lilboyman

There is a method which I found on the web which uses 2 C as the game force over one of a suit opening and this asks for opener to further describe his hand. Somehow I misplaced this link and can't remember for what I should search. Can anyone help me?

Looks like there is a 50% chance that the opening club lead will be ruffed and there is no reason to assume you have more than a 7 card fit in Spades with a good probability that they are not breaking. So, it looks like slam is a slight underdog but its close. Its seems then that the state of your game in MP and whether you are way ahead or way behind at IMPs will factor into deciding what to do here. Unless, I need to shoot for a top at MP I would not bid slam with the North cards. Far behind at IMPs its a given you go for it but if you are far ahead against good ops trying to catch up its a harder decision. In a close match, game before slam.

A lot depends on your full agreements with respect to a 2C opener. Assuming 3 Diamonds is acceptable in your methods, it certainly describes your hand as to you Diamond holding. Two NT would not be a bad bid but if NT is the spot, ideally, the stronger hand should be the declarer. Partner has shown a two-suited hand. What do you expect partner to hold for this? Many partnerships avoid bidding 2 Clubs with 5/5 or 6/5 hands except where the hands are so strong in high cards that a pass by partner cannot be risked. If this is your agreement, then your side has the high cards for slam and the question becomes what slam. If this is not your agreement, some partnerships only promise that the opener is within one or one-and-one-half tricks of game. In this case, the limit of your side based on your cover cards may only be game or one more. In the first case (a strong 2 suiter), a NT slam seems like a logical landing place but I see no reason to race there. Four Clubs would would further describe your hand and encourage the stronger hand to initiate NT and leave room for opener to further describe by rebidding Spades or Hearts. This assumes you are not using 4 Clubs as some kind of Ace or key-card bid. In the second case (a 9 trick promise in 2 suits), you cannot be sure your high cards in Diamonds and Clubs are working for partner. Your 3rd response is probably a choice is between a NT call and a preference for one of partner's suits. If 5 NT is your choice, your partner must have the discipline to pass without extras. If 3 NT is your choice, partner must understand that your 2 Diamond call promised only 2 controls and at least one of them is not in partner's suits. If you choose to take preference, to partner's first bid suit, you have to agree what a single raise or a double raise mean. Does a single raise mean only 2 controls or promise extra controls? Or the inverse? Also, you must agree on how many cards in support this bid promises to partner.

1 C 16+ artificial 2 D 5 or more Diamonds 2 H Tell me more 3 H 4 Hearts 3 S Tell me more 3 N No singleton or void 4 D Sets Trump 4 H 1st or 2nd round control 4 S 1st or 2n rnd ctl 5 S 2nd round control 7 D

Since opener's bid was stated as "at least 4/4 in the majors, does this mean 6/5 holdings are not allowed? If they are, it seems to me that it would be best to have partner act next. This gives your LHO a chance to bail you out if your in a misfit and, if LHO doesn't bid, partner can SOS with the 4/4 or bid 2 Spades if they are longer. You can still bid 3 Clubs later.

If FP systems allowed, an immediate double should be allowed under the rules to mean whatever opponents desire.

Game looks like a long shot here. You are missing 4 primary controls in 3 suits and have 2 secondary losers in Diamonds. It will require partner to have a near perfect hand to make game. Pass seems in order.

A somewhat more detail explanation can be found at: http://homepage.mac.com/bridgeguys/BGlossary/GlossB.html

The first mistake is usually the foundation for the rest. The t/o double while agressive is not clearly in error, since N/S can still have the majority of points and a Heart fit. After the redouble, South made the error of showing a preference for Clubs which was not necessary or desireable give the minimum nature of the hand and may have given North the impression that South held 5 cards in Clubs. Pass is clear as South has no clear preference for Clubs or Diamonds at this point in the auction. Better to pass the runout decision to North. Since the auction is clear that E/W have no fit North's 3C call is uncalled for but would have never have been made if not for South's 2C call.

Based on the bidding I would infer that JDonn has 17 HCP and solid Spade stop. Counting up all the points I can see and infer, partner must have about 5 HCP outside of Spades. Any 5 point combination can prevent an immediate run of 12 tricks. So, I would think you could duck Spades until you get a signal from partner as to how to proceed. If partner doesn't have what you infer, you are probably just surrendering an overtrick.

South can reasonably expect a 7 loser hand for North's opening bid. South has 5 high card tricks for North and can reasonably expect to trump at least 1 Heart. This, looks like 12 tricks to South even after the 4 Spade balanced minimum call by North and I cannot expect him to stop short of slam. So, I would assign blame to North unless South agreed to allow the opening 9 loser hands at IMPs in which case I would blame both.

It is not clear from the post whether standard BW or RKCB, has been agreed to. If standard BW has been agreed to, I see no reason for the jump to 4NT to imply agreement on Spades as trump and would doubt that absent agreement this call would be treated as quantitative. If the poster was referring to RKCB, then one of the more common agreements, not the only posssible, is that the last bid suit is agreed as trump for the purpose of responding to the RKCB inquiry. However, other agreements are possible and so this should be discussed before you use RKCB. Absent discussion, I would think that it would be reasonalble to conclude that Spades are intended as trump for the purpose of making your RKCB reply.

