wank

some agreements, i.e. 'styles' are just too bad to use that as an excuse. having played bridge for about 30 years i suspect i've opened a pre-empt with a side 4 card major in 1st/2nd seat somewhere around twice. it would have to be a very pure suit. something like kqj or qjt to 7. whatever one thinks about the idea in general, doing it on a crappy diamond (minor)} suit with a very decent spade suit on the side is just too perverted.

all west for me. opening the west hand a pre-empt is gross. he should appreciate the 3NT doesn't show any defence and is often an attempt to shut the opps out. even if he wasn't aware of that originally, 5D should have been a wake-up call.

this is awkward. ax of clubs is enough for you to want to be in 5c so 3C is out for me. otoh 3nt can easily be a far safer spot. anyway, best start with a double and see what happens. hopefully when p takes us in spades past 3nt we'll get home in 5C anyway.

people tend to blame acol for unrelated bad bidding. e.g. this hand: acol has nothing to do with overcalls and responding to partner's overcall.

yes all fine. dummy putting his hand down wrong is an irregularity. south can draw attention to that irregularity whenever he wishes or not at all.

west is rather light for 2c but it's not a crime. 3nt is a huge overbid and i think it's a poor decision to ignore the spades.

indeed so, as does everyone else. however, once you don't pass 3D you're in a game force, irrespective of whether you're playing 2/1, acol, or snap. yes, acol's not the best system but it's still possible to play acol in a more or less absurd manner. anyway, back to the question, over 3H if partner bids 3NT, you should bid 4d.

absolutely no reason to double.

they'll have a pretty accurate count on dummy's heart length a quarter of the way into trick 1.

anti-cuebid. shows a lack of wastage. no soft crap. the less points in the suit the better, and that includes the ace - the ace is typically useless - it's only really a good card when the other hand has a 3 card suit with a slow loser in addition to the void. it allows you to show soft (and valuable) cards outside by proxy.

funny how double is whatever people want it to mean. to me it's more takeouty than this. i just pass.

i'm happy to believe them. dunno what partner's upto, but i'll find out afterwards.

in normal circumstances, no. i've no idea how many diamonds they have. but they're quite sporting, so i'd smack it on the assumption that if they're close to making 3, they'd be in 5.

yeah i'd smack this. bad breaks and so on. also might help partner with his lead to know they're in a marginal contract.

yeah i think this one is a much better double than the others i've seen so far.

not for me. opps were under no pressure in bidding and i've got no surprise.

5 spades look nice, but they don't really translate into tricks.

it's normal for X here to be penalties and it's obv also implied in the question.

i'd just bid 2s. no need to search for dodgy penalties at the 2 level when you've got an 8 card fit in a higher suit

i would smack it if i had a nice lead, but i don't.

i double. mainly because i'm too good for 2D and not good enough for 3.

pass lho is probably bidding to make - it wasn't a competitive auction - and i have no reason to think he's wrong.

doesn't double show my hand perfectly now? lots of convertible values and extra length. yeah i might be endplaying partner, but such is life.

what do you suggest east does? passing with 15 points doesn't occur to bad players.

i've got game in my own hand. there's a bid for that. i certainly won't be doing any bailing.