vuroth

Knowing very little about Palin, is she clearly and irrefutably worse than, say, Quayle?

I don't think that ANYTHING could be 10 as cool as that Wimbledon final. Certainly nothing in baseball could. That said, I wouldn't be too upset if Jason Bay won the WS. V

Yes, this is an awfully good question. I need to start questioning my "automatic" plays and leads, even singletons against a trump contract.

Apologies if this question is trivial or stupid. This decision gave me pause at the table, and I wasn't sure what the right answer was. Now that I've played the hand, I'm afraid the result might be influencing my judgement. [hv=d=e&v=e&w=s8hqt3dkq86caj984&s=s6h97542dj542cq76]266|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Bidding: 1♠ P 2♣ P 2♦ P 3♦ P 3♥ P 3NT P 4NT P 5♠ P 6♦ P P P The play: ♠6 ♠8 ♠9 ♠T ♠A ???

It could be worse. Partner might have bid 5♦ with ♠KQJT9 ♥3 ♦Q32 ♣AQ32. Thankfully, partner realized that Blackwood made no sense. Maybe start by discussing this sequence? 1NT X P 2NT It should make sense to partner that 2NT can not be natural, because it's pretty much a losing proposition. That should clear the way for a discussion as to whether or not 4NT natural in the OP is also a losing proposition. V

If south opens 2♣, surely north is worth a 2♥ (natural) answer? That would pretty much tell the location of the K♥, and then I think you're bound to wind up in slam. I suspect, though, that it's easier to end up in the inferior ♠ slam than the superior ♦ slam. But maybe the advanceds will prove me wrong.

Why didn't I see that. That IS a clearly better line. If clubs are 4-1, the only way to make is to finesse the J♣ now. This is a ridiculous situation, and I certainly would not do this at the table. If clubs are 3-2 or 2-3, line 2 above works. RC notwithstanding, this only makes sense if west had QJ doubleton of clubs. If clubs are 4-1, I can use a ruffing finesse in clubs to pick up the jack. I must have spent half an hour thinking about this problem, and I'm obviously still missing something. How discouraging. V

Ahh I have the T9876 of clubs. I missed that.

This is confusing. (I hate problems with so may possibilities - so hard to pick a way forward.) RHO could not open, but balanced at the 4 level, with what (from the discards) looks like xx in hearts and Jxxx in clubs, AND missing the king of spades? Assuming the K♠ lead promised the queen, east either has the singleton A♦ or a ♦ void. I just can't construct any other hand with those round suit holdings that passes the first round but bids 4♠ later. Furthermore, I can't see doubling with a diamond void, unless it was lightner (and we were told it wasn't). Ergo, I expect the diamond ace to be on my right. If I was a world class player, I'd cash the J♥, ruff the last spade in hand, then play the 2♦, throwing the 4♦ off the board, getting 7♥, 2♦, 2♣ and either a diamond ruff/sluff on a spade return of the club ten on a club return. Being B/I, I've probably just given away another undertrick. V

Some people play 0314, some people play 1430 - essentially reversing the meanings of ♣ and ♦.

I see 2 paths, and I really don't know which one is more likely to succeed. 1. The general plan would be to rough out 2 diamonds in dummy. I think it's helpful to draw one trump (hopefully drawing 2 trump, maybe even felling the 9), then play on in diamonds. I'll need a spade ruff and two clubs ruff to get back to my hand, which is pretty yuck. I need LHO to have at least 2 spades (seems ok), and unless the 9 falls under the ace, I need RHO to have more hearts than LHO, and at least 2 clubs and 2 diamonds. 2. Promote the clubs. This is straightforward if hearts are 2-1 and clubs are 3-2, which given the bidding would be almost miraculous. If clubs are 4-1, I can ruff the third club and lead low to the Q♦, hoping to use it as an entry to the clubs. I could then use the third heart as my entry to run the clubs. ... Both lines start with cashing the A♥, so I'll do that. If both follow, I think I'll try line 2. If not, then I have to try line 1, and hope that I can survive it. V

Gah thank you. That was NOT a good problem to miss. :( Q♥, A♣, K♥ discarding the K♦.

Takeout double is generally interpreted as "I can't pick between the unbid suits - pick for me please partner". If partner doubles for takeout, THEN bids his own suit - well, the first meaning really doesn't fit, does it? Maybe this was already clear for you, I'm not sure. If the bidding had gone: 1♣ X P 1H P 2D (or however many diamonds) I wouldn't have counted on partner having any support in the majors. All I would know about partner's hand is that he had a monster in diamonds.

