mikegill

At the table XX was the bid made, even after the hesitation - still not sure if this is kosher or not. Jlall called this one right. They bid 2H and partner Xed it for 300, even though he had KQ9x of hearts and the AJTx were behind him. If you don't XX, I don't think partner can X 2H, but I'm open to opinions on that too - his hand was ATx KQ9x Kxx QTx. Also open to opinions about whether or not he should correct 2♣ to 2♠, my opinion is that correcting is right.

Ok, so currently, I have 6 votes for XX (counting me, even tho I'm biased) 0 votes for 3c 4 votes for 2s 2 votes for pass So the issue here was that partner tanked before passing 2c, which clearly marks him with 3 spades (what the hell else would he be thinking about). So this I would think clearly would bar the 2s bidders from bidding 2s, since you know it's an 8-card fit. So... 1) is the consensus on XX clear enough that this bid would still be allowed no matter what? 2) Does the hesitation even suggest XXing over the other alternatives? Curious to know what people think.

[hv=d=n&v=n&s=s76542h5daq6ck984]133|100|Scoring: MP 1♣ p 1♠ p 1NT p 2♣ p p X ?[/hv] You choose to pull partner's 1N to 2♣. I don't care if you agree with this decision or not, you're stuck with it. Your call.

Partner is behind the spades, which are likely splitting poorly, so I'm more worried about blowing a trick than attacking. I would lead a diamond, which is safe when partner has the A, K, or J, as well as a few other cases, whereas a club is only safe if pard finds the Q or A, and even then might give away the 3rd round.

No one is up for accepting the 4♥ bid and then bidding keycard yourself to steal control of the auction from partner? I thought 4N was always keycard. Maybe then LHO will try to bid 4♥ over my 4N and we can start an infinite loop.

How do people think partner should treat/react to a 3♥ and a 3♠ bid in the 2nd auction? To me it seems like 3♠ should tend to show 3 spades - is this standard? 3♥ then is sort of any hand that doesn't know the strain - certainly this hand would have to bid that if you put the ♥A in clubs. Should partner auto 3N with a heart stopper over 3♥? Just curious to see how people interpret bids in these auctions.

[hv=d=n&v=n&s=sxhqdqxxxxcakqtxx]133|100|Scoring: MP p 3♠ ?[/hv] what is your plan? [hv=d=n&v=n&s=sxhqdqxxxxcakqtxx]133|100|Scoring: MP p 3♠ ?[/hv]

If you hold Kxxx AJxx x Kxxx and you open 1♣ in 2nd unfav, LHO bids 2♦ and RHO raises to 3♦, are you really going to x? Partner couldn't make a negative X, bid 2M, which doesn't show the world's fair, nor could he raise clubs or even bid 2NT, all of which he would do aggressively since it's red IMPs. Maybe my judgment is way off here, but it seems like you would pass 3♦ and quickly. Heck, even make the hand Kxx AJxx xx Kxxx and 4♥ is just as cold. They could easily be raising to the 3-level at fav with only 8 trumps, or to the 4-level with only 9. I'm not saying bidding 2♥ can't go wrong, I just think that you're going to get talked out of a bunch of red games if you pass with Zia's hand. But then, not suprisingly, I'm not Zia so what do I know.

2♥. If I pass and it goes 3♦ p p or 4♦ p p (and why shouldn't it, they are favorable), I'm going to want to vomit all over my shoes.

Since noble seems to have forgotten he posted this, and it's an amusing story I will resurrect it. [hv=d=s&v=b&n=sthxxdqxxcqt9xxxx&w=skxxxhkqtxxdajtxc&e=sxxxhjxxdkxxxxxck&s=saqjxxhaxxdcajxxx]399|300|Scoring: MP[/hv] 1♠ - 2♥ - p - 3♥ 4♣ - 4♥ - 5♣ - p p - 5♥ - 6♣ - X XX All pass So at the table, I actually doubled 6c as East because I didn't want our side to be doing any more bidding (this is probably not a good call, but my feel from RHO said she thought she was sacking). From the responses it seems like this was getting doubled anyway, and at the table South XXed. This resulted in -1580, and 2! out of 16 matchpoints. Two tables got to 7c Xed which is like 1630 or something. Those who suggested bidding diamonds to get partner's input here would do much better, since after that East might not let them even play 7c.

