skjaeran

For me it shows 9-9.5 tricks with a long suit. Less strength and far less defence than you normally expect for a 2♣ opening.

I've played the gambling 3NT for as long as I can remember. And I'm comfortable with it. Of course we wrongside 3NT on some hands, but on the upside it's somewhat preemptive, and it's often easy for partner to judge where to play. I've played Namyats some 20 years ago. It didn't come up very much. And I strongly prefer 4m as a natural preempt. If I wanted to have a stronger 4M opening, I'd use 3NT and get rid of the gambling 3NT. But I haven't done that in any partnership this far. So we have a lower limit on our 1-suited major hands in our 2♣ opening than many would be comfortable with.

In Norway, nearly all tournaments, and quite a lot of the clubs too, run barometer scoring. Most tournaments have done for more (probably a lot more) than 30 years.

5♣ is obviously exclusion IMO. But as others already commented, this hand isn't suitable, missing the ♦ control.

Close between 2♠ and 3♥ for me, but I'm landing on 3♥.

2NT for me, inv+ with 4-card support. Might try 4♠ on occasion.

I'd have opened this hand in my regular partnerships - that's our style. Obvious 2♠ now.

3♥, showing extras on all three. I'd need another trump to splinter (and normally play splinter=void).

Yes, I count my cards this way and have had this happen before. It is very rare, though. But it raises another question -- should a penalty be assessed against the player who returned some cards to the board face-up? Yes, if the playing format let you know who's the culprit, I'd penalize him. A warning is enough the first time IMO. Where I play you normally can't tell who returned some cards to the board face-up, since we play barometer tournaments all the time.

1. 4♠, accepting the "transfer". 2. I'd have bid 4♠ last time, now I thing 5♥ is called for.

4♠ for me. Two reasons: Easier to keep my entry for the diamonds. If there's a ruff out, it's normally easier for opps to take it if they hold the ace in the side suit, and I know they don't hold the heart ace.

I prefer rebidding 1♠. (Anyway, I normally play transfer responses, and our bidding would be 1♣-1♦-1♥, showing 3-card hearts.)

5♠ for me. This is going to be a good save most of the time. Expect opps to make at least 5♥, hard to tell if bidding 5♠ will make it easier for them to judge or not.

3♦ to show my source of tricks for a possible slam. I can show short clubs later if partner invites slam.

Why do you lead 6 from T962 and T from T92? Is there a reason to lead 3rd best from 4 card and high from 3 card? I would would have expected this the other way around because high from 4-card will less often be confused with a doubleton then high from a 3 card? That's because I'd normally lead top of a half sequence from a 3-card suit. I'd not do that from a 4-card suit - at least not when it's as low as the ten as the top card.

On the minor hand I'd bid 4NT. On the heart hand I'd double on both occasions, telling partner I've got a good offensive hand for my bidding, some defence, and ask him to make the decision to defend or not.

6, 4, 4, T, 2, 2 2, 6, 4, 4, T, 2, 2

Who taught you to count cards like that? I know someone who did the same in our club... It's a very common way to count the cards - I see many doing it like that. There's a drawback to this method, if there's one or more cards face up in your pile, all the players at the table can see it/them. I always count my cards below the table, so I'm the only one able to see the cards while counting them.

4♦ would show both majors. That's why 4NT would show a M♣ 2-suiter.

I don't like to lead an ace, especially not since the ten can come into play if I don't lead it. Besides, with a trump entry, I can very often attack diamonds later if that was the best lead. Any major seems bad on the bidding and looking at my hand. So it's gonna be a club, prefer the queen (or jack if I play Rusinov), it looks safer than a low.

Agree with passing. Partner is supposed to move if LHO leaves it in.

A double seems called for here. If partner takes it out, I like our chances. If partner leaves it in, I feel fine too.

I don't think I'd be that close to reaching slam here, whatever methods I used. How did you reach slam?

3♠ and pass 3NT, voted "Other".

A former partner of mine asked about opponents leading agreements after having received a jack lead against 3NT. His holding in the suit was AKQ. Opps were furious after the board, claiming he had tried to fool them to continue the suit. The fact was that this information was important to him, both in deciding which card to win the opening lead with. But more importantly, to plan the rest of the play, since he needed to know which offender was most likely to continue the suit later in the play. (Opps didn't have a system card.)