11 winners - 5 spades, 3 hearts, a diamond and 2 clubs. Alas, 3 losers - the two gone by and the ace of spades. Win the Q♥. Play the KJ♠, then low to the queen if necessary. That eliminates trump, and i still have the ace of clubs entry to cash my heart winners. Whatever I do, I'm not finessing clubs. That's really the only trick I can see with this hand. V

In England, you rebid 1NT (unless you opened 1S in the first place). In France, I believe you rebid 1S. Pclayton says that in the US you rebid 1S. Online? Who knows Online? 2♣, 3NT and pass all spring to mind... :) :lol: V

I'm awfully tempted to say that this varies depending on how much the player is really trying to improve. As you say, if you're honestly trying to improve, attributing all your losses to other people makes it nigh impossible to learn. Depending on where you are in the spectrum, I would also recommend that you keep track of how you do in the hand RIGHT AFTER a disaster. Depressingly, I'm still finding that I play better after a "good hand" (regardless of the actual result) than after a "bad hand". V

Holding a 12-14 4243 hand, you open 1♦ and partner responds 1♥. What do you bid now, 1♠ or 1NT? If 1NT, how do you find a 4/4 spade fit? Does SAYC vs 2/1 make a difference? Thanks. V

Interesting problem. Thanks for sharing it. I'll admit, I greatly feared that dummy would prompt the heart continuation. That got me looking for ways to avoid that, rather than looking for the most likely working line. Also, I find inferences about what opponents would and would not lead to be tough at this level. V

I'd be very surprised if a B/I RHO ducked, but nothing's impossible. That said, you're definitely correct. If you've already lost 1 trick, the Q♠ is a meeelion times easier to finesse than the boss heart, in a small slam. :rolleyes:

2 problems: 1. I need 3 tricks from the majors 2. I need 5 tricks from clubs One question immediately springs to mind. Since N/S didn't use Stayman, I would think that a major suit lead would be indicated (someone please correct me if I'm wrong!) Even with equal suits, I think if I had 4 hearts and 4 diamonds, I would try to lead the major if I could. Two possibilities come to mind - maybe LHO didn't want to lead from Axxx or AQxx in hearts, or maybe LHO doesn't have a long major. LHO's tank is probably meaningful. This really seems like a counting problem - I need to know opponents distributions, in order to make the best possible guess in clubs. For problem 1, I'll either lead low spade to the jack straight away, or low heart to the king. If I try spades, I won't cash the ace of spades first, as if I go A♠, low ♠ and lose, a heart return is obvious (well or a club, which would be nice). Assuming I win my finesse, I'll cash my diamond and spade winners, and try to get count. Nobody will be throwing clubs (if they do I'll play for the drop, leaving open the finesse of the non-discarding hand), so chances are I'll at least get a hint. As for the majors, without the tank I think I'd try low to the jack. I can't think, though, of what the tank would be if not equal length hearts and diamonds with the ace of hearts, so I'll try the heart. V

Thanks! Good to know.

10 hand tourney, 5 rounds. 10 tables in total. We played the same opponents in the third and fourth rounds. I would have thought that this was impossible. Anyone know why this might have happened? V

Foreward: I ran my response through pclayton before posting it to this forum, since I'm neither advanced nor an expert. After the play of the Q♠: J♥ Low towards the T♦ If covered, presumably heart cashed. LHO has to exit from one of 3 possible hands: A) Kxx KJ B ) Kx KJx C) K KJxx Win the return and cash the JS. I think all 3 of those hands squeeze, but I'm barely an intermediate, so maybe I'm missing something. If LHO ducks the diamond and the ten of diamonds wins, exit with a club to the ten (covering on the off chance RHO has the jack). If this is ducked, you have 9. If LHO wins with the jack, I think he cashes the heart. If he exits a low club, you need the spade to get to the ace of clubs. If he exits the king of clubs, you win the ace, and exit a club to whomever, with diamonds and spades still guarded, promoting your 4th club. V

Passing seems reasonable to me, fwiw.

On hand 1, is 2♦ stronger than 4♠? Or is it just looking for more info. Not being sure about hand 1, my instinct was to bid 3♠. Having read the other responses, though, I really like 3 ♣. On the second hand, I like 3♠. 1♠ has such a huge range, and if partner's 1♠ wasn't under duress they'll likely be fairly aggressive anyways. 0.02