quiddity

I think whether North opens or not is almost completely beside the point. Replace the ♠Q with a small spade if it makes you feel better. Balanced 11-counts tend to be pretty borderline even with a good suit. The main problem is that 3♦ was an underbid. With 8 tricks for notrump and Axx in partner's suit and a stiff South needs to make a forcing bid.

No, nothing as light as this. It will be very difficult for your partner to field such a wide range if the opponents compete. For example, (1♦)-X-(3♦). What should partner do with a 12-count and a 4-card major? Or worse, a 12-count and a nice 5-card club suit?

I don't think East started with 4 diamonds or three diamonds including the jack, else he might have pitched a club instead at trick 4. I also don't think he would have stiffed the king. I would lead the queen of diamonds (intending to duck if West covers and finesse on the next round) to pick up an original xx or Jx with East. edit: Also, it might have been better psychologically to discard a club from dummy at trick 8 and see one more discard from West before pitching the long diamond.

Fred's "Learn To Play Bridge" series has a nice set of slides on U2N and Michaels with examples of hands which qualify or do not qualify at various vulnerabilities. It was available through the old windows client; I'm not sure if it can be viewed through the web client. It includes discussion on the importance of spots, having the honors in the long suits, etc.

Even if 2♣ isn't strictly game forcing it still shows a good hand, not an 8-count with a broken suit. I'd bid 1NT unless 2♣ is defined as "non-forcing".

South's bidding seems fine to me. Why didn't North open 2♠? Anyway, 5♥-X seems like the par contract (single-dummy) so what's the problem?

What do you mean unanimous? I count 6 votes for sign-off and 3 votes for slam invite. I also see several people saying they would prefer to transfer and bid spades because they think the hand shows promise, but after the given auction they would just sign-off because now they have no way to show shape - 4♥ is just a general invitation. So they would like to make a try but they think partner will not have the necessary information to make an intelligent decision.

I thought you might have seen the auction as starting with 1♣ in which case I would tend to respond 1♦ with 3=3=5=2. With the auction as shown I would bid 1NT with something like KJx Qxx Txxxx QT; 2♦ would be a limit raise and 3♦ would be mixed. I guess this could qualify as a mixed raise but for me it looks more like a 1NT response. edit: The other thing that confused me about the first comment was "admittedly it is imp pairs.." With imp scoring I miss the constructive raise more; if this were matchpoints I would probably respond 1NT with that hand even if a constructive raise were available.

edit: nm, I think I misread jb's post.

oh right, I didn't notice that I was a passed hand. I wonder if that means that the redouble doesn't create a force through 2NT.. but perhaps partner will pass with extra values just to see if we can hit 2♥? He will be disappointed in that case if we pass, so maybe it should still be forcing.

Interesting auction; does 3♠ promise heart support or can it be a probe for 3NT? Is 3♥/4♥ stronger than a direct 4♥?

I would start with a redouble to show my two-card support and values. 2NT is also a possibility but it might be important to protect partner's heart holding. The auction can get a little tricky though, especially if they bid 2♥. I don't know if a 2♠ bid after that would just be stopper-showing or if it would be game-forcing. I guess I'd risk it and then pass if partner bids 3♣.

Did you misread the opening bid (1♦)? If not I don't understand the above comment.

What happened to your fourth spade and dummy's fourth diamond? You can reach a 6 card endposition when RHO is 5323 and your last club is good: K9 void Qxxx void opp Q7xx void x x and lead a diamond. RHO must ruff or be endplayed by the club. I don't like the redouble; the double was probably based on trumps and your trumps are pretty mediocre.

The question was "why not transfer to hearts and bid spades?"; the answer was "I chose to use Smolen." Hence the discussion.

2NT is a lie in the sense that it lacks a stopper, but it has some advantages. It limits the hand strength and suggests balanced shape with 2-card spade support. Above all it is the cheapest bid so it is flexible. We can get to spades when partner rebids his 6-card suit. We can get to diamonds when partner corrects. We can get to hearts. We can get to 3NT with partner just bids it with a stopper and we can stay out of 3NT when partner cuebids first showing doubt.

I'd just bid 3♠ but my partners won't always have a 6-card suit.

For me the choice is between 2NT and 3♠. I think I would pick 2NT.

I saw an interesting survey of 1 vs 4 hands on Pavlicek's site (linked under "Matches and Exhibits"). These were hands from recent top level play where one team opened 1M and the other team opened 4M. Granted the sample size was small (30 hands each for spades and hearts) but opening 4M was a significant winner.

In vanilla 2/1 opener can have something like 17 points for his 2♣ rebid and he can have as few as three clubs. Responder's 3♣ rebid "keeps the ball in play" in case opener has a maximum; it will typically show 8-10 points and 5-card club support. With fewer points responder would just pass 2♣ because game is impossible. With 11-12 points responder can frequently invite with 2NT. A 4♣ rebid is rare but I guess it would be a very distributional invite. With the OP hand South has a choice between raising to 3♣ and giving false preference to 2♠. I suspect it is better to give false preference because the most likely game is in spades and because Hx support is pretty good. If you raise clubs instead partner is unlikely to correct back to a 6-card spade suit. I don't understand a 2♥ bid; you will likely end up playing there opposite a stiff.

*shrug* To each his own I guess. Antrax, at matchpoints (especially w/w) I like to fight for the partscore. If I have some extra values and some extra trump length and some shortness in the opponent's suit then I'm going to try very hard to make some extra noise. This is especially true when bidding 2♠ over 2♥! It is extremely likely based on my hand that our side should be competing to 2♠ so I will compete. As for relying on partner to reopen, I don't want him to have to balance on a 5-count with 2=3 in the majors. And as for lead direction it strikes me as unlikely that partner will be on lead.

Strange that everyone is focusing on North. I think South has an automatic 2♠ bid over 2♥.

Cashing the ♥K seems wrong from general principles; we will likely have to pull dummy's trump at trick 3 and partner will be left guarding all the suits.

The same as without interference. Non-forcing, maybe 6-9 points with 5-4 in the majors?

I don't like 3♥; to me that sounds like a weaker hand with 5+ hearts. I prefer a takeout double or 3♣. I would tend to upgrade the South hand and open 1NT; nice diamond suit and guaranteed support if partner wants to transfer/pass.