quiddity

Feels close to me too; I guess I would pass but the two small hearts make it very tempting to double. I'm way more worried about partner passing it out with three hearts (if I pass) than I am about possibly going for 1100 if I double.

A lot of replies are focusing on your partner's bidding but you can't control that. All you can do is bid your own hand as best you can, and it really is indefensible to pass throughout with a good 15-count and a stiff heart.

Does your partner generally invite with good 14-counts?

Why is this the case? With the wide range of the overcall, it seems like the benefit of narrowing that range would be increased. Is it just that the chance of game is so much lower when they open?

[hv=pc=n&s=sj62h632dqt76c742&w=sk73hj74dj42ckt53&n=saqt854ht95dakc98&e=s9hakq8d9853caqj6]399|300[/hv] Something I haven't seen before. One robot passes another robot's cuebid. East deals (e-w vul): 1D P 1N 2S 3S P P P West, north, and east are all robots (from the anonymous play option on iPad). 3S was explained as forcing, 18-22 points, 3+ diamonds

Really?! Weird, I always assumed the opposite.

5224 for example. Or what about a 5125 game force? If 3C is nonforcing then a good hand with clubs has to cuebid or double. However, when I made the first comment I thought the vul was w/w based on the diagram. Passing is much more attractive when the opps are red.

It is takeout / reopening for me. I don't think it promises diamond length and I wouldn't consider passing it here.

Maybe this is too aggressive but I think I would try 2D and hope to follow with 2S and then 3H. I don't want to give up on spades yet (maybe partner has xxx Qxx in the majors), I don't want to risk partner passing a nonforcing spade bid when we have a heart fit, and it seems like jumping in spades is a misdescription.

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IMO: Board 1 is just overbidding by EW which worked out when North made a horrible "normal seeming" lead. Assuming the 1C opening and 2C preference were natural, how many clubs is partner going to have? Board 16 is a normal upgrade to 1N (prime 14 with a great suit). The last board is interesting. Maybe the lesson is that long suits take tricks in NT. Upgrade for 5+ card suits. Getting to a pushy game with no source of tricks when the opps open 1M is not likely to work.

I would be pretty sad if I couldn't make a lead directing call white at matchpoints for fear of being hung out to dry by the world's crappiest 11-count.

QTx T8xxxx KJx x Matchpoints, r/r, partner deals: 1D 1H (3C) passed back to you. What now? Also, we were playing weak jump shifts. Should I have considered trying that instead?

If he has an accept he bids 5S. If he has 3 small hearts and we have no control, that's really unlucky. But given that he showed 9 black cards I'm not terribly concerned about it, and given that he is opposite 18-19 balanced I don't think he should be overly concerned either. edit: I guess I don't see why showing or denying a side suit control is so important here. Frequently with big balanced hands we just want to issue a general invite. If partner is rejecting all along then I don't want to bid 4H needlessly. And if I do bid 4H then I want it to show something more useful than Kxxx of a side suit. edit 2: meh, nm. Your approach is probably better. At least the rules are very clear.

Even if it shows a control, why does it have to be mandatory? Partner's cuebid was forced since our hand is unlimited. As far as we know he is merely cooperating, so we shouldn't have to tell him about our heart control. We should be able to just bid 4S to clarify that we have an invitational hand.

This might be a sign not to lead trumps at all. Dummy's clubs are likely to be very good and it looks like they are breaking. I would prefer to play for a force, if only I knew which major to lead.

If this is true, then wouldn't partner tend to move or stop based on trump quality since every side suit has been cuebid? Maybe it would be better to just bid 4S. We show a balanced slam invite with the ace of clubs and let partner work out whether his hand is a good minimum or a bad one. He's more likely to infer that we have good trump support since we don't bother showing anything else. Of course this could work out badly if he has ♥Q and just needs a control bid there.

I would try 1NT. Not ideal, obviously, but I'm not going to pass with half the deck and a doubleton heart. If we get hit I can consider redoubling to have partner pick a minor. Say partner has something like SK and out. They might easily take 7 or 8 tricks in hearts and we might be on a club finesse to make 1NT. It would not be surprising at all to lose a partscore swing by passing.

Hmm.. Why is it better to require extra values for this double? Do the risks of missing game and going for a number outweigh the risk of failing to compete when it looks very likely that they have a fit?

You do not want to play in 1NT because you are "guaranteed" to get a better score by defending 1NT. Obviously this is ignoring declarer advantage, first lead advantage, etc. I suspect that many times when LHO is planning a penalty pass, partner can and will run. But I don't have a ton of experience with such sequences. I suppose you would pass if the hand were slightly weaker and LHO can still have the same penalty pass. Honestly the "huge error" thing strikes me as ridiculous. We're talking about downgrading by a jack in the face of a misfit and adverse vulnerability.

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think that's relevant. Bidding 1S prevents us from defending when it is right to do so. That's the downside I was referring to. Making 1S is still worth less than beating the opponents in 1N or 2m. Going down in 1S is costlier than allowing the opponents to make 1N or 2m. I'm assuming that playing in the 7 card fit will not provide an extra trick on average.

How is that relevant?

I'm confident that the downside of partner having a 1NT or heart rebid far outweighs the upside of partner having a 17 count with 4 spades, three aces and a stiff club. I'm pretty confident that, as far as getting to the optimal contract is concerned, passing is best at this vul. Opener is just too likely to have a weak notrump or a long heart suit. It's quite possible that what I gain in the bidding I would lose in the play because of misdefense or a bad lead or something. Maybe bidding is right for that reason. I don't have the necessary experience to weigh these factors and be confident of the best approach.

Yes, I think he should. I don't think he needs significant extras to double with that shape. Even if responder has a 5 count we don't want to let them play 2D.

That's an unfortunate distribution for us but letting the opps play their vul 7 card fit doesn't have to be wrong. Maybe both contracts are down. But I agree, it's probably bad. I wonder how likely it is for partner to have 4 spades and be unable to make a competitive double. Probably not very likely. And it seems like playing 1N or 2H when wrong could be a big deal at matchpoints.