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If LHO has ♦A+K or ♦A+K+Q or ♠QJ9x i think he would (should) have chosen one of these, not a trump lead. This makes him heavy favorite to have ♣K. (or marks him with?). Lead looks like from Tx. And he should have exactly 2/3 from AKQ. That makes starting line in OP wierd as playing him for Kxx (♣Q+♣ruff) seems much superior. It would be really helpful if you could get count in ♣, so you knew whether to play for Kxx or Kxxx. I am not sure where it is best to win 1st trick and how to get count in best way, but if it goes like: 1. ♥T-♥K-♥-♥ 2. ♣-♣-♣A-♣ If you get information that ♣ most probably split 4♣ (with K) - 3♣, you can probably assume he has ♠???? ♥Tx ♦HHx ♣K???. You need to give them ♦ trick now to cut off communication, else if you play ♣Q they return ♥. And you will lose 2♣;1♦;1♠. 3. ♦-♦H-♦-♦ (It will hardly go ♦-♦-♦-♦H as it leaves LHO with bare HH, i think you can just follow main plan) 4. ♥-♥-♥-♥A Need to get LHO on lead again, as he has no return 5. ♣Q-♣K-♣-♣ [hv=n=skxxxhxdjt8c&w=sqxxxhdaxcxx&e=sjxhxdkxxxcx&s=satxhqjxdcxx]399|300|Something like that, with LHO on lead[/hv] If he returns ♦, you can ruff ♣ and establish ♦ trick. If he returns ♠ win in hand, ruff ♣, ruff ♦ and play ♥ from top first squeezing from ♦, then endplaying with your last ♣. If he returns ♣, you can ruff, ruff ♦, cash trumps forcing to keep 3♠ and 1♣, then ♠A-♠K and you have one more trick as ♦ position is like JT-Hx

IMO 1♥ GF relay/nat is way superior to 1N GF. From my experience relay methods really start to kick in only if you can get shape+controls till 3N, so that you can bid 4♣ starting next relay step. This guarantees safety for marginal hands, else you often have to think if it is safe to bid one more as you have risk going too high. That takes a lot of thinking, logics, time and energy, so IMO, if you can't get this information low enough, relays are not worth it. I am recently toying about idea to divide hands in relayable/not relayable . Let's say you opened 1 ♥ and partner starts relaying. There are a decent number of high frequency hands like 5(332)/5(422)/5(431)/6(322) that you are generally willing to relay. Probably you can add some other shapes to these 15, and still get shape+controls at very comfortable level. But there are A LOT of other shapes that you wont get out at comfortable level plus they put pressure on high frequency shapes to get described. So reserve one bid for other shapes and use different approach for further bidding. You don't need to always say ''No'' to relays after this response, if it goes something like 1♥-1♠(Rel)-2♣(other hands)-2♥ (showing fit) fit guarantees safety and you may as well keep your relaying. (Not that 2♣ would show nothing and much would be lost)

♣ to K feels like a good start to me If RHO wins and doesn't return ♠, ♦A, ruff ♦, ruff ♣ in hand, ruff another ♦, ruff another ♣ in hand and claim. So if ♠ and 3-1 you also win.

You play different game and your contract is -4♦ by south (In other words if you take 3 tricks you just make) [hv=n=st743hq6543djcq82&w=sk95hjt92dk8caj53&e=saqh7dt97432ck974&s=sj862hak8daq65ct6]399|300|[/hv]

Partner leads naked ace and dummy has KQJ? If i have ace or king to get an entry for ruff i would show s/p (or obvious shift, if u play that), if i have "nothing" i have feeling partner is so afraid to play other suits, that he wont switch anyway, so i can't show anything useful except count.

My bridge logic says that both should be NF. 1# It just feels wrong that you have to bid 2♥, with nice 5-5 that are likely to be passed. And while i think there other reasonable ways how to show game forcing 5♥-5♠, this type would always be forced to bid 2♥ or stretch to GF. I would say this is more like wide-ranged invitational bid. It is more common and it also takes monster to safely GF in such auctions where you don't really know how much defenses (offenses) partner has. 2# NF feels right.

Are you really aiming to get more than +2 by raising? What i hear is how damn good this hand is and how right the 3♦ bid is, but it would be nice if someone explained his reasoning, and what kind of plus score are you actually aiming at? Part score swing? 3NT? 3♦x=? 5♦? After shape analyses they all feel quite distant possibilities, so what is it?

Wouldn't he have doubled 2♣ with that? I think that the most likely shapes are 3343 4261 3424 3415 Yes, you are most probably right... I was thinking about 6331, but didn't mention that it leaves one of opponents with 4♠. Hmm, but LHO could still be 5440, maybe that explain why he didn't double 2 ♦. Bidding 2♥ with 5431 feels a bit strange for me, you give up possibility to penalize opponents, and he hardly wants to be in 4-3, when you have to ruff ♦ in your own hand, although he has same problem with 5440. Anyway, if partner has 4261 3♦ contract is way more appealing, although i am still inclined to pass, as i see perspective in defense.

