BunnyGo

While I agree that 3♦ would probably have been the better bid, after 2♠ is my hand really stopping short of 4♥?

Probably true. I also considered posting the hand from partner's point of view because of what's in the following spoiler. I was South and wasn't thrilled about passing 2♣ either. When we let 2♣ make I was particularly unhappy with my decision to pass. I'm still not sure what exactly I should bid. Double and then pull 2♥ to 2♠? This line of questioning seems to run into my other post. For some reason I never really grasped this part of competitive bidding.

I thought that when not playing negative free bids, a double and then bid of a new suit shows a hand that would have made a negative free bid. Is that completely incorrect? Am I confusing this with some other situation?

You're playing with a regular partner, but have no specific agreements concerning serious, or frivolous, or any other kind of special 3NT bid. In first seat with void, A8652, AKQT6, 543 you begin the auction: 1♥-(1♠)-2♠-(P) 3♠-(P)-3NT First, what is 3♠ here. Is it a splinter? A cue-bid? A stopper ask for NT? If 3♠ is a one of the first two possibilities (since hearts has been set as trump) what is 3NT? The auction continued: 1♥-(1♠)-2♠-(P) 3♠-(P)-3NT-(P) 4♦-(P)-4♥-AP Partner had AKQ3, T43, 85, Q876 An unfortunate spot when it started AK of clubs, club ruff, and then two more heart losers in addition. All (edit: constructive) comments and suggestions are welcome.

I was playing last night and the auction started (P)-1♦-(1♥)-?? I had a (let's pretend decent) 6 card club suit but not a good enough hand to bid 2♣ (we're *not* playing negative free bids). So I doubled, planning on following up by bidding clubs. The auction continued: (P)-1♦-(1♥)-X (1♠)-X*-(2♥)-?? *My partner's double showed a spade suit. Now, do I have to continue with 3♣ to define my hand, or am I allowed to pass and leave everyone (including partner) in the dark? I chose to pass and it continued: (P)-1♦-(1♥)-X (1♠)-X*-(2♥)-P (P)-2♠-(P)-3♣ At this point have I shown what my hand is? Does 3♣ mean something else after having passed? Would 3♣ have meant something else instead of passing over 2♥? How do these followups work?

How do you defend here? [hv=pc=n&s=skj986h974dt6cat8&w=sq42ht532dkqj9cj4&n=d532c3&e=da87c2&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=p1d2cppp&p=dtd9d2dac2c8cjc3dkd5d7d6dqd3d8]399|300[/hv] Bonus questions: 1) how do you feel about passing 2♣? 2) Do you agree with the opening lead, if not what would you have led? 3) How about ducking the first club trick, do you agree? Edit: In response to bd71's question, East is an unknown quantity, but in a club game or online you have to take advantage of the bad plays. Second Edit: In response to Han's question we play UDCA, so partner probably has 4 diamonds.

The hand I held was: AQ9876, QJ4, A75, A After opening 1♠ partner bid 1NT forcing. Now what? I usually like 3♠ to be on a more solid suit, but the hand seems too strong for just 2♠ and not strong enough to bid 3♦ as a fake suit for a jump shift. What are your considerations and borderlines for the 3♠ rebid here? (I did bid 3♠ and it worked out this time.)

Your partner preempts in first seat, naturally you have a monster hand. Now what? [hv=pc=n&s=sk3ha97dkqj7cakqt&d=n&v=e&b=9&a=2sp]133|200[/hv] You're playing a Meckwell version of Ogust where the 3♣ response says it was a 5 card preempt. You've agreed that 4♣ is a modified key card. It's undiscussed what Ace ask you have available *after* an Ogust bid (suggestions are welcome). How do you bid this hand? If you have other systems here, I'd be interested in hearing those if you prefer.

You know your partner has a "light" style of preempting, even in second seat. What do you bid? [hv=pc=n&s=sj8hak7dakt6ca654&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=p4sp]133|200[/hv] Do you just bid 6? Do you try for 7, or try to stop in 5?

