Jlall

Cliffs: I play like an animal every hand and I pu**y out on 2 boards and both times it was wrong LOL. FML

Very strong preference for 2N, I'm fine calling Jxx a stopper. Even if they can run the suit they often will fail to (LHO not leading from AQ at MP). I think there are far far far more layouts where we need to declare when we have a stopper. Kxx in dummy with AQ on our left, and Axx in dummy with KQ on our left being the most obvious. Yes opposite either of those if RHO has Hx it plays better from partner's side, but given their vulnerable overcall I think that is way less likely. Even when partner has Ax LHO might choose to underlead the heart, or not lead the heart at all. Meanwhile I think our prospects in any contract other than NT when we have no stopper are quite bleak. Our hand is just garbage for anything else.

Im fine with saying there is no standard for what 4N means, or even that standard is that it's keycard, but I cannot imagine any reasonable definition of "standard" where 3S and 4D are not forcing bids.

1C-2C is in the realm of possibility/normality, passing it with a prime 12 and a club fit is not. In general an opening bid opposite an opening bid is game, but even if 12 is marginal it should be invited. Here it's not marginal because it is completely prime and has Jxx of clubs. South obviously felt a little weak for 1C 3C which is fine, but if he did he should open 1N (my choice). 1C 2C is too weak of a sequence, and is usually 11-15.

FIRST IN USA... lol I was tilted because I messed up one hand at the end but we were really far out of 2nd and even farther out of first so it didn't matter. There is another one today, goin for the 75 obv :( edit: I will say it's pretty fun to play a session where you're shooting for 75. My general MP style is very much to go for Ave+ when playing with good players, so it's fun to just go all out.

Definitely take the finesse, it's not close.

Haha these were my thoughts exactly fwiw. One of the benefits of penalty Xs is not to "get them" it's that you can X and then bid 2M to show a strong hand so you can find some games while still stopping in 2 if partner is very weak.

Edit: How do you play 1S 1N : 2C 2S : 2N? If you open 1S (which is fine obv) you have to pass 2S in this auction with 15 in my strong opinion. You might miss some 15 opp 9 or 15 opp 10 games that way, but in general bidding 2N will just get you too high. Playing some form of bart as many do would solve this (where partner can show a "bad" 2S bid or a "good" 2S bid).

You think accepting an invite after 1N is overbidding? lol

If I had the heart jack passing might be reasonable.

lol

When partner shows no feature, I play him for a good suit and not much else. I don't see the problem in 2S 2N 3S 3N on this hand type playing feature. As I said, it depends on your preempting style. The more likely you are to preempt with none of the top honors in your suit, and no feature, the more likely you are to have problems playing feature. If I preempted with such a hand, I would undoubtedly be 6-4, maybe something like QJT9xx x QJTx xx. With this hand I would pull 3N after a 2N-3N sequence. If partner just wanted to play 3N he could bid 2S-3N, so this pull is obvious to me even though it might not always work. Again I don't see much problem there. It seems like ogust is most useful if you are often bad/bad, since in feature partner won't know your hand and suit are both bad if you have no feature. If you don't frequently have bad/bad then ogust seems like a waste, and feature works well since partner can make an assumption that you have a good suit if you have no feature, or at least some kind of 6-4 or 6-5 that you will pull 3N with. FWIW I was a lifetime ogust player until a couple of years ago, but I also used to preempt much more aggressively. Probably white/red first seat I should still play ogust. My experience with feature has been very positive.

Pretty sure BWS is that 2D is forcing to suit agreement, so 2N is forcing.

Your partner would have rescued you from 2D X <_<

There are many sub-forums that can be viewed as their own forum. I would think "this forum" refers to the sub-forum, and "these forums" refer to BBF. Of course on BBF everyone posts on every forum because everyone is advanced/expert but...