Jlall

IMO at least theoretically 1C p 1M p 2D, 1m p 1H p 2S, and ESPECIALLY 1H p 1N p 2S should CLEARLY be used in some artificial manner. In fact if I had a bridge blog this was one of my posts that I had on my "to write" list. If I were to change "standard" this would be one of the things I'd definitely do, and obviously there are already schemes that do this. I think your suggested use seems fine and better than standard, and many other schemes would be fine. GL sorting it all out.

Heh, not everyone is good at bridge. I just meant I could see people overbidding with a nice 17 or cuebidding a club void etc etc. Seems like the type of hand people get overboard on. FWIW I think north should bid 4H over 3S if not playing serious/non serious, which feels weird with 3 first round controls but the round suit holdings are just so terrible and theres not enough meat imo. I agree even if he cuebids south can sign off.

I would bid game. If hearts aren't 3-3 then 2N could often be down anyways. I think this is one of those hands where we might be on a break for 9 or 6-7. Also they might have a tough time leading/defending when we have a hand like this etc etc.

Did 2H show values or what? Need to know more info. If 2H was 0+ HCP I think you have to show life at some point with 3H. If 2H showed values I would pass now.

http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?showtopic=6275 while I don't want to imply that you're wrong just because "Fred said so", I think you might find his post (and the replies to it) here interesting. Not surprised that I disagree with my old self. I now play Xing drury as takeout. This is different than doubling a transfer imo, there is significant risk of passing and doubling with a takeout X over drury, and significant gain in being able to show that hand type risk free immediately. Admittedly Fred's point remains that if they are going to bid game over drury then you have just told them how to play the hand for no reason. Still I kinda hate balancing after they drury because if they are good you're going to get doubled like A LOT...but if you just always pass you might lose some partscore swings. edit: I guess technically I didn't disagree with myself since I didn't say what I liked to do over drury, but I know that 2005 and even 2008 jlall played X of drury as lead directing.

4D

Thats what I said when I was asked

I could see it happening after 1H p 2D p 3C p 3H.

3S now looks about right.

The nobel prizes for literature and peace have long been a political joke, so nothing new here.

This hand is so strong that I am not going to attempt to describe anything, I am going to get as much info as partner at a low level as possible. Splintering is premature anyways since there is a strong chance we will end up in clubs. I would just start with 2H and see what happens.

Meckstroth always bids 2N with hands like this but I would indeed bid 1N. The decision is definitely between 1N and 2N, and it depends some on your vul 1S overcall style. If you are sound I think 2N is fine.

Partner should not double with no tricks and no trumps. Maybe I will be in a minority of 1 but you are not in a FP when it is unknown who has what other than that opener has a freak and responder has a big fit for him, and nobody has yet stated "I am bidding to make." 3C was NF, 4S could be to make or a save or something in between, 5C could be to make or a save or something in between, 6C could be to make or a save or something in between, etc etc. Opener obviously has the type of hand that huge swings are made of.

DING DING DING (that is what he meant). LoL. Maybe right-siding the contract is too old-fashioned? The hand is misprinted. Opener's minors were actually: ♦AKQ ♣9762 After the contract was right-sided, an opening lead through the ♣Kx scuttled it. It is obviously possible to be necessary to play from your side but surely you can see it's much more likely that it's necessary to play from partners side.

HQ, I am a sucker for those 3 card sequences!

I would just bid 2H, partner seems very unlikely to have a stiff spade. 3H is def inv here.

4C, seems like we could have a slam and otherwise we'll play 5D.

P, 5H, P.

