shevek

I like double to show this. We have this guideline: "If they have a fit at 3♥+ and partner has shown a suit, double shows a defensive raise." Whether you think this is the right hand for this treatment is another question.

1♣ - 1♦ 1♠ - ? IMPs, vul. 1♣ was 16+, 1♦ negative. 1♠ limited to 19 (else 1♥ to show 19+) & either 5+ or canapé minor. Should responder consider raising with ♠K985 ♥T64 ♦543 ♣983 ? If not, give me a sample minimum. Would it be different if 1♠ guaranteed five?

[hv=d=w&v=n&s=sa8haqj2dqcajt862]133|100|Scoring: IMP East (Klinger) opens 1♥ in 3rd seat. You are South[/hv] Yes, I guess I should have overcalled 2♣ but I doubled and it ended in tears. For those of you who think 2♣ is clear, how good would South's 2-4-1-6 have to be before you would consider double. Maybe you think there is no such animal.

[hv=d=s&v=b&n=s43h86dkq54cat852&w=sq92ht53djt96c943&e=sk8hj972da8732cq7&s=sajt765hakq4dckj6]399|300|Scoring: IMP 6♣/s on ♦J lead[/hv] Andy Hung's cross-ruff is likely to work. When East's ♠K falls, declarer is unlikely to go wrong. This seems slightly better than finding West with ♣Q. (You aiming to play in Canberra Andy?) 6♠/W is awkward, even on ♦J lead. If you ruff a heart to take one spade finesse, you obviously fail to ♠Hxx in East or having East ruff the fourth heart. That looks wrong, even though it works. However, you can't get two entries to dummy for finesses even if West has ♣Qxx because West can block the suit.

[hv=d=s&v=b&n=s43h86dkq54cat852&s=sajt765hakq4dckj6]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] You reach 6♣/S after an uncontested relay auction. West leads a helpful ♦J. For bonus points, play 6♠/S on the same lead.

I think your 5th choice is a low spade, after low heart, ♥K, ♣Q, ♠J.

It's not so great but seems to score well. Also gains by negative inference when opener does something else. However, it is much better than Namyats combined with 3NT as a 4-level minor prempt. Hate to lose those natural 4C/D openings.

Indeed. Not in Australia. Not sure about countries that are in recession.

[hv=d=w&v=b&w=s6h754da54ckjt654&e=sq73hakq93dt6caq7]266|100|Scoring: IMP no - 1♠ - 1N - no 3N - end [/hv] Perhaps your West has the tools to recover but 3NT looks okay. [hv=d=w&v=b&w=s6h754da54ckjt654&e=sq73hakq93dt6caq7]266|100|Scoring: IMP no - 1♠ - 1N - no 3N - end [/hv] 1NT was heavy but East thought he had done well till West felt pangs of guilt.

I agree. yep As you guys wish but the fact that opener denies 16-19 balanced makes action safer. If you pass, opener may not bid 3NT on his 20-count with ♥-Qxx or Jxx. ♥K is in the wrong suit but it increases the chance of no wastage opposite. You might assume that double is GF, that responder can't pass 4♣/♦ but that is unstated. Guess I'll raise anyway. That's quite the logic. We have so many wasted values that partner probably doesn't have wasted values, therefore we should bid! Partner should in general bid 3NT with his 21+ balanced. If his heart stopper is so lousy that he doesn't want to then who says 3NT was making anyway? Have you also considered that partner will think we have a better hand than this and try for or bid a hopeless slam? I mean acting is lose lose unless partner has spades he can bid or has like exactly a 19 or 20 count that can bid 3NT. Either he is 21+ balanced (or unbalanced) and makes a push toward slam, or he is weaker and will bid 3NT with 1444, long minor, etc and we just go down. Okay I'm wrong. I did a crude simul (basically thowing out 16-20 bal without 5♠s). I found a few good hands, such as ♠x ♥Jxx AKQxx AKTx I figured opener would pass out 3♥ with that. Even then, 5♦ is marginal. Many other hands seemed to get us overboard or jeopardised a 5-3 spade fit

I agree. yep As you guys wish but the fact that opener denies 16-19 balanced makes action safer. If you pass, opener may not bid 3NT on his 20-count with ♥-Qxx or Jxx. ♥K is in the wrong suit but it increases the chance of no wastage opposite. You might assume that double is GF, that responder can't pass 4♣/♦ but that is unstated. Guess I'll raise anyway.