[hv=pc=n&s=s732hakq52d86cj63&d=e&v=e&b=6&a=pp2d(weak)2s3d]133|200[/hv] What now? Would you have bid 1♥ or 2♥ the first time around? Edit: In response to bd71, this was on BBO IMP scoring with unknown opponents.

Just to stress a little (since this is the B/I forums) that the "rule" is to pass in a situation like this, since partner can be counted on to reopen with short hearts if you want to be competing. What Han is (correctly) pointing out is that good players know when to break the rules, and this is one of those times. For B/I it's important to learn the rules too.

sigh...if I didn't say what Han did it means I got this one wrong.

Aguahombre has exactly the right idea. It is generally the responsibility of the person who is short in the opponents' trump suit to stretch to compete. If you had a third spade and doubleton heart, then you might have to stretch a little harder and double, because your partner likely has 3 hearts and won't be able to easily compete.

2♣. I'm not passing, and I don't think it's right to double. And I'm not supporting his spades with a splinter. The one other thing I'd consider is trap passing, but only if they are vulnerable.

There was DEFINITELY a stage 0, we couldn't have achieved 27.5% otherwise. I hope there will be a stage 4, but I'm not getting much practice outside this forum these days.

Vuroth, the more you follow Ben's problems and think about them, the better you'll get at the table. I've noticed in myself 3 stages of ability to solve problems: 1) I can solve them in books, but not really ATT 2) I can notice that I messed up soon after the card left my hand. 3) I can actually find some plays (if I slow down my play this comes a little faster) I'm sure everyone is different, but doing all these problems helps me alot (thanks Ben!).

One sidenote piece of advice (along the lines of MBodell above), in a club where most pairs didn't even get to a small slam you should "never" stretch for a grand. More so, if you do ever bid a grand, bid the most likely grand to make; don't worry about minors vs majors vs NT. I learned this from Mark Leonard (I dunno if he posts here) after thinking for a long time and eventually bidding 7S when I knew 7D was slightly higher percentage to make. After 7S wrapped he said, "in this club, 7D is enough." (He was right, either would have been a top) In bigger events, with more better players, etc. you should still strongly consider just taking the plus. The ten points rarely are worth stretching for if you're not sure it's there. That said, Han is also right about bidding slower.

Yeah, the "hack" I do is to use the hand editor on BBF, and type the hand in. While I'm typing it in I can do card by card analysis. It's a bit of a roundabout way of doing it, but it "works".

Han, the forums lacked a simple elegance and clear teacher when you stopped posting. Math can't be that important, can it?

Your circadian rhythm is still running whether you sleep or not. The signals to wake up will probably be starting around 6 or 7 AM.

Ben- I for one have very much enjoyed these problems. I simply don't post my answers because it's in the B/I forum. -Ben P.S. I think your last "West" was supposed to be a "South"

Against E/W, N/S, or both?

On the same note as Han, it's better to ruff with anything except the 4 of spades. Just because ruffing higher cannot cost a trick, and so (I think) it is slightly better technique. If nothing else, it'll hide the spade situation from the declarer.

Even though Phil knows the hand, I agree that 5♥ seems to be the winning bid. My hand is about as bad for defense as a 14 point hand can be (I could easily see 5♣ making) and while the offensive values are a bit too clustered, I can't see passing or doubling (or trying for slam) as viable options.

Well, at least wyman and I agree...always good when partners agree (right or wrong). Here's why I'd pass: 1) I've already described my hand. I have 4 spades, and not more than a full opener. I have 3 heart losers, 2 spade loses, and 2 clubs losers...so nothing more to say to partner. Yes, I have some ruffing values in diamonds, but that isn't going to establish tricks in a side suit. 2) Partner passed 2 spades. I trust partner to take the push to 3 if he thinks we should. Why should I when I've already described my hand, and partner could have: Axxx, Qxx, Qxx, xxx We could be setting 3 diamonds here, and have no hope of making 3 spades (probably not 2 either).