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i would be ashamed to take a convention card to a club

this is just plain illogical. you think partner has some sort of fetish and prefers to lose tricks in trumps and to the ace of diamonds than losing tricks in clubs? people who think 3c just asks about clubs are misunderstanding. think of it this way: opener is saying 'i'm interested in game, but my clubs are crap; will game make?'. the answer with this hand is, 'we'll lose a few club tricks, but the rest of the hand is gin, 4S'

the problem is your forcing 1 spade. make that non-forcing and the 7 counts can pass

opposite an unbalanced diamond i think 3nt is pretty bad. partner's likely to be short in spades, which makes our hand great for slam and dubious for 3nt (we're nowhere near guaranteed to have 9 top ones).

yes. club suit not ideal, but how can you be any stronger for 2s?

thanks for that. i'll change my opening range to 0+

yes nf over a minor something like 6-9. over a major it can be forcing and unlimited.

too strong for 2H and redouble would just be gross with this shape

3 clubs. invitational with clubs. seems like what i have. perhaps hearts will score better at matchpoints but 2H would be too much of an underbid.

which bid are you thinking of which says that? ok, if you're playing an unbalanced diamond you're obviously in a superior , but still dubious, position, because you can play a 2D or ideally 1NT rebid as showing hearts, so at least you'll not miss your 44 heart fit.

4441 is a very weak shape - no long suit to establish without being balanced which allows you to make no trump contracts on high cards alone. for the first time in my life i agree with something philg posted. pass marginal 4441s. 13 counts of course aren't marginal though. and opening 1D and rebidding 2C is pretty disgusting. you'll play 2D on a 42 fit instead of 2H on a 44 fit. if i opened that shape i'd rebid 1NT, but that has issues too. if i were unfortunate enough to be playing weak and 4 i'd be properly screwed. starting with a pass doesn't preclude you from bidding later. if you get a chance to double 1 or 2 spades later you'll show your hand much better than you could hope to achieve by opening.

it's not about costs. it's about politics and economics in a wider sense. there is a view that as a publicly funded organisation, the BBC shouldn't be involved in areas which the private sector can manage as well, because this is interfering in the economy 9the bbc website sucks all the traffic away). the other side is that everyone loves the bbc and noone really thinks a competitor will do things as well.

[hv=pc=n&n=sq54hkq7432d8432c&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1cp1hp1s(unbal, non-f)p2h(to%20play)p4d(splinter)p]133|200[/hv] you play invitational jump shifts so bidding 1h then 2h is less than 9. 1 spade was non-forcing

opening 2C and rebidding 4D is gross

lol noone prefers a multi to a weak 2 in isolation. people only play multis because they free up other bids.

2 way cb? lebensohl in general, but most importantly (imo) over reverses?

ok but there are other dangers. for example, opener might jump to show extras. it might then become difficult to set responder's suit as trumps and initiate blackwood without opener doing something awkward. rkcb for opener's suit might be of little value, because the king of that suit is often irrelevant on this hand type. funny stuff happens. it might not be likely, but a straight 4 ace bwood to start mitigates those risks

it should be 4 ace blackwood - and there's no reason to assume this isn't the right bid on partner's hand. if p has a very shapely hand just missing the right number of aces, it's much better to get blackwood in before you get pre-empted by 4th hand's equally shapely hand. A x KQJ10xxx KQJx for example.

there's no reason at all why pass should be forcing. having a combined 22 count doesn't mean it's your hand at the 3 level. i don't think i ever saw anyone playing pass as forcing on an auction like this. my money's on your being led astray by the earlier question. before any weak NT aficionados quote their 'extra values or extra shape' mantra to me, extra shape is good when you have a fit, but when you don't have a fit, extra shape can be rewritten as 'extra misfit'

3d is to play - a minimum with long diamonds (6+). That was perforce an underbid and over statement of the diamond suit. Still, north could punt 3nt, expecting 6 diamonds, an ace king, and 1 trick from another king. his original 2nt was already on the very conservative side.

Playing weak no trump isn't conducive to light openers because you often don't have a rebid if partner responds in your doubleton at the 1 level as per this hand. With a near opener p might also have to respond at the 2 level on a 4 card suit which is vomit worthy to cater for your having a strong NT, leaving you in a similar situation at the 2 level. Still you have to do your best. I'd rebid 2c. Btw weak nt in 3rd is a spicy strategy. Weak nt vul in 3rd would be a straight up bad strategy. As with all authors, don't assume ron klinger's a good player just because he can string together a sentence.

Yes it's ridiculous. The hand has far too much defence relative to offence.

anything except 1s is bizarre

2 i think it's clear to pass. the interesting hand i think is xxx ax axx ajxxx. i'd raise to 2d. i don't want to declare this.

i'm supposed to be organising training for the europeans. the team want like to do slam bidding to start with, but other topics will probably be covered. does anyone have a load of pre-made deals for the occasion? standard wise they're a mid ranked open team. no chance of qualifying for the bowl but some chance of qualifying for the 2nd half of the euros.