MarkDean

Call me old-fashioned, but I would open my six card suit.

Pass for me - not that tempted with 652 of spades.

I would pass.

I am a bit confused - am I supposed to want to be in game?

For me, having a kid drastically reduced the amount I play. One thing which stops me from playing more than I do is the times of sessions. During the week, I go to bed at 930-1030 and wake up at 515, so staying up to 12-1 is tough - I am too tired to play well, and it messes up my sleep pattern.

I agree card play is way more important than bidding. I am relatively better card player than bidder, but even so, going over my own results, many more MPs/IMPs are lost in play than in bidding. I am interested if those saying bidding is more important go over their results over a large number of hands.

5♥

I bid game.

Oh, and I forgot to add, not having the 9 or 8 makes it more likely LHO has the ace to me, as Mr. LOGIC mentioned, I think she is unlikely to underlead QJ with QJ9x(x) or even QJ8x(x).

Definitely a guess about the opps distribution in the suits would help. For example, if I think LHO has 3, he is more likely to have underled A than QJ, but if he has 5, I think he is more likely to underlead QJ. All of this eliminating variance thing is kind of weird to me. I have enough trouble trying to get expected value decisions right, and now I am supposed to worry about the second moment too? And why is everybody always playing weaker teams?

It is still forcing for me. I would pass this hand.

I would bid 3♥, but that is partly because I raise with 3 somewhat frequently. If we are playing a style where we basically always have 4 for a raise, then I think it is close, and would probably only bid 2.

[hv=pc=n&s=sa7hkq54dqt4ct543&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=p2dd2s]133|200[/hv] IMPs, you are up.

I would double - but pass is a close second choice. I do not like 4♥ with that suit and partner likely to bid hearts with equal lengths in the majors.

I'll go with 2♠