wank

your opp is a moron

pass

[hv=pc=n&s=sak9432ha92dj3ckq&n=st5hkj543d542cat2&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=3dpp3sppp]266|200[/hv] imps noone vul

4 clubs is a slam try, albeit a particular subset of slamtry. there's no denying that. it shows considerably more than 4S which is a punt at game on distribution. presumably those who think 4C doesn't show any extra think 4S shows like 19 with exactly 4522 (no splinter then). i would think it pretty obvious that that's daft.

but it's also a terrible 5 level hand opposite some hands partner will be salivating over.

nothing without splintering which would be overstating your hand.

i was meaning that i think 3NT should be more descriptive than just '13-15 bal with a club stop' which is what i thought you said the first time, i.e. it should show a more no-trumpy hand and most likely a more robust holding than the one actually held. evidently i misunderstood you.

I don't agree with that. 3nt should show a hand which is more suited to nt play than a random 13-15 bal with no major. Axxx is pretty unsuitable and anti-positional in so far as hands with a stop go. There's the entire 2+3 level to play with. There's no prize for getting to 3mt in the fewest possible bids when they already know what to lead.

4c doesn't show a hand that's worried about going off in 3nt. It's strong. Partner should start with a double.

lol @ people who think it's normal for double of 3H to be for penalties because of xyz absurd logic.

east doesn't know west's strength. he can roughly extrapolate it from the opps' bidding. that's not the same thing. an encryption key has to be something more solid.

I'd bid 3nt. This soft rubbish won't play enough better in spades to justify the info leak. Being 43 as opposed to 42 in the majors is a plus because they'll be tempted to lead one.

if the opponents open the bidding in your suit the chances of your making a game have decreased considerably, so you can often afford to sit there quietly and defend if they play in your suit or no-trumps or make a delayed takeout double if they bid your short suit. with a sufficiently above average hand you will still often make 3NT though so good hands with their suit can overcall 1NT. it doesn't sound like this hand is quite hand good enough, but it's close. if responder turns out to have nothing and passes, partner will bid on very little in the passout seat to protect you.

on a club lead you need the diamond 3-2 split as well. i suppose as to whether it's a good slam depends on one's philosophy. magazine bidding challenges assume the best lead when awarding points for example.

you won't be enjoying 7D on a club lead.

south is squeezed on the run of the clubs. on a diamond lead you can try cashing 3 diamonds, leaving the king high in dummy, then 4 clubs throwing 2 hearts and a spade. this avoids squeezing south. if west turns up with 4d or 5 clubs though it doesn't work. you could do something similar with cashing only 2 diamonds (hoping it strips west), seeing them break, then cashing 5 clubs when west has 5 (throwing one of south's diamonds), but you have to commit to this and can't combine your chances with the first part which is more likely (i.e. west having 3 diamonds and fewer than 5 clubs).

x-3d-3h-3nt ideally, although it's quite hard to come up with a hand where partner isn't raising to 4H - 3262 shape not suitable for 2D (or not available).

the problem is the 6 is can be from k63 (assuming declarer plays the 2 on the first round). now partner should duck the queen and even if he doesn't, he won't be playing one back anytime soon. the aim is to solidify partner's suit so he can happily win and continue them.

i count 19 myself. it's rather early to be entirely discounting the queen of clubs. he's opened 3rd in hand. he could have anything. as for passing 3S, methinks you're barking up the wrong tree. it's not like we're choosing whether to invite or just bid game and we've got a nice safe 140 available. here 3NT might be 3 off, but 3S will often be just as bad.

hi mr roth-stone, 4D is setting trumps and demanding a cuebid. you're maximum in terms of HCP and very suitable. cuebid spades and hope that's enough for partner to partner to bid blackwood.

the 9 is the best card to return. whilst systemically incorrect, it allows east to continue them safely unless he holds aq85x, i.e. it allows him to continue with the 10 from 108x remaining on the 3rd round. this shouldn't be tried if p is likely to be short of entries - it would be a little embarrassing if declarer covered with the queen and partner let it hold to preserve communications.

north is entitled to try to guess what his partner has. most people wouldn't guess their partner had messed up on such a simple auction though, so perhaps south has history of this mistake which north should disclose (i would guess he does since north didn't alert 2H). if south tips north off with his reaction, north has UI and legally must continue to assume south has what he's shown. of course it's very difficult to say what type of reaction would be enough to tip north off with enough certainty as to create a UI problem.

oops. lovera sucked me in.

i bid diamonds and if the bidding proves conducive i'll bid clubs.

so what? he gives UI to his partner that he would have made a lead-directing double and then the director offers to let him take his previous pass back and he makes a....yes....lead-directing double.