Mosene

Am I reading the problem right? partner jumps to 3 hearts after my spade bid? I bid 4 hearts. Partner should have 6 or 7 pretty good hearts (AQ109XX is about as bad as it could be) - and if it is that bad - will have compensation outside the suit.

I double - expecting a 3 diamond bid by LHO and I will double that and lead a diamond.

This is RHO's hand: ♥X ♠XXX ♦K10XX ♣98765 It turns out RHO gets squeezed without the count with 4 cards left (if that is what you call it). At trick 4 you must play a heart to the K in dummy, ruff a club, and then play off 4 spades, pitching a diamond from dummy and then ruffing to dummy with a spade. This leaves dummy with ♥- ♠- ♦A ♣KJx RHO Has: ♥- ♠- ♦K - having pitched the diamond 10 previously ♣987 You then must play the Ace of diamonds - dropping the now singleton king - and start playing clubs. LHO can (and really should) ruff in on the first club, but then has to lead into your Q9 of diamonds. (If RHO has pitched a club at some point, then you start on clubs and the diamond ace is an entry to hand once LHO ruffs in). I did not quite play it like that (made it anyway due to mis-defence) but wish I had.

Y66 - What do you discard from dummy on the last heart lead? (in other words - I think it does not work b/c you have to pitch from dummy first). Please tell me if I am wrong. FYI - absent other information, I think the Apollo81 line is probably best, but the hand is very interesting if you assume RHO has the diamond K.

What if you were 100% certain that RHO had the diamond K - what would you do?

The contract is 6 hearts (declarer is south - with AQ65 of hearts etc...). The opening lead is the Q of clubs. When (if?) you play hearts they turn out to be 4-1, with LHO having 4. Plan the play. You can make this hand as the cards actually were, and it is a pretty neat ending. ♥K432 ♠32 ♦A2 ♣AKJ84 ♥AQ65 ♠AKQ6 ♦Q964 ♣10

Zero chance declarer has A985. He has them double stopped by simply playing low off dummy on the first trick and letting the J hold. A club through and partner wins the Q of clubs. This leaves declarer with A9 and partner with K7. Ooops - Missed the Cherdano answer - I agree with him.

Thanks all. I had 6 spades to the K - not eight :) I bid 4 spades - thinking that if I bid less and partner really had his bid that would be where we wanted to be. 2 spades probably made sense given the smelly situation - but I couldn't help myself.

thanks all. Just wanted a sanity check: FYI - partner had ♠XX ♥KQJ10X ♦X ♣KJXXX I had - ♠KXXXXXXX ♥XX ♦XXXX ♣X What would you bid? (assuming partner actually has his bid - which I did, despite smelling trouble)

pick up partner - the bidding goes as follows: P - 1♥ - P - 2♦ 2♥?? Partner bid 2 hearts - what does it mean in 2/1? So it is clear - partner passed to begin with, then came in with 2 hearts after his LHO opened with a heart and RHO bid 2 diamonds. thanks.

Not looking at the responses yet: 1. Win King of spades in hand - AK of hearts. low diamond. Assuming it wins. Spade A, ruff club - exit diamond - forcing RHO to give a ruff and sluff. If LHO hops ace you still have heart 10 on board to pitch last spade. 2. Win King of spades. Run off all hearts. In hand XX of spades and Kx of diamonds. On board, A of spades, Qxx of diamonds. This caters to any 4 card holding with RHO I think. (if he holds exactly 2 diamonds - king of diamonds then diamond. If he holds 3 diamonds and 1 spade. Spade to A, diamonds up. If 3 spades, king of diamonds. 3. I would play for....RHO to have diamond ace. LHO might have bid 5 with the diamond ace. Does that work?

Play low from both hands. (edited) On second thought not sure what that gains.

Well - the chances that partner is void in spades is less than the chances she is void in either hearts or diamonds. If you accept that - 7 hearts is a pretty good gamble. The chances of no spade void are maybe even better given the opponents did not pre-emp in spades at any point - and they had the chance. Combine this with partner having a lot of points outside hearts and 7 looks even better. However - your flat hand is not good. At the table I am pretty sure I would bid 6 hearts. (BTW - what does 6C, or 6D show?)

I voted for Cynthia McKiney (sp?). She was the Green Party candidate.

Actually - given the spade spots, a club also works I think. King of clubs, low club ruffed. Now exit with a heart and declarer must ruff on the board. declarer gets back to hand with a diamond and plays a spade honor. Defender covers with the king and declarer cannot use the clubs - as defender still has the spade 9. So, I think anything but a spade works. (I do think the diamond is the technically right play, however).

doesn't a second heart also set the contract?

Barack Obama comes across as a believer in the neoliberal economic agenda and a proponent of sustained US presence in the middle east. As such, the "intellectual" republicans have already won. There does not appear to be any true left Democracts out there (although there really never have been). BTW, we can thank the neoliberal economic paradigm for the horrible shape the US and much of the world is in economically (what does the US produce anyway? Money?). We can thank the US obsession with the middle east for the horrible position the US is in in terms of international credibility and massive debt owned by Japan, China and others. Obama offers little hope in my opinion.

I was leading the spade jack (for the same reason - diamonds are likely to be the long suit of the 6 club bidder). That sounds like the losing play though on the hand in question.

This is a great hand - I don't think it is quite a beginner hand - a lot of options - too many. I might try the club 10 and duck it if RHO plays the 9. Maybe RHO has K9 or something like that. Probably too clever by half.

Might the average hand look something like: QXX - XXXX - X - AXXXX (s,h,d,c). Would partner bid more with that hand? Not sure to make, but a good declarer might bring it home. I would probably bid 5.

I bid 4 spades - but think it is much closer at matchpoints. Your distribution is not so good.

I think a 3 heart bid, instead of 3nt is better (as Cherdano said) by south. After that, I think they avoid the 3nt.

I would bid this hand to 4 spades or 5 clubs (I think we can assume at least a 2 card spade fit with partners club bid). I like Jdonn's idea of bidding 4 hearts - which allows partner to choose which strain.

By abuses I mean they take advantage of a weak law that has not real teeth. For example, the general penalty for violating the NLRA is to post a notice saying that you did it. Also, if you illegaly fire an employee for engaging in union activity the consequence is to re-instate the employee and provide back pay, but there are no damages. Also, you subtract any earnings the employee made in the mean time (between the illegal firing and the re-instatement) from the back pay award.

Canada has a similar provision re card checks and union representation - as far as I can tell all hell has not broke loose. Anyone who is familiar with union representation issues knows that employers that want to stay non-union have huge advantages in the law in terms of delay and other techniques to keep unions out between the time card checks are made and the elections. This is an effort to curtail those employer abuses. I know, as I have seen them first hand (working for the NLRB).