Redstart

Sorry, my comment about the 2♦ bid was irrelevant, but I stand by the rest.

2NT for me. On the basis that partner exaggerates raises after an intervening double, partner might have 3 points with a shapely hand. You have bare AK, which is not as strong as it looks.

Thanks to all for your input. I have downloaded the Cards font, wich looks good on screen though I have yet to print it out. I have trawled through Arial, but can't find the magic combination to bring up the suit symbols. Perhaps that sort of thing is easier on the Mac. For four-colour cards, and plenty else, try the Chess and Bridge Shop http://www.chess.co.uk/shop They are based in London, but have a mail order agent in Florida.

P.S. Jchiu mentions "proper count signal". To my mind returning the original fourth best is proper enough!

No. partner had not bid the suit. I was playing with a casual partner on BBO. This is first time I have heard of normal count signals, as opposed to opening lead style, applying to the return of partner's suit.

The worst thing about that auction is the raise to 2 ♦. Is it not clear at that point that you will eventually have to bid 5♦ over 4♥? On that basis, the best bid is an immediate 5♦. Thereafter, just follow these two principles: 1. The five-level belongs to the opponents. 2. Bid up, then shut up!

P.S. I used to use Zapf Dingbats on my Mac, but I have gone over to Windows and am not sure if it exists on Windows. For 'white' symbols, just use outline style of font. Redstart.

Oh dear, I seem to have opened up a technical can of worms. I just want to produce documents for teaching purposes. Yes, I actually use paper! I will try to find symbol.ttf as suggested by Gerado. I was under the impression that a dedicated font was available for suit symbols. Playing cards with suits of four colours are available, at least in U.K. Redstart.

What is the best font for typing suit symbols on computer? Is a special one available?

I led 8 from A K 9 8 Dummy 10 7 Partner Q 6 5 2 Declarer J 4 3 Partner won with the Q, then returned the 6!!! Not wanting to lead into declarer's supposed J 5, I switched and declarer made a bundle. Trawling through the hand recorde, I found that another 3rd hand had returned the 6, but the opening leader just cashed the suit! Are there any moves afoot to change the convention on returning partmer's suit, or is there just a lot of ignorance about?

Just bid the opponents' suit the primary meaning of which is 'I have a strong hand but don't know what to do'. In any case, partner's first reaction should be to look for a guard in the opponents' suit.