skjaeran

The lead could be: Singleton 53 xx5(3) 98765 The main problem is losing ♥K, ♠AK and a ruff. I'll win the lead in dummy, cash another diamond dicarding a spade and then run the ♥Q. If it wins I play a club to the king and play trump A,J. If ♥Q loses to the king and it goes ♠H, ♠ to H and east returns a ♠ I ruff high and draws trumps. If the lead was a singleton I'm most probably going down.

Are you absolutely sure 2♣ is natural? Agree with Art, and yes, 2♣ by me IS natural playing with my regular partner. Also agree with Justin that 1♠ is obvious.

Huh? I guess you got this one wrong. There's no suit opened. You're OPENING 1NT in 4th seat, not balancing. (I almost did the same myself. :) )

I agree that there's many upsides to 2♣ instead of 1♠. But I've got two objections. 1. Opener doesn't know if you've got a real ♣ suit or not. This might be very important in some potential slam auctions, since opener need to know if there's a source of tricks. You don't always come to 12 tricks on hands with just one top loser. 2. I don't rebid 2♠ as opener after 1♥-2♣ without reversing values (a good 14-count or better). Thus, bypassing 1♠ will preempt our auction on some hands (opener rebids 2NT.) Objection no. 2 isn't a big issue, since we're not in a GF auction after 1♥-1♠-2♠. No.1 IS a problem. I'm sure it can be solved.

The rule of 11 (or rule of 10 and 12 if playing 3rd/5th) can be very useful to determine the correct card for 3rd hand at trick one. It's easier to imagine declarers (and thus partners) holding applying this rule. You know at once how many higher cards than the card lead declarer holds, and from the cards you can see and the non-sequence lead you can often infer much about which cards is held by whom. The only problem with 4th lead is that you don't know if partner lead from a 4- or 5-card holding - 3rd/5th is better in that regard. I still prefer attitude leads vs NT - we lead 4th from a "good" holding and (1st)2nd from a bad suit. We combine this with up-side-down Smith signal (from both hands).

I assume west overcalled 1♠, not 1♥, north made a negative double showing 4+♥'s and east raised to 2♠. If that's correct, I totally agree with Josh: 3♥ is no reverse. It just shows 4-card support and denies an absolute minimum.

I'd have overcalled 1♥, but that's a style issue. Judged from the bidding and my hand, it seems like we play with a near 50 hcp deck (a good 45 at least). So at least one of the other three players is light for his/her action this far. A double now would be for penalties, since I've already implied heart lenght by the initial t/o double. But I don't think a double now will accomplish much. Surely LHO (or opener) will revert to 3♦'s. And I don't think we're in a good position after that. Since it seems like there's a couple of distributional hans out there, I'll go quietly for now, and raise partner to 3♣, planning to follow up with a double over 3♦'s.

Well, it says a lot about their knowledge conserning your.....uhm sanity (or lack thereof). :P

Run from what? I don't expect them to make, so I'll pass happily. WOW! Most people except Justin (hehe) don't make random redoubles. Are you saying the opponents are insane? If people started doing that I would have to reevaluate, but in real life they just don't. I think this auction has gone great, now I get doubled in 4♠ which is what I would have wanted all along. Seems like 2♠ was sand bagging and 4♠ last round would have completed the plan. I agree on that for sure, but most people don't make random(insane?) penalty double facing a partner who hasn't promised any defence either. So I'll trust my partner. I'd obviously had bid more previously, but can't be sure we're making game. As JTF I expect RHO to be the culprit on this occasion.

Good analysis, Phil.

They say Traditional, but it looks like the mean Stone Age to me. At least from the following sequence: 1♣ - 1♦ 1♥ - 3♥ 4♥ The jump to 3♥ is explained as GF. Having played bridge since (early)mid seventies I've never ever played a method where 3♥ in this sequence was anything but invitational. To just get to game you raise 1♥ to 4♥. To cater for a possible slam you bid 1♠ FSF first and support ♥'s next. Apart from that it's obvious the author(s) are non-experts. Several of the explanations of the auctions is less than waterproof. For inexperienced players thers's some good stuff though.

No bid this far.

Clear pass IMO. Double would be penalties to me, unless otherwise agreed.

Run from what? I don't expect them to make, so I'll pass happily.

I think it's very hard to reach 6♦ on these hands. You were even left more space than many wold have when east bid only 2♠ instead of a direct 4♠. I'd not be too unhappy going +800 here.

The meaning of bids after 2♥ depend upon the meaning of 2♥. If this just shows preference, 3♦ obviously would be the best bid now, showing a minimum 5-5. Further bidding after 2♥ showing true support depends on agreements - whether you pattern out, cuebid or bid honour consentration. Whatever method, I don't like 4♥ - it preemtps the auction too much. Partner could have a more fitting hand with the same strenght, and be badly placed. I prefer a 3♠ splinter. Partner would then make a non-serious 4♣ cuebid, I'd rebid 4♥ and we'd play there.

Do you play the cuebid as showing ♣-support then? If so, a splinter is logical. If 2♥ is just a general GF, no suit has been supported, and it's not clear which suit is supposed to be trumps. You can play 3♠ as a self-splinter agreeing ♣'s (for the time being?), but that seems strange to me.

Make that very few.... else agree completely.

Heartlead??? Partner is obviously void in one of the minors and has got an ace in addition, and hopes I can diagnose his void due to disparity in my minor suit lenghts. Unfortunately I can't, but I'm not dead yet. I'll lead the ♣K. If partner is void in ♦'s and has got the ♣A I'll still be on lead to give him his ♦ ruff. If I hit the void he'll ruff my king and cash his ace.

In Norway a 3-card major system would be classified as red (artificial), but would be legal to play at any level.

5♣ and stay put after that. Let them guess.

Agree.

Obviously 6♣ is more or less laydown. The point is how to be able to buy the contract in 6 or 7♣. I'll try 6♣ now and make a forcing pass over 6♦ by RHO, bid 7♣ after 6♣ (6♦) p (p) and sit for any double by partner.

NV I play garbage Multi, 0-7, normally a 5-bagger (the definition is a hand too weak to invite vs a 15-17NT). Our responses: 2♥=p/c 2♠=natural, constructive, NF 2NT=asking for "better" minor (to stop or GF/slam try in a suit) 3♣=ask for transfer to the major =>3r-3M=inv. 3♦=invite with ♥'s 3♥=p/c, pre 3♠=natural invite 3NT=to play 4♣=transfer to your major 4♦=bid your major 4M=To play, don't care about YOUR major

Congratulations!! :)