vuroth

Borrowing a king I have 13 and a clear preference for hearts. 1♥

Spades: LHO should have at least 4 spades. 4: RHO has Axx? I think LHO would continue the J from QJTx. So no. RHO has Txx? I think LHO would signal with the higher x, and LHO would continue low to the T. So no. RHO has xxx? LHO continues J from AQJT. 5: RHO has Ax? No chance - RHO would unblock RHO has Tx or xx? Not sure. Maybe, but maybe RHO would hi-low from these holdings. 6: If RHO is single in spades, LHO would know immediately that we have the K, because partner would unblock with Kx or K. With Kxx, RHO would play the middle card, and LHO would continue spades. I think LHO saw the lowest spade possible from RHO. If it was a singleton, RHO knows we're Kxx, and will switch suits. This could be good news for us. One danger holding is Jxxx in RHO. In this case, we only have 3♥, 1♦ and 4♣. The real problem is if we lose to the J♣ and RHO leads a ♠ through us. Given the play, maybe we can survive that. Another danger holding is J9xxx in RHO. If so we only have 3♥ 1♦ and 3♣. I think I can only make this if RHO also holds the KJ of ♦. Win ♥ on board, cash A of ♣. If LHO shows out, start finessing diamonds. If both follow, cash K♣. If RHO shows out, Q♣, run the ♥ and exit ♣, and hope you don't get a ♠ switch. Opponents may get a ♥ or 2, but the hope is that LHO ends up having to lead a ♦ or ♠ to you. Of course, I'm sure I'm way off.... V

The danger on this hand is ♦ being 6-2. Cashing the AK♠ will make on any 2-2 trump split, including when ♦ are 6-2. The question is can I improve on that? Low ♠ to J. If it holds, cash AK♠ then QJ♦. Fails if one opponent has 4♠ and 2♦, and his partner wins the second round of ♦ and continues a ♦ to be ruffed. Low ♠ to J losing to Q. Best return is a ♣. Win K, low to A♠, QJ♦. Loses as above when A♦ is opposite 2♦ and 3 or 4♠. V Edit - read the others, and I agree that trying a ♦ first to entice the opponents to make a mistake is good. The hand is trickier, I think, if they duck the first ♦.

To me, the most natural meanings are Pass - Hey, let's defend this! 3NT - Hey, let's play here. It might be nice for partner if 3NT promised a diamond stop, but without extra methods - I could have as few as 5 points, and partner has a stack - let him figure out the stopper issue. All imho of course. V

An old rule I hadn't heard before. Thanks. ... 1♦ 1♠ 1NT 3♣ My immediate (and likely incorrect) reaction is - how can this be anything but forcing? How does responder show a strong unbalanced hand except by jumping? (But what do I know?) V

It's only a paradox if congress changes the policy, isn't it?

Over 1♦, I can see the argument for 1♥ (7HCP and a void), but 2♥ with an outside 4 card major? Isn't that a no-no?

Count me down for a heart lead. Anything could be wrong, and either minor almost certainly is. Given the bidding and my heart doubleton, I don't think that partner having Qxx in hearts is too likely. V

Agreed. I've said my piece. V

Are there definitive answers forthcoming?

Potential losers: 1♠ (if 4-0 either way) 3♥ 2♣ To make, I need to limit my heart losers to 2 and my club losers to 1. Win diamond. Ruff a diamond in hand, cash the Q♠, cross to the A♠. Low club to A♣. Low spade to K♠. Low club, covering if needed, playing the 2 otherwise. (if E is out, I think I'm cooked). I *think* that line is my best play for 1 club loser. If the club holds, lose my club loser. Either way, hopefully RHO is on lead and has no more spades or clubs, and must lead to my Kxx of hearts or give me a ruff-and-sluff in diamonds. Otherwise, hopefully LHO has the A♥. V

Contract? Trump/Notrump?

Thanks for the tip. Tried levels 1-3 last night. What I really discovered is that, as soon as there's more than 1 plausible approach, I'm not very good at sorting out the best line from the inferior ones. On levels 2 and 3 I had a hard time seeing the superiority of the given line. V

As someone who has happily lived in a >2 party system my whole life, I wouldn't be voting for the big 2, that's for sure.

