skjaeran

We play this sequence differently - 1♥ promise 3, then 2♠ is inv+ splinter. I dont't think 3NT on A empty fourth is the correct bid vs a known singleton - I prefer 4♥. Might of course be a little subjective, knowing both hands. But you've more or less guaranteed a diamond lead on the auction.

No, I don't agree. If so they wouldn't have wrongsided 6NT on board 1. Agree that both sequences are weird.

1) 2NT, showing 3-5 (normally) in the minors. 2) Double, it's MP.

The hand diagram tell us that we're south and dealer, thus in 1st seat.

Agree. automatic? I would have passed one heart but I guess we are told that is very wrong. Granted I would never, never play partner for this hand though. I could understand 2h here, I understand pass, I understand one spade, if one spade is 100 % wow With wide range overcalls, advancing is automatic for me on this hand. I'd never raise with Jx support. Since we almost always overcall 1♥ with 4-5 in the majors, we need to bid spades here with four of them, to be able to find the 4-4 fit. You might chose to have suit quality requirements for bidding 1♠ on four, but I can in fact make the bid on four small (seldom occuring though).

If I or my partner is on your left, you'll face a diamond lead from 3, 4 or 5 - maybe also from a doubleton. :)

3♣. Prefer to show the 5th club first. I'll normally get the opportunity to rebid 3NT.

The 3-level is just too frisky with such a balanced hand.

I'll plan on losing a diamond and a spade. And a club if the queen is offside. I discard a spade on the lead. If trumps are 3-2 I see no problem. If not, I'll need the club finesse or the spade ace onside. Trumps 5-0 might be troublesome, but not hopeless.

Wow, and you are still alive! You and your partner must be very well in tune, then. Sure. My partner would never hold that north hand on this auction.

I think this is a clear 1♥...2♥ hand. Not close to a jump rebid to me.

I think LTC is a valuable help when evaluating my hands when we have a fit. Q Q987x AQ9x QT7 equates to 1+2.5+1+2 losers to me, that's 6.5 losers. I count 2.5 losers for Qxx(xx), 2 for QTx. Not that this matters much to me when chosing to open or not. This is a clear opening hand to me. After the overcall and partners inv+ support, I reevaluate the hand to 6 losers (only 2 in trumps with a fit). The 3♦ bid might be thougt as a stretch to some, I disagree - it's an OK bid. Over 3♠, 4♥ doesn't set up a forcing pass IMO. I don't regard this as a game acceptance bid, only competitive over 3♠. Thus norht's pass over 4♠ isn't forcing to me. South could pass this out. On the actual south hand I'd double 4♠. I can't go to the 5-level with this, but I'd not expect opps to make often enough for double to be a losing bid.

On this hand we don't need partner to have ♥K for the underlead to work, partner can have ♥QJx and get in after we win our ♠K. Sure, opps cards always break 2-2, don't they??? If you add in QTx with Jx in dummy you increase the odds slightly, though.... not enough IMO.

Agree.

1♦ - 1♥ 2♣ - 2♠ 3♦ - 4♣ 4♦ - 4♥ 4♠ - 4NT 6♣ - 7♣ Responder knows about: Kxx void Axxxxx Kxxx That's a minimum opener, but after opener made 2 cuebids, he'll have something more, either ♠Q or ♦Q as a minimum. So 7♣ seems reasonable.

We'd start: 1♣ - 1♦ 1NT - 2♦ 2♥ - 2♠ Opener having this far showed a balanced 11-14 with Hx in hearts, responder a GF with 44+ in the majors. IF opener then continue 2NT (showing 3244), we might bid: 2NT - 3♣ 3♦ - 3♥ 4♥ Where opener expresses doubt about his diamond holding being sufficient for 3NT. However, opener might chose to bid 3NT at an earlier opportunity.

5-6 with the 6-bagger by far the better suit might prove harder to show. :P Still, with a hand not suitable for any opening one has to pass.

Oh, I didn't know you where declarer!

Seems reasonable - that's how asterisks are used in the Laws.

Always a diamond here for me - my regular partner would kill me if I lead something else. I'd go for the queen.

Agree with Josh here. Helene's comment is hilarious....well done!!

Agree with the casino numbers guy. In the second case P has bid 2♥ so between the 2 of us we must have at least 9 cards of ♥.What odds would casino guys offer on 1of us having K of !h? What kind of joke is this? Our 6-card suit lacks the king, partner presumably holds 3 and opps a combined 4. To me that means it's 4-3 against partner holding the king. :)

5♦ - I can't stomach a pass here, eventhough it could be the winning call on occasion.

Here in Norway we have 25 District Federations and about 460 clubs. I guess 25-30% of the clubs and maybe 20% of the DFs own their own dealing machine. I guess half the clubs and all DFs use duplicated boards and play barometer tournaments. Normal price paid if you rent boards is 1.25-2 NOK (0.25-0.40 USD) pr board. It's normal to pay the person doing the duplication 0.5 NOK (0.1 USD) for pr. board for the job (some might charge more - I don't know.) Playing in Oslo I pay 70 NOK (14 USD) to play (normally 27 boards, 32 in the district teams). Playing weekend tournaments the entry fee is normally 200-250 NOK (40-45 USD) for a 1-day event and 350-500 NOK (70-100 USD) for a 2-day event.

3♣ shows significant extra for me, 16+ or similar. With this misfitting hand I think it's close between passing and inviting slam. I'd probably raise to 4NT (quant).