irg20

Sorry I'm kind of late to this thread. I think I'm in favour of doubling first and bidding 3D over partner's response. This suggests two things in my mind: 1) Values for the three level 2) Interest in playing contracts other than diamonds (else I would have bid 2D (F1) followed by 3D (NF)) It also has the merit of not suggesting better diamonds than I have. With the actual hand given, over 3D partner has a 3NT bid. Best wishes, Ian

Ben, In your two auctions given I cannot imagine why over North's 4S bids you would want to play pass as forcing (unless 4S has some undisclosed special meaning). North has made a fairly reasonable description of his hand and South is expected to act accordingly (standard agreement is double for penalties). Of course if oppo bid to 5H then North is entitled to make some sort of action double when the bidding arrives back with him. Ian

Hand given looks like a pass to me. Second in at red pd should expect to me to deliver 'classical' preempts (at both the two and three level) rather than this hand that contains good defensive values and little offense. Ian

1) 5D. I rate the change of me being allowed to play 3NT unmolested as remote. I'm probably going to end up bidding 5D anyway so I might as well bid it now to put on the maximum pressure. 2) 3S in the lebensohl auction auction given. Then will essentially follow Ben's plan. 3) 5D

As far as bidding 2H when a 'better' diamond fit might be available is concerned I reiterate. Opener could have up to around 18 HCP and so responder should try to let him complete his hand description if he feels there is any chance of game (remembering that with a good hand opener might still have 3 card support for partner's major). Pass from responder is the least ideal call as far as prolonging the auction is concerned. Opener might also possess good 6-4 hands (with bad 6-4 rebidding the major is probably better). Conclusion: 2H is flexible; Pass isn't. Though this style is described by Bird & Bourke in 'Tournament Acol' I do not see how other standard systems differ in what opener and responder has shown from his opening and rebid. Ian

Possible auctions seem to be: 1C 1S 2C p 1D 1S 2C 2D p (or if opener's pass is a bit timid then you might consider 1D 1S 2C 2D 3C 3D p) Another thing to consider is whether to respond 1H in preference to 1S. As this is a fairly minimum responding hand (i.e. you don't plan to bid above 2 of openers minor) bidding 1H should pick up 5-4 spade fits aswell as 5-3 (or better) heart fits whereas a 1S response will only pick up 5-3 (or better) spade fits when opener is minimum too. Ian

I would open 1C but even if I did this problem is still worthy of consideration. Whatever I open I think I pass now. Minimum opening hand, poor suit texture and less than ideal shape being contributing factors. By opening 1D any competitive action I take now might result in partner expressing a diamond preference with equal length in the minors. Ian

Which of the final two passes is worst. I think it is souths final pass that is most clearly anti-bridge. In this auction we should either not be playing 4C or we should be playing it redoubled. 4Cx is not a rational final contract. Otherwise I'm with the bidding 2H on the first round crowd. Ian

Bid 2H. In these positions partner should be aware the I could have upto around 18 HCP and so when he thinks game might be on opposite a maximum he should bid 2H with 2 card support in preference to a superficially attractive pass of 2D. With the example hand you give whatever we do we are unlikely to be getting to game in any case. That's life.

Put me down for 2D Ian

Peter, Maybe pd might have jumped with the example I gave. Is it so clear though? What does a maximum 3S bid look like and what is the minimum 4S bid? If we want to encourage pd to overcall with fairly minimum hands with short diamonds (quite likely holding 3 diamonds ourself) we don't want to kill him by leaping to 4S when he might already be playing us for the average hand of about 7 HCP anyway. The most likely continuation over 4D is p 4S all pass I guess but with the example hand given (5 spades and fairly maximum in terms of strength) pd might just make an encouraging grunt. (Aside, in the auction 3D x p 3S p 4D p ? Is 4H last train?) Best, Ian

Board 1: Pass. Board 2: 1D. Board 3: 4D. Bidding a slam opposite AQxxx xx xxx Qxx might be beyond me. 4C I think shows a different hand (e.g. strong 2=4=1=6, 3=3=1=6 or similar)

Would be good to know if pass is forcing here. I think it is and I think it is probably also the correct call. Clearly discussion is needed about the meanings of direct and delayed (e.g. after a reopening double by partner) 5S, 5NT and 6C calls. Just bidding the grand, however, might very well be the only way to get there sensibly, it has the merit of not giving any clues to opponents as to which potential ace they have to cash if we end up in 7C missing one ace. Another interesting point is that we might want to bid 7S over 7H. After an initial 5C we might just manage this if advancer passes (forcing) and overcaller chooses to bid 5S over 5H directly (which I will raise to 7S immediately). Best wishes all, Ian PS What are peoples feelings about leading against auctions such as 4H - 5C - 5H - 7C... What should double by opener ask for? How about the lead of the higher of the two unbid suits?

I claim a redeal as I appear to have 14 cards. If my hand is 5=2=0=6 shape 4S seems clear (Cohen's suggestion of bidding 4S over 4H whenever its a reasonable option, anything else might miss 5-3 fits). If my hand is 4=2=0=7 them I bid 5C. Either way I'm not a big fan of double. Ian

Afraid I wasn't in the audience but I think disagreement between experts can be a healthy thing. It highlights to mortals that things are not straightforward even to experts. In the problem given I Pass without much conviction that this is right. Partner would have raised to 2H with a minimum responding hand, three hearts and long spades so I don't see the need to bid 3H purely competitively. In a similar vein it is not clear what strain we want to play in (though admittedly with such a good suit 3H might not be doubled even when it is a fairly unsound contract). Bidding 3H doesn't really leave it open for partner to explore the options. If partner reopens with a double do I bid game? I think so. Is this inconsistent? I think not as partner presumably has some diamond length and so must have compensating strength for his bid. Ian

I pass. I think this problem is more interesting if partner were an unpassed hand (indeed his bidding is quite extraordinary given that I could be fairly light with short diamonds - in which case 3NT is not going to be a great success). NT is quite likely to be a fairly good strain to play in with diamonds so well held between the two hands. Spade contracts might suffer at the hands of heart ruffs. If partner were unpassed then I might bid 4S: this does not show a simple single suiter (which I could have shown earlier by jump bidding some number of spades). Best wishes to all, Ian PS. I think an underated strength of the weak 2D bid is the difficulty opponents might have in sorting out the optimal major suit strain to play in at any level.

