rogerclee

I like double, if we don't have an 8 card spade fit I don't want to declare 3S while taking the tap in my hand. I would expect partner to remove my double to 3S the vast majority of the time with 4 spades. If this is not the case, then I would bid 3S.

4N seems like a good bid to me, we have an extra trick. If partner thought he was making 3N, I think we're making 4N.

This is the most normal keycard bid of all time.

6N, don't mind 4D over 3N but 6N was going to be the destination the vast majority of the time after partner's 3N bid.

Clever fix is to play 2S in this auction agrees either major. Opener describes his hand as usual, and trumps get set the next round. It's basically the same when you have a spade fit, and much better when you have a heart fit. On top of that, you can use the direct 3H bid to show something else of your choice.

I think not leading the HK is pretty bad.

FWIW I was just talking about this auction with jlall and I think there is a good argument for switching the 3D and 3H responses on this auction.

3S is a horrible bid for all the reasons given above, mostly by rhm.

3N looks perfect and obvious.

Nice hand.

My partner seems to think they can't make 4C. I agree.

Pass, but this is a good hand for playing michaels cuebids.

This auction is hard because this auction is consistent with having 3 hearts and no spade stopper. I also think 3♥ is a massive underbid. Anyway plug for a nice convention here: 3♠ = stopper ask or clubs, 4♣ = strong heart raise.

I would definitely pass but it's not hard to see how that might be wrong. If I had a bid available to show my hand I would do that, but I refuse to bid blackwood, and 5♦ or 5♥ sound more like this hand with the ♣K in trumps, meaning partner will accept on hands where we lose a spade and a trump. On top of this, the opponents are w/r, it would not shock me to learn that partner is 18-19 balanced with 4 hearts, opposite which the 5 level will very often be too high.

I quite like playing that 2N is two places to play or weak with hearts and 3♥ is invitational with hearts. You get to show the most important game try (hearts) but also get to play scrambling 2N.

I think in theory the best meanings are 4♦ = slammish raise and 4♣ = COG. In practice 4♣ just sounds like a diamond raise to me without prior discussion.

Bidding the long suit where our side might make a slam seems like a good start to me.

I definitely do not like the plan of doubling and passing 3N, seems like a big/losing position to just not play a 5-3 major suit fit when we have a stiff club and a side 5 card suit. If I knew partner was going to bid 3NT over double, I would do that and follow it up with 4♣ in an attempt to rightside the hand. Unfortunately if partner bids 3♦ we are pretty helpless, so I think that is out, and I will just have to bid bid 3♠..4♥.

Pass of course, we have described our hand enough that this can't be that close. It would be a shame to not take advantage of our great system on this hand.

Strongly dislike west's 3N bid, east was normal to me.

The problem with swiss raises is they are theoretically unsound to say the least. Totally worthless would be a more accurate description. They are very space consuming and do not allow valuable information exchange, whereas either starting with a low level GF (2♣) or a low level ask (2NT) does, so even using the convention when it comes up is a losing proposition. Anyway to answer your question, no top player uses swiss raises anymore. I personally do not know anyone who uses them, expert or not.

I don't understand the need to be clever, I will bid 3♥ and pull 3N to 4♦ to describe my hand, a monster 1-suiter in diamonds with slam interest. Passing 3N could be right but I don't think it is percentage.

A little esoteric but it's possible that in theory the best meaning for 3S here is an artificial club raise (aka stopper ask). Anyway he seems to have 4 spades, and I have four spades, so let's bid four spades. I think he's probably 4-4M but if he did it with 4-5M to get to a 4-4 spade fit that's fine with me. If he intended this as something else undiscussed it's time to have a discussion about being practical.

Good hand, something like x AQTxxx AQx Axx seems perfect, where we are willing to defend 2Sx if partner wants, but will probably just follow it up with 3H to show a good hand with game interest.

I definitely like a splinter, the auction rates to become inconvenient if we respond 1S, and we will not get to show our diamond shortness. Great hand for fit jumps but I don't play them here.