vuroth

I'll confess my thought process went something like: "This looks hopeless. ... Yeah, not seeing anything. I wonder if there's a squeeze. Maybe, but I'm not smart enough to see it, yet. Think I need to read some more books" So maybe not completely out there for B/I. Certainly, i was able to follow rogerclee's line, and I thought it was brilliant. If nothing else, the whole thread was validated when we got to hear jdonn say "We already have one me" :)

This is B/I, ken. Partners are allowed to be pretty crazy here, I think. :) Nonetheless, I do appreciate answers like Ken's. Better players seem to respond to odd situations by asking themselves "what's going on here?" and building likely scenarios in their heads. I'm sure a lot of B/Is could use to acquire that kind of habit. V

It bears saying, the 2♥ bid promises four or more hearts whether 1NT is forcing or not. 5323 and 5332 hands rebid a minor suit instead of a three card heart suit. Thanks. That was the answer I wasn't sure about at the table, regardless of all of the more pressing stuff I wasn't considering.

:huh: Oops missed that part of the explanation. Sorry.

Hide West, decide with East? I'm not too familiar with this kind of 3NT bid, but don't I have just about the perfect hand, whatever partner's suit is? (And doesn't it really have to be diamonds?) My first thought is 4NT, but the more I think about it, the more I like 5♦. Most likely partner has a spade stop and AKQ- running diamonds, but maybe it's possible that partner has a double stop in spades, and KQJ- (longer than before) in any suit? Even in this case, 5♦, 5♥ and 6♣ seem reasonable, don't they? Granted, we might be defeating 4♠ in either case, but I still want to bid, I think.

The only thing I can think of on the play is to hope that whoever has the ace of spades also only has 2 clubs (5332♣ around the table). Clear out the reds, AK♣, concede a ♠ and pray (Ok, I was probably praying while playing the red suits too.... :) ). I'm actually more curious about the bidding. Is 4♦ just a courtesy bid? Partner can't show the A♥, and has already limited his hand with 1NT, so isn't going to bid anything other than 4♠, is he? So bidding 4♦ as a slam try makes no sense to me, unless you're planning on bidding over 4♠. That kind of sounds like a criticism, but it's not - it's intended to be a question. If someone could explain the bid, and why it's correct, I'd really appreciate it. V

1. :) You're totally right. This isn't a forcing 1NT, so yeah, 4 hearts with declarer, partner is single. I really, really should have thought of that at the table. 2. The point about partner trumping a loser is something I have never thought about, or heard of, in my life, but it makes total sense. This may be the single most valuable thing I've learned this week. A huge thank you to both of you for pointing that out! Sorry, I'm pretty sure I've seen both declarer-south, and person-posting-as-south. Personally, I prefer the latter, but I'm not sure which is more common.

I realize that this subject comes up over and over and over again, but this thread should be required reading for aspiring players like me. Thanks, everyone, for giving me some more things to think about. :) V

[hv=d=e&e=sk93hkt3djt83ckt7&s=s62hqj972daq74c32]266|200|Scoring: IMP Bidding: P P 1♠ P 1NT P 2♥ P 3S P 4S all pass Partner leads the 5♥, and my 9 is covered by the Ace. Declarer returns the 6♦, partner covering with the King.[/hv] 1. In SAYC, I would absolutely play west for 4 hearts, and thus partner to have the singleton 5♥. Given the opponents were playing 2/1, does west always have to have 4 hearts, or could she conceivably have 3 (and thus partner might have the 54♥ doubleton)? 2. I didn't think of this until after the hand, but is declarer's play of the diamond on trick 2, missing the AKQ, a really big hint? The plays that I was torn between were overtaking the K♦ and returning a heart (which loses a trick when declarer started with 3 diamonds), and letting it hold, so that partner could play the 4♥ if she held, it, or otherwise continue diamonds. I had some uncertainty at the table, and rather than let hindsight tell me what's right, I'd like to hear what the correct inferences are. Thanks. V

Other question I wanted to ask - with AK against a slam, is king the automatic lead? I was thinking you would want count, to protect yourself from leading into Qxx opposite x. V

Sorry if this is a little off-topic, but should you really bid 2♣ over the XX with QJx xxx xxx Kxxx ? For that matter, should partner be doubling at the two level with: x Kxx Jxxx AJxxx ? Or is the the bare minimum for the bid? (i.e. with one more spade, one less heart you'd probably pass?) I had a hard time visualizing the distribution of the missing 15 HCP.