4♠

I'd been playing around with this for a while, and I've come up with the following system over 2n that I liked more than some other things I've read. This seems like a good place to get comments. Basically it allows you to show (31)(45)ish hands, (41)44ish hands (that are willing to play 4n if no fit is found) while still allowing you to do everything else you want (I think). If you have one of these shapes and a min GF, you just have to suck it up and bid 3n. There just ain't enough room to show them and get out in 3n. All of these hands start with 3♣. 3♣ is puppet stayman with the ♥-NT responses switched. Over 3♦ - 4♣ and 4♦ show 1444ish and 4144ish, respectively. 4♥ and 4♠ show 13(45) and 31(45), respectively. all other bids mean what you think they mean. Over 3♥ - 3♠ shows 5+ ♠, 4 ♥. If opener signs off in 3n, responder bids 4♠ with a 6-4 signoff and cuebids with a 6-4 slam try. 4♣ and 4♦ are natural slam tries, 5+ 4♥ and 4♠ show 1/0 in the other major and at least 4-4 minors. all other bids mean what you think they mean Over 3♠ or 3n (showing 5 ♥), you don't need to show these hand types. With 4144 you know you're misfit and can play NT, and with 3145, you don't really have to worry about partner having a side 4-card suit, so you can just bid your 5-bagger naturally with 4♣ or 4♦ and find a 5-3 fit if one exists. To show other majors-oriented hands: Xfer to ♠ then 4♥ shows 5-5 majors signoff. Xfer to ♥ the 3♠ shows 4-5+ signoff or slam try or 5-5 slam try If opener bids 3n, responder bids 4♣ to show a slam try+ in ♥ (so 4-6+), 4♦ to show a slam try+ in spades, (so 5-5 or better), and 4♥ to show a 4-6 signoff. With only 4-5 shape, responder just raises NT with a slam try/force. If opener likes his hand with a fit, he can bid 4♣ or 4♦ over 3♠ to set the trump suit as ♥ or ♠, respectively, and leave responder room to explore slam, or he can just bid 4♥ or 4♠ to play. Other minors-oriented hands go though 3s relay to 3n, but that's not really related to this. Generally, if responder shows one of these shapes, opener, can cuebid the shortness to show a good fit - there are known to be at least 29-30 HCP so it should be safe that if a good fit exists there's almost certainly a slam. You can add in your own agreements to this as you see fit, obviously. Thoughts?

1) 4H if I'm confident partner won't hang me. It's possible that I'm bidding this over their 3N contract and that I'm about to get destroyed - but they haven't doubled yet. I feel like the pressure this puts on them would be worth it in the long run, but I really don't have the experience to back up that claim. Honestly, against bad players I might just pass because they make bids like 3d by responder too much and they might already be getting themselves in trouble. At matchpoints, I would always bid some # of hearts for the lead. 2) Pass for sure. I really don't see the point to bidding. Good players will use the information when they declare, even assuming pard doesn't take a joke, and bad players have some unbelievably bad auctions over 2c, even if left alone. Why not just let them hang themselves?

As for what's going on, I see no reason not to take this auction at face value. If RHO has psyched 1s he would almost surely just pass 3d, and not stick his neck out with 3h again. If he did, well done to him. I would bid 3n because it might be making and you just have to be there if it is. If there really are no spade spots beyond the 9, we have 3 spades and a heart to lose in spades at least, so 4s is out. It seems very likely partner has 1273 shape or something very similar. What can partner bid with x xx AKQxxxx Kxx except 3d? Sure, he might have x xx KQJTxxx KQx, but then maybe they X 3n and we can run to 4d. I'm not doubling 3h because, honestly, it might make, and d1 also seems normal.

100% 3h. Well, sometimes it passes to partner who has a balanced 12 with 3+ clubs and passes it out. He could even have Kxx KQxx Kx xxxx and you're cold for slam and you'll be playing 3c undoubled making. And even if you do get another chance, it might be after a 5c bid on your left - doesn't seem so unlikely given that you're void. Even after a 4c bid and two passes to you, now you're going to risk coming in at the 4-level when you could have just come in at the 3-level? Winning bridge is getting in your bids when you can.

[hv=d=n&v=e&n=saqjxhktxd98caqxx&w=skxxxxxxhaxxdxcjx&e=sxhqjxxxxdaqxcxxx&s=sxhxdkjtxxxxckxxx]399|300|Scoring: MP[/hv] I went with the blast 5♦ theory after a tank. I decided I was very unlikely to find out reliably whether 3n or 6♦ was better, and that it was very likely 5♦ was a reasonable contract. This turned out to be right here, but I thought it was an interesting problem. Also 1n (2d) 5d is a funny auction.

For those who have inquired about the methods, I will do what I can. No specific agreements about passing first then bidding. Double will in general be takeout and not penalty through the 3-level at least. No agreement about 3M after pard accepts, presumably he would take this as showing values in the suit. A direct 4d would be a xfer. Xfer is inv+ since you can lebesohl and sign off in 3d with no game interest. Probably this should have been mentioned in the original post.

[hv=d=n&v=e&s=sxhxdkjtxxxxck9xx]133|100|Scoring: MP 1N - 2♦* - ? * = one major[/hv] your agreements are that 2♥, 2♠ are to play, 2NT is lebensohl and 3-level bids are xfers, X is values and/or interest in penalizing

