quiddity

The layout is confusing, but I think ♥K243 implies the ace is in hand.

[hv=d=n&v=n&s=s62hajt8764d62c94]133|100|Scoring: MP 1♦ (1♠) ?[/hv] Edit: agreements are that 3H is a fit bid and 4H is to play.

West turned out to have QJxx; I could have run the T and squashed East's 9 to make the contract. At the time, down 1 seemed normal, but this diamond continuation has been bothering me. Would most defenders looking at AKQJx of spades and Txx of clubs defend so passively?

[hv=d=e&v=n&n=sakqj4hk4dj43ct32&s=s83hat8753dqtcak4]133|200|Scoring: IMP P 1♥ P 1♠ P 2♥ P 4♥ P P P[/hv] Teams game against good opponents. West starts by cashing the DA and DK, East playing high-low (discouraging). After some thought West continues with D5 and East follows. Is this suspicious enough that I should have considered running the HT, or am I resulting?

In that auction: P 1D 2C P P 2D P 2H is the standard meaning of 2H "weak hand with long hearts" or "busted penalty pass probe for 3NT"? It seems like the penalty pass hand should cue-bid or just bid NT.

[hv=d=w&v=n&s=shajt9d75432ck864]133|100|Scoring: MP[/hv] 1C 1D 1S 3C 3S 3N P ? 3C showed a mixed raise: 5-9 support, 4+ diamonds.

When you start playing the strong club, you'll run into some unfamiliar problems (handling interference over 1C for example). Often these will require good judgment on your part, and it will help immensely if you can ask the advice of strong players who are familiar with your system. Identify some potential advisors in your area: the strongest players you can find who play a strong club and who don't mind answering your constant barrage of questions. Then ask them for a skeleton outline, standard openings/responses with as little gadgetry as possible, and play it for a while. You will start to identify holes and your advisors can help you fill them with an appropriate gadget if necessary. If you don't know anyone in your area who can help, start with a book. The Berkowitz is probably a reasonable start, and it's standard enough that you can ask advice from players on the forums. My partner and I have been tinkering with the Marshal Miles "Unbalanced Diamond" for a while and by FAR the biggest downside of the system is that it's difficult to find good advice. Beware of home-grown or uncommon systems.

Just in case this thread gets revived again next year.. currently I think I suck due to excessive optimism in bidding, excessive pessimism in play, a tendency to be over-active in all aspects, a tendency to be lazy about visualizing the unseen hands, and slow/inaccurate counting. But I also think I can see signs of improvement over the past year.

I was thinking more along the lines of 1S-2C; 2S-3D; 3N, or 1S-2C; 2N-3N, but I don't have a strong opinion as to which sequence is best.

The moral of this story is that you need to find a better game. And I'm not talking about 3NT.

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=sqxhxxxdajtcajtxx&s=saktxxhkxdxxxck8x]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] This hand came up in a teams game last night. The bidding (uncontested): 1S-2C; 2S-3S; 4S. How would you bid it? DK is led against 4S (standard honor leads). If you duck, RHO plays a low spot (standard attitude, count). How do you play 4S in a vacuum? If you suspect that declarer is playing 3NT at the other table, does it change your line?

Are there any good rules of thumb for evaluating hands with a long suit opposite a NT opener? For example, today I held QJx x QT9 AJ9xxx and partner opened 2NT (matchpoints). Is this a slam, an invite, or a sign-off? How do you make the decision? Are you counting some number of points for length or trying to calculate partner's expected number of aces/kings or something else?

3S for me. I don't like the diamond suit opposite a singleton and I think it risks a pass when 4S is on. The cards are too prime and the hand too shapely for 2NT. I think 2C runs a real risk of partner passing because: - partner is a passed hand; - the diamonds are significantly longer than the clubs (so partner will likely hold longer clubs than diamonds); - where are the hearts? Partner could easily hold 5-4 or 5-5 in the majors and pass out the "misfit". He might do this with a decent hand, which would be a disaster.

I hate 2S. Either the hand is a game force (2H) or an invite (3C). It is not a spade raise. After the pseudo-raise, 3S seems wasteful. I think I would try 3C - maybe lying about the length but KJ is really nice in partner's 2/1 suit. 6C is strange; why not 5D?

Why do you think this is a tap hand and not a "stop the minor-suit cross-ruff" hand? Even if it is a tap hand, dummy bid 3S instead of passing out 3C. Isn't it reasonable to assume that dummy is ruffing clubs and that a diamond would be a better choice to tap declarer?

[hv=d=n&v=e&n=sakqxxhkxxdtxcjxx&w=sxxhjtxxxdaxxcaxx&e=shaqxxdkqjxxxxcxx&s=sjtxxxxhxdxckqtxx]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] 1S 2D 4C X! 4S 5D 5S P P 6D P P P This was not a success because at the other table the auction was 1S-(2D)-5S-X, passed out.

At matchpoints I would just bid 3S. Edit - I should say: at matchpoints I would just try to stay with the field. I suspect the field action is 3S, though in a more aggressive field it may be right to bid 4.

[hv=d=n&v=e&s=sjtxxxxhxdxckqtxx]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] 1S-(2D)-? This hand comes in the 4th quarter of a team match, with our team ahead by 12 IMPS with 12 boards to play. The opponents have been very conservative in their slam bidding, missing a laydown grand and a couple of good slams in the earlier quarters. Agreements here: 4C is a fit jump, 5C is to play, spade jumps are preemptive. What's your bid? Second question: if you make a 4C fit jump, LHO doubles (alerted as a "good" diamond raise), partner bids 4S, and RHO bids 5D. What's your followup strategy if partner's 4S showed extra offense, and what would be your strategy if you weren't sure what 4S showed? If the opponents continue with diamonds, when do you start passing?

Somehow I find a way to live with myself.

I would start the same way, and I think the slam can be found: 1♣ 1♠ 2♣ 2♦ 2N 3♠ 3N 4♣ ... The CK is a huge card. Isn't 2NT an underbid in that auction? You may be right. I was playing a set of responses in which a jump to 3N showed a stopper with 4 cards in the 3rd suit, and all other hands with stoppers were shown with 2NT. This makes it impossible for the 11 point hand to stop in 2N. I don't know how costly that is. With a rebiddable minor and all suits stopped, maybe it's not such a disaster to get to some 23 and 24-point 3NTs; and meanwhile it is clear that the jump to 3N can lead to some awkward guesses.

I would start the same way, and I think the slam can be found: 1♣ 1♠ 2♣ 2♦ 2N 3♠ 3N 4♣ ... The CK is a huge card.

3NT by East?! West had two chances to bid NT and declined to do so. Why on earth would East play him for Kxx?

Maybe opener can just bid 5N with that sort of hand?

Tempted to bid 2NT (assuming the agreement that 2N here is never natural). I don't think my hand is good enough for a cue-bid, and I'm a little worried about partner having long diamonds and short clubs.

Assume the count signal was correct. From North's perspective, is it possible for South to hold doubleton Qx?