skjaeran

Yeah. It looks stupid if west holds ♠AQ and south ♥AK. :)

That's the correct line, since it almost guarantees the contract. You'll secure a ♠ ruff in dummy or set up a trick for the jack (if east has AQ).

That works out Mike, but what if hearts are 4-1? You can still win on another line....

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=sk3h987632da97cak&s=sj97hq5dqt8542cq5]133|200|Scoring: IMP 2♦ - 2♥ 2NT - 3♦[/hv] This hand just came up as I kibbed Josh and Han - they where defending this one. ♣2 lead to dummy. You cash trump ace, the king dropping from west. How do you play from here?

For how long - 1 million years, 10 million years? B)

Learning at a very young age, playing a lot the first 10+ years, discussing a lot - both bidding and play. Reading books, magazines and bridge coloumns. And playing up whenever possible.

Agree with all those who doesn't understand 3♦. Not bidding 2♠ to show 5-6 is a mystery to me also. Hard to assign blame to west after this misere.

Pretty minimum IMO, but I'll venture 2♦.

4♥, then X. I don't consider this much of a problem, both calls look obvious to me.

I'd normally pass this out. Have to be at the table to know though.

Whatever number of diamonds the opening promise and however you treat it, this isn't close to a double. Clear pass. You (or partner) might back in later if appropriate. Doubling now is asking for trouble.

I'd also double. As we play 3♦ as a Herbert negative here, partner will jump to 4♠ on a 4-card suit even less often than for most people. Agree with Justin that the upside is so big that I'd rather double than overcall 3NT.

Of course this is for a different problem and would be complementary rather than the alternative. I do not play Switch per se, but I do use similar methods (may be a subset) when there is a spade or club overcall of our club/spade opener respectively. For example, 1♣ (1♠) 2♦=hearts, constructive or better 1♣ (1♠) 2♥=diamonds, invitational or better We do not play this method to get the strong hand on lead, but rather to give us greater flexibility to introduce hearts with slightly weaker hands than normal. Although it sounds simple, you do need to discuss the impact of these methods on your negative double - the most switched bid means that a greater number of medium-strength hands must be included in it. Overall we find that switching these bids is a positive change to the system. In another thread Fred did mention the benefit following a 3-level minor suit overcall of your 1NT, namely 1NT - (3♦) then 3♥=spades, inv+, 3♠=hearts, gf. Paul I do the same in a couple of occasional partnerships, and for the same reason. Having the overcaller on lead has never been an issue, only flexibility in our own bidding.

You just know?, you are stating that partner can't have a penalty double ever?, you know much more than me hehe. I'll admit it's possible, but it's really far out. I could see making a double, but not because I expected a penalty pass.

I might have passed last round, or raised to 3♠. Whatever 2NT is supposed to mean, I haven't got it. I'm certainly passing now.

Han, pun intended? :) Of course is was. We should all know not to take anythinf from Han seriously in the Water Cooler (nor in the bridge discussions... :) ) (damn, I really shouldn't put in that smiley).

At IMPs and these colours... I won't go so far as to say passing is automatic - it can be very wrong on occasion, but I think it's a BIG long time winner.

Ok, I'll be the one to bite, to be able to play 2♥ doubled maybe? Holding ♥Q8 you just know partner hasn't got a penalty double. So that's just a non-issue.

As others have said, you rebid 3♠ to force partner to bid 3NT with a club stopper. 3NT and 4♥ is to play. 4♣ is a strong ♥ raise, doesn't promise a control in the suit. 4♦ is natural and forcing, invites slam. 4♠ would be a splinter agreeing hearts and 4NT would be quantitative IMO (you can bid 4♣ to set hearts first if you're gonna ask for keycards).

I'd also open this hand (as you all know :) ). But I know many who won't. I think I'd have rebid 1NT instead of 2♣, but that's a close call. That might have induced a club lead, letting me make 3NT, btw. Not that that proves anything.

This is a very close call - give opener ♠Kxx and it's a terrible slam. We'd all like to bid it with Kx for sure, but I'd not be to hard on partner and myself for missing it. Agree that responder is the one who need to make another try if it is to be reached.

Hand 1. We almost always need two ♠ tricks to beat this one. So I continue with another high spade and switch to a low diamond next. Hand 2. Same here. We can almost never beat this with a singleton heart with declarer (he'll finesse any trump partner's got). To avoid being endplayed I give partner a ruff at trick 2. To ask for a diamond back I return the ♥9. I need partner to have enough in the diamond suit that I can return a diamond if I'm getting a diamond trick before my club king can be won.

♦A and another ♦. Won't risk ♦K, ♦ ruff.

I've seen a lot where bidding on was a success though....

I use it for hand diagrams and polls. When posting only text I don't preview. Instead I reread my post after posting and edit typos or other mistakes right away.