Jlall

Can partner have 4 spades routinely? If no I would pass. If yes I think we might well have a 4S game and I would attempt to show 4-4 majors invite.

This seems largely like a style question. I would bid 3S with most people, but in my preferred style of opening very aggro w/r with 6 spades, I would just pass. I do not like 2N at all. If it gets passed I am probably in the wrong partial. As far as game decisions, I like my chances of getting to the right one of 3N and 4S after bidding 3S (partner can offer 3N now) way more than after 2N (partner can't bid 4S with 6 of them ever, etc).

I think 1S with balanced and 1N with clubs is inferior because you wrong side it a tremendous amount of time when you bid 1N clubs imo. Would rather make 1S an artificial bid with many hand types including a negative freebid with clubs, and leave 2C to show clubs so that we don't wrongside there. If you don't want to use 1N natural and want to include all balanced hands in 1S, then I think using 1N as 6+ spades is fine, or using 1N and 2C both as clubs depending on rightsiding issues.

20-40-80+100 for insult...180 + 200 per overtrick? so if we make 2 that's 380 and its a wash if we have game, if we make 3 or more its a nice win (though we might have slam), and if we make 1 its bad, down is a disaster. Meh I would just bid, we could have a slam pretty easily, we could possibly go down, and it's just too much of a crap shoot. I do think 580 instead of 400 or whatever is pretty likely, but that's only a smallish win, and I want to avoid the big disaster scenarios. 780 vs game seems extremely unlikely.

Oh and partner will def make a bad lead since he has no trumps and we have no honors anywhere else. I guess a case could be made here, but I don't think partner should reopen very light with a void because we are gonna pass a lot.

Gnasher... wtf?! You knew what we'd all say, would like to hear your reasoning on why passing is bad. Just because of the vul meaning that LHO probably has the good hearts, and RHO must have a good hand/shape to raise at this vul with 3 bad trumps? Interesting I guess...but I'm just gonna pass.

I ruined it. Genuinely embarressed. Really? When I read this I was assuming you were hoping for everyone to vote no, which would make it unanimously no....hoping that everyone would vote yes is pretty hopeless.

2C...why is this a problem?

He probably bids 5C more than passing, or some equivalent amount imo. Of course 5C instead of 4S could be right, but 4S instead of 4D X could be right also very often. Of course double gets you to hearts when it's right... Not clear at all.

4S since they're so good, don't hate double though w/e.

I agree with this in principle and I've had a few people mention this point to me before. However, to me it seems like the same argument as 'don't push the opponents to a game unless you're sure you can beat them.' Good opponents will bid the game, and good opponents will balance us out of 1NT when it's right. Not really arguing against you since I agree with the standpoint, in principle, but it does seem that way to me so I can't take it as dogma. What? It's much more dangerous to balance when they're in 1N than when they're in 2D. Presumably if they're in 2D they have a fit, that makes bidding quite safe since you (almost always) also have a fit. If they're in 1N they often have no fit so it's much tougher to just bid something. I would consider it pretty widely accepted that people balance/compete on fit auctions and pass on misfit auctions in general.

Who really cares what a 3C bid should look like now. I mean, what does a 3H bid look like here? (rhetorical). On THIS hand, you have 3 points and partner has 18-19. You are both balanced. Looking for game is terrible. Don't think in terms of "well I didn't bid 2C/3C to begin with, so maybe 3C now shows this." Think in terms of "how likely are we to have a game based on our points and distribution."

A heart has no chance of setting anything up either even though it is less likely to blow a trick than a spade. Meh I don't like it but I guess it's not that bad.

Yeah you have to lead the S8, what else could you even consider?

I'm surprised you would bid 3NT. Isn't the fact that you can still get to 3NT over 3♠ a good reason to bid 3♠? Yes I meant it as a point that people bid 3N too often on this hand type and should bid 3S more. That being said, this hand looks really 3Ny to me at imps, it seems way more likely that we go down in 4S with 3N making than the other way around. Sure I would prefer KJTx of hearts to KJ6x, but can't have everything.

Still laughing that the first deleted thread was inquiry deleting...inquiry :rolleyes: Anyways, good job on this thread guys.

2S

Is it imps or MP? At imps I would def bid 3N, not sure about MP. BTW it is important to remember that the auction 3S-3N from here is possible, so it's not like you have to make the final decision all the time.

Pretty sure partner is not supposed to accept a 3 card LR with that hand, bad trumps especially are not good for a 5-3 fit...

5D then pass throughout.

haha, rogerclee calls this "jlall vs NT" (I'm sure I didn't invent it, but it's what I strong prefer to play) but I use it specifically against weak NT not strong NT... Why would you use it only vs strong? The point is to be able to overcall 2M in two ways so that your game bidding is more accurate but you lose accuracy in partials (you don't find minor fits as well as if one showed a major and one showed M+m). Gaining accuracy in game bidding vs losing accuracy in partials seems good against weak NT but bad against strong NT.

Opener is going crazy after passing 2C. This could mean 1 of two things: A) His hand has been significantly upgraded by the 2S bid OR :angry: He had club length and that's why he passed 2C with a good hand. After the 3S bid I think hand A is likely, perhaps he has KJxx --- AKxxx KJxx and is now trying for slam after 2S.

The old days sound like they suck! lol. Never heard of not preempting with a singleton. Crappy suit, side defense, and 6322, and 2nd seat vul all suck to me for preempting. Would never do it with this hand.

Mycroft, winning the second match of the vanderbilt/spingold is by far the hardest one you listed (assuming you are not seeded well), even harder than making it out of the RR of the team trials. I would definitely put it in the "big ones" category, or even make a seperate category for it + making it out of the RR of the trials.

Yeah the first one is obv penalty. The 2nd one...... dunno? Guess it's cards and partner usually passes if balanced but can bid with like 3136 or whatever.