vuroth

Did we just agree on spades and wind up in clubs? Partner can open, passes over the redouble, then bids opps suit? He must have spades, right? Assuming I understood all that, I agree with the others in that I really hate 3♦. My guess would be that 3♥ denied a stopper for 3NT, and neither partner knew what the MHO was saying after that.

Wish I could see the image. :(

I, too, found Martin made characters act out of character in order to advance the plot he wanted. Couldn't make it past the first book. I might be tempted to watch the series at some point. I suspect having it screenplayed might eliminate Martin's writing weaknesses.

Nice problem. Thanks for sharing it.

It would be great if I was never dealt a hand with a lead problem, but as no expert, I've certainly underled an ace before, and will do so again.

Agree on 1. On 2, you'd better take the spade finesse before the club one. I don't see why not.

Definitely 1♠ first, though I play more MP than IMPs. Partner could be 4423. If you don't have 2♦ as artifical and forcing, it's a tough problem. I might shoot 5♣. Finding slam when it's right doesn't look too easy.

Maybe the key point for OP is that a 1♣ opener is often not taken as seriously meaning clubs. If partner bids 1♣ then 2♣, I'll believe they have clubs. If partner bids 1♣ then NT, I won't believe they have any length in clubs necessarily. If partner bids 1♣ then 1(suit), then I'll have to wait and see. Once you and your partner get used to that (it will affect how often you answer 2♣ over 1♣ for example), you'll be much more comfortable with 5 card majors.

Win, cash the ace (can't hurt), then start feeding them clubs? I guess the goal is to force west to lead a black card at some point.

I'll be eating pasta tonight.... I double then double again, but I think, as others have stressed, having an agreement with your partner is what's important.

Ok, I had forgotten we hadn't shown support for hearts yet. Darned hypotheticals.

Really? I don't get it. If you really think partner is short on spades, then you must think opps have a 10-12 card fit. If they do, why on earth is partner doubling? With more than the 5 promised hearts, partner would bid on himself, yet here he is suggesting defense. Partner knows the vulnerability, too, you know. For my money, north's spade void is a strong argument that partner knows exactly what she's doing when she doubled. If I had 2-3 spades as north, I would strongly agree with your assessment.

Fwiw, I thought both pulls of doubles were beyond awful. It's like nobody at the table realized that if you're short in their suit and partner doubled, maybe partner isn't short in their suit. But what do I know?

Oh, I don't know, I'd love to have a theory handy that was completely impossible to falsify. Ok, it might not be exactly correct, I guess, but it would be tremendously useful. I believe that was when the Coptics split from the european orthodoxies, so even that date does not work. You're being awfully disingenious. I mean, if the only place anyone is allowed to teach anything is school, then sure, I'm right with you, but of course that's nonsense. I would hazard a guess that every skeptic and atheist in the country would be happy to have every child in America learn creationism, except possibly their own children. The vocal and constant objection to teaching creationism in schools isn't so much that people are taught it, but that it is taught as being as accepted, as proven, and as likely as evolution. It's not a matter of taking a head count of voters, and it's not a matter of how popular a belief is. Teaching evolution in some manner in schools is acceptable because of the body of evidence behind it. Teaching creationism, or pastafarianism, in schools is not. That does not mean that these subjects can not be taught, just that it should be done somewhere OTHER than the taxpayer's bill.

I might almost like the 2♦ idea if we had 3, but never 2. Even then, I'd rather play in a 7-1 than a 5-3.

Pass

The reason I don't like 1NT is no source of tricks. The double stopper is nice, but there's a decent chance opp isn't bidding a real club suit anyways.

Does everyone play 2NT here as 2 lowest? I never have....

Agree with ♦

Hmm aren't you going to need partner to have the 8♦ too?

Jilly - the green part is the table, not the auction part.

Declarer is 2335 or 3325. Declarer would seem to have 5 clubs, 3+ hearts once she regains the lead. EDIT - cleanup a bit. Spades and Diamonds both have chances. If spades is right, we need to underlead the jack in case declarer has Txx. But the discards lead me to believe that diamonds are our best bet. If partner has AT8x(x) then I can lead the Jack, continuing the king if dummy holds up.

Nice, han. I see it now.

I'm fairly rusty, but all I see is: - finese K♣ - endplay east in ♣ - drop the K♣ The finesse works if west was 3613 or 4612 with the K♣, or opened 2♥ with more than 10 HCP, which would be baffling considering east's raise. The endplay works if east has exactly 3 diamonds, and the singleton ace of spades (barring some bizarre heart blockage). That leaves east with 3640. (NB: if east has 4 diamonds and we eliminate the reds and throw east in with the ace of spades, he can still exit a diamond - the ruff and sluff does not solve the club problem.) If diamonds are 2-5 or 1-6, I risk additional undertricks. The drop works if east started with 0634 or 1624. I guess I'll try the drop, but against weak opps I'd probably just finesse, in case their leads/bids are weird.

I wouldn't dream of moving with south, but some people I play with open 3♠ with dreck.