[hv=d=e&v=n&n=sk97542h7da6ca952&w=saqj3ht98dkj85cj3&e=st6hk6542d973cqt6&s=s8haqj3dqt42ck874]399|300|[/hv]

Not an expert, but definitely more comfortable with pass. Certainly something I'd want to discuss with partner at some point, though.

4-2 with at least one heart honour with RHO is nice - can either endplay RHO in the minors or promote my J♥ for an entry. If ♥ are 3-3, though, I don't see a way forward. Promoting a 13th heart still leaves me a trick short/with 1 loser too many.

I agree with y66. I can't see a way to beat KT9x on my right, but if LHO holds at least one of the T9, I can wind up on the board leading the 6 towards my J7, with RHO holding something like Tx.

No wonder I do so poorly every second hand!!!! :P

The "1st OR 2nd" seems to have its advantages. I'm cautious about playing it undiscussed, though. How standard is it? I looked at BWS (for example), but couldn't really tell.

[hv=d=w&v=n&n=sthq73dak865caj53&s=sj862ha8642djct98]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] The bidding may be best forgotten, but west overcalled spades and east raised, and yet here we are in 4♥. SK ST S5 S2 C4 CA C2 C8 DA D7 DJ D4 DK D9 C9 D2 D5 DT H2 D3 S6 S4 H3 S9 C3 CQ CT S7 C6 H4 H9 C5 DQ D6 SQ H6 S8 S3 H7 HJ CK H8 HT CJ H5 HQ HK HA SJ SA D8 C7 Of the 8 N/S pairs who played in ♥, 2 made 3♥, 5 made 2♥, and I only made 1♥, for down 3. Clearly, there's something wrong to this kind of hand, because this keeps happening. If anyone could take the time to pour over the play and offer advice, I'd really appreciate it. V

These things always confuse me so. Am I showing first round control, or merely first OR second round control? Does partner's willingness to show in diamonds mean that we don't have 2 quick losers in spades, or might we still? Even if I decide that partner has spade help, what next? 4NT if it's keycard seems like it will help, but if it's not? 5♥? 6♥ and hope? V

Clearly, I've been flying with the wrong airlines!

This evens it out, right? Now it's a true 50/50?

Not a problem I could hope to address in my head. Ok, so here are the following possible layouts: x KJxxx xx KJxx Kx Jxxx Jx Kxxx Kxx Jxx Jxx Kxx KJx xxx KJxx xx I *think* that only 3 cases matter: Jx Kxxx - Play of the Queen wins 4 tricks. Kxx Jxx - play of the Ten wins 4 tricks Jxx Kxx - play of the Queen wins 4 tricks Rationalizing it, it makes no difference on any of the 3-3 splits. On a Hx-Hxxx, the queen obviously wins if the jack falls. Otoh, if the Kx is on my left, it actually doesn't matter if I play the Q or the T - either way, I'll win 3, lose 2.

I wondered if that would be one of the keys to the hand. On 2-2 or 3-1, I don't really see a big problem with communication. I didn't really search hard for lines on 0-4/4-0, but in general entries to the board are easier and safer to come by. I would definitely win the first trick with the A♣.

Someone who plants a bomb hoping to make people afraid is a terrorist. Someone who plants a bomb hoping to create chaos is an anarchist. Someone who plants a bomb, but isn't trying to scare anyone, is an optimist.

As it turned out, opponents had overbid, and they were down 2 pretty much regardless of how poorly I defended. I was looking to take a lesson from the hand regardless of the result, and I think that lesson is to be found in the opening lead. Thanks. V