rogerclee

Care to elaborate? ruff the spade diamond up run the heart (covered) ace of diamonds ruff a diamond spade spade GOT EMMM

would ruff in hand and play rho for both heart honors

You can play it's a splinter (to be clear, splinter is standard), but this is less useful in my opinion on frequency grounds. There are two huge advantages to playing this is a transfer: 1) Positionally it is much much much better to make the overcaller the opening leader. Playing this convention, you will actually bid 3M much more frequently than 3NT. 2) It is usually much harder for the overcaller to determine the best lead than his partner. I am not sure how prevalent this treatment is, but it is a very popular one among established expert partnerships.

lol no

I don't think your suggestion about 2♣ is that weird, I could go either way between 1NT and 2♣ with some convincing. What I don't understand is 2♥, I can't think of enough bad things to say about it.

Really? You are trying for slam when even game should go down opposite x AKJxxx KQx xxx? I think it's way too much to cue with that, you can have much better hands for hearts and if you cue with this little then partner (with other hands than the above, result is same regardless on that particular nightmare) has too wide a range to cater to, IMO. I'm starting to think it's just a guess (therefore may try simulation) on this hand, partner's hands can range from cold for 7, to "5 or 7 hands" (the table result, on spade hook for 7 in either major, both teams languished in game for no swing), to 5 in jeopardy. What percentage of hands that want to support hearts should cuebid, in your opinion? I have always played a style where we can cuebid rather freely below game, and in this auction, I would expect to cuebid on approximately half of the hands that want to raise hearts. I think this hand fits into this "top 50%" criteria, but maybe you don't. I would bid 4♥ on many hands that contain a singleton heart, so having Qx is a big bonus to me.

lol no

Huh, are you really saying that AKQxx Qx xx Qxxx should cue bid 4c after 1s-2h; 2s-3h ? Yes, as you said, this is a great hand for hearts!

I would bid 3♠ with this hand, a transfer to 3NT. It sounds like partner would bid 4♥ over this, I would cuebid 4♠ over that.

You can make arguments like this for most slam auctions, but it is obvious that there are many more hands where we can't make 5♥, and bidding both 5♣ and 5♦ over 4♥ have serious problems as well, so it seems very difficult to get to 6♥ even if it's a good contract (or if you are very aggressive, we will be in a lot of bad 6♥ contracts). Also I would cuebid 4♣ on your hand, I would always rather lie about a control than about the quality of my hand.

I don't agree with Josh, I think this hand is just good enough to make a slam try if 4N is available as one.

I would bid 3♥ and pass 4♥.

I would just bid 1N.

Matchpoints ♠T9 ♥AK ♦KJ9xx ♣JTxx 1♠ - 2♦ 2♥ - 2NT 3♦ - 3♠ 4♣ - ? Do you agree with all your previous bidding? Now what?

[hv=d=w&v=b&n=sjtxxhxdaqj9xcktx&w=saxxxhatxxxd2caxx]266|200|Scoring: MP[/hv] Auction: 1♥ - (Dbl) - 2♥ - (3♣) AP You lead the ♦2, and trick one goes ♦2-9-7-K. Declarer next leads a small club towards dummy. Your defense? If you decide to rise ♣A and cash the ♠A, partner will play the ♠2 (upside-down attitude) and declarer will drop the ♠Q.

lol no

I voted for 2♣, 1♦ doesn't seem terrible to me.

Again, I'm not sure... My partner is also not a WBF member... If you have an ACBL # I beleive it is that, with the number replacing the letter, otherwise, I don't know. Maybe Jan Martel might know more? My understanding (which may be inaccurate) is that you can just register with the WBF as part of your rights as an ACBL member. I'm not sure how to get the form, Jan Martel sent it to me a little while ago. Also my WBF code and ACBL number have nothing to do with each other.

This just comes down to how your partnership splits the 4♥/4♦ ranges. That is more important to talk about than what you would bid on this hand.

Hx in hearts, 5 spades, about 9 points, not a good holding in opener's minor.

I'm not sure. Sorry. (Maybe 26 or 21...) lol at this not being anywhere on the website. The Istanbul cutoff is 1984 or after, so I'm going to assume it's the same.

What is the age cutoff?

nope

All vulnerable, Frances.

Matchpoints, All Red, First Seat ♠Axxxxx ♥AKQ ♦98xx ♣void 1♠ - (Dbl) - Rdbl - (P) P - (2♣) - Dbl - (P) ?