wank

that's lovely, but west doesn't have any UI

eh?

it depends which one you led. even if you play 2nd highest from bad suits, you should lead high here. btw i think a club lead is very poor. declarer normally has 6 - he's likely to have enough tricks if he can establish them. you go passive on hands where you think the hand lies badly for declarer. xxx over the clubs doesn't constitute lying badly.

a lot of tosh in this thread. you've got no idea if the opps will bid 4s or not and you've got no idea if it would make (or go for 1100) if they did. there are plenty of other nice things that could happen too, like the opps misjudging a 5 over 5 auction or going off after a slam try. what you do know is that the opps' chances of making a correct decision on the deal are far lower when you stick it up em with a 4h opener and take away all their space. the chances of partner making a correct decision about whether to bid on are improved too when you've described your hand so well.

jack of spades

agree with 4s, object to 5c. signing off with 2 bangers would be pretty pathetic imo. it's time to back off though once 4s gets blued - you cued because you had 2 bangers and now it transpires you only have 1.

3rd in non-vul is a cliche for a reason - all the other positions are big gambles. take notice of the opps' tempo and demeanour. you can often tell if LHO has a particularly fat hand.

i psyche reasonably frequently. you just have to apply some judgment, like in all other situations in bridge, rather than just sticking a pin in your bidding box. don't psyche short suits. 3 cards is optimal imo. you don't want to get raised, and certainly not higher than the 2 level. the apocalypse scenario is when you pick off LHO's suit, he passed, partner makes a big raise and LHO can smack it.

that's as declarer. you can often make an extra trick with the opening lead. hence, often, nether side can make 1NT (or indeed 1 of a suit, though deep normally doesn't analyse minority fits).

Opening 4M on such hands is an underrated strategy on bbf imo. This isn't the right suit for it though.

I pass because of the vul. Rho hasn't raised. Either the opponents belong in hearts or partner has hearts and spades. If the latter, we're aiming for a narrow target by bidding. +200 from 2s or -200 in 3m are both very big prospects.

That's a pretty idiotic comment. They're inctedibly useful when they come up. The problem is their infrequency, not an issue of efficacy,.

double. 3nt would be crazy. raise to game/pass 4♥

i would bid 2nt over 2s and consider it quite obvious and plan to power to slam later. as for opening 2c, i'm very conservative with 2c openers. i like to have play for game opposite a balanced yarborough with no particular fit. this is very close to that level required even for me, but falls just short. i have no problem with anyone who does open 2c.

north shouldn't bid 4s. his hand is too strong for that. 4♥ would be better.

discipline

double - a very suit orientated hand and a very suit orientated spade holding.

i think i'm happy i don't qualify to play in seniors events.

that's where you've gone wrong. you've projected your standards onto someone else. A 4 card suit and 5 points are both perfectly in range for me. i can assure you that if you're watching the bermuda bowl you'll see people overcall on much worse than this.

now i shouldn't. bell should. my plane arrived 4 hours ago. i've been sat pissing time away at the airport cafe.

3d on this hand is crazy. yes many people would do it, but that's because many people are indisciplined and have no sense of hand evaluation.

eh?

ok i was south. i thought i must be showing something like i had: lots of aces, but a paucity of (quick) tricks, such that i just needed a little extra playing strength from p. north is a pretty well known player who didn't approve of my bidding, thinking i had a slam drive. fwiw, my view is norths are undervaluing their hand:- 1) kx of hearts is a positive feature - it sounds like p has the ace and at least 1 more (the opps have stopped in 3 at favourable vul). compare the value of the k♥ to the k♦ on the actual hand (edit: ok the diamond king is good if north also has the jack). even more acutely, imagine the value of the k♥ as opposed to the k♦ if north has Aqxxxx xx Kxx xx. 2) the 6th trump is obviously an extra trick. 3) the extra shape in the minors is better than people might expect. you're expecting at least 1 long diamond to ruff in partner's hand (though yes that might counterfeit a discard if p has AK of clubs). you do have the 2nd round control of clubs. if partner is ace rich, that's very possibly a good holding. as for anyone thinking i could envisage a heart singleton in p's hand, perhaps i'm more used to the level of opps' aggression they demonstrated here - not only did p have a 2nd heart, it was the king.

imps. no special agreements, though 5s was meant and taken as a general invite, not asking for anything specific. [hv=pc=n&s=skt95ha52daqcajt2&n=saj8643hk4dj654c9&d=s&v=n&b=15&a=1c2h2s3h4hp4sp5sppp]266|200[/hv]

the opp was talking out of his arse. 3s just asks for a stop. as for the double, i wouldn't do it because i might be rogered later by partner supporting hearts. i would just bid 2c.