Apollo81

gerber 7NT

Bidding: South should have opened because of his spots, but I understand the pass. East should not have opened. (In 4th seat, your HCP and spade length should normally add to 15+) North is a bit light for the double, but I understand it. Play: West should not have played a 4th round of clubs. He should have played hearts or spades at trick 6. East should not have led the ♦9 at trick 8. A low diamond would have been better; it is highly unlikely that declarer would finesse the ♦8. Declarer can still make if West returns a major card at trick 6, but only if he uses his dummy entry to finesse the ♦8 (extremely unlikely).

1a. signoff, 6 1b. mild slam try, 6 2a. unclear what "standard" is IMO; I would guess ace-asking 2b. quantitative, 5 3. ace-asking, 6

At the table I was torn between a few things. I could open 4♠ planning to rebid spades later. Since it's favorable this auction might actually convince the opps I am sacrificing. I could also open 1♠ or pass to give everyone room to tell me what's going on this hand. I was playing against saavy opps who might smell a rat so I decided to go slowly. I chose pass over 1♠ since it gives everyone the most room to describe their hands. Blasting 6♠ as my opening bid was never really an option. I passed and it went (1♣)-2♦-(2♥) back to me. It probably would have been the same (forcing 2♥) but without the 2♦ call from pard if I had opened 1♠. Now I decided I had enough information and bid 6♠. LHO with x Ax Qx AQxxxxxx decided I was making and bid 7♣. Pard had x xxx J10xxxx K10x and RHO had K KQJ10xxx Ax Jx. Lucky for me, 6♠ can't make on a non-♦ lead so I got most of the MPs for +500 against 7♣x.

AQJxxxxxxx --- Kxx --- MPs, 1st seat fav What's your plan for this one? Please dont answer "I open 4d which is convention W which shows blah blah blah" I actually held this at the table and was playing with a first time expert partner.

This was a first time partnership. Would you consider "standard" for 3♦ to be forcing or NF in this auction?

I agree with this except I think that there is no way East can stop short of slam once West bids 4♣.

um... "assign the blame" was for EW, who missed their 'cold' grand 5h is a good sacrifice.

indeed

[hv=d=e&v=e&n=sxxhajxxxxxdjxxcx&w=sxxxhkxdkqcqxxxxx&e=saxxxhda109876cakx&s=skqjxhq10xxdxxcj10x]399|300|Scoring: MP[/hv] 1♦-(1♠)-2♣-(2♥) 3♦-(3♥)-pass-(pass) 5♣-(pass)-pass-(5♥) pass-(pass)-Dbl-all pass

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=sqj863h10973d4ck87&w=sa2hk864dakj63c65&e=s107hq5dq875cq10432&s=sk954haj2d1092caj9]399|300|Scoring: MP p-p-1♣-1♦ X-3♦-3♠-4♦ 4♠-p-p-X p-p-p[/hv] ♦A,4,7,2 ♣6 West thought East's ♦7 was low and wanted East to duck his supposed ♣A a round for a ruff after winning the ♠A. East was trying to give a deliberately vague signal since he didn't know whether a heart or a club switch was right.

We can second guess 4♠ all day long but South has bid his pattern and has 0 extras. I dont blame him. Come on North...give pard KQxxx xxxx x Axx and 6s has play....I would probably bid 5♠ over 4♠ with that hand.

The 4♠ call looks like the worst one to me. My knee-jerk reaction would probably be to bid only 2♠ with that hand.

1♥ wtp

1-7-4-1

I would be interested in talking with someone who has experience creating DTS packages (.dtsx) with Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio for a SQL Server 2005 database. -NobleShore at gmail dot com willing to give bridge advice in return, for what little it is worth =)

I don't think you're strong enough for 3NT. This sort of hand can be described by overcalling and then competing again if partner passes. I would bid 3NT against almost everyone with an 8th diamond.

The chance that they make 4♠ is approximately 100% IMO, so I'll bid 5♦ since I don't think I will go for more than 500.

Q1. Pard gets 100% of the blame. Q2. Your partner is too strong to rebid 3♦; the advanced/expert rebid with his hand is probably 3♣. I also think you should try for slam (4♦) over 3NT and that you got lucky on this deal.

I think I would pass since it is all red and down 2 won't be a good score for either side. I'm pretty sure I'd bid at all white without thinking much.

9.9 out of 10

4♠

2♣

I'd have bid 4♥, not 3♥.

100% of the blame to West. 2NT was the worst call, followed by the pass of 3NTx. I don't mind the 1♥ so much. The auction could have been salvaged if West had just passed South's double of 2♦ and then bid 3♣ at the next call. That sequence looks most normal to me. I think West has a little much for a NF 2♣ response, and I think the hearts would get lost after the likely 2♠ call by North.