andy_h

Double, no close second choice.

Doesn't the heart suit open up the possibility of playing West for K9? He'd also play the same way from KJ9 too.

Two places to play.

I'd open this 1♠ and worry about my rebid later. Who knows, maybe partner has spade support or maybe the opponents interfere so I may not need to face a rebid opposite an uncontested 1NT. If that scenario does indeed come, I think I will rebid 2♣.

I think nowadays 2S for most people is michaels and not takeout of spades. I will try to find that thread. Beat you

Opponents are silent. Imps at w/w in 1st seat you hold: [hv=d=s&v=n&s=st87xh9xxxdkxxcxx]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] P-1♠ 2♠*-3♦ You had 2♣ as a 8-12 3+♠ at your arsenal so 2♠ is like 3-7. 3♦ is a long suit trial (not help suit trial like ♦xxx or something) Do you play 3♥ as a last train? Assume you don't, do you go on?

Unopposed auction: 1♥-1♠ 3♣-3♠ 4♣-4♦ 4♥- - 3♣ is GF, can be a fragment with those self suited hands How do you play 4♦ and 4♥? Based on your answer, what do responder's 4♠, 4NT, 5♣ now mean?

Fluffy, are you willing to risk passing out 4♣ at imps? Even 7330 is possible with AQ109.

Sure there are. - Declarer having a singleton club (dummy doesn't need the ♣Q) so he now has an entry for a pitch. - Dummy has ♦AQ ♣QJx(x) and declarer has 0-1♣ and will have sufficient entries for a ruffing finesse and also get back to dummy for a pitch.

The contract will rest in 5♣ in both cases for me given the conditions.

Spade, and I think it's clear.

Agree with double. We have like no honours in partner's suits so the 5level is dangerous. The defense has good prospects too. If partner ends up having a singleton spade he might have a doubleton diamond for a ruff and we can take whatever round suit tricks too.

How are we so sure partner is one of those two shapes? Could we have not bid 2NT previously to make a further enquiry before blasting blackwood? I mean, 2♠ is what I would bid with KQxx Kx xx KJxxx or KQxx Kxx x KQxxx or KQxx K xx KQxxxx or KQJx KQxx xxx Kx (assuming short club) etc and all of these hand types will result in different contracts such as spades if we need a ruff or NT's if we can be sure of certain 12/13 tricks. Btw, I would highly recommend to not use the losing trick count at all as part of your judgement in placing the contract as they tend to flucuate. They can be an ok guideline if you're starting off but they are rarely ever used nowadays among good players except for when you're judgeing how good your hand is based on losers (basically shape). Besides, even as you said partner has either 4333 or 4324, I count 5.5 losers in my hand and partner has 8 or 7 losers which add up to 24-13.5 or 24-12.5, nowhere near 13. But of course, with the given types of hands I wrote before 7NT could be laydown. Now I'm at a guess really. Edit: I just realised, but what would 5♥ by partner be over our queen ask?

Here is a past thread that talks about balancing NT's. http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?showtopic=31662&st=0

A diamond and I hate everything else. I also agree with a heart being the last choice. Being on lead is a powerful weapon for the defence and you should take every advantage from it as it gives you tempo. A trump lead after this auction just gives that up and you don't let declarer exhaust any entries in dummy if he wants to take a hook.

Bid game.

I open a french 2♣. Ok not really. I would bid 3♣ barring any gadgets - any other bid will create other problems so I just want to be in some game. Who knows, maybe we'll have a good auction to slam after that as well. The suit quality is too terrible to consider 3♠ imo and you'll get to many wrong games if 3NT or 4♥ or even 5♣ is the spot which is likely given our suit quality.

Got to admit that one day I was so bored that I decided to look at the scoring table (only at doubled and redoubled making contracts) and worked out the formula for it lol Definitely the effort way instead of looking that up on the net. But knowing the more common scores comes with experience I reckon. The more you play the more you start to familiarise with the very common scores.

! gwnn will be ecstatic. Anyway, depending how South is feeling with the 67, E-W might be able to exchange more information. One scenario might be: 1♦-2♣-3♣-P; 3♥-4♠-X-P; ? 3♥ may not show this much extra playing strength as it might be probing for 3NT but it's likely to be extras given the system is strong NT. After 4♠ E/W are probably not in a forcing pass auction, but with West holding that much strength in the black suits it seems reasonable to be doubling. When this is passed back to East who is holding a potential trump trick has a decision to make. Given the non-forcing nature of the auction West might not have a pure penalty double but just a value double but East should probably still remove to 5♦ knowing the extreme distribution South has for his bidding - East may just envision a club loser and possibly a slow heart loser. West with nothing in hearts and no knowledge of the ♠K will probably pass it out and may fear of the actual club ruff because East's bidding of 3♥ and removal to 5♦ suggests that a 1462 distribution is very probable. On the 2nd scenario where South bids 3♠ then E-W may get more information across. West just needs to know about the ♠K or East needs to know about the very good clubs. After 3♠ West will bid 3NT and East can now initiate a cue bidding sequence in which is it possible to propel us to 6NT.

Isn't the shape a flaw for 1NT but not much of a flaw for 2♥? 5422 is a flaw for 1NT I agree but I don't see it as much of a flaw when we have AJ as a stopper (or stoppers if partner provides 10xx or alike) as well as a negating factor of our dreaded suit. If I were to make a 2level overcall with an Axxxx suit (can't remember the last time I have) I'd prefer to have a better shape than a 5422. I understand that you sometimes have to make some adjustments when the overcall is a major, but with this hand 1NT just seems to be a better alternative.

If system permits partner to have 5♠'s in his 1NT then I use the system to show the 3514 as I'd want to be in 4♠ if we have a 5-3 fit. If not then 5♣ could be a long shot with these slow values along with the dubious queen of diamonds so I would transfer and bid 3NT. If I didn't have the intermediates of 109 and 10 I would transfer and invite with 2NT at NV.

1NT. Shape and suit are two big flaws I can't handle with a 2♥ overcall.

I don't quite understand 1NT when we have a perfectly reasonable alternative of 1♥, which other posters have suggested shows 3♥ and rarely 4. If 1♥ must show 4 then surely it would still be the better lie? We still have lots of space to sort our trump fit out and if partner has a diamond stopper he can bid 1NT himself. This auction is different to 1♣-(1♠)-X-Pass where we sometimes have to bid 1NT without a stopper given we don't have the luxury of extra bidding space like we do here.

I think overcalling 2♣ on the first hand is taking an idea too far.

I think the suit texture of the spades sway me towards 4♠ and also like han that I'd hate to hear 5♣.