andy_h

South 1000%. I personally think overcalling 1S is completely off the charts - you have sooo many possible strains available (spades, hearts, clubs, no trumps) and wanting to show our balanced hand with K10xx at red is beyond words. The alternative is to pass, but bridge is a bidder's game and you would like to get in and out of the auction to find a fit as soon as you can so I find the South's hand an obvious X. Not only is this the most flexible action in finding your best fit, but it also gets you out of the auction at a safely low level. As for North's 2S I find it a completely normal raise if partner overcalls 1S at red. 4 card support and a ruffing value AND you get to push the auction a level higher, wtp! While it's true that West did show a stopper through the 1NT bid but that doesn't exactly mean we are about to get doubled in 2S...West might have an 8 count with Kxx spades. This also makes it much much tougher on East since East may not be able to distinguish difference of strength if he bids 3C/3D.

Don't think I'd want to be there. West is loaded with the majors so it seems like clubs aren't breaking and it seems a bit difficult on a trump lead.

1. Takeout, as my meta agreement of (1m) (1M) (2m) X is takeout. 2. Responsive (Takeout) since 4th hand usually has both majors but can be a bit flawed with say 4324/4333. 3. I like this as penalties. 4. I like this as 2-way which gwnn referred to.

I don't quite understand passing on the 2nd hand. Even though we have doubled three times I think we can still have the same hand without the Ace of clubs so A98x x AKx KQJxx or maybe even lesser with a heart void say A98x - AKxx KJxxx, so therefore I don't expect partner to be bidding 5D with Qxxxx of diamonds and out. We have a hugee 21 count and we're vul and there's very good chances that game will make. Heck, even xxx xxx xxxxx xx might make 11 tricks in 5D if the defence starts off with 2 hearts (we ruff, draw 2 trumps and play on clubs).

For the the 2C openers (not me), did you take a look at your example hands? Opponents have a total of 22 points and we have 10(!) spades between us. I highly doubt that the auction is going to die out at 1S.

We eat kangaroos.

I actually don't play this myself but in terms of a practical point of view I think it's important to be able to distinguish if responder has 4 or 5H so you don't play in 3H on a 4-3 fit (this is just for passed hand) and thus it would make sense for 2NT to be the default asking bid. If responder has 31(54)/2155 then he can just bid his longest suit and live with it, but the more important question is what to do with (32)44 and I think I will resort to 1NT with those shapes as there is lots of bidding space to exchange more info. The trade off is worth it I think.

Both, but more to North. North must act one way or another over 2S because it will be too hard to catch up later. Whichever route North chooses (whether it'd be 3D/3H/3S) anything is better than a pass (although I probably prefer 4D fit showing). South gets a bit of the blame too because I would just bid 4S over 2NT as one or two random cards and game is a good bet.

Although my 2nd choice is 3C, I think my hand is strong enough that I am too afraid 3C will get passed out when 4H is cold. I'm glad that my good hand is full of A/K's because I can then remove partner's diamond bids to clubs (as opposed to say the same hand but weaker). Yes there's a chance (but a one that I think is pretty rare) that partner might just bid 5D but there are just lots of other times where finding the heart fit is crucial (if partner can't act over our direct 3C) and if we don't have a heart fit we can still reside back to clubs.

1. 4S, king of diamonds is a nice card. 2. 5C, a delayed flexible strong hand but not this strong... Let's see. If partner has 3352 with QJ10xx then 6D is good on a heart lead. I'll pay off to that by finding the right game (if partner's tendencies are to bid 4D on 3343 or 2443) and hope they find a spade lead vs 6D. If partner has 5D he should always remove it to 5D but whether or not to raise to 6 is another question.

I believe the expert standard for a cue in partner's main suit is either A/K/Q.

Maximum passed hand with two places to play. I think I prefer one of those places to be hearts (only four pieces) making it 4H with another 4/5 suit.

Easy pass in tempo.

I don't think there is a standard meaning since most hands types would have been covered by responder bidding a new suit on the previous round, but I will hazard a guess on what it might be given that I had been in a similar-ish situation before. If responder had their own suit they would have bid on the last round and if they had some form of a good spade raise they could have bid 4D previously. After the current auction 4D should be an artificial call agreeing spades with slam interest not necessarily promising a diamond control (but it probably should for what I'm about to elaborate on). A typical hand might be 3S-5H in which responder might have wanted to play in hearts but maybe that's not right because responder has to be prepared with any rebid by opener say 4C, and now responder can't make a cheap call to set spades. Therefore a hand type that bids a delayed 4D would have support for all strains so maybe typically a 3415 shape (or alike eg. 3514/4414) so then responder can set whatever suit opener responds to our X. Of course this is assuming that responder was prepared to gamble a bit of science at the risk of a further preemption so it's probably a hand that's willing to drive to at least the 5 or the 6 level. On a side note, the 'similar' auction that I faced with was when I was in 4th seat with this auction: (P) 1S (P) 2C (2D) 2N (4D) ... Where 2C=2+C GF, 2N=15-18NT and I had a hand that was prepared to drive to slam with interest in grand, but with limited agreements the auction was bound to be murky in terms of how to set which suit I was interested in as trumps.

