rogerclee

I think you'd have to be crazy to bid 4C on these cards. I'm making a takeout double before I bid 4C, and scoring it Pass - 10, Double - 0.2, 4C - 0.

Oh, neat. Didn't see that I could do that thing first.

I'm going to assume W is 5233 with the club Q, because I'm stupid and can't figure out how to make this if this isn't true. I'm assuming E would've bid something with 8 hearts. I play the spade Q and a spade to dummy's J over W's 9. Then I cash 3 rounds of diamonds. I play a fourth diamond; if W ruffs the fourth round, it's over, so he pitches a club (irrelevant what he pitches). I pitch dummy's heart. I play small to dummy's club J, then back to my K. Now I play my last diamond, which gives west no response.

I think 3H is pretty clear. LHO is a PH and didn't open 2S; it is very difficult to see him bidding 3S over 3H. I think psyching with this hand is pretty silly. 3H rates to buy the contract, which is pretty much what I want. As a note, I bid 3H even if we play 4cM in 3rd.

I pass, but I think it's really borderline. The suit and the lack of a big rebid problem just don't compensate for the fact that this hand is not good. I'd open if my Jxx were JTx.

This hand is a monster. Even if partner responds 0 keycards, if he has the heart Q, we're probably in business. I bid 3014 or kickback and only stop in 5H if partner denies both the HQ and a keycard. Note that we could still be on even without these cards, but I'm not really willing to risk it. I need to pick up hearts and play clubs for no losers, which seems marginally worse than 50-50. Edit: Actually, seems significantly worse than 50-50. As a side note, a good reason to not play 6-card KC is precisely this. You need to be on very firm ground as to when it's on and when it's off.

All good hands start with double. 3H would be preemptive.

First of all, x is clearly better than 3D by the north hand. It is more descriptive, allows you to take preference to 2S with a bad hand, and every once in awhile, allows you to pass with a heart stack. To answer the question, 3D is nonforcing, but shows extras. I think pass is logical with the S hand, but 4D is possible. I like pass more; I'm willing to compete to 4D over 3H. I don't think 4D here should be forcing, just plain-old invitational to game.

I think pulling is pretty antipercentage.

If you're into that sort of thing, Kaplan and Rubens hand evaluator says this is a 15.75, so it looks like those of you who open this a 14-16NT have something going for you. Also, I was just playing around with it, trying to find the trashiest 17-count possible according to K&R. KQJ KQx QJx QJxx Evaluates to 13.40! So the next time you pick up this 17-count, you might want to consider opening a 12-14NT :).

I like 3S to 1) strongly invite game opposite a sound overcall. I don't expect this to be the case, but hey, you never know. 2) shut the opponents out of their probable minor fit. 3H accomplishes this too. It might be better.

If I trust my opponents at all, I hate double. RHO isn't crazy; he has a reason for bidding 5C against a partscore, whether he thinks he can make it, or if he's giving me a losing option over what he feels almost certainly to be 5D or 4S by me if he does nothing. I also dislike pass. Sure, I don't have significant extras, but it sounds like partner is distributional, and the combination of 4 trumps and Kx in his other suit should play extremely well. I rate it 5D = 10 P = 5 X = 2

[hv=d=n&v=n&s=sajxhjxxdaqj9xxca]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Playing BWS, you open 1♦, and partner responds 1♥. I've already taken a poll of this problem and have received all sorts of wild answers from players who are very good all the way up to truly world class, so whatever you're thinking, it can't be completely crazy.

What is the criterion for being a Vugraph commentator? I only ask because I feel like the general skill level of commentators has been dropping, especially for some of the less important events. Without naming names, it's very clear that at least two or three of the regular commentators are poor players. A reasonable solution, I think, is to have some sort of feedback for Vugraph commentary, where both positive and negative comments can be left.