hotShot

If they are in a GF sequence, without fit North will bid 3NT. South bids 4♥ and they are there.

edit: faulty comment removed

All of this seems to be an argument for NV 1H overcall also. 1) IF the opp have spades, they are not breaking well, and they may misplace hcp's. 2) If Pard has spades, my NV MP 1H bid does not promise long spades with him. :). I hate to state the obvious but .... 2NT is showing 10/ 13 cards, 1♥ shows 5/13. So while 2NT makes it quite clear partner should not expect ♠ cards, 1♥ does not. 2NT takes a lot of bidding space, opps have to introduce ♠ at the 3 level. If LHO bids them the 3 level is lost for opps too. If RHO can bid ♠, it's sort of a reverse and he might need extra strength for that. So i can't see how this is an argument for a 1♥ overcall too.

E/W were damaged by the missing alerts (more than one). I think 4♥ makes (or even +1) since you can play a ruffing finesse with the 3rd ♠, after playing AK of trump. 4♠ is probably down 1. So a propper adjustmend would have been 3♠= and 4♠-1 has some reason. Without knowing the system NS were playing, it's hard to know what they would have bid without the dbl.

2NT somebody has lots of ♠. If it's opps, they may bid 4♠ before i can show my 2nd suit. If it's partner i better tell him, that ♠ is no suit for us to play. The true strength of my hand is it's distribution, and partner needs to know that.

I think the problem is, that the software leaves the blank at the end of the username, if you make a blank in front of the '~'. So a user with the same id without blank is no recognized as TD everywhere. At other parts of the code the username is "stripped" and recognised as TD.

Opener could have rebid 1NT over 1♠, so 2♣ denies all sorts of balanced hands. Responder did not show ♣ support yet, did not bid 2♥ showing 5-4 in the majors. So most likely he has an unbalaced hand too. 2♠ is the weakest bid i can make after partners forcing 2♦ bid. And since I'm forced to bid it does not promise any support in ♠. But with a ♠ void i would have another bid available.

3♥

Getting all sorts of strong hands into one bid is playable, but not with the structure you have given. You need to play the 2♦ relay as very weak. This way you can stop in 2♦,2♥ and 2♠, if you just have a semiforcing. If you have a strong hand with a 6+ length in one of these suits. You can bid and stop in 2NT with balanced hands. Only problem is in ♣, you must find a different solution there (e.g. 3♣). If your rebid is above 3♣ you have a full GF. Any other bid from partner should show more than minimum strength and be GF.

The usual way is to define rules: If we have found a fit, any dbl is penalty. Over 2/3♠ dbl is penalty. The are lots of other agreements, you could make.

Since i obviously have no smart agreement with partner, i see 2 options. 1) 4♥ and the auction will end here 2) if dbl is not agreed as penalty i dbl, leaving partner space to describe his hand

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1♣ , I'm strong enough to bid up to 4♠ next round, if opps force me to.

I think you hit the main point here. 1NT - 2♦ 2♥ Here 2♦ is a forcing bid, opener is forced to bid. I think we agree that 2♥ is not forcing here. 1♣-(1♠)-Dbl-(p) 2♠-(p)-3♦-(p) ??? Here 3♦ does not cause a forcing, but it is part of a forcing sequence caused by 2♠. If 2♠ is only forcing one round opener can pass. If opener forced to game than he is forced to bid and he created this forcing with his 2♠ bid.

Something is very strange here. Where are the 13 cards in ♠? Any ♠ values from partner are wasted and we will miss them in the ♣ suit. If partner did not hide a 6 card ♠ suit, somehow opps did not find their ♠ fit. Assuming that LHO's 3♦ was weak and RHO's pass is even weaker, partner has some strength. His distribution is something like 5125 or 5224. If partners HCP are not in ♠ we will miss a slam. Why did partner dbl instead of bidding ♠? Just to show his ♣ suit too? I don't think so, i guess the ♠ suit is weak. So there is a good chance he has the right values for the slam. What chance did partner have to invite to slam? Hi can't cuebid ♥ because it's our suit, and we hold AK. He can't cue ♦ because that opps suit and we hold the ace. He can't cue ♠ we would missunderstand this als long ♠. 4NT might not be helpfull, if he has a void or expects us to have one. So there is a good chance partner bid 5♣ because he did not find a better bid. But this does not mean we are allowed to bid on. Partner signed off slam in no topic any more. The correct bid is pass.

3♦ is not forcing, openers 2♠ was probably game forcing or self forcing. So the auction might not end after this.

Opening the south hand 1♦ is surely an option, but 10 HCP and a 7 card minor are better described by opening 3♦. This makes it much harder for opps to find the ♠ fit and to stop in 3♠. But your opening does not qualify as a misbid, it's just 2nd best. Your 3♦ bid, promisses a stronger hand than you have, but again a misbid is something else. Your partner showed 6+ HCP and did everything to hide how much more he holds. Without bidding game (3NT or 5♦) he's got no reason to complain, about your bidding. Not bidding game when holding opening strength and trump support qualifies as misbid. As to the defence your side gets 2♥, 1♠ and a ♣. I think you got that, so no misdefence there.

That's a good plan:)

Well i guess it depends on how you use the other options. If you play 1-level overcalls (8..X) and weak jump shifts you need a method to show (very) strong hands. The strength needed for dbl follwed by a suit starts with X+1.

I don't think that Q2 has a simple answer. Not opening 11-12 HCP balanced hands in 3rd or 4th seat, is a loosing option. Not opening 11 HCP balanced hands in 1st or 2nd seat should be the field action. Hands with 12 HCP will be opened by a significant part of the field. Now if you pass with 11-12 bal. hands in 1st and 2nd seat, how do you act in 3rd and 4th seat? Think of all the partscores you will miss, where "not opener" has 12 and "not responder" has a 5 card suit and 8-10 HCP.

"So vulnerable vs not at IMPs, your partner has shown a strong flexible hand with spades. " Partner is unlimited and reopens opposite a passed partner red/white. While opps have not found a fit yet. I don't think he's up to a partscore. Dbl and bidding a suit of your own later is usually (much) stronger than bidding the suit directly. Of cause that is a matter of partnership agreement. I know several partnerships that use 19+ HCP as limit for this.

Dear Caren, don't put to much pressure on yourself. It kills the fun and worst of all, it reduces your effectiveness. You are overtrained. What you need is partnership practice, both bidding and playing. Try to get your partner to play with you and drop everything else. If the time runs out so be it, all the work you have done already was not wasted. Only if you know very little, learning the last days and hours will make a significant difference. The purpose of last minute learning is mainly to fight "stage fright". It only fills your short term memory and will be gone a few hours later. I guess you are starting to get nervous, mainly because you don't want to disappoint anyone, including yourself. Fred said in another thread that one of the most important skills of a good bridge player is to focus on the actual board. Especially don't whine about finished board and don't think about those boards that are yet to come. Focussing on what you are doing right now, is training for bridge too and you can do it all day. Good luck!

This hand is almost worthless. The only upside is the 4card trump suit, but partners bid is forcing so 3♠ is a must.

Does 4♥ show 5+ ♥ or 4+♥? If you don't have an agreement or if it shows 4+ ♥, you should bid 4♠. From what you write it is stronger than direct 3♠ and 4♠, it must be forcing. If it promisses 5+ cards a scientific approach towards a ♥ slam seems appropriate.

A MBT board takes about 2 minutes, so playing a board or two against 3 Gibs would work.