wank

1D - 1H - 2H - 4H. easy. your partner was clueless.

2nt shows the minors if you agree it shows the minors. there are other perfectly sensible meanings for 2NT in a landy context. i certainly don't play it as minors myself.

those parasites subsidise the craphole which is the rest of the country. no, i don't work there.

yes, congratulations, you've made an economic black hole on your own doorstep

they actually bother to put on level 2 tournaments?

It's the UK (mainly) that created the democratic deficit. The power being in the hands of the Council of Ministers is because further political integration has been blocked so national governments (in particular the UK) can wield a veto over certain supposedly key issues. I'm British and I'm wondering if I can get myself a Scottish (newly independent, and remaining in the EU, of course) passport in the event of a Brexit.

double 1s and bid clubs. this should show a strong hand with clubs, as doubling and bidding a new suit does in normal circumstances. there's no need for going wild - LHO is still unlimited. there's nothing wrong with passing a club.

in which round did they get the bye? if it was in a late/the last round, the ninth team have a point, but it would be the organisers' fault for giving a bye to a team in contention at the end. byes should be given to the lowest ranked teams. on the early rounds this might result in a team which turns out to be in contention getting a bye, but that's not an issue because it's self-correcting. they got 2 free VPs relative to the field, but they were punished by the swiss system and had to play harder opps, so then the 9th team have no cause this complaint.

2nt relay. it's a narrow opening range in HCP terms and there are a limited number of possible shapes. responder can just ask questions. no need to set hearts as trumps and conduct a real conversation.

i saw this recently at my table when i got dragged along to the bridge club....so ridiculous it was funny. the contract was 2S and the player's partner led the ace of clubs (A from AK asking for standard count) and dummy puts down QJxx. The player has xxxx. how to signal? your partner is bottom 1/4 club player. if you peter (whichever pip you play), there's a big chance partner will continue the king trying to give you a ruff, setting up dummy's QJ, and in doing so, the king might well get ruffed down too. not petering and giving false count to encourage a switch would be a little too advanced for this player (probably slightly above average club player himself), so what should he do? giving a slow peter is perhaps the standard technique for players of this calibre, but this guy did way better. he took his 9 non-clubs and put them face down on the table and was perforce left with a hand of 4 cards, which he then fanned very widely and then followed suit. his partner blithely continued with the king which got ruffed. no, before you jump to it, she wasn't 'doing the ethical thing' and punishing him for his naughty ways. she was entirely blind to the whole by-play. for extra irony, as the guy had sat down at our table for the start of the round, he had with all seriousness, put his hands together in prayer position and bid us 'namaste', the Hindu greeting (according to wikipedia, "It expresses politeness, courtesy, honour, and hospitality from one person to the other").

you bid entirely normally.

i agree with west. yes south could work out that playing a club back needs his partner to have the ace of diamonds, which he shouldn't have or the King of hearts (give declarer JS, QH, AKD, JC and you have a filthy 11 or give partner 7 spades and west can have AKQD) and declarer misguesses trumps, but firstly declarer could misguess trumps, particularly if he plays a diamond or 2 to check for (false-)signals, and secondly, south might not work that out/trust his partner to have cashed AD, and thirdly, he'll often save an overtrick (which he does evidently value), i.e. if declarer has no diamond loser. the 3 points together make it clear that the defence west suggests is a logical alternative imo. as for north's play, a club switch would of course be swifter if it was a singleton, so ducking is suggested.

opening 2 clubs shows more than what's required to make game. it shows a lot of defence, essentially plenty of points outside your long suit. as for 4 spades, that's a pre-empt. it should be a hand lacking the defence for a 1 opener (different kettle of fish in 3rd/4th). as others have said, it's basically a 1S 3S rebid hand.

you got to the best contract. well done.

yes duck. partner's marked with some values. if he had a singleton he'd normally protect (pre-balance. misread the auction)

lebensohl to 3s is an invite with 4. jumping to 3s is an invite with 5 as far as i'm concerned. playing your way you'd have a quandry. you'd bid on, but you wouldn't know whether to bid 3NT or 4S. i suppose you'd bid 3NT and hope partner can correct back to 4S when it's right.

i double. if it's a part score hand it's unlikely to play best in 2NT. if it's a game hand it'll often be best by p's hand. if p bids 2S or lebensohls out into 3D, i wouldn't feel i had enough extra to be guilty about passing. it would be more of a problem for me with the Q of S extra.

i did have a 14 count with partial stops in the reds opposite an unfavourable 3 level overcall. 3NT is very much in the picture despite lho having 16+. xx Ax xx KQxxxxx leaves 17 points for RHO and gives us 11 top tricks in no-trumps or clubs. and the opps have not been pre-empted out of the hand yet. LHO is going to balance whenever he's got some modest values and short clubs. as it was 3h would have made. if you think p's actual hand was rather specific, i'll head to the cherry-picker and leave you to decide what p would lead after 3C p p 3h p 4H p p p with Jxx xx x KQxxxxx, even if clubs and spades break well enough for us to make 4 tricks.

partner must have 18-19 balanced and not bid because he's happier defending spades. if he's 4342 1S and 2D might both make, but it's a tiny target to aim for. 2D is very dangerous. the opps know they have a misfit. they're going to be gagging to smack 2D. we could get carted out, particularly if p is 4432.

X no, double doesn't show 4 hearts.

[hv=pc=n&s=sakq4hj64d10742cat]133|100[/hv] this way my hand. 4s is a pretty hot contract (and makes). 5C is a poor contract (but still makes). i think my partner suspected i was being absurd - he shrugged and passed.

did south think the opps never got dealt 3 card suits [or doubletons, or singletons, or sequences]?

i would double pretty happily.

no blame. south knows north has short clubs and could be bidding on not much.

[hv=pc=n&n=sj43hdq542ckqj632&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=1c(16%2B)p1d(0-7)3cp3sp]133|200[/hv] i was playing with quite a well known player who had this hand. i managed to totally confuse him with my bidding. what do you think i've got and what do you? your defence to a strong club X = hearts, 1D = spades, 1H = 2 suits of a colour, 1S = majors or minors, 1NT = diamonds and spades or clubs and hearts.