Simplicity

rogerclee gave the textbook answer to a textbook situation

[hv=d=w&v=n&s=sakxhxxdkxcaqt9xx]133|100|Scoring: IMP (3♦)-P-(P)-3NT (P)-P-(4♦)-?[/hv] I thought 3NT clear, agree? What now?

Unless there is ♦QJ tight about, you need the clubs 7-1. If RHO is 1831 then clearly we can draw drumps and play 3 rounds of diamonds. We can also win whenever RHO is 2821 by drawing one round of trumps, eliminating our hearts, cashing 2 top diamonds and then ducking a trump. the ruff and discard then allows you to ditch a diamond from hand and set up two long winners in dummy. What i felt was the best line, but im willing to be corrected! draw 1 round of trumps, heart to the ace, heart (intending to ditch a diamond if RHO goes in with a high card, or duck if you see the 2 on your left). If that fails then 2 top diamonds and try to decide if RHO has a spade or a diamond left. The postion at the table was: [hv=n=st943ha4da8762ca2&w=s8ht9dqj9ckqj9764&e=s75hkqj87652d54c5&s=sakqj62h3dkt3ct83]399|300|[/hv]

I agree you need clubs 7-1 to have a chance. When you play the hearts LHO will contribute the ten on the first round. RHO plays the king and the 7. There is also another line to encorporate a layout that you haven't mentioned yet.

[hv=d=e&v=b&n=st943ha4da8762ca2&s=sakqj62h3dkt3ct83]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] After East deals and opens 4♥, N/S arrive in 6♠, West leads the ♣K Can you bring this one home?

How about duck the first spade and win the return (presumably a spade), then cash two top clubs. If clubs are 2-2 claim, if they are 3-1 draw the outstanding trump cash the ♦AK, ruff a diamond, ruff a spade back to hand. With only 1 player able to guard each of spades and diamonds hopefully the last trump will execute a simple squeeze or double squeeze if the heart honours are split

2N is clearly awful, East has no particularly attractive options but 2♥ it is

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=sa9xhxdq7xxcakqtx&s=sqxxhakqxdakjxcxx]133|200|Scoring: IMP Contract 7♦ lead ♥8[/hv] EW play 2/4 leads and RHO contributes the ♥J All the x's are pretty tiny Plan the play

I wouldn't take this bid a natural without prior discussion, although I logically that could easily be a better treatment. This auction and analogously 1♥-1♠-3♦ do as you say having forcing raises available and 4♣ natural could be useful. At the table I would simply take the view that 4♦ is either a weaker raise, or one without a club cue available

Big guess indeed ;) ? Pardon me, but how can you be sure that PD has even 2 ♣ on this sequence ? Yes he'd have raise ♥ with two and perhaps even with a stiff K here, but are you certain he isn't 6-6 ? Would you stake your life on the fact the he'd open 1♦ with 6 ♦ and a super 5 carder in ♠ ? Why not 5♣ ? Is that a Q for ♦ ? Some might play it as such, noting the difficulty of continuing after some likely responses to RKCB for ♦ using 4NT. Tough hand here, huge missfit, but I couldn't gamble on 6♣ on this sequence. With a 6-6 partner will remove to 6♦ and i'll correct to 6♠ where we'll play and i'll hope for the best. And yes in my partnerships i'd be 100% confident my man had spades at least at long as diamonds. If you had a super 5 card spade suit why would you make yourself reverse at the 3 level when you can do it at the 2 level? I could understand someone wanting to get the major in when they feel too weak to reverse, but the other way around? 5♣ would indeed not be natural for me and i'm taking a gamble that slam is there, but i've no other way to show my hand, partner will probably figure me to be 6-5 or 7-5 and act accordingly.

Maybe: 1♠-2♥ 3♦-3♥ 4♦-6♣ first 5 bids seem fairly reasonable to me, the last is a big guess and i'm unsure of my table action

X.

1. Personally i would prefer a 2♠ call the first time 2. Pass now, i haven't got a great hand for what i've shown and pard could have bid game or cue-bid couldn't he?

♦Q was an odd start from West! Still looks like i can avoid a club ruff to run the clubs, so thats what i'd do, primarily because im not sure RHO would play the Q from Q8x, but would from Q8. As for the opening i prefer 1♣

easy 1♣, opening this preemptively is a good way to miss a game

I should say playing for the sqeeuze would look a little btter than 4:3 when LHO has already pitched the ♠JT8, is known to hold one more and didn't lead one :)

Win the heart in hand and play a club. If the defnence play diamonds i should be able to establish 2 tricks in the suit. Otherwise win the return and use the ♥T as an entry to ruff out the remaining club and play a diamond towards the 9, RHO now has a choice of poisons: ruff and discard or endplay in either pointed suit.

Might be interesting to see all of the auction since the oppos seem to have only competed to the 2 level in their 10 card fit. I would initially expect LHO to have the ♣A and RHO to be 4045. I would lead a club from hand immediately - this will preserve my tump entry should i need to ruff some diamonds. There are a few chances of making this besides a favorable spade position: - diamonds may yield 2 tricks particularly if the defence attack them - there will be a strip squeeze against RHO when he holds ♦KQ Anyways i'd start with a club up, what do i get back?

This was exactly the case, with the TD available by phone only. I disclosed our agreements exactly as david suggests but felt that i) By saying "if its this its that and if its the other..." i was pretty much telling my RHO that his partner didn't have the majors, as if he'd confirmed it was the major i would simply have given its meaning. ii) RHO had little business asking what the bid meant in view of the UI issues and my failure to alert

This problem occured in a teams match here in EBU land. You deal and open 1♦ and LHO overcalls 3♣ at which point RHO looks pained and slowly produces the alert card. Your partner asks and RHO responds that he's unsure, but he thinks its the majors, then he thinks a little more and eventually decides in all honesty he cant remember. At this point RHO leaves the table and his partner conveys that it is natural preemptive with clubs and that 3♦ would have been the majors. RHO now returns to the table and believes that he was initially correct it is the majors. Partner now doubles 3♣, you don't alert and RHO now asks what the double was. What do you tell him?

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It looks pretty damn close to me. Finessing picks up KTx on the left when the diamond is wrong - 3 cases and loses out to stiff K on the right the diamond in either hand - 2 cases finesse it is then

Declarer is probably 0634 - Axxxxx KQx K9xx or similar and we need to cover this trick with the ♣Q and sit back for our 2 minor tricks in the end game. Winning the ace will rectify the count and allow declarer to cash out, squeezing us in the minors.

Its not a bad line except that when you put south in with the ♦A he can cash 1 top heart before exiting a low club to north who can then kill the spade entry to dummy before you have time to set up your endplay

This holding is more or less impossible. You know Zia has 4 black cards, if he has just 2 Hearts too, he has 7 Diamonds and he had bidden 3 diamond in first hand. The setting was: "(he could not open a weak 2♦ at rubber bridge, but he could and would open 3♦ on a six-card suit if he felt that he had no good reason not to)." Sorry i went a bit x happy and gave LHO 14 cards, i meant QJ9x I'm placing Zia with xx Axx Kxxxxx Qx