wank

as i've said a few times in these types of auctions, one can have a hand of similar playing strength which has much less defensive strength. i'd rather have a suit like aqtxx on defence than kqjt9, especially as here where you've over the stronger hand.

all shortage showing bids should be limited (or slam drive) or have space remaining for serious/non-serious.

shouldn't referring to a master point rank come with how long one has been playing bridge and how many events you play per year to make something akin to a body mass index figure?

this might sound harsh, but this method is absolutely terrible.

literally every good player would show a heart raise in some form. a splinter or a limit raise are both possible.

most people on here seem to have an overly rosy view of human nature and think this hardly ever happens. in my experience it's rife.

assuming you have a way to make a stronger raise (bergen or something), i think partner's hand should be evaluated as more than 5. personally i don't play bergen so i only have 2NT and 3H available to cover the whole spectrum. in that situation i think it's much more important to keep the mixed raise and forfeit the weak raise.

does 3H have a narrower range than 'pre-empt'? i play 3H here as mixed which to me means 5-8ish. i don't believe you ever really get dealt weaker 'pre-emptive' hands. that would make it easier.

i'm guessing from south's 3S bid that 3D is supposed to be a strong spade raise (good agreement), but then south should be investigating slam, so even though he bid spades, not hearts, he's still used the UI.

call me timid but i'd just pass

yes passing a spade is just lame.

pass. thankfully it's matchpoints so i can happily take my best route to a plus.

the chance of 1Cx being passed out is slim and much less than the prospect of 1S being passed out. if you don't want to take the risk, just overcall 6D - you do have 12 tricks in your own hand. this risks missing 7 when p has the ace of hearts.

you're right that if you end up in 4m it'll normally be an 8 card fit and you'll normally go down, but it's unlikely to be a crisis. your upside is you collect a penalty (if p has a doubleton spade your spades are great on defence) or you play 3S. playing 3S is always going to be worth it. if p has 3 spades, one 3M is going to make, and often 2. when you have a singleton heart, the opps are normally in a 9 card fit. you want to bid to disturb that at the 3 level if you have a suitable shape. the rest takes care of itself. this is one of those occasions where 3NT should be a minor scramble which means you can't end up in the wrong minor - after bidding a weak 2S you can't have the values for game.

p can double 3h.

what did p have?

of course you make a game try. kxxxx xx xx kqxx is a balanced 8 count where game's worth bidding. how much more is partner going to take you for after you pass 1h?

anyone saying that partner would take 5H as a slam try for spades, is effectively saying 5H is not demonstrably suggested and that passing 4S perforce is.

result stands. the alert removes all doubt about how east has interpreted 4H, but there really isn't any doubt to remove. to anyone outside the realms of these forums, it's totally obvious that partner's taken your 4H as a transfer when he, having opened a weak no trump, removes 4H to 4S.

26 hcp to make 4M in an 8 card fit? where did you find that stat, the 1930s?

no. tournament directors can't see messages you've sent to other players, unless the other player went to the effort of taking a screenshot and emailing it to the director. bbo can investigate such things and review the chat logs if you email them. TDs are not connected to BBO admin.

not even close

but there are more takeout doubles than penalty doubles.

did you spot that 2S was strong? i'm guessing not.

as far as a large part, and probably most, of the world is concerned, 2S is the right bid on the north hand and it's the definition which is wrong.