rogerclee

No way I am trying a ♥ at T2. I'll just cash out 12 tricks. The last time I heard about a maneuver like that was in the Blues. AQJTx on the right :).

I hope we can develop a spade trick, since I'm leading one right now. Yes, this could easily be wrong, but I'm going to play partner for the 1-point card, not the 2-point card. Edit: I feel less good about this now. MPs, right? Edit 2: I think cashing out is better now. Small club for me.

1) x. I have one less diamond than everyone else thinks and more defense. 2) Opener is 4315, which makes partner 4441. ♣ seems clear to try to stop the crossruff.

7N. I expect this to make more than half the time, so I bid it. Even if partner has no Q's, we are not down yet. I also expect 7N-1 to be around 40% of the MPs if it is unmakeable.

Can't really imagine anything other than 3N.

2♠ seems very clear, playing either 2/1 or SAYC.

Oh. Brianshark is right. My line picks up stiff honors but I forgot about KJx onside :P .

Draw trumps, ♥ to A, ♥ back to hand, finessing the J if I need to.

I like Mohan, which uses 2♣ majors and 2♦/2♥ transfers.

People can say that they want about AK-evaluation. This hand type: 5 of a major 332 other A A K exactly Exactly one honor in my major This happens to be one of the weird handtypes I've been keeping track of mentally for about a year. I open this hand automatically and have gotten bad results from it. This happens all the time: You end up in 4M and go down because partner gameforced on a borderline hand. Partner competes to 3M, and you go down, when you would've set their contract because your hand is so valuable on defense. You play 2M after partner bids a forcing NT, going down a ton, sometimes doubled. This one happens to be easy, since all my honors are outside; pass.

Why? Not trying to change your mind about this particular hand, but why don't you like to overcall 1NT in general? It should be as much fun as opening 1NT! ;) Overcalling 1NT is dangerous. We do it because balanced 15-18 needs to bid something and is impossible to describe otherwise. If partner has a constructive hand, or a long suit, he is well-placed to act. Two things change when you overcall 1N instead of open it. 1) Partner is much more likely to have nothing. 2) LHO can hit 1NT very easily. If partner has balanced garbage, this rates to go for a huge number (500+) when they weren't even bidding game.

I would pass. I hate overcalling 1NT and avoid it when possible. This one happens to be very easy to resist.

I voted for yes, but: If you are a beginner: Do not learn 2/1. There are so many other things that I am sure would improve your game by tons before learning system stuff. Learn how to bid in a competitive auction. Learn when to invite game and when to accept game. Learn how to defend properly and count. Learn how to deal with preempts. Don't worry about system; it is the least of your worries. If you are an intermediate player: Learn 2/1. It is basically so standard that finding partners to play SA is actually much harder. This is not to say that learning 2/1 will dramatically improve your game; I guarantee you it will not. It is just a practical matter that you really need to play 2/1 to form new partnerships. If you really are an intermediate player, you should have no trouble learning the basic mechanics of a 2/1 system.

Double, really hoping partner pulls.

Double. Really don't want to bypass 3N on this hand.

Easy pass. I don't think my hand is appropriate for suggesting a 5♦ sacrifice.

X then pass. Feel sick about the second one, but I think it is clear.

I'm 20 and am also scouting around for a partner.

I'd bid 4♥. I think 1) It is certainly possible that LHO has four spades. I'd choose to preempt on a lot of hands that are 4-5 with bad spades. But I agree it is fair to assume that partner likely has exactly 3 spades. 2) Limiting partner to 8 points is sort of pessimistic. If you double aggressively, partner may choose to bid only 3♥ on hands which are up to 10 points, expecting you to raise to 4♥ with hands like this. 3) Club/heart finesses, if needed, are likely on. That said, I don't think this is particularly obvious, and I could be easily convinced that the probability of losing 3 spades + another trick is too high.

http://www.prairienet.org/bridge/ I'm a big fan of Karen Walker's site.

I think that if you analyze the hands after you play them, it is difficult for any session of bridge to make you worse.

Partner is expert, opponents are not.

MPs, All Red ♠Qx ♥QTxxxxx ♦K ♣Kxx (P)-P-(P)-?

IMPs, White vs Red 4th Seat ♠AT54 ♥AQ ♦KQ ♣AKQT7 (P)-P-(3♦)-x (4♦)-P-(P)-? What now?

♦A, probably cash two rounds of trumps first to see what is going on, planning on leading to the ♦Q.