rtewari

Win. Ace of diamond diamond ruff small. Cash heart king. If singleton J comes then OK if spades on worse than 4-2. Otherwise, concede a low club. Plan to enter hand with a spade to take another diamond ruff. Cash heart queen. If jack appears on right overtake to draw trumps. Else enter hand with club ruff and hope for the best...

Wrong analysis. If west returns a spade, declared inserts 9 from dummy which according to you is ducked by east. Now a heart is played and as suggested by you east covers. This makes heart winner in dummy as an entry for winner spade. Declarer just reverts back to spades and setting up a trick in dummy to take care of loser heart.

Having played AK of diamonds and knowing West to be short in D, I would play east for longer spades (as with 4-5 maojors, west is more likely to double) and shorter club. So place spade king on right... Play club ace (just in case singleton king on right), club jack to queen. Planning to take spade finesse and set up a club winner in dummy and ruff dummy's heart for 2S, 5D, 3C...

4S is right especially at Match points. Partner with 3 spades and 5+ minor may bid a minor for a near bottom and in many hands even 5-2 spade may be enough to make 4S.

If we have established methods that NT bidder always shows fit (direct bid with a stopper and XX without a stopper), then it is clear that we are at best on a 8 card fit and trick taking potential of the hand is reduced. The approach has to be different in IMPs/MPs and also a little vulnerability dependent in MPs NT opener is normally expected to cover 4 to 5 losers. So with a 5 winner solid suit (i.e. lower honors JT9), it is fine to shoot for game in IMPs. Broken prime suit of same HCP strength has to come via invitation which is what 3H should be played as in IMPs. So with this hand I would be inclined to pass and defend for plus score. At MPs, I would like to play this as purely competitive as the objective is not to reach game but to get to the best score. Here giving -50 (or -100 if opps double) is better than letting them score 110 and hence some leeway is needed to compete. Vul also, competition is in order provided you do not have good aggressive and capable of defense doublers where you could go for -200.

4NT is for minors but then is probably an underbid. 4H-4S-4NT should also be minors but slammish 4H-4S-5C/D should be single minor slammish 4H-4S-5H/5S should be spade slammish with heart control/looking for heart control Since it is reopening, partner may be a little shaded say 11+. So will evaluate the hands in the context and bid accordingly....

Double makes more sense from north hand. A diamond lead for -3 or 4

Declarer does not appear to be 2-3-3-5 as 1NT is the preferred bid. As suggested by someone, 1-3-4-5 is a possibility but then 7 of diamond winning the trick makes it a little against the odds as a more practical play would be to play towards queen. When it holds, take heart finesse and play diamond king from hand hoping for Jx or Tx with RHO. Low diamond works when RHO has A singleton/doubleton. Also, exiting 3rd club is an option for declarer before touching diamonds. I would prefer to place declarer with a 2-4-2-5 shape. Partner needs to have heart 7 and spade ace to defeat this. Spade king will not do as he will be caught in a strip throw in. Of course, this is assuming that partner chose to rebid 2H with only 5 rather than respond a 3 card diamond. Declarer may be trying to eliminate diamonds before setting up a spade trick with RHO forced to allow entry to dummy in hearts. I would try a low diamond, let partner win with king, cash club queen and exit a low heart. This way the entry for winner spade is prematurely knocked off and we get a heart loser in the end.

2♦ When no known great fit, suggest the safety/competition of the longest suit. And if opps discover good heart fit, I am competing with dbls all the way to 4 level.

I guess it is sometimes better to keep the science on a side and take the practical approach. On this hand anything from just a game to grand is possible. I will simply ask for key cards (whatever bid is available for that) a) If partner shows one key card - I bid small slam. Possible that there are 2 club losers but they have to find the lead (they may as well lead hearts) :) If partner shows 2 keys cards without queen - I bid small slam a little more confidently. c) If partner shows 2 key cards with queen, I ask for extra king (either heart/club king should make the grand odds on).

The best part of a limited opening system is the ability to respond lightly without having to worry that you may be overboard. I would have definitely responded on the firsrt round itself. If not 2S, then a forcing NT and 2S rebid. On the given auction, I am a little scared. Where are the hearts? Partner is likely to have atleast 3 of them and that leaves him with 3-4 cards in minors. The diamond suit could easily provide 5/6 tricks and it does not look likely that we will be able to defeat 4D. My choice would depend mainly on the style of my opponents. Are they aggressive or do they believe in playing conservative in MPs (not bidding thin games). This is a hand where opponents could easily be making 3NT/5D. I am scared of bidding 3S and finding LHO making some sort of extra value double (definitely will not let us play 3S and on the way to 4D no harm in showing some extras). On the other hand with no competition, LHO may not want to commit to 4D by making some game try and thus not investigate further possibility of a game. I will probably pass now. I may miss my 4S but it is more likely that my bidding may push them to their making game.

