wank

partner being a passed hand is likely to be pretty pure, so bidding 3nt (or 4 if he were unlimited) in expectation of a club honour seems like a bad idea. so just pass and collect 300 or so.

this isn't suspicious. it's just a very bad bid. as for the other hand, it's not even close to a double of 4h.

well often is a vague word isn't it? i mean partner's 35 in the majors often enough that 4h is excessive for my taste, but i've no idea how likely it is as a percentage.

i don't like 4h with that - it seems rather premature to be getting to the 4 level with a balanced hand when the total trumps are often only 17.

south's actions are good. he has extra values for a 4h bid. double shows that. it doesn't show a spade stack. north has no expectation of defeating 4s opposite a 4h bid - 10x of spades is very benign. 5hx is only 500 even if clubs are 5-1 with a ruffable trump holding and 300 if they're 4-2. it would obviously be absurd for south to bid 5H with ak in an unbid suit and a balanced hand. the solution is to double to show this type of hand and let north make a decision. as for north's original 2H, that's a matter of style. personally i would never play a style where i couldn't bid on that, but obviously that's a matter for agreement. there's nothing in the OP to suggest this was out of line.

ghoulash is a different game. there are plenty of very good bridge players but who are crap at goulash. playing in this tournament gunnar opened 5C with 5-8 in the minors. the bidding continued p p X p 5S x p, i.e. partner doubled the opps' 5S. gunnar pulled the double. partner was 76 in the majors. in a similar vein, i opened 5D, garozzo doubled, my partner asked garozzo what the double was [it was a portland club tournament so things were done a little differently]. garozzo said loudly, and chiefly to his partner, 'penalties'. my partner bid 5S, this was doubled and with 0148 garozzo pulled to 6C. this was going for 1400 but my partner tried 6h and i had the joy of giving preference between my voids at the 6 level for -1700. i also got a bollocking from my partner for not having the strong hand with honours in the majors that my 5D opener had 'promised'.

it's not at all a guess. lho has either 12 hearts or 11 plus kx of diamonds. either way we're unlikely to lose a heart trick at t1 and therefore at all. as for whether or not you should have bid over 4S, tactitcally this has worked fine. you were worried that partner would lose the first 3 or 4 hearts as you can't ruff, but now the opps have told you otherwise. partner's spades should be at worst 1 loser at this vulnerability. btw justifiably or otherwise i consider myself to be rather good at goulash. the last time i played in the event in question partner and i were +4.5 imps per board for the event (the variance is much higher obviously).

6s - no way to invite 7 sadly

jump completing a transfer isn't alertable; anything else showing a fit would be.

it's entirely obvious to open 1s and i'm a relatively sound opener. you have 12 points. no unsupported minor honours or stiff honours to downgrade. yes, aces and 10s are nice but the honour structure is generally fine.

then it means you bid naturally to show the other 4 cards. something like this:- bid nt with soft cards in diamonds bid 3d with xxx or hard cards in diamonds bid 3c wih 3 and 2 to a high honour bid 3h with 5 bid 3s with 6 when you establish a minor fit, it's more about showing stops/concentrations for 3NT, until someone goes past it.

3R = xfer, and completing sets suit. responder shows a shortage slam try or bids 3NT to show balanced slam try. 3S over 3D shows 5s and denies 3h. Retransfers (4d - 4h - 4s = strong spade raise). This is basically compulsory for any strong pair. 3C = 4 card stayman with smolen. can pattern out to show 5431 types if opener has no major fit. 3S = minor suit stayman. if opener bids 3NT, can continue with 4m to show 4 in a 45 type or bid 4M to show shortage in 55. 4X = 2 under slam try. if showing major, middle suit encouraging, 4NT RKCB. 4M = no. If minor, 4NT = no. 5m = encouraging. Middle suit = RKCB. if you're addicted to 5 card stayman then play muppet. this has the knock on effect that you have to play 2NT-3d-3S as denying a heart fit with 4+ spades which is worse. muppet (or any other 5cS) doesn't handle (54)(31) very well. in my experience getting to these 6m slams is big bucks. they're much easier with smolen.

it happens very rarely. if partner has too few points to respond (5 or fewer) the opps will normally bid and even if they don't, they often could make a bigger score by bidding and making a game contract than by defeating you by several tricks in 1 club. if you're worried about it, play longer minor whereby you open 1♦ with 4432. if it happens in a novice game, it's most likely because partner forgot to respond.

if we bid 2S the bidding isn't going to end. Rho will be doubling for take-out. we don't know if that's a good thing or not, but as partner didn't double or bid over 1NT we can assume they have at least an 8 card heart fit. if they can make 3H we might well be turning -90 or -120 into -140 pr even -170.

yes entirely. any competitive methods are allowed in south africa. i've never even been to africa but that took me about 20 seconds to find on the sabf website.

no

some agreements are just too stupid though.

double. partner's pretty unlikely to bid and it might well be cold but such is life. if you don't x you're just going to get robbed on most hands.

pass isn't a lie. pass doesn't show a weak hand; it shows a hand with no other action available. if partner bids spades you have a great hand. otherwise, this hand is a mirage. you know diamonds aren't lying very well. no need to perpetrate some outlandish misdescription like X or 1NT.

it's a totally clear pass. yes you might make slam, but that's life. insert pre-empt related cliche here.

diamond. you need 1, most likely 2, diamond tricks anyway. if you lead one you might also get a ruff/trump promo.

which extra bit do you think you have?

4♣ = range ask (answer steps in 3 point ranges) 4♦ = puppet to 4h, to play in whatever 4h/4s/5d = nat, slam try, nf 4nt = strongest invite. inv opposite whatever you think a minimum is (15-17?)

why do you feel bbo should be insulted instead?

pass. you have mountains of defence.