Partner is likely to be 3-3(+) in majors. JTx and 8xxx opposite is just terrible. And 1NT on my right, humm, very easy pass for me.

IMO this is way superior: 1♦ ... 5m+4M 2♣ ... 5♣+unbal no 4M 2♦ ... 5♦+unbal no 4M

4441 is more of a NT shape, unless you have a great fit and partner also have some ruffing values. In this case besides possible trump fit you still have absolutely spot-less 4-4, if partner also has 3-4 cards in those suits, you may have a lot of losing tricks. Also your HCP power isn't that great, partner will on average count on something more. I have only 3 honors all in different suits, and aces work well in defense too.

Pass. But if it were 1♥, i would double.

Pass.

Yes, obvious Pass. I don't think partner will bid making 3N that often, as i have stopper on my own and normally he will be willing to play 4M as he is likely to have some major length. Hand isn't offensive nor rich in intermediate honors, selling out with this hand seems like a suicide. Not really keen on winning partscore fight either, so i don't really see what the double would accomplish. Partner can still make his bid and so can opponent. IMO these rare making games that we wouldn't find with Pass, don't outweight "numbers" we are asking for. Huh... If opponents have preempted quite a lot of good games goes down...

I would suggest different ATB 1) ♠K - low - 2 - ♠A 2) ♠J

IMO ♣>>♦=♠>♥ Partner could have doubled for ♠ lead, so i opt for ♣. Auction seems aggressive enough, most probably based on some ♠ tricks. So i hope that i can catch ♣K, before they establish ♠ for 12 tricks.

I still think it is hard to assess. Sure LHO may have ♦K, but IMO it is hard to assess the exact probability, and i think it is much closer. As a player on lead i would expect ♦A to be with the one who bid 4NT (unlike this case), so i can't hope that my king would be finessed anyway, because of the 4N bid that suggest ♦ cue(no cue this time). If i found ♦A in the dummy it would be unexpected for me. If i have side queens and jacks i surely don't want to risk blowing a trick, because if i have points parter is likely to have less, so finding him with ♦Q is less probable. And the ♦7 aspect. There are not many cards above 7 left, and JT shouldn't be together with the leader, so it reduce possible holdings for ♦K underlead. Also it can't really be from Jxx7. Maybe only J87. Passive lead feels much more probable to me (X7xx...)

Didn't opener show 4 card support? If we assume that RHO has ♦K, playing him for less than 3 spades seems a better percentage play, else it is hard to assess.

Why does opener treat ♥A as ♥Q?

Hmm... Maybe, take in hand with ♠A, ♥K; ♥A(shows out?);♦K;♦Q;♥Q;♦A(pitching ♠); ♦ ruff, ♥T, ♣

I don't see any working squeezes, and endplay RHO with ♣KQJ+♥QJT ♦Qxx is too much hope for. Playing for ♦Q to drop at the moment seems best to me.

I thought about chances to make with ♣ play, if RHO has ♠KQx+ Generally you should play for this when LHO discards ♠'s, and RHO discards some ♦'s... In this case you should leave ♠A9 ♦AT8 in dummy a) If he has ♦9xxx he should discard all ♦, leaving ♠KQx ♥Qx Play ♦J overtake and establish ♦. ( repeating same idea about playing LHO for ♦KQx, just different dummy) b ) If he has K/Qxxx he will leave have more unpleasant situation. He can't discard all ♦ as i will simply cash ♥K and finesse ♦, if he ducks i still have an entry. If he leaves ♠KQ♥Qx♦H or ♠H♥Qx♦Hx. Play ♦A; ♠A; ♠. It is either endplay or cashing top trick. c)xxxx LHO can keep ♠x ♦KQ9 and i can't make with this line.

Play clubs and watch their discards... If i deduce from discards that east has ♦KQ, i can leave ♠A ♦ATxx in dummy and run ♦J. ( he should have ♥Qx ♦KQ +one crad left) I have also good chances to make if LHO has ♦KQ, however if at the ending i leave ♠A ♦AT8 in dummy and play ♦J, i need 9 to be with RHO so that i could overtake his honor with A and establish ♦. (If RHO leaves only diamonds i can duck(♥ is unlikely and i may change plan if he discards many ♠ early)). But there are quite a lot of possibilities what could happen, discarding is going to be tough.

Hi 3♥ splinter should help partner to evaluate his hand and find the right game and level. Problem seems ♣xxxx as he probably wont expect such holding, but IMO it is a minor issue.

I think that lead indeed makes LHO favorite to have ♦A, but it also makes LHO even bigger favorite to have ♠A and/or ♣. If he has 1 or 2 aces he is more likely to lead ♠ or ♣ rather than diamond , so if LHO has 2 aces, he is likely to have exactly ♣A & ♠A. If LHO has ♠A it is an entry for diamonds, so trying to establish ♦ via percentage play seems logical. What i tried to say is that i think possibility of LHO having all 3 missing aces makes him favorite to have ♦A, but is ♦Q best chance in that case? If he doesn't have all 3 aces, i don't see why he is favorite to have ♦A.