MFA

Not having a forcing raise is very bad.

No, I think not. I think you are in the maximum zone of a limit raise.

:) ?

Never lead a singleton when your caps lock button is stuck.

4♣ is NOT a slam try in these situations. Much more important to make the right competitive decisions than to go for the unlikely slam. So, 4♣ :-)

As Free says, it could easily become uncomfortable, if you have the 16+any hand and the bidding gets crowded. I much prefer the style where you really strive to make an overcall instead and then try to catch up with strength later.

I prefer 1NT to be natural. 2Y should definitely be natural. BTW, I think it's a good idea to use 2m in 1m-p-1Ma-2m to show 5-5 in the majors (and a good hand, obviously). At the moment, I play it as natural, but I might have a talk with pard about this soon.

I think it's clear to bid 1♠ instead of double (absent a convention, of course). 3♠ now is forcing or it will be absolutely impossible to bid sensibly with strong hands without clear direction.

My style is not nearly as selective as the previous posters'. I think the purists really don't get the job done in pratice when it comes to getting fast to the 3-level. A mixed raise for me is 4card support and 7-9 scattered hcp. I don't demand particularly pure hands, since they are rather rare. 4333 hands could be downgraded, but else I will offer a mixed raise with almost all hands in range. The example hand with 2 aces would actually make me nervous, since that is quite unusual for my mixed raises, and partner might misevaluate. So rarely will I have exactly 8hcp in 2 naked aces.

No it's not. West wins the queen and returns a small trump. -500. If you try a spade, it's 800 if west remembers to play the 10. FrancesHinden: East is on lead, and with nothing in dummy's potential diamond suit, how can he lead trumps? Won't happen. Stephen Tu: Yup. When the defense plays diamond&diamond, you are laydown that way. You can also set up a diamond trick with your spots. Shifting to clubs is a much stronger defense.

Hmm, how do you expect to escape for -300 in 5♣? It will be hard to avoid a heart loser.

Lavinthal discards. - Clearly superior in my view. So often you would like to make an attitude statement about a suit without wanting to discard from it. Smith's echo. - Remember, no breaks of tempo! :)

I voted pass. About 1½ point short of a double. I pass at mp too.

2♠ as descriped is ok. Without that convention I pass.

I would balance with 1NT. The stiff club makes a double too ugly.

Just 1♠. 2♥ should show a somewhat better hand. But overbidding to get both your suits in is tempting of course.

By an unpassed hand the sandwich NT should be natural. The traditional assumption that opener always holds 12+ and responder always 6+, and we thus don't have a game, is too far off in modern bridge. 1NT in sandwich by a passed hand is of course unusual. In my system, 1NT is then a shape take-out while D is more balanced. Other distinctions are possible here. @pbleighton LOL, good luck with that :P

Agree that the most interesting part is what to do after a 3♥ response. Double in the first place is marginal but clear cut. All you doublers please - Pass or 3♠ after partner's 3♥? What is your plan? As stated I prefer 3♠, which I consider a typical matchpoint effort. At imps, I would pass. The upside of improving the partscore tends to be worth more at matchpoints. And the biggest downside, that the enemy suddently comes alive with a penalty double when we are in deep trouble, tends to be worse at imps.

New suit is F1, 2NT invitational, 3M invitational.

I'm disappointed about the heavy vote for a small club (instead of the K, if we shift to clubs). Are people really so convinced that partner is likely to goof his pedestrian defensive problem (overtake the ♣K to put a ♦ through) that they are willing to unnecessarily hand declarer the contract, every time declarer has the ♣A without the Jack? Hmm, not exactly top flight bridge, I think. :unsure:

This is an opening bid. The ♣Q IS worth something on average. I'll double now and remove 3♥ to 3♠. Ugh, this is ugly, but white all is very attractive for crazy competitive moves. :P

Maybe I'm too good used here, but I fully expect my partner to overtake the ♣K 100% of the time, with or without the ♣J. He can see dummy too and knows that we need 3 diamond tricks to beat this. Well, ok, if he doesn't overtake, it just means that he holds the ♦Q himself and I will then continue diamonds from my side.

5♦ splinter.

Double. I'm minimum for this, but my hand should be useful whatever partner does.

1. ♣K. 2. Change our agreements.