5S does not undo that.

There is too much potential for slam to blast to game, and too much chance of getting to a really bad slam if we keycard and drive opp 1 KC imo. The info we need is really easy to get, and is reasonably likely, so I don't see any need for it.

5S obv. No this doesn't ask for a control, it just shows a hand between 4S and 6S. I might go down, and partner won't bid slam completely accurately (since he doesn't know the difference between the CQ and the DQ), but this feels best.

Yeah obv that's why I prefaced it with that statement, I would keycard opposite many many people but with my best partners I trust them a lot to bid their hands and I would signoff.

I open 1N with this type of hand personally. In fact, I've gotten 3 bad results in a row from doing that lately, but I press on...hehe. I did used to get good results doing this so variance obv. If I opened 1S it would definitely be with the plan of rebidding 2N vul at imps, I cannot stomach 1S then 2S and missing a game. I mean, my partners routinely pass with 10 and a stiff spade, maybe I just open light when I have 6 spades? I think partner being in the 8-10 range and passing (not all 10s, but many) is just too big of a risk. Ofc I will get to game opp 7 and maybe 6 if I rebid 2N, which is why I open 1N hehe...

Vuroth, these 6-4 type hands come up pretty often. My general rule is to only rebid 2S with strong spades and with a minimum hand. With a good hand I always start with a splinter, and with weak spades and good clubs I always splinter. Just how I handle it, everyone is different.

I agree with the first pass, but it's pretty marginal probably. The 987 of hearts are great, aces are great, shortness in partners suit is great, and jacks usually help. Plus they are vul, plus 10 HCP is the magic number where we usually don't have a game, but often get 500. Bidding 1N first would also be ok though, and without those great heart spots would be automatic. Over 2D we must make a move. 3D could be much weaker imo so that should not be an option. I like the idea of getting partner to declare, and also showing a diamond raise rather than bidding NT, because we are 100 % to get a spade lead if we just jump to 3N or even if we bid 2N (since we've shown a trap pass of hearts). So I'd start with 2H, planning to raise 2N to 3N, and pass 3D, or bid 3D over 2S, not sure over 3C but something epic. Edit: The more I think about it the more I dislike 2N. If we have a partscore, 3D will for sure be better than 2N. If we have a game 2H and 2N should both get us there, with 2H possibly rightsiding it for us (or wrongsiding, but I'd guess Jx is the wrongside on this hand though it is often the right side). Also I would bid 3D with Qxx xxxx Kxx Kxx routinely as I think everyone would, and I probably would with a slightly weaker hand, so that is why this hand is way too heavy for 3D.

4H

If I trust partner, I am signing off. With as much as QJxxx Axx xx xxx partner should have keycarded himself, surely AKx KQxx AKxxx x is a (sub?) minimum for us (not that slam is cold with those cards but it has good play especially with the ST). 4C is a very big bid, we could have bid 3S (NF I presume), 4S (showing 3 spades and short clubs AND too much to bid a mere 3S, having already reversed), or 4C (showing too much to even bid 4S which already shows a huge hand). In context of that big bid, our hand is not that much extra. It is great for slam because we have an almost solid suit, but we have no entries to it. If parnter has a stiff diamond and no CA we are in trouble, if our trumps are not solid we're in trouble, etc. And partner should DEFINITELY cuebid a hand like: Qxxxxx Kxx xx xx (this hand is a cold slam opposite as little as AKx Axxx AKQxx x, which is a great hand, but we showed a great hand with 4C!!). This hand has 5 level safety issues. So basically, I am minimum for 4C, and if partner has enough for slam I trust him to bid it, and I can think of many hands that would cuebid where we are in danger at the 5 level. Sign off.

I'd start with 2S, partners spade holding will be critical to our slam success, it's not like they are solid.