Declarer does not need a trump coup. It really does not matter whether you put up the king or not. Suppose, you play the king. Declarer wins the Ace, ruffs a spade, cashes club queen, ruffs a heart, ruffs a club/spade back in hand and exits a heart. So far declarer has collected 2 heart ruffs in dummy, 2 club winners, spade ace and three ruffs in hand and has conceded a heart. Assuming declarer ruffed a club back to hand and picthed a spade from dummy on the last trick, this is the last 4 card ending with east/west on play. [hv=n=sjthdcj9&w=sq9h9d9c&e=shadkjxc&s=shdaqxxc]399|300|[/hv] On any return declarer will ruff and exit a low diamond and claim last 2 trump tricks. Secondly, declarer if really needed an extra entry to dummy could have simply played club queen from hand which you are forced to cover, otherwise a heart will get pitched on the third club and then declarer has only 2 trump losers. Thirdly, the bidding does not make much sense in the context of the given hands. Partner having already made a vulnerable overcall has hardly anything extra to bid 4 hearts. In fact has hand is all negative - KJx of diamond under, 3 small clubs. You will definitely tend to place pard with more hearts. Also with misfit with partner and holding 4 hearts declarer has a very dubious 5 diamond bid. On the given hand a double would have fetched his side 800. While defending (assuming sane pard/opps), the real chance is if we can get 2 club tricks in addition to a trump trick. Playing the king will cost a trick if declarer has 3 small and partner has QT doubleton.

On this line you will be certainly 2 down. RHO wins the spade and returns a small spade. You have not set up clubs - so you will end up losing 1 spade , 1 heart, 1 club and 2 diamonds.

Weird hand. If partner has right shape lighter double, then a partial maybe the limit. A cue bid of 2♠ promises a rebid - if partner bids 3♥ suggesting a 5card suit then we may be able to raise to 4 but with other minimum 2-4-3-4 or 1-4-4-4 or 1-4-3-5 type fo hands we may be overboard. I would try and make some value bid with this hand. I will settle for 1NT 9-11 hcp. Though a little underbid with such prime cards, we probably will require another bid from partner to have a chance of game/slam. If partner now introduces a suit, I may be able to bid 3♠ suggestign no wastage in the suit and highly invitational - this may convey the awkardness of the hand. Feeling aggressive may even try 2NT as dealer may not be dealt AKQJT of spades and may be able to scramble 9 tricks as spades may get blocked. But this gives too distorted a picture of my spade holding and partner may not investigate other possible contracts.

As i can understand, helium suggests that playing a club at trick 2 is a mistake whereas i think that it is the best line giving enough scope for defenders to falter at various stages of play. And his suggested winning line is on the assumption that defenders will continue passively with a heart at trick 3. This just requires a small diamond return at trick 3 and thereafter the defense is in full control. Helium has not stipulated that first 3 tricks be hearts - he just assumed that they will be in his suggested winning line..

I think a ♣ at trick 2 is the best line for the declarer and it requires accurate defense to defeat it after that. If you play ♥ J at trick 2, then it is very easy for the defense to prevail by just backing a small ♦ as ♣s have not been setup as yet. This will ensure 1 trick in each suit for the defense. So assuming declarer plays a ♣ to ten at trick 2. Now as Ben has already mentioned, ♥ ten return will defeat the contract. a)If declarer plays ♠ 10/9/7 from hand and ♠ 5 from table, duck it b)If declarer plays a small ♠ to J/8 win and return ♥ 7 which declarer has to ruff - after ruffing if declarer plays ♠ 10/9/7 from hand and ♠ 5 from table again duck it. Declarer will have to concede 2 ♦s in the end. You only need to make sure that declarer does not get an entry to table in ♠ suit or by a ruff and discard. How strong that 6 of ♠ is a card for defense!

How about winning diamond king and playing back a diamond. If RHO has 2 diamonds and LHO plays a 4th diamond for RHO to ruff, maybe RHO is ruffing with long trumps. With diamonds 3-3, you are home on 3-2 trumps or single trump queen. Probably better than to play for 4-4 spades.

That will be down 1 if West has 6 spades and both red aces and East has 3 or more diamonds with queen. West will clear spades and you have only eight tricks. I think it is good odds to play West for diamond ace. My line would be win in dummy with spade king and cross to hand with a club and lead a diamond to king. If it holds now you concede a spade as defence cannot get more than 2 diamonds, 1 spade and 1 heart.

On this line, the defence has a simple 5 tricks. When you play low on diamond return, West wins and cashes spade queen and exits a diamond and then they wait for 2 heart tricks as declarer now has to play hearts from hand. Probably better is to play for the heart suit and some sort of a minor suit throw in against West. It is possible for West to hold spade Q , heart AQ , Diamond Q and club K. Sometimes, West may not have club king and diamond queen may be coming doubleton in which case playing for clubs will clearly will be losing play. I would tend to play for heart ten with West. Cross to diamond Ace, play a low heart towards J9x intending to play the nine if West plays low smoothly. It would require good & quick defense to duck with heart AQx.