Sound like EW have 9 hearts between them with opener holding something like a 2533 shape (else he might pass 2S from N). This leaves N and W with something like 4036 and 4441. I'm passing ('cos I'm too chicken to double) and leading a small trump (assuming pd lets me).

I would like to know whether openers priority over 2C is to support spades or to bid a 4 card heart suit (I cannot see that one agreement is clearly superior over the other). In any case opener probably has a real diamond suit unless he is 3433 and chose not to bid hearts. I guess with 5 (or more) diamonds and three spades he might have raised 1S to 2S so the most likely handshapes are 3343 or 3244 (3433 and 3442 also being possible, with 3253 and 3352 probably less likely still). As nothing screams that declarer is going to be ruffing things in dummy I think I'll steer well away from a trump as it might solve some problems for declarer. For similar reasons I won't lead a diamond as it might help declarer establish dummy's suit and I cannot see that this lead will do much for the defence. My choice is between hearts and clubs. I don't think that there's much in it but I'll try the HQ (aiming to establish a couple of hearts perhaps). Could equally come up with situations where a low heart or CJ is necessary.

Pass. Should lead to a plus score most often and is therefore the standout call at matchpoints. At IMPs things are probably closer but I would probably still pass as the hand is balanced and the honours suggest defending. I agree with Ben that 4S is much preferred to double.

Working on the premise that partner would have bid 2H with most hand that are minimum with three card support the 3H either shows 1) 3 poor hearts in a hand with a good diamond suit or 2) Hx in hearts. Unfortunately these handtypes offer wildly different slam potentials so some agrrements would be useful. In spite of all of this I'll bid 4D and follow it up with RKCB (assuming I get the chance). Subsequent K/Q asks might enable me to find out if pd holds something perfect like KQx xxx AKQxxx x (or other such hands, e.g. KQ xxx AKxxxxx x). If pd bids 5C or 5D over 4D I'll probably just bid 6D which will hopefully be no worse than a finesse. If pd passes 4D I'm in the market for a new pd.

HAND TWO Though I'd like to know what W plays on DQ a line worth considering might be to play E for 6=2=4=1 shape (without a singleton CK). In this case I can duck the first diamond, win the diamond continuation, cash the third diamond and endplay W with a club to give me 6H+2D+1C or (if he's generous) 6H+2D+2C. Not sure that this is any better than lines given but seems consistent with E play at the first two tricks. Still thinking on hand three... Ian

I think the player who opens 3D with this had thinks he holds the DA rather that the HA (or at least that is what he will claim when his very anti-percentage action comes a-cropper).

2 Diamonds certainly looks a bit on the timid side and south's pass was indeed one of the luckiest you're likely to come across (was 2D in tempo I wonder). For me 2NT guarantees 5-5 in the minors so that would seem to be out (even if it doesn't, I think opposite a red 2NT east has a clear 5C bid as pd not bidding 2NT opposite a passed hand with swill). The problem with 2NT on this hand is that with equal length in both minors pd is quite likely to bid some number of clubs and I might hava a little trouble trying to find out the extent of diamond support that he has. That leaves double for the west hand. The auction is not likely to go out of control at this stage as partner is unlikely to have a string of hearts, being a passed hand.

In both uncontested auctions 1D - 1H - 3D - 3NT and 1D - 1H - 2NT - 3NT I think that I have a pass. I do not think this hand is a 1S rebid as the way I play (fairly simply!) this is not absolutely forcing and 1S could prove to be a fairly unpleasant situation (opposite something such as a minimum 3=4=1=5 or other less common handtypes). Whilst putting more handtypes (classically considered to be a 3m rebid) in 2NT rebid seems to be an increasing trend we probably need some reasonable methods to sort these out (fairly easy to think of something staymanic here). I'm not 100% convinced that this is an ideal 2NT rebid (though freely admit that I might make this call): The hand shape and honour structure cry out for this hand to be played in a suit. 2NT routinely wrongsides NT contracts with the hypothetical S stop in partners hand in the auction 1D - 1H - 2NT - 3NT. ...Maybe I prefer the original auction with a pass of 3NT as at least I haven't promised stuff I haven't got... Ian PS I'm not sure XXX KJx AKxxxx A is a strong NT as opening 1D and raising 1M to 2M is an option. Again the hand cries out to be played in a suit contract.

I guess I'll go along with 4C as leaping Michaels (at least 5-5 in C-H and forcing) if I have this club in my bag. Should the eventuality arise I'll be bidding 5C over opponents 4S which seems to be an adequate description of my hand shape. The danger of bidding this way is that partner might expect a significantly better hand (the absence of aces is far from encouraging as is the lack of texture in the heart suit) and might either double a making 5S contract or proceed to a hopeless slam. If this 4C isn't available I might just pass and see what happens (perhaps coming in over 4S with 4NT). Ian