wank

i'm sure no decent partnership was playing cappathingy anyway

[hv=pc=n&s=sa9872hkj54dt86cj&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=p1c3dp]133|200[/hv] imps

12 cards

there are several schemes. pass is forcing and double penalties is old-fashioned but perfectly playable.

pass then 4s

that 3nt bid on auction 1 is fantastic.

yes pull. opps either have an 11/12 card fit or we have enough values for game.

Even nige1 would be struggling to find some points for pass

Seems ideal for 5c

what you said it basically correct, but you have a few rather idiosyncratic treatments in there. 4H for example would for normal people be fast arrival and weaker than bidding 3h and 4h. 3S would be a useful doubleton. 4nt which you haven't mentioned should be a club stop and extra values (no other bid available to show that). to the OP you need to decide how forcing you play 4sf. almost all decent players these days play it as forcing to game.

obviously not. he can decide whether he wants to bother calling the director or just condone the lead from the wrong hand. this is of course perfectly legal because no attention has been drawn to the deviation from procedure.

i would interrogate west (and for corroboration east) to find out how normal he considers their leads to be. if it turns out west plays against lots of people who would lead 2nd highest from 5 low then he misinformed north. if everyone in west's sphere of experience plays 4th from 5, then it's north's fault for asking a crappy question. it should be noted that although the competition is called the national pairs, it's unlike other competitions in that it involves a club level qualifier so east-west could well have narrower experience than would be expected in most national tournaments.

C - you agreed to play the convention and you didn't bother to discuss it further so you implicity agreed to play the standard version thereof. publications define what the standard version is.

You're 54 up so opps might be swinging... 64 J543 J85 Aqj8 All vul Pass on left, 1s from p, 3nt on right, you smack it. Your lead. [hv=pc=n&s=sa6hakq9543d92c72&w=s54hj762dj85caqj9&n=sjt92htda64c86543&e=skq873h8dkqt73ckt&d=n&v=b&b=13&a=p1s3ndppp]399|300[/hv] opp led a low heart which as you can see was monumentally unsuccessful. most people thought this was a terrible choice. i thought there was a bit of resulting going on and it was a very difficult decision. don't bother commenting on the 3nt bid - we were trying to generate swings to get our imps back.

Opp had a whine at my partner for stopping to think for a KJ guess instead of doing the thinking prior to leading to the trick. I've heard this theory before but consider it to be rubbish. Views?

i said i'd bid 4s on this. not because it's any worse than the other hand (it's better if anything), but it's a hand type what allows far more scope for a catastrophic fit than the other one. give partner heart wastage (obv no reason to place rho with 150 honours on this auction) and even 4s [originally mistyped 5] could be in danger without even thinking about unusual splits, for example: [hv=pc=n&n=saqjt2hk6d765cq65]133|100[/hv] we've got no source of tricks (at least the other one had a 5 card suit to potentially develop) and the heart holding is a bit of a mirage - let's say partner has 3 hearts so 2 to be ruffed in our hand, then there's potential for overruffs/trump promotions considering our lack of spade pips.

[hv=pc=n&s=sk632h6dak54ca643&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=p1s4h]133|200[/hv] very aggressive opps. imps following further discussion about the hand i posted, this one came up as a hypothetical. what would you do instead if this were your hand?

personally i have no problem with 2h originally, but once you've done that, i think you have to let 4s go. you don't have enough offence to invite p to the 5 level which i would accept with the original hand. 5h was smacked for 500 against 4s-1

posted p's hand

partner's short in hearts but didn't protect. he's probably got nowt in spades.

just don't play any ace or control showing responses. those are too bad for words.

5dx making however many you like - weighted if in doubt. east should be raising diamonds with 2 honours.

[hv=pc=n&s=sak7haj4dj9ca7432&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=p1s4h]133|200[/hv] imps again aggressive opps please say what you would do over p's likely continuations if you double or invite. partner's hand is [hv=pc=n&n=sq6532hkdakt84c54]133|100[/hv] obviously he has the shape to pull a double but he also has a bag of crap. as far as i'm concerned this hand is a pass of the double in which case you would get 500. spades are 4-1 but if you finesse a diamond through the non-preemptor on the first round you make 6 spades. personally i'd have bid 5h on the original hand. simple bid for a simple mind, though for sure i see the logic of double. everyone at the event was claiming it's a slam drive though hence the title.

Ok 2nd question, would you double (or have doubled 1s originally) with p's actual hand:- X Ajtxx Axx Aqxx

Oh yes imps btw