Against good defence, you will need to guess the position in diamonds to make the hand. Say you draw 3 rounds of trumps and pitch a diamond on clubs and play the heart Jack and duck it to East who should also duck. Now you are one entry short to setup dummy's heart suit. But, while drawing trumps, East would have been squeezed out of some minor suit non-material exit cards - most probably will discard 2 clubs. In which case, after the heart Jack holds, you enter dummy with a club ruff (on which east will show out) and then concede a low heart to east and east is endplayed - ofcourse you have to guess that East holds the diamond ace. A good defender in East hand can pitch 2 diamonds and bare down diamond Ace so that he has club exit on this line of play. It will boil down to who does better guessing.

Hi Roland, Nice post! I discussed this hand with my partner and in our agreement a pass by the south hand (x,AJTxx,Axx,xxxx) is treated as forcing and forward going. The assumption is that once partner has bid vul 6C, the hand belongs to us and we are not letting them play undoubled. A direct double says enough is enough. We have 2 options on this hand 1. Bidding 6H and commiting to 7 level 2. Forcing pass suggesting a possibility to play at 7 level and leaving the decision to overcaller. The overcalling hand is looking at 3 losers and will not expect partner to cover all of them and will happily double their 6D bid. Whether he will bid grand with Axxx,xx,-,AKQJTxx is another question. Normally, I would prefer the forcing pass as it does not punish ourselves for bidding a little aggressive in pre-emptive situations and also if partner does not bid grand on making hands, I can always try and put the blame back on him B) Playing the double as negative does not make much sense except for providing an alternate suit to outbid opponents suit at the same level. Most of the times the new suit will not provide any extra tricks than the overcaller's suit (clubs) which is expected to be solid in the context of the auction and it also runs the risk that there may be bad breaks in the new suit. Regards

Hi Roland, Was the table you were watching the same as whose bidding sequence Luis has posted somewhere in this thread? In that sequence, the West (1NT 15-17 hand) has taken 2 bids - X of 2D (probably meant as a T/O of clubs or balanced 15+ as some play against multi kind of bids) and also a X of the final contract. One is likely to place LHO with this kind of hand only (once a doubleton club is also known) This hand has multiple possibilities. 1. LHO has heart stopper AKQ(+) and RHO has diamond stopper Txxxx(+) 2. LHO has heart stopper AKQ(+) or any five hearts and RHO has spade stopper 4+ cards 3. LHO has any five hearts in which case diamond stopper will automatically be with RHO 4. LHO has AKQ of heart in which case hearts get setup 5. LHO has KQT of diamonds in which case diamonds get setup. 6. LHO has 2-2-6-3 or 2-3-5-3 shape in which case RHO comes under heart-spade squeeze. This is likely only if the first X was meant to be a strong balanced hand. 7. LHO has 5-3-3-2 (5 spades) any hand in which case RHO comes under an entry shifting squeeze. Of course, one will need to guess a bit on what line to play. The best would be to play for H stopper on left and D stop on right. Concede a heart and on trump return play a spade to king. If you get a strong feel that RHO has 4 spades then you can change tack and play for diamond as the pivot suit instead of spade as the pivot. And there is the additional chance that the heart T or diamond 9 has gets setup on the way. In the simulation, this was succeeding about 65% of the times. Regards

Hi Codo, I ran the simulation with the known NS hands. Without the Heart Jack the chances will be less but then you cannot find each and every spot card (e.g. if South has AT98 then chances shoot up dramatically - even just ATxx of diamonds or KTxx of spades makes it much better or if 1NT opener has 5 hearts it does not matter who has the heart jack). I am sure you also must have sometime or the other landed up in much worse contracts than these but none would have really considered you as easy meat. I was only disagreeing with your comments that a pair who reaches a slam on these hands is weak. Regards

The hand always makes if 1NT opener has AKQ of hearts (either it will come down in 3 cards or there will be a double squeeze with either spade or diamond as the pivot suit - you may have to guess which). And now some percentages. I just ran a simulation with following assumptions 1. 1NT hand should have 15-17 HCP 2. 2+ cards in each suit 3. Max 6 diamonds , 5 hearts/spades 4. If 5 spades then no side 4 suit 5. If 5 hearts than no 4 diamonds (may have 4 spades + 5 hearts 4-5-2-2 rebid problems) 6. No 5 diamonds + 4 spades There were total of 48388 combinations and not surprisingly 35028 out of these had AKQ of hearts (2700 were 5 hearts + 4 spades if you wish to ignore them) and the slam looks very good. Frankly, rather than scoffing at opponents who manage to bid a slam on these hands, I should really be admiring their ability to reach this slam!!

Another popular convention is to play transfer bids after waiting 2D bid. 2C - 2D - 2H = Hearts or Balanced - 2S = Spades - 2NT/3C = Clubs/Diamonds This makes it easier to show a second suit without getting too high.