Apollo81

Draw trumps, lead the ♣K. LHO is likely to hold ♠--- ♥xxx ♦QJx ♣10987xxx given that he did not lead a black suit. This play forces an entry to dummy so I can cash ♦AK and ruff the diamonds out. I can also make in the event that LHO started with A7th of clubs and covers the ♣K.

A1094 KJ875 AJ A3 unfavorable, MPs pass-(2♠)-???

agree

7654 KJ JT854 A4 unfavorable, MPs (2♥)-Dbl-(4♥)-??? Double would (obviously) be responsive.

I don't think this is a psych. I double and then convert diamonds to notrump at whatever level I have to.

Don't open 1NT with a 5 card major unless you are 5332. Aside from that I would consider it normal expert practice to open 1NT with two doubletons. If the high cards are concentrated in the long suits then most experts would probably open a suit. I don't know why people tell B/I players not to open 1NT with two doubletons.

Yeah 2♠. All other actions are just sick.

I used to tell my B/I students to count long suits unless supporting partner's major (then count only short suits) This tends to be too confusing for the beginners so I just tell them to count short suits except in notrump. Details: -most of the time, count HCP plus 1 point for each card in a suit beyond the 4th -subtract 1 from the above for a bad suit -if supporting partner's major: ---with 3 card support, count void=3, singleton=2, doubleton=1 ---with 4+ support, count void=5, singleton=3, doubleton=1 -don't double-count honors in short suits.

Support double with extra playing strength (essentially takeout)

2NT or 3♦ depending on the location of your high cards.

With KQ10xxx of diamonds I would rebid 2♦, and I don't think it's a decision.

This thread begs an interesting question. I've noticed a trend recently where good players have agreed that 1m-1h-1s-1n-2h does not show extra values (you must jump to 3h with a good hand). Might this be extendable to 1d-1s-2c-2d-2s?

This isn't the A/E forum, the post was intended to help mike777 understand that xx Q1098x AJ AQxx is clearly an opening bid, etc.

I have a novel idea: with 6-9 HCP and 6+ in a major, respond 1M, then bid 2M if possible.

we play different methods (and had a different auction than what i posted) but the decision is identical to the one I posted

Well we've all been "masterfully" deceived in the heart suit.

In case anyone was confused, the "5+" means that partner could have more than 5 clubs and the lack of parenthesis around the y and the 5+ means that partner's long suit is clubs. Most people seemed to understand this. Pard's actual hand was x J8xx KQx AKQ10x. What contract would you like to be in here? There are a lot of reasonable contracts. Unfortunately, 5♥, reached by both tables (the other playing normal 2/1) is not in that list. As someone (too lazy to check) noted, a forcing 2♠ bid over the 2♥ would work quite nicely here, if that was available. It's also too bad that we weren't playing a natural 3NT over the 3♥ bid, as that would nicely describe opener's hand and probably slow responder down some. Anyone who suggests that responder should bid something other than 3♥ is probably resulting, given the available options. 4♦ last train would undoubtedly draw 4♥ from partner, but with what exactly is partner supposed to bypass 4♥? He has told you his HCP to within a two-point range and then told you that he has a minimum for that. I think he would just bid 4♥ on any hand. Some people are going to say "clearly it asks for good trumps" but this is also resulting IMO and far from clear sans agreements. Nevertheless, 4♦ may be the right bid if you are otherwise on a completely random 50-50 guess as to whether to bid 4♥ or not.

Reverse F is meant to show hands like this, as has been pointed out. If you're not playing that then pass and hope for the best.

agree, at least for the 3♦ bid

vindicated =) I got some looks from the opps when I put that dummy down.

If I am playing an invitational 3♦ then i will bid that. If I am playing 2/1 not forcing to game then I will bid 2♦ and then 3♦ If neither of the above apply I will bid 1NT and then diamonds as many times as necessary (unless partner rebids 3♥ over 3♦ I suppose)

Yes, I should play methods that let me play in 2♣.

At the very least he can accept on AKx of clubs with 18 HCP and reject on a 4 trip minimum. He knows we know he has 1 top club honor. Since some people are saying signoff and some people are saying GF then this has to be close to right.

Partner held AKJx Axx xxx xxx. Hearts makes 8 tricks: LHO has xx KJxx Kxx KJ10x or some such.

Here's my opinion: Pass and signoff in 3♣ are just out. The hand is simply too good. 2NT also seems silly since parnter almost certainly has 3+ clubs. If we are going to force game, then it's clearly better to show our shape since we are almost certainly getting a spade lead against 3NT. So is this hand worth a game force? Maybe. If partner has only one club honor then it does seem like we may have some entry problems in 3NT, and we're underpowered for 5♣ unless pard has a perfecta. I think the right action is to invite in clubs. I don't think the hand is as good as it looks. This is not the action I chose at the table, which was to GF showing my shape. Partner had something like Kxx AJx A87x Axx. Their cards were laid out as expected: clubs makes 4, diamonds makes 3, and notrump makes 2. The GF action gives pard the decision of whether to bid 4♣ (playing you for 1336) or 4♦ (playing you for 1345) which he may get wrong. He unfortunately guessed incorrectly on this hand, and we lost 4 IMPs to 3♣ making 4 at the other table. Well done us.