MFA

Why did partner suddenly lead the queen of diamonds?

There is a big difference, since partner didn't have a 1M overcall available. I would double. My second choice is actually 4♦, not pass. Ugh!

I agree with overcalling 2♠. Not impressive defense to let 2♠ through.

I would trust partner to help me on the second round of diamonds. If he continues with the ♦J, it indicates that he doesn't particularly want me on lead. He should play like this with just one ♠H and nothing in hearts, since if I had a fast third trick myself (trump or ♣K empty), I would always overtake the second diamond and play a spade. So when partner returns a small diamond, it seems he wants a spade shift. Perhaps declarer is 2-6-3-2 with Kx in both blacks. Or something like that.

2♠, not a stretch at all. 4♥. If we miss a laydown slam, it'll be my fault.

Pull 4♠ to 5♦ on AKxx? :P I agree with X and Fluffy's plan. But I think we have to move forward after 4♠ from partner, but it's a very difficult situation. Sign me up for an optimistic 5NT, pulling 6♦ to 6♥.

HotSpot said it.

Pass wtp?

2♥ is clear. Could be talked into 2NT if my minor suits were a bit different. I have no problem with the first pass.

Yes. 3♦. Too optimistic to bid 3♠.

No special agreements about this sequence but some of the general agreements that might or might not be relevant are: 5card major & better minor & 12-14NT 2-o-1 10+ Cuebids 1st or 2nd round control up the line RKC 1430 What is going on in the auction: Matchpoints / all vul 1♦ - (1♥) - 2♣ - (pass) 3♥ - (pass) - 3♠ - (pass) 4♠ - (pass) - 4NT What does each bid mean?

:rolleyes: :blink: :blink:

I would pass and hope for a plus score against 3♥. 4♦ is an aggressive alternative. I'm not expecting partner to have a perfecto for his 3♣ all the time. Surely if game is on, partner has enough to have planed to bid again.

Hehe. We had a funny board in our club some years ago where several pairs played the 0-0 fit. The bidding went 1♠-4♥ ... :D

I think the explanation was something like "less than invitational strength".

The important thing is the degree of limitation. In your splinter example, responder narrowed his strength to 12-14 hcp. Therefore he should cooperate fully in showing controls below game level and that doesn't show extras. If a hand is unlimited in nature it should only cooperate with cuebids if it has some slam ambition of its own. For instance: 1♠-(3♣)-4♣ strong spade raise. Here opener signs off in 4♠ with any minimum regardsless of red cuebids.

Of course it can. 4♥ is a sign-off that simply just denies slam interest because of lack of power.

What's your favourite story? Some years ago we were playing a rather strong MP invitational tournament with nice cash prizes. With about a dozen boards to go we were in good shape for an ITM place, but we needed a decent finish. B) The next opponents were Rosen Gunev - Dessy Popova of Bulgaria. Pass from Gunev on my right, 1♦ from me vul vs not, 1♠ from Popova on my left, and pard quickly got to declare 3NT. As it was, Gunev didn't have too hard a lead to make. He swallowed the first 9 tricks with his solid hearts (that he of course had passed in first seat!) and lead a club to Dessy's ace. Down 6, 600! :( Ok, we didn't exactly expect a good score for that. But seeing the frequencies was gruesome. -600 was a cold zero (as anticipated), but at almost every other table, the bidding had been 4♥-X- all pass. 9 heart tricks + ♣A and ... 590!! Ugh. ;) :D Needless to say we didn't recover from that one :P.

1NT, doesn't show a stopper.

I should still be alerted. But whether it is possible or not for an opponent to be damaged by a missing alert is a different matter :ph34r:.

How can people comment on these cases with such strong words when we haven't even seen the distributions? And not to mention the opponents' version of the story.

3NT, wtp? :D This is where I want to play and I think I'm rightsiding it more often than not (LHO could easily be void of diamonds, and if RHO has only 6 they tend to be with very solid secondary cards anyway).

Yes, Michael :) Right, people are launching all kind of strange things against our 1NT, so we'll just keep it simple and play the same Lebensohl/powerX defense regardsless.

2M competitive X starts pen doubles P -> X take-out P -> 2♠ four spades with some minor alternative(s). 2NT from partner scrambles. 2NT+ lebensohl principles.

1. 4♥. I have a very unusual hand and must hope for the best in 4♥. This is where the money is if we are right. 2. 2NT. I like to get my suits in immediately. There's a good chance that I can show a 6th heart later and my heart suit needs support. If they bid spades I can double. I'll take a second bid regardless of the auction. Dislike the stupid "weak or very strong" treatment. 2NT should always deliver some strength and two reasonable suits and invite further action from partner. It should never be a worthless suicide attempt. 3. Pass. We have no bid that shows this hand type.