Double, with the hopes of a heart game. If partner bids 3D I will bid 3NT, if partner lebs and plans to sign off in diamonds I will remove it to 4C. Maybe we should bid 4C over a positive 3D response in search for a club slam but I fear that 9 tricks could play better than contracting for 11 tricks given our club suit isn't so good.

2H over multi 2D, 3H over weak 2D.

Have people tried to construct partner's hand? Let's assume that partner has zero club values (OP said Q/J are discounted and given RHO's clubs, partner will very unlikely to have CA), let's see. Kxxx KQxx Kxxx x - This is ok, needing to pick up the spades. QJxx KJxx Axxx x - This one is not good. KJxx Axxx Kxxx x - This one is OK. KQxx K9xx Axxx x - This one needs one or two finesses. Jxxx AKxx Kxxx x - This one is decent. KQxx AKxx 10xxx x - This one needs a bit of luck or a misdefence. Note that all of these hands are in the very minimum in terms of point count. Assuming we are forced to choose between 3 or 4, at imps this is a clear 4S for all 3 cases but at MPs I will go for the game bonus too because they might lead wrong or misdefend.

If 4D over 4C is the only RKC bid available, then 4NT is a "last train" type of bid where partner is still interested and wants to know how good our hand is. As it is, I have the golden KQ of diamonds for partner so I bid 6C.

Agree with mfa, although I like the treatment of 3S being a splinter.

Agree with gnasher too. I also want to add a site note that I really dislike the first double.

In the ideal world you'd like to double to ask partner for a heart stopper because if we only have 1 heart stopper, we'd like to distinguish if our clubs are running or not. If not then you'd want to be in 5C. With certain agreements you might play X as asking for a (half)stopper and partner can bid 3S showing half and 3NT with a full one. However given that we have KQ tight of hearts it is most unlikely that partner will have Qx nor Ax to be bidding 3S/3NT so I don't think double is going to help. Partner is certainly not going to read our double as penalties nor do I think he will be passing the double if our X was stopper ask. Given that I don't know how running our clubs are, I will also go with the pedestrian 5C.

I'd pass 2H hoping to show minors on the next round. Over partner's double, 3D feels weird with this nice 6-5 so I'm with Fluffy in bidding 4NT. Don't think I'd reach 6 after that too, but then again I would balance with 2NT with partner's hand.

If you play 2/1 I think it is a serious error if you do not set AKQJ98x as trumps with the South's hand. The auction would then proceed as 1S-2C-2D-4C in which cues and keycard responses are exchanged. South's hand has too much slam potential written over it so I would never want to cater to playing in 3NT. Give partner ♠AKxxxx and out and 5C makes a very good contract and that's not a 1S opening.

I would like to transfer via 3D and then bid 4C to show my clubs. I think it is important to have 4C/D over a transfer to be natural (with slam interest) because otherwise it will be impossible to bid these two suiters (it need not require an extreme shape like 65). If you want to ask for keycards then I suggest playing texas-transfer-then-4NT to be the keycard ask. As it is, if 4C over the transfer is gerber then I think I'm pretty much stuck. I feel like I want to bid 3D transfer and then 5C natural because I really want to do justice with this 65! If that auction or any sciency auction will create a potential disaster (partner not on the same wavelength) then I will go with the low road of transferring via 3D. If partner doesn't super accept then I sign off with 4H (even if this is read as a mild slam try if playing texas transfers), otherwise if partner superaccepts then I will move on.

I agree with what gnasher and nigel_k have mentioned. I don't love the double but given that it's white at imps with LHO and partner being a passed hand, I'd like to compete right away rather than letting them exchange information and having the need to guess later. Fearing a 4 digit number is just so unlikely/bizarre given that partner's a passed hand and he knows that points isn't everything. As nigel_k mentioned, adding an extra jack would be enough to be an auto double for me, or having a 4450 shape with this 9 count is also enough for me. If my partner passed a 12 or 13 count white in 2nd seat then it's probably time to get a new partner :) My very close second choice would be to pass in the hopes of competing later (or lack thereof so I'm not disclosing my honours) and I quite dislike 1D.