Tough one. You can probably rule out LHO ever having Kxx since that would give righty a void and surely they would have bid 4S with that. That leaves Kx or xx with LHO so you're only making a 2:1 anti percentage play. You could argue that RHO's failure to bid 4S is an indication that he has stiff K rather than stiff small, and you could also argue that LHO is at least 2:1 to bid 1S rather than 2S with AKxxxx and Kx. Given this poll and given my general bridge knowledge I would agree with that. The only mark against this is what gwnn said, you might just infer they bid randomly because no matter what RHO has not bidding 4S is ludicrous, so it's tough to say with any confidence that LHO is at least 2:1 to bid 1S rather than 2S with his actual hand when he might be bidding randomly. Overall it's a tough decision. TBH I think in real life it would depend on which spot LHO played. If he played the highest spot I would hook, and if he played the lowest spot I would play for the drop. I use this "trick" a lot in real life, maybe it seems absurd but _most_ players are not falsecarding and playing the highest spot card from xx very often.

LOL

♥ Well I'm pleasantly surprised there was no go jump off a bridge joke :)

Recorder form insta conduct hearing. Nobody will convince me it's legit to ask the specific question what do you lead from QJ9xx when you hold the 9. That is sooooooo shady. edit: Can we move this to the laws forum, I wanna know what blackshoe and bluejak think since they know everything, and I think it belongs there.

perhaps an explanation of why 5♣ is WRONG is in order? If you bid 5C partner will pass with 1 more club than diamond as you could be especially 6-6 or 6-5. This is obviously terrible for you. If you don't play 4N as keycard here which I don't think you should, then 4N shows 2 more diamonds than clubs. Even playing this agreement it is not clear you want to use it since if partner is 1-3 in the minors you'd rather be in diamonds a lot of the time. I would still use it because there is a large chance of further competition and I'd like partner to know we have clubs. There is also a chance partner has 3+ more clubs than diamonds, in which case we'd like to be in clubs. There is also a chance that we have slam or grand slam in which case we might want to be in clubs, and we certainly want partner to know we have clubs. It's possible to just plan to bid 5D then 6C if someone bids 5H, but I like the idea of bidding 4N and passing a double of 5H from partner who knows I have BOTH minors. I don't like the idea of 5D and passing a double as much since partner may have a big club fit. In my dream world the auction goes 4N 5H p p and I bid 5N which shows 7-5 with strong diamonds (else I'd bid 6C).

Also possibly another way for us to win big by bidding 2S: If the opps have Qx opp Jxx of spades, it is very easy to sort out after a 1S overcall, and often difficult to sort out after a 2S overcall (though sometimes will time out so that it's easy).

That's one of the reasons that I'd overcall only 1♠. My partner could have a balanced 13-count, so game could well be on. Some other reasons: I wouldn't want him sacrificing, since I seem to have 2-3 defensive tricks; I'm 6322 with three small hearts; I know that their heart fit is eight cards at best. Now that I don't agree with. With QJ10xxxx x xx xxx it's obvious to preempt in the sandwich position. You really wouldn't want partner to save if he thought it was right over 4H? What hands do you think would save white/white over 4H with a doubleton heart given that they are probably yarbs (they responded 1D not 1H so they probably have opening values?). I know if I was playing with you and I had QJxx xx xxx Qxxx it would not occur to me to save white/white opp a gnasher 2S overcall, but even if partner did save with that it would be right! Partner just isn't gonna save without a stiff if he has 2 defensive tricks and not many values at w/w, there is too much risk we are going down too many combined with some chance we are beating them. I would honestly like to see some 4 hand construction you could come up with where they are bidding 4H, partner is saving, and it is wrong. Admittedly you could criticize me for assuming walsh but that is very standard at least where I'm from. Indeed I imagine if I overcalled 1S and partner bid a preemptive 3S I would instantly save over 4H if they got there. Likewise I'm not worried about a save vs 3N since they probably won't be bidding 3N if we have 10 spades and the AK. I would be most worried about a phantom save vs 5m, but that must be rare at these colors and partner might have overcalled 1S with some of those hands. And if he does save vs 5m it might be right, we have a lot of playing strength for our 2S bid relative to what we might have, and his #1 concern when saving is going to be that we have a good chance of going for only 300.