It is not clear from the post whether standard BW or RKCB, has been agreed to. If standard BW has been agreed to, I see no reason for the jump to 4NT to imply agreement on Spades as trump and would doubt that absent agreement this call would be treated as quantitative. If the poster was referring to RKCB, then one of the more common agreements, not the only posssible, is that the last bid suit is agreed as trump for the purpose of responding to the RKCB inquiry. However, other agreements are possible and so this should be discussed before you use RKCB. Absent discussion, I would think that it would be reasonalble to conclude that Spades are intended as trump.

QUOTE (lilboyman @ Oct 15 2008, 11:13 AM) Question: Staring at eight tricks in dummy wouldn't an expert cash one or both of his Aces if he held them before leading the 3rd club?

What's wrong with starting with the King & then Ace of Spades first? If you drop the doubleton Spade Q, there is no problem. If you drop the singleton Q or Spades break 3/2 or 2/3, you arrange to give up a Spade and finesse the Diamond Jack at the first opportunity. If opps have 4 Spades to the Q, you need the Diamond finesse and a 3/3 Diamond break or drop Q10 doubleton in any event.

I am no expert but would think that what the X meant would depend on your agreements. Question: Staring at eight tricks in dummy wouldn't an expert cash one or both of his Aces if he held them before leading the 3rd club?

In an article on bridgeguys homepage.mac.com/bridgeguys/pdf/KSupdated1991.pdf Kaplan writes on page 17: "Strong Opening Bids D – STRONG OPENING BIDS For very strong balanced hand, these opening bids: 2 NT 20-21 points (not a "bad 20" - too many queens, honors in short suits; treat a "bad 22" as 21), balanced, includes 5-3-3-2 even with 5-card major if no other flaw, but not more eccentric pattern. 2 C 22 points up. First rebid to be in notrump. If response is 2 D, 2 NT=23, 24, 3 NT=more; over other responses, notrump rebid is unlimited." It appears that Kaplan would recommend 2NT for these cards. Would you open 1 S and jump to 2NT with this hand if it were onlly 20 HCP?

If our agreement is to pass a hand such as this in first or second seat, then I would expect my partner to protect with very little in 3rd or 4th seat. In 4th seat I would expect a "rule of 15" up to a full opener. My double of 2 Ds is a discovery mechanism promising a near opener and the balance of power if partner has at least 12 HCP. Partner can pass, if our side has 23 HCP, bid on with a game going hand or pull to 3C with a weaker hand. Accordingly, I think I pass with this hand.

The bidding indicates that opener doesn't care which cover cards partner might hold. Hence, I think opener must hold two strong suits, spades and diamonds, with two side Aces or a side Ace and a void and not more than 3 cards in the side suits. I think the only chance to set this is to have partner void in diamonds and win a side King when its finessed.

It seems to me that the first response of 1 Spade complicated this auction. I would have preferred 1 H over the opening bid. This allows opener to show the heart fit and then responder has an easy raise to game. If opener has 4 spades they will be shown over 1 H. If 1N is bid over 1 H, responder can pass or bid 2 S to show the distributional 2 suiter and suggest good playing strength.

Question: If the doubler's hand was KQx, QJxx, xxx, Kxx showing the balance of power but short of game values, would the double be a good call and, if good, what do you respond now?

No expert here. I would expect partner to have at least 9 tricks in hand and possibly 10 or 11 with a self-sustaining Spade suit. Holding 2 cover cards I would raise to 5 Spades, with 1 I would double and with none I would pass. Hence, for me pass would be non-forcing. In the hand given I would bid 5 Spades.

In the District Six Bulletin, Vol. 6, # 4, Aug/Sep 2008, Steve Robinson’s Roundtable article discussed the meaning of a 4 Diamond bid by opener after a 3 Spade limit raise of opener’s 1 Spade opening bid. One of the experts, Nick Nickell, commented that there were two types of hands with slam possibilities, a one-suited hand or a two-suited hand. He posited that a new suit at the four level would be asking for support for the new suit and that a one-step relay would be used with one-suited hands. There was no further discussion of follow-on calls after the relay bid. Can any experts enlighten me on what Nickell’s continuations would be?

Since a reverse may describe a hand with as little as 16 or 17 HCP, I don't see how 2 Hearts can be forcing. What would one bid over a reverse with 6 or 7 HCP and just a Heart suit? In the hand shown responder has 10 HCP and knows that opposite a true reverse the partnership holds game values and must make a bid which is game forcing. In this case, 2 Spades or 3NT.

It seems to me that opener is at the top of the agreed NT range otherwise, opener's second call would be a balance of power (BOP) double so that partner could judge to pass with an invitational hand or bid on with game values. This assumes of course that 2C promised invitational values. Since opener did not make the BOP double and did not show a major suit, opener wants partner to take appropriate action knowing that their side has game values. It follows then that 3D promises a Diamond suit and denies a Club stopper. Responder may or may not have values for game in Diamonds. Opener can find out by raising to 4D.