MarkDean

IMPs all white. You are second seat: (1♥) 2♦ (x) P (2♥) P (3♥) 4♥ RHO asks what 4♥ means, how do you answer?

I would double. I am happy if partner passes. Happy if partner bids 3NT. I can bid 3NT if partner bids 3M, paying off to Jxxx or worse with only six on my right. It seems unlikely partner will bid 4♣ given my hand: I hope s/he does not, I am not sure if I should raise or not.

[hv=d=e&v=b&s=s95ha963dqjt65c93]133|100|Scoring: IMP (1♦) P (1♥) P (1NT) P (3NT) AP Your lead.[/hv]

[hv=d=w&v=e&s=sk6ht4dat7ckqj974]133|100|Scoring: IMP (3♥) P (4♥) ?[/hv] Your guess.

When I was starting out, a local expert taught me to always bid game with two aces opposite a strong nt. I have been following that advice since, and it has treated me well. 3NT for me.

I would open 1♣, and rebid 1♠ over 1♥. I have done this a few times, and so far it has worked out well. I actually consider what to do over 1♠ a closer call: hand is awfully good for 2♠. Give me the T9 of clubs, and I would definitely reverse.

I am not sure you are going to be able to find a rigorous proof that one method is better than the other. It may depend on how much discrepancy there is between teams. Perhaps if there are 4 good teams and 8 bad teams it will be different than if there is a spectrum with only minor differences in ability. I am also not sure your metric is the best: I would rather have a system that always gets the top three in and a random fourth team than one that gets the top four in half the time and picks randomly half the time. All that being said, this seems like something that you could run as a Monte Carlo simulation if you are willing to specify chances of team i beating team j and exact format.

Agree with pass, but would lead the club ace: seems rather likely there are a lot of hearts in the dummy, and that opener will ruff/overruff pretty early.

Perhaps slightly off topic, but this weekend at a stratified pairs at a regional, I saw a pair win master points for first in the section in C with 37.xx%. I do not think I have ever seen a winning overall score below 54%.

Ah, yeah, that makes sense. I have definetly seen a lot of tempo issues directly over a weak 1NT opener as well.

I would bid 4♥, seems normal to me. btw, do we not get form of scoring and vulnerability, or is the idea to see if it is such a wtp you do the same thing regardless (as I would)?

I agree with pass not forcing redouble. 1) 1NTx can be best spot 2) Puts fourth hand under pressure 3) Adam's reason. I have a question about ethical situation, in your experience what did the slow pass suggest?

3♣ was checkback, artificial. Declarer should be either 2443 or 2452. It turns out no lead beats it, but I thought this was a brutally hard problem.

[hv=d=s&v=n&s=sat7h9643d862caj6]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Auction: P (P) P (1♦) P (1♠) P (2NT) P (3♣) P (3♥) P (3NT) AP Pick your poison.

3♥ for me, would bid 4 before I bid 2.

[hv=d=w&v=b&s=s53hkj3d54cqjt973]133|100|Scoring: MP[/hv] (1♣) x (P) ?

Agree with 3♠, and now I pass.

[hv=d=n&v=e&s=sh9832dakqcakqj52]133|100|Scoring: XIMP[/hv] Parnter opens 1♠, you bid 2♣, 5+ GF, partner bids 2♥. What is your call? What is your plan?

I am sure this has been discussed here before, but I was just wondering what people played over 1m-1M-2m in a 2/1 framework.

How does the play start?

1. 3♠, will double 4♥ if that comes back to me. 2. Pass - I do not think this one is close. 3. 4♣

I have a question about how people play certain auctions. With any partner I have discussed it with, if I overcall, partner cuebids, showing support, and that cuebid is doubled, my pass shows game interest while rebidding my suit shows rubbish. For example: (1♥) - 1♠ - (P) - 2♥ (X) : 2♠ = minimum, pass = some interest Now, suppose there is a different situation, where the opponents bid, but not as high as I was forced if they did not bid. Can they play there undoubled? If not, does my retreating to my suit show a worse hand than pass? For example: (1♦) - 1♠ - (P) - 2♦ (2♥): What does 2♠ show vs pass? Does it matter how high the level is?

What is the contract?

Yuck. I pass.

Depends on agreements. If we play responsive x shows 4 spades, then I x. Otherwise, 2♠.