mtvesuvius

Trump for me.

5♣. I hope my partner has a few clubs (and not 3 low diamonds).

Why is it clear? When making a Queen ask, it is not a grand slam try... It could still be searching for a small slam. How does W know that his partner knows he has the ♣K? Would he not bid the same way with Kxx Qxxx x AQxxx? Or KQx Qxxx x Axxxx? If showing Kxx as a cue is not your style, the second hand still presents a problem.

I'd probably bid 4♥ in case partner forgot 3♥ was NF. Not sure I could play something like that as well... Anyway, if I am fairly confident that partner is awake, then I'd pass... I have a pretty miserable hand.

1. I open 1♣. This is just enough to reverse. 2. I respond 1♠, but if your style is to bid 2♠ with these types of hands, so be it. 3. Yes (and Yes). If I was not planning to reverse I'd have opened 1♦ 4. Hearts. 5. 2♠, not going to pre-empt the bidding in what could be our only chance to find the right strain for a slam. 6. 0445 or 0436 or 1435, shape-showing, not a cuebid of some sort. 7. Quantitative 8. I'd take Fluffy's line. K♣ and pray. 9. I believe that N's 6♦ call was a fairly big overbid. Partner has shown fairly long spades, and I don't think we want to attempt a slam when we've already shown our hand with a reverse (and 3♦ rebid). I would pass 4N. I give N 80% and South 20% for not being a bit more cautious in a known misfit.

This is the real Vulnerability. Nobody Vul. I was just giving a system background (Basically, that partner did not have a weak 2♦ available).

In all seriousness, I hate this problem. I hate it so much that I'd drop a card on the floor and ask for a redeal. However, I think 2♠ should not show 3-3, and therefore you are endplayed into 2♥... Not the greatest, but still not the worst thing that could happen, right? Partner could raise, that would be worse.

[hv=pc=n&s=sqt9542h4djt876c6&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=p3dd]133|200|Partner is a junior, however, in this position he is reasonably disciplined. You are playing a Multi 2D, 2M shows a 5+M 4+m hand, 2N is Strong. What is your choice if: 1) The opponents are true World-Class players. 2) The opponents are fairly inexperienced.[/hv]

That's because most Americans are stupid.

So where is the King ask? Isn't the response to a Queen ask, the Queen of trump then other Kings?

[hv=pc=n&s=saj985ha74da74cq4&w=s64hjt653dt6cj752&n=sq73hq9dkj9cakt98&e=skt2hk82dq8532c63]399|300[/hv] The only solution is to persuade declarer that you have Kx♠ (or Kxx), or to lose a diamond finesse to you. Therefore, by pitching three rounds of diamonds, declarer will almost never go right. Once your partner follows to the second round of diamonds, declarer will assume you started with 4 small diamonds. As declarer, I received this this imaginative defense (perhaps accidentally), and went wrong. Instead of playing for a simple double-hook in Spades, I played the ♠Q from dummy, covered with the King. I then played the ♦A, and a diamond to the jack, planning on throwing my LHO in with the ♥9 in the 3 card ending... Unfortunately my RHO won their (now stiff) ♦Q, and cashed a few hearts to put me down three. I played my LHO to have begun as 3334.

I do think there is a lot of merit for Non-Leaping Michaels, especially in this auction (and similar ones as well), where 3N cannot be natural. 3N can act as a single-suited minor overcall, and Non-Leaping Michaels covers some problem hands that I've seen fairly often.

Barring that I am playing some ridiculous exclusion takeout that won't ever work when I have a single suit, except on this particular hand... It seems like a 2♠ bid leaves us with the best chance of doing well on this board. The problem is that when I am having problems in 3N with heart stoppers, I may have the same problem in 4♠, especially if it's a 4-3 fit. I'm willing to take that chance though, it seems like bidding 2N is just advertising my diamond holding, and LHO will be leading hearts very often. I would bid 2♠.

Well said. Even the best partnerships (even ones that have played together for 30 years and have a ridiculous number of national/international titles) have bidding disasters sometimes. It's part of what keeps the game interesting. Anyway, Timo, 6♦ is not an automatic bid, but after some considering I think it is the right bid, given the earlier auction.

I generally open 1♣ with 3-3, 1♦ with 4-4. I guess this is a born/raised/taught in USA type of thing. More recently I have been experimenting on more randomly opening stuff. One big disadvantage is that when you open 1♦ and show up with only 3, you are known to be exactly 4-4-3-2. Therefore I've been trying to randomize my minor suit openings a bit more... Often opening the weaker of the two, especially with Balanced hands. I have no earthly idea what my partners do :lol:

I generally play that if we can still play on the two level, bidding 2 of our suit is the weakest, and pass is in the middle. If we must play at the three level though, pass is the weakest.

I would duplicate Cascade's first auction in 2/1 or Standard. In a Relay Strong Club context: 2♦ - 2N [10-15 HCP w/3 Suited Short ♦; INV+ relay] 3♣ - 3♦ [All Minimums; GF relay] 3♥ - 3♠ [3-4-1-5; Further Size Ask] 4♥ - 4♠ [7 or 10 AKQ Points (A-3 K-2 Q-1) with 0 or 2 of the top 3 ♣ honours; Relay] 5♥ - 7♥ [1 or 3 top ♥ honours, 1 or 3 top ♠ honours, no stiff ♦ honour, no ♣J; That's all I need to know. Partner must have Axx Qxxx x KQxxx.] Edit: Since it is known that W does NOT have the ♣J, East can avoid 7N. If W had shown the ♣J, East would comfortably bid 7N.

Trumpities! What could possibly go wrong?

2♠. By opening this 1♦, I made a commitment to showing this as a two-suited hand. I am much too strong for 2N here, if my plan was to show a BAL hand, I would have opened 2N to begin with.

It always makes with a diamond lead. S gets squeezed in the minors.

Me neither, when I first looked, I didn't see anything wrong either. So we hook the heart, and exit a heart, and OOOOOPPPS... Director.

Except that N has 5 Cards, S has 6 Cards, W has 7 Cards and East has 8 Cards. It's called a director call.

[hv=pc=n&s=sk98hatdakq842ck3&w=saj74h82dt965c975&n=sq62hkj94dj7cat86&e=st53hq7653d3cqj42&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=2np3cp3dp6nppp]399|300|N/E/W were GIBs. I was shown this hand by a friend of mine, and hadn't seen an ending like this before.[/hv] He won the opening Diamond Lead in dummy, and played a diamond to hand. He then played a spade to the queen which held... Followed with a club to his hand, and a bunch of diamonds, pitching both remaining spades, a club, and a heart, and finally a club to the ace. On 5 rounds of diamonds, his RHO pitched 2♠, 2♥, 1♣. His LHO pitched a club and a heart. Then he reached this ending: [hv=pc=n&s=sk9hatdc&w=saj4h8dc&n=shkj9dct&e=shq75dcq]399|300[/hv] But fell from grace when he led a heart to the ace in the four card ending. The solution is to play the ♥J from dummy, running it, followed by exiting with a club, unblocking the ♥A to endplay East. Thought this was kind of a cool ending, was wondering if anyone has seen something similar before? :)

Are you sure that's bridge that they are playing there?