Jlall

How many hands with only 4 hearts could splinter opposite a 3rd seat opener? I would guess 5 trumps is more common than 4 on this auction, and hands with 4 trumps often have a spade void.

I would bid 5H which could be making opposite a spade void or opposite x Qxxxx ATxx Kxx (hook ftw), or which could be a good save (as here). You will also often push them to 5S at this vulnerability.

Double

Logically it makes sense for it to be on imo. Never seen this situation come up though.

4C splinter is LOL bad. You don't have 4 spades and you don't have 3 hearts... Totally agree with the jdonn interpretation, this auction is analagous to 1S 1N 2H 4m which is just values in that suit with a heart fit.

As far as bridge goes, the NY tournament is small and not in a nice area. But it's a really fun time to be in NYC, my fav city in the world. So if you are looking for good non bridge stuff as well as bridge I recommend NYC of all the tournaments. If you're looking for a nicer venue and a bigger tournament I recommend Myrtle Beach for sure. The average player might be worse than at a NY tournament, but there will be more superstar players like Meckstroth/Rodwell, and it will be a much bigger tournament than NY. I've heard Reno is nice but I'm just not a fan of Reno in general. Maybe if you like gambling also it's a good option. Don't know about non US tournaments then.

If Qx of spades drops then you are definitely better than just on a diamond hook. Say LHO has Qx, after you pitch a heart you run the DT. If RHO ducks the king you just claim, so they must win. Now you are cold unless RHO has a doubleton heart and can overruff dummy (or if they had stiff DK). If RHO has Qx you are not in such great shape, but as long as long as the 3rd round of diamond can live you are ok (if they make dummy ruff then you can ruff the third diamond back to hand, if they don't you can cash 3 diamonds pitching a heart and play a trump to pull trumps).

You're right he won't expect more HCP, but he will expect a different and better hand imo. Bidding 2S on this auction with a balanced hand that has 4 clubs is pretty rare imo. I would always make a neg X if I had 4 hearts, and would bid 2D if I had 5 diamonds and 4 clubs almost always. 3334 or 2344 with no spade stoppers have to bid 2S with 11 but those shapes would generally rather bid 1N if they had a stopper in my opinion unless they were very very sharp (and thus worth a drive to the 2N/3C level). Hands with 4 clubs can't really guarantee a fit or any safety at such a high level. This 11 is quite soft and looks NTy. It's true we have no spade stopper, but if partner has no spade help then we might do better in 1N than 3C anyways, especially if clubs is just a 4-3 fit. If partner does have a spade stopper I would rather take my chances in 1N than risk 2N or 3N. You are right we could be wrongsiding though, especially opposite KTx, but there aren't that many combos where we have wrongsided it.

lol I sent this hand to cherdano and rogerclee on AIM because I figured I'd be alone in the world. It did not look promising when cherdano told me he would bid 2S even with xx Kxx ATxx Qxxx, but clee came through and said 1N is really cleer!

I haven't slept at all but my gut reaction was to bid 2C. That seems kind of stupid though... I guess I'd go with 1N because 2C and 2S both seem to suck!

lol

This is a really good lead problem too... I'm thinking the DQ is better than a spade vs good opps, but maybe I'm completely over thinking this. Just seems like RHO is so likely to have like 4-7 in the majors.

Really depends on your RHO. If he is a random then sure I agree with you. If he is a good player then I would say he rates to have something like 8 tricks in his hand for a r/w 3H overcall. You might still get 500 if some of his tricks are like KQ of spades and you ruff them after a spade lead, but it should be very unlikely. I would probably not double a sound good player but it's close. If RHO is an overly aggressive good player or a random I would def X for penalty if I could though. Expecting to crush a red/white 3H overcall over a 1N opener when you have 3 small trumps is really a sign of playing against weak competition very often imo (no offense meant by this, I often play against weak opposition too lol). Pretend you were playing against yourself, and think of what hands you might overcall 3H with at these colors. Gettin pretty scary isn't it?

Slight improvement on this is to cash the SK before the CK in case LHO has stiff queen so you have a re-entry. Don't worry, LHO doesn't know your spades so will not falsecard the SQ with QT or Q9 ;)

On a positive note, if a beginner or intermediate is ever looking for advice, this is the description of the beginner/intermediate sub forum: For our novice to intermediate members to discuss issues and share advice (and for more skilled players to answer questions ;). Sounds perfect! Glad everyone follows these descriptions! So there is no chance that the OP will be confused by my comment either.

Just play low slowly obv That wasn't funny, he might think you mean it. Umm I will give you 1000:1 bet on any amount of money that he did not think I meant it lol (as long as he= karlson). I would agree with your general point if this was the beginner/int forum but luckily I am posting on the adv/exp forum where I am sure no one would take me seriously. After all this is the description of this sub forum: Forum designated for experienced and adept bridge players to discuss more advanced topics. I do not think any adept or experienced bridge player would take my joke seriously right? What, you mean to tell me not everyone who posts on this sub forum is advanced or expert?!

I believe you meant Danke Phil,

How about win the jack, club to the king, king of spades unblock the 6, spade to the ace. If the queen drops then cash a club pitching a heart and hook the diamond. If the queen does not drop just hook the diamond. Just my instinctive line maybe there's something better.

Why do you fear a 3C balance so much if you're going to bid 3D anyways? You haven't lost anything by passing unless they can effectively bid FOUR clubs which seems very unlikely.

Meh this is definitely close but I pass, we could def be missing a game sometimes though. I prefer 2S to 3D though, 2S keeps the auction alive and partner will bid again on hands where we have game. That being said, I think diamonds rates to play much better than spades on "normal" hands which is why I pass. 2S could strike big if you make 140 also though and diamonds was only making 130.

Its best to play the next step as an asking bid over the second round transfer imo.

I don't get it. Why does a slow ace deny the queen lol? The ace tends to deny the queen, but if they played a slow ace I would think they would be more likely to have AQ. Why does someone have to play a fast ACE with AQ?! I could see the case that a slow queen is unethical, but a slow ace? Jeez, he is falsecarding and making a highly unusual deceptive play. And he's doing it slowly! Seems pretty normal.

OMG GRABBIT!!!!!!!! Brings me back Ken!

Fluffys answer is cool but I would just play back a diamond and hope they are worried about a diamond ruff. Maybe they should know they're 4-3, still don't really understand our leads.

Just play low slowly obv