cherdanno

Why is a hand with four spades and a singleton heart not a 4♠ bid? Looks very normal to me.

If you bid 2♣ with Balanced or clubs then you are not playing "natural". Are you really this much of an idiot? Do you really have to have everything so clearly spelled out for you in literal terms that you cannot tell that "I agree playing relay [RESPONSES to 2C] is better but even if playing natural [RESPONSES to 2C]..." is what was meant here? Why would it occur to anyone that your "natural" only referred to responses to some artificial bid? Why can't responses to a relay be "natural"? It certainly appeared to me that you were suggesting that a 2♣ response on a doubleton suit was part of a "natural" structure. It plainly is not. I believe any ambiguity or inaccuracy was in your post not in my interpretation of it. There has been some history where I believe North Americans have treated bids in short suits as "natural" when plainly they are not. Those arguments have been used to gain unfair advantages for players playing certain methods. The argument is fallicious. I reserve my right to point out that bidding a doubleton as your first entry into an auction is not "natural". Personally I think the forums would be much better without personal attacks which I doubt very much are within the terms of use of these forums. Well, maybe you are a little too obsessed with the North Americans gaining unfair advantages if - you misunderstand Justin's post in this way, - you feel the need to drive home your point about those unfair advantages in a completely unrelated post, - even after Justin clarified that he didn't intend to say that 2♣ bal or natural is a natural call, you still have to repeat and justify your opinion that 2♣ bal or natural is a natural call. Given all that (and more), it is hardly surprising that some people here find you annoying. Personally, I think the forum would be a better place if you didn't take 1000s posts to convince everyone else of your pet peeves even in completely unrelated threads and even when you have already said everything that can be said in favor of your pet peeve, and regardless whether everyone else already disagrees or agrees with you.

Did you ever have a director rule against you because you asked for an explanation of the auction? Also, at a serious event I have never seen opponents annoyed by asking for it.

Well, 5♠ certainly shows first round control, typically a void. North knows it is a void, and has no business bidding 7H with a working 7-count. South's 5♠ bid was on the aggressive side but not unreasonable.

The debate about what to open with 4432 should be mostly about competitive bidding. After 1M-2m, competition is rather unlikely.

Sorry, I missed the word "semi". Perhaps the director will tell us whether he's going to treat 1NT as natural before we decide what to do? The director told me LHO would be barred if I reject the insufficient bid.

That hand is too strong - this looks like a slam force to me over a takeout double at the 4-level - but I agree about the hand type. I never play Blackwood so since we don't have an agreed suit that removes one option, and two-suited takeout doesn't make sense here.

Or how about xxx KJx AKxx xxx, that's hardly an opener and 3nt is the most likely game for EW. That hand would bid 2NT not 3♣.

2NT doesn't say "Are you maximum?", it says "Should we be in 3NT?" And this happens on what range of hands? On what basis do you decide whether you should be in 3NT? I imagine partner having a balanced 8 count and decided whether we will more likely gain IMPs in 3NT or in 2NT.

I would have bid 3N over 2N, assuming partner's range is 22-24.

Doesn't this show a spade stop? They bid two suits. Just making up some theory: We are over the spade bidder so we need a spade stopper to bid 2NT. Without a spade stopper but with a non-positional heart stopper, we can bid 2♠. Apparently Ken Rexford can bid 2♠ with this hand as well :) I have another theory. 2♠ is the only cuebid below 3♣, which could be our last making spot. So 2♠ shows nothing except extra strength. Partner can make a cuebid at the 3-level over that if he has one suit stopped and is worried about the other.

Is it so simple? From the way I read the OP, the bid was alerted (unless you want to accuse East of lying) but North didn't notice. In normal circumstances that would be inadequate - East has to make sure the message is understood - but given the prealert and the fact that this sequence had happened "a few boards earlier" surely some leeway is warranted? Perhaps you feel that you'd still adjust - fair enough - but what if there had been three transfer responses in the match so far? Or ten? Surely at some point you draw the line and tell North he should have known better, just like in your Stayman example. Others have given more competent answers regarding the correct ruling. Let me add that I strongly feel when you play transfer responses, it is YOUR responsibility to remind opponents about them every time they come up. People forget their own agreements, it happens, even in the first round of the auction - why do you expect them to remember their opponents' agreements as well?

Txxx xxxx AKxx x. I don't remember the colors, but I believe we were vulnerable. IMPs. LHO opens 1♠, partner overcalls 2♦, and RHO bids 1NT (which would have been semi-forcing without the overcall). Do you accept or reject the insufficient bid? If you accept, what do you bid? If you reject (hidden):

with the 4♥ bid partner has denied any ♣ or ♦ control so it should be safe to pass. Partner's hand should look like QJx QJxx QJx JTx altho partner may only feel comfortable qbidding 1st round controls and so holds Qxx Qxxx KQxx Jx 4♥ did not deny a control, with a bad hand for slam partner would not cuebid here.

Because you splintered with 3♦ instead? Thanks that clears it up.

2D then 2S then pass 3C. There are many reasonable hands for partner where 9 tricks are the limit - xx KQxx xx AKxxx. I can see making one more try with 4C but forcing to game seems too much to me. Edit: I forgot to mention the main reason why partner is likely to have 5 clubs only - the opponents are silent with almost 20 hcp, seems unlikely that they both have club shortness. Of course, if your partner would often overcall 1♥ with 2425 shape and good hearts, then bidding on gets more interesting.

1) Abstain, why didnt i splinter with 4♦? 2) 4♦. If partner bids 4N over that, he will hopefully make it.

(About IMPs.) Because sometimes you might make when they misdefend, or make the wrong lead. Because often when you go down, it is still a good safe against their partial. Because sometimes opponents miss their game because they don't know whether you bid on shape or on values, and because they don't find their double fit when you don't show your second suit. Because sometimes they bid game when they shouldn't. When any of this happens, the reward at IMPs is high. The cost of 4H-2 versus 3H-1, or 4H-1 versus 3H=, or 4HX-2 versus their 3S= is not so high.

One thing is sure - the HQ tells us that partner worked out that we have two diamond stops, and is telling us that the obvious play of a heart back, to knock out dummy's entry, doesn't work.

"The differences between the players at the top level are getting smaller and smaller. Thus, to win an event like the Vanderbilt, it matters more and more to have a very good sponsor, and teams without a sponsor have a good chance of winning even if they have no top pair." Agree? Disagree?

That was my first reaction too, but partner will look at many hearts, a few spades, and saw us making two non-forcing bids before we doubled 4S. I think he will work out why we think we can beat this.

Yup. Consider a typical hand for partner: Kxxx AJx xx Txxx. There will usually be 5 top losers (at least), but a spade or heart lead is a lot more likely than a club lead on this auction, and on those leads, 2NT is never the right contract. True, there are many hands like that, but note that you gave partner two out of three honors in the one side suit where we have an honor. If he has strength in the black suits instead, or s.th. like one honor in every side suit, 2N will very often be better than 3N I think.

Heh I guess we strongly disagree :D I think 3♦ is terrible as it gives aways all edge that might come from them misdefending (give partner KQ of spades and the ♥A, for example). Further, if partner passes, I don't think it is a better contract than 2N. Also, I don't think this is a 1 or 3 hand. They will have 5 top tricks quite often. Many other times, we will have a stopper in the suit they lead, plus an ace with partner, along with our 6 diamond tricks.

Clear pass in my opinion.

Well, usually I pick some of your suggestions. This time I didn't think they would adequately describe how I feel about 4♦. (And no, picking between a slam-try and a non-forcing 4♦ is not reasonable in any style.)