Double on both. On first, pd might have ♠AKxxx ♥Axx ♦x ♣KJxx That's perfecto but note it's 11 tricks. If you pass, is opener obliged to bid 3♠ with that? Happy enough if partner passes, since ♥K looks better. On 2nd, 3NT looks too committal. Too many hands where a suit game makes while 3NT has no play.

P = Points I believe here. Yes. My bad.

Interesting. When and where have you played strong pass in serious teams events?

A 14+ 1♣ fits between 2 system stools -- strong club & weak opening systems. Either you open decent hands with 1♣ as a smallish subset of these, or you try the effect of opening the 45% of hands with 8-12 HCP and make do with a nebulous 1♣ on the rest. If you go the latter route, it's sensible to make 1♣ 13+ with 8-12 for limit openings. This suggests 4-card majors since you don't want to open 1NT with 9-12 bal at all vuls. This sort of system is strategically different; you budget for a small loss with a 13+ 1♣ and make up for it with limit openings that are both descripive and obstructiive. Don't throw too much science at 1♣. For one thing, most auctions starting with a 13+ 1♣ will be competitive. Marston-style 1♠ as second negative, 1♦ GFR and the rest 6-10 is pretty complicated, though better than 1♦ 0-10. A simple improvement on tradition is to split the negative, though it pushes the positives up and conceals shape on the rest. Really it's all bad. A very, very minor change is to swap 1♣ and Pass. This regains the lost step but is deemed a threat to civilisation as we know it.

Siutplay says: With AJ87, low to 8 is 46% With AJ86, run 10, then finesse is 44% With AJ76, low to J is 37%

[hv=n=saj87&w=s&e=s&s=st543]399|300|[/hv] How do you get 3 tricks from this suit? Done that? Okay channge North hand to AJ86. Now what? Finally, give North AJ76. I keyed these 3 into suitplay.exe. As expected, 3 different answers.

[hv=d=e&v=n&s=s72hj5dakq5cakq75]133|100|Scoring: IMP East opened 1♠ I opercalled 2♣[/hv] I survived but partner was not amused.

Attempted retransfer interpreted as a cue.

3NT. Diamonds may not go so well, MPs, you play better, auction not over, etc.

I just sit down and play. I like to think I can cope with whatever they throw. I find pre-alerts tiresome and intrusive. I'm grumpy so this reaction is probably atypical.

[hv=d=n&v=e&w=s53hk95dkqt73caj3&e=sq64haqjt6d842ck6]266|100|Scoring: IMP North 1♠ South 2♠ All out[/hv] Game EW is not great and would have failed. However, perhaps tis better to have loved and lost.

Viking Club is okay but the relays are a bit complicated, tough to learn. Same issue with Ultimate Club, which peaked 30 years ago. Antipodean symmetric relay is a good basis, though not a system. Kiwi Club, Moscito, Scamp (self plug) & TOSR all sprung from Roy Kerr's structure. If you go with Moscito, there are many sub versions. The current Marston version is light years aways from the originals. Less natural, more complicated and - IMHO - not much of a step forward.

This is not an answer. Our 2♣ opening denies a 4-card major, which is the way to go. Start opening 1♦ with 4-2-2-5 and similar, or preferably play 4cM. Over our 2♣, we play responder's double as a strong penalty suggestion. This has been very lucrative. Rubensohl makes some sense but we play 2-level non-forcing in competition, 3-level forcing. The other thing we do is play 2NT as a competitive raise (throwing in some other rare strong hands), then 3♣ is constructive. We do it this way to right-side 3NT when opener has extras. Nick

Don't know. One option that should have been there is: Double then 5♥ over 4♠. Few would choose that, of course. That's the point. If you somehow know that you won't hear 4♠ on your left, then it's fine to double and bid 4♥. Since you can't know that, bid 3♥ or 4♥ according to partnership sentiment and double on the way out.