I'll give this a shot. 1. 3NT. I can make if hearts are 4/4, or if they're 5/3 or worse if the short heart hand has the ace of diamonds, via hold-up. 2. I have a hard time puzzling out the differences based on lead. I want to draw trump first, which to me rules out ruffing the third heart - unless opponents lead hearts, in which case I'm ducking the first one (this helps for 4 below, I think - they can't continue hearts without setting up the ruff early for me). Looking a bit harder, I think the spade option will always come home - unless they start with clubs and lead clubs again after taking the A♦, in which case I won't have the entries to promote the spade. In this case, I'll try for 4 below. 3. Ugh. Probablility? On best defense - 36% for a 3-3 club split, plus a bit for being able to squeeze hearts or spades. 4. Novice shot in the dark. I think there are squeeze possibilities. I'm sure there's a lot I can't see to it, but one possiblity is that the KQ♥ are in the hand with longer clubs (if clubs split I'm fine). [hv=n=sqhjdca3&w=s?xhxxdc&e=shkqdc54&s=sha2d2c2]399|300|[/hv] If the K♠ has fallen by this point (if E had it too), I'm home. If not, playing the last diamond from south squeezes east (or west, if the hands are reversed). If nothing useful drops by then, I can still play for a 3-3 split in clubs.

I'm torn between believing that this is about making the percentage play in hearts (whatever it is) and believing that declarer attacked spades immediately, in an effort to put off the defense. I think I'll win with the Q (trying to cast doubt about the K♦), then play K♥ and low to the 9, covering the ten if necessary. I'm pretty sure that if that was the play in the CAYNE game, it wouldn't be a post here, though. V

I know I'm (relatively) new at this, but why would you want to preempt opponents when they have not yet found a fit, and one of them is known to be weak? If 2♥ were strong, then I can see 3♠ being preemptive. As for blasting, I disagree. It's cynical to assume pickup partner won't understand, or will criticize. Yes, it can and does happen, but how can you improve as a bridge player (and how can you find and develop new partnerships) if you're constantly chosing defensive bids over what you think is right? V

The dangerous opponent is EAST. Both majors are finessable either way, so I'll be leading towards my hand for both finesses. I doubt west has 4 hearts, as I generally prefer (rightly or wrongly) to lead from a 4 card major than a 4 card minor on this auction. So cash the last diamond. KH, H to the 9. If it loses, west must return a heart to avoid giving me the 9th trick, IF HE CAN. Win the T, KS, low to the T. Now, he has to return a spade (or a heart, if I was wrong and he had 4) to avoid giving me the 9th trick. Now I win the jack and finesse the king of clubs. V

I confess that south's hand is a routine pass for me, though I suspected that the experts would disagree. I take it the 4 card major and 13 points make it worth the plunge? At a guess, you would pass with: ♠ 985 ♥ KQ8 ♦ AT2 ♣ A752 or ♠ 985 ♥ K985 ♦ AT2 ♣ A75 and you would pass 1♥ with ♠ 985 ♥ KQ85 ♦ AT2 ♣ A75 but double 1♠? Or am I splitting hairs here?

I can confirm that Relaxed Club hands ARE reported, under the Main Club colour (pink). This worked as recently as Jan. 6, 2008.

East strikes me as a player who is prone to concentration lapses when he gets angry/upset. (Reminds me of someone I know....) Of course, if east plans on playing with west with any regularity, he'll get pleny of opportunity to overcome this bad habit. V

Very nice, instructive hand. Thanks.

Thanks, I'll remember that.

I guess I fall into the pedant crowd. :( I couldn't see how to handle west being 5-1-6-1, and discarding his heart on my low club at trick 2. Granted, if east is 0-6-1-6, I'd expect him to open 1 heart, not 1 club, but sometimes with opponents I just can't tell.... So while the wording of the problem stymied me, I would have played the correct line at the table, if I'd thought about the hand long enough. V

Duck. I'd love to see my third heart go on dummy's 8 of clubs. Something like win the second round, cash ace of hearts, ace of spades, spade to trump honour, heart to club 8. Lose 1 club and 1 heart.