andy_h

Easy 2S. Honour-third support, a king, and a doubleton - looks pretty good to me. Loser count shouldn't be a rule to be taken highly. If at all, I would recommend dropping loser count entirely as part of hand evaluation. (Of course, loser count can be useful in other times for example if you're expecting a loser in a side suit of Ax when partner doesn't cue the king etc, but the No. of tricks = 24 - My losers + partner's expected losers is really not good imo)

You're South at nil vul and East (RHO) is dealer. You hold: [hv=d=e&v=n&s=s9xhxxdaq9865caxx]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Opponent's play Weak NT and 4cM (4M-4m opens 1m). RHO opens 1♥. You overcall 2♦ and LHO blasts 4♥. Partner doubles, your bid. (Partner's double is not 100% penalty, it is takeout/values orientated..you get the drift)

Why should we care whether if 2H was natural or michaels? If the opponent's want to play michaels then let them I say :(

Indy's are fun.

Agree with 655321.

1H.

2 places to play. When the opponents preempt very high it's more important to find the right strain than to guess it. Game before slam.

Agree with gnasher.

5C. Science can a be a bit hard with a 9card suit so I prefer to put a bit of pressure on the opponents.

Give partner that and the opponents are also either cold or 1 off for 4♠ :P But I'm still opening this anyway.

Agree with 655321

I like a heart because I want to be passive. With lots of strength on my right I don't want to be leading a spade or a diamond. Partner may just have heart intermediates over dummy and so a heart won't blow a trick. A close 2nd choice however is club queen. CK seems very likely to be on my right and possibly KJ(x) on my right. I don't want to lead a low one because that might just block the suit for partner. If I lead the Q and if partner somehow gets in with a heart possibly, he can lead through declarer's J with 98x+. Ace or a low club only allows partner to lead through declarer once.

To me that would be UN2N, how many times a lifetime do you get 20-22 HCP and your LHO opens 1x...? Quite a few times actually believe it or not. One of the problems of not having a direct 2NT in the balancing seat is that you will have a tough time on the next round of the bidding if LHO, the opener introduces a 2nd suit which may be raised by RHO, or maybe LHO will raise his opening bid to the 3level. If I have a 2 suiter I will start with a simple overcall which might hit a fit with partner or I can still be able to introduce the 2nd suit. It's true that you can somehow use this same argument for an overcall of 2NT in the direct seat but that's actually quite not the case. When we are in the balancing seat we have the additional information that RHO doesn't have enough to respond and that sort of increases the chance that we will have a strong hand after an auction of (1x)-p-(p). One problem you will also face when playing UN2NT in the balancing seat is that partner may have some troubles showing inv(+) type hands and both partners may be doing some guessing, whereas I would be better placed by starting with 2y and can possibly stop at the 3level while getting both suits in, too. For me in the direct seat: (vs. minor) 1NT = 11-14 X-->1NT = 15-17(18) 2NT = 18-19(20) X-->2NT = 20-21 My auction would have gone the same as rogerclee's. If I am N/S and E/W's style is to not respond with E's hand, then my auction would be ArtK78's. Oh, welcome to the forums Bas =)

easy pass

heart.

Cool. I have a way to show 4332 NT.

Yes, I did notice which section this was. Why do you think xx cannot work against B/I's too? Add an extra jack or queen somewhere and most B/I's I would imagine open 2♣. If this hand doesn't fit in with XX, then I do not know what hands do. Notice that I also mentioned that partner won't be responding to 1NT with some 5 counts. That makes it even better for us to XX with this such powerful hand. What makes it even more attractive is that it is nil vul, to be penalising the opponents.

I play the first as clubs. Not sure what's 'best' though. 2nd one is natural. Sure partner could have opened light + unbal, but what am I to do with 10/11 bal now.

Partner passed your opening. Certainly he is hiding with 3 ♦ tricks! You'd be surprised how well XX works. I'm guessing partner's not the type to be responding on most 0-5 counts so what's stopping partner from holding ♦QJ9x or maybe 5 or maybe 6(!) diamonds! Yes this has happened to me before. It was during this year's yeh bros and I held something like AKJxx AQx x AJ8x. It was against Lauria-Versace. Guess what? Partner had 0-3-6-4 with 2 jacks and they later resided in 2♥X going for 1100! But now, it seems like I have an even better hand! What can go wrong with XX? I can later bid hearts too so I don't need too make a total underbid with 2♥. Is partner meant to automatically raise with x Qxxxx xxxx xxx? XX establishes that we truly have a huge hand. Not always a random 18bal.

I don't think the diamonds are blocked, even though I don't know what the likely diamond position would be. If partner had K(Q/J/8)4 he wouldn't have played the K, and if somehow N/S have 12card diamond fit, diamonds are not blocked. Maybe it's possible partner has KQ4 leaving declarer with JT8 and so if we lead back a trump declarer can draw trumps and give up a diamond. But if he can draw the trumps he would've done so at the start and then attack diamonds so partner probably has a trump trick. If partner has a trump and a diamond trick there is no rush for to kill dummy's entry. But the bidding suggests declarer has 6S. So he's likely to be 6214 or 6223. I don't exactly have a full plan catering to everything..so I think I'm just going to lead back a trump.

I do. The opponents are so dead. If partner penalises 2D I am *very* happy.

5♦, to be in synch. Partner doesn't have to be totally broke. So I prefer to start a 'constructive' auction with 2♦.

Bad luck. 7-4's cool, but no diamond spots and 4card suit in opps suit - I don't particularly like 4D. If I bid 4D, I don't think it's that clear to raise it to 5.

2NT, planning to rerebid 3S

But partner sitting opposite may, sadly, not be privy to this wonderful chain of reasoning. He may believe that a raise of the 4th suit still shows 4 cards, and (perhaps using kenrexfordian logic of his own) elect to play in the Moysian. Only to be brought back to earth when dummy appears and reveals the 3-3 fit. If you want to play NT from the other side, the solution is to play transfer responses. To add to that, not only has 2♠ taken a whole bidding level 3♠ makes it two levels worse. As for the posted hand, I would bid 3♦. Thanks for Kx. 2NT would be my 2nd choice.