andy_h

My singleton. Partner might have the diamond ace, if not maybe the heart king and declarer decides to not finesse the heart or maybe declarer needs to win it in his hand and can't get to dummy to finesse the heart without giving us control. I try and not think about these situations too much and just do what the natural thing feels like. Although I have a feeling I need to lead to partner's ♠AKxx so he can switch to his singleton club...

Additional (albeit probably unlikely) chance would be giving partner a spade ruff as dummy might track with long solid spades.

With a long minor and 7-9 high cards wouldn't partner jump? That would still get to the same game had I begun with 1NT. The 3343 and 1444 hands that you suggested are the worst case scenarios but partner shouldn't even be worrying about that as he should just bid his hand. Also, if you double and partner responds 1NT and if that shows values for you then you have lost nothing at all with those invitational hands. Basically if I viewed this hand as a double I would think it's right on values. Opening and overcalling 1NT are very different things to me.

I have sympathy for 3♣, with the auction ideally going 3♣-3♦ and now I can bid 3♥ but ATT I'd probably just bid 2NT. Partner could be the one with 4-4 in the majors as righty couldn't even bid 1♠.

What do you mean by pessimistic? I'm sure you'd agree that this 4333 15 count isn't so great and we might be feeling a bit sick if this 1NT is passed out because our hand is the sort of hand in which the tenaces don't have much control (as in we have K's rather than AQ so when the defence leads a spade, we still need time to firstly get to dummy and then lead a card towards our AJ/K/K) and we might've been better off in our 4-4♥ or 5-3m fit.

Don't mind 1NT or double. 1NT has the advantage of getting strength and shape across immediately (play there if partner is long in spades), whereas double will allow us to play in 2m (or even 2♥) which will sometimes be better if partner is passing 1NT. Both break even if LHO has a strong hand as he can double our 1NT or make a XX and we can scramble to our right fit.

Ace of spades.

At matchpoints I like to open this hand nv at any seat. After your proposed auction I don't mind 4C splinter or 2NT if that is a 4 card inv+ raise.

That's true gnasher but what I'm fearing is if I can trust the opponents to have 10 hearts as they are favourable. If partner is 1345 then both 4S and 5C should be okay as both contracts depend on favourable diamond position, if partner is 1336 then clubs is likely better than spades, if partner is 2335 then spades will usually be better and I don't know the likeliness if partner can be 2434.

Have a good one mate! Hope the travels are goin great!

4♠, game before slam. Maybe we''ll have a golden slam opposite partner's weak NT or maybe partner might have ♥Qxx along with ♠Qx which makes defending not profitable but not enough for slam. One thing I can be sure of is that if we want to be in slam say 6♣, partner requires ♠Qx and ♣AJxxx(x+) and ♦K and even then spades will need to break favourably because our hand is tapped when they lead a heart. Given that the opponents have preempted I don't fancy things to break as smoothly so I will go for game first and that's 4♠.

4H is whatever you want it to be, but with no explicit agreements it is 100% natural unless you want a death wish.

This has been thoroughly discussed from past threads and there's a d) which gnasher plays which tries to cater for 5(+)♠'s and varying strengths (in conjunction with other transfer bids like 2♥). The reasoning behind this is because when the auction gets competitive (say 4th seat raises the ante with 3 or 4♥) it can be very beneficial to show your 5+spades on your first bid. Having said that, it also makes more sense to play some form of b ) or c) if you play short club because you won't be able to compete with 2♣ as often as you like whereas you can compete with 2♦ if 1♦ promises 4. Because of this, I like to play b ) opposite a short club (well rather X=4-5♠ and 1♠=0-3♠) and revert to a) opposite a 4+1♦ opening.

Fourier series are cool but they always give me headaches <_<

I hear it's good to play redouble as 8-10 with doubleton support.

http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?showtopic=29118&hl=

With long weak clubs just pass 4S. This is a cuebid.

Don't want to complicate things, 2NT. What I would bid had partner responded 1NT.

Happy Birthday mate! Don't get too drunk :P Have a good one.

Game can be very good or very bad. If it was NV then it's pretty clear to sign off in 2♥. If it was vul though, I think I would still sign off as we need too many perfect cards for partner especially in terms of clubs and hearts (intermediate cards too like the ♥10 or ♣10).

Having 1-1 in the majors is the main reason why I like 5♣. You could hit partner with an unfortunate 4423 but with any other shape like (43)33 or any hand with 4+♣'s then the opponents are very likely to be cold for 4M. If partner has 4 or more clubs then I am very happy to have put the auction up to the 5 level for my left hand opponent.

Double. I don't see a problem in this. We have an opening hand, shortage in RHO's suit and support for all suits. We could belong in any other suit including NT's from partner's side. I want to act now rather than later (balancing) as it's much safer, and I certainly don't want to give in to RHO's 1♠ when it was made in 3rd seat.

If I was the 1♣ opener with 2-4 clubs and my opposition were good players and their pass of the XX was for penalties, I think I would insta run lol

This question can not be readily answered without analysing the bidding and the dummy in detail. This should provide enough clues and enough time while I think before I play to the first trick so if I choose to duck I do it in tempo. I remember someone once said that if you absolutely do not know how/when to decide to duck or rise, a good proportion of the time you will generally do well by ducking (smoothly) even if the [low] from dummy is a singleton (but obviously rising if it seems totally nonsense to duck)

In that case I choose 5♣. I'll be damned if partner has 1 ace and I'll be damned if he has 3 aces, but the shortages in our major suits warrants some action given 4th seat has not had a chance to act. I'm willing to sacrifice the chance to have a scientific auction in the hopes of placing the 4th seat under maximum pressure.