Isn't it normal for opener to bid 3c here on 5-4 minors hand (or 2N if you think that shows 5+ diamonds and 4 clubs)? Responder's 1N bid is very unlikely to hold 4 spades (in our style, anyway), so if opener is 2254, he knows the opponents have at a minimum 8 hearts and 8 spades. Responder might have some 33(34) hand and pass out 2h when cold for 3m. Again, here my style is generally that the hand short in their suit has more of a duty to act. I actually was East on this and - I'm not so much defending my actions as trying to find out where my thinking went wrong. Here was my thought process as the hand went on. Well, partner is under some pressure to bid over 2H, so he doesn't really need to have a great hand (I think awm's style of opening 5-5 minors hands is pretty nonstandard). Actually if partner had bid 3d, I'm sure I would have tried 3n, because now I just need him to have AK of diamonds and a trick. Over 3C, 5-5 hands aren't so good for 3n, and it seems like I need AK diamonds plus 2 side tricks. I figure that bidding 3n because partner might have extras at matchpoints isn't so good, since minimum hands are more likely than hands with extras. Once they bid 3H, I'm thinking "well, I sure think 3c is making, so I have to do something here." I thought it was very likely that 3h was going down, since my opponents were not subtle enough to be trying to get doubled, and thought it was a tossup whether we were making 4m. I knew this could be really bad if partner had 10-card in the minors, but I just don't know how likely it is that is what's happening. Certainly xx54 hands are much more likely than xx55 or xx64 hands, but partner might not bid on all xx54 hands, so maybe this is poor reasoning.

Here is the full hand: [hv=d=e&v=b&n=sxxxhaqjtxdxxxckx&w=sxxhxdakt98xcaqjx&e=saxxhkxxdqjxcxxxx&s=skqjtxhxxxxdxcxxx]399|300|Scoring: MP p p 1♦ 1♥ 1N 2♥ 3♣ p p 3♥ p p X All pass[/hv] Should East be bidding 4m over 3h? +200 would have been 7/8 if 3H were going down, and -140 was a 1/8 if 3h hadn't been doubled, so clearly doubling was the right move if not bidding 4m or 3n. Clearly something needs to happen differently here, since E-W are doubling a cold 3H contract instead of bidding their making 3N or at least competing to 4m (5m is cold except for a spade lead, which may or may not happen from north). Obviously playing good/bad 2N would help, since West would show a good hand with 3m, and maybe East could bid 3n then (much tougher over 3c than over 3d). The 3h balance was after a tank too, so it was even harder for East not to take a swing. Thoughts?

Since most people bid 3♣ (this is what was bid at the table), let's say now that RHO competes to 3♥ in passout seat, and now it's your call again. If you pass, partner will X in passout seat. Are people passing and sitting, passing and pulling, or pulling directly?

I don't see where 3♣ can show either 5-5 or a good hand. You just can't sit and wait around for 5-5 shape or a good hand to bid at matchpoints over their 2 of a major. Are people seriously going to pass with Kxx x KQTxx AJ9x over 2h in this auction? Partner probably has a flat hand with length in hearts and he's going to pass it out, and that's not going to get you a good score. And I understand that good-bad 2NT is better than no agreement, but I'm pretty sure playing good/bad 2N when partner is not is significantly worse than no agreement. So... let's stick to the judgment issue here, please. I assume that standard bridge means 2NT is a game try, and 3c and 3d are competitive, and anything else is game-forcing. If you think this is not what "standard" is, feel free to correct me.

[hv=d=n&v=b&s=sxxhxdakt98xcaqjx]133|100|Scoring: MP P P 1♦ 1♥ 1N 2♥ ?[/hv] You don't have any conventional agreements about this auction.

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=skqjhtxxd9xxcqjxx&w=s9xxxhxxdajcak87x&e=stxhkqj9xdtxxct9x&s=saxxxhaxxdkqxxxcx]399|300|Scoring: MP[/hv] The last post seemed to have the right idea, although didn't explicitly state why. Since partner is a passed hand, there is a limit on how good his hand/trumps can be. He probably has the KQJ of spades, since leading from KQ nothing is usually a losing proposition, and he had an easy lead in your suit. If so, he certainly can't have the AQ of clubs, and probably not the KQ or AJ. So, whatever partner's trumps are, they aren't good enough for him to draw all 3 of dummy's, and then let you cash some spades, since that pesky T will let declarer into dummy. You know what everyone has really - if partner has the KJxx of clubs, he will always be safe from endplays because he can win the J, exit with a small one, then wait for his K. However, if partner happens to hold QJxx, which isn't so unlikely, you need to do a spot of protecting. Let's say you return a trump. Declarer wins high, and plays a spade. Who wins really doesn't matter. He will simply win the return, ruff a spade in dummy, cash a heart winner pitching his last spade, and ruff a diamond in hand. He will then be down to A87 of trump in hand and T in dummy with partner holding QJx, so a little one will endplay partner. The correct play here is first to cash the ♦K to clarify the position, and when declarer drops the J it's clear. In order to prevent the endplay you must now play another diamond. Yes this lets declarer into dummy, but he has plenty of winners anyway. Now, you can gain the lead on the 2nd round of spades in order to lead a 4th round of diamonds. If declarer trumps this high, partner will retain QJxx (effectively KQxx at that point since declarer ruffed high) to the end instead of QJx and thus will have an exit card. If declarer lets partner win with the Q or J, he still is holding a small spade for an exit. At the table, this hand cashed the ♦K and the ♠A before thinking about the endplay, at which point it was too late. Fortunately, it was a bad club game and declarer wasn't up to the task.

ok, we're getting there... yes, partner getting endplayed is, in fact, the concern, but leading trumps is not the way to fix it.