andy_h

Yeah count me in for a pass too. I'd want a better heart suit before I switch to a double.

Sorry I mis-read. I thought the guy had pre-empted 3H and we could have shown a 9-12 ish raise with a 4S jump. I don't think I would cue-bid. We have minimum in high cards and the Ace is in our shortage so I will sign off - there has to be line where we are just courtesy cueing or else we don't know what kind of extras we have (or lack thereof) and we'd be playing at the 5level. I would cue-bid however if my Ace was in another suit say diamonds so Kxx x AQxxx Qxxx.

Could I have bid 4S the last round?

4H

A good hand for a distribution relay ask if you play it. This is a tough guess because it all comes down to how well our hands mesh. There are some 15 counts which make slam a good proposition but usually that would require partner to have a 5-card suit (or 6) in one of our aces' suits.

HBD!

If declarer had ♠Jxx why did he play the King on the first round?

Passing is crazy

Both, but much much more to North as others have stated

South, I would bid 4S over 4H showing a good flexible hand.

I agree that the takeout double over 2D is normal. If West passes 2D and the auction goes (2D)-pass-(3D)-passed back to you, have you discussed what double means now? I also bid 2NT natural over the takeout double.

3C, game is still possible and I have a very good 5 card suit so I don't like passing at all.

Yeah I wouldn't dream of overcalling on the 1st hand when partner passed over 1C and we are r/w. On the 2nd I like 1H, somehow double feels a bit weird with this measly nine count.

My first instinct is to open 5D. My second (more sane) choice however is 1D and after 4S-dbl, I will bid 4NT.

3H

w/r with both majors, sure.

Agree with the schafer man.

West does have a decent hand but not decent enough for my liking to have explored further. I would have ended the auction by bidding 3NT over 3D. On that note, if West's 3S said spade values I would have passed 3NT since East didn't feel like exploring so I don't want to overrule that decision as East could have more heart/spade values.

If partner can be balanced then I will invite in diamonds at the 3 level. If partner promises an unbalanced hand I will try a 4D invite. I have little experience with XYZ here but what's the difference between a direct 3D now as opposed to going via 2C? Can one of them be a distributional invite?

I don't.

Dangerous to bid, dangerous to pass, I bid 4S.

Ron, where did I ever say that I could not stop below 6M? I wrote "But nonetheless with so many good controls with the North hand I would still make a move with either 5C/5D to invite with the corresponding major so no, I would not be able to stop in 4H." I said I would make a move towards slam but for heaven's sake you really think I was accepting the invite with the actual South's hand!? It's a shame because I will get my fair share of +420 and if I luck out with North having a control rich hand then I will sometimes get +450 or -50 at the 5 level whereas passing will get you +50 or -110 for defending 3D.

100% to both. Hate the 1NT opening with two low doubletons (which has an easy rebid of 3C after 1C) and I don't understand 2C stayman (unless it was Keri)

No, I do not think it is worth a slam force. Like I mentioned, partners should be allowed to given leeway when it comes to bidding against preempts. That is because I believe in the style of games before slam, as well as strain before slam. The example I gave, I used the words "Even with a decent hand of AQxxx KQxxx x Kx" and if I call this a decent hand, how is this the weakest hand that partner should have? (And where did I admit this was the weakest?) I can lower the hcp down such as AJxxx Qxxxxx - xx or Q10xxx KQJxx x Kx or Axxxxx KJxxx x x or AQJxx Kxxxx - Qxx etc. and these hands are obvious 4D hands for me. If these hands are also 4D bids for you, then I suggest you rethink about hanging partner by forcing to slam without even using the 5 level for invite. If these hands aren't 4D for you, then you can miss those games that I was talking about. Sure I understand that the current hand given is not spectacular in the hcp department but we have the shortage in diamonds (void > singleton) and East only stuck his nose in with 3D so if the hcp are spread evenly between both sides then surely a 4M game is looking very good for us. I understand that with the right/perfect hand for partner (who most likely has a weak NT to not have acted over 2D) partner may invite slam by putting us at the 5 level and here I just happen to hit one of the worst cases from partner. Other times he might have boring weak NT hands such as Jx KQx KJ9x QJx or Axx Kxx Kxxx KJx etc. and we will happily play in 4M rather than defending a measley 3D. If partner has the right hand and invites by going to the 5-level then I believe he has the right cards for us and 5M has a good chance of making, and if it goes 1 off, I'm happy enough to trade my +50 from defending 3D for -50 to attempt to find my game bonus.

I would bid 4D with South's hand. I think South has to bid 4D or else they're going to lose a game swing. From how the auction has developed it seems very likely that partner has a weak NT with length in diamonds that was unable to make a T/O dbl and I believe that RHO doesn't have that good of a handthey would have enquired with 2NT or whatever. And now North has an interesting hand. I give (quite a bit of) leeway when it comes to competing against preempts (the most one would be (4H)-4S). From North's point of view it takes quite a bit to take 12 tricks. It either needs partner to have 65 in the majors or quite a good hand with 55 since we are unable to make useful discards if partner has 5-5. Even with a decent hand of AQxxx KQxxx x Kx you still need both major suits to break. But nonetheless with so many good controls with the North hand I would still make a move with either 5C/5D to invite with the corresponding major so no, I would not be able to stop in 4H.