se12sam

I pretty much agree, I switch to a diamond, trying to cut off declarer from dummy. A heart could be right though. I admit to not having given it deep thought so I could be missing something. I'm not sure about this, but when I first looked at the problem I thought of a diamond as well. But in that case, isn't the ♦Q a stronger lead? If we lead a low ♦, declarer will finesse -- partner will have to win with the King and eventually declarer will make an undeserved diamond trick. Edit: On second thoughts, I think the ♦Q is trying to be too clever. I'm not sure of an answer anymore.

I think the full bidding is needed to really determine this one. 1. Who is dealer? If South, the bidding starts 1♦ - pass - 2♦* (inverted) for the "3♠ preempt" to make sense 2. Was West dealer? If yes, Did North open 2♣ or 1♦? After pass - 1♦, I'm not sure many will preempt to 3♠ with a 6-card suit and 1 HCP hand. But after pass - 2♣, anything can happen. 3. If North is dealer, the same question arises. After a 1♦ opening, not all Easts will jump to 3♠ with ♠J109xxx(x) ♥10(x) ♦xxx ♣xx. But a 2♣ opening removes all shackles from East. Now anything goes I don't think there is any clear cut answer. 1. If East overcalled 3♠ after (west) pass - 2♣, I'd play him for the weakest possible hand ♠J109xxx ♥10x ♦xxx ♣xx 2. If East overcalled 3♠ after (South) 1♦ - pass - 2♦, I'd play him for ♥Q doubleton. 3. If East overcalled 3♠ after (North) 1♦, I'd play him for ♥Q doubleton. ... etc. I might be totally wrong on this, but I do not think there is a stand-out favourite line here.

I think the missing additional line is the guard squeeze -- where if West has both spade Q and the 4th heart, West has to discard down to zero club cards. Once West throws a club honor on the last diamond, the finesse at trick 12 becomes obvious It should work equally well in Phil's set-up. The difference between Phil's position and that by Frances is Phil has yet to cash his last diamond whereas Frances has to cash her winning heart.

I agree. This is much superior to my suggestion of low club. After all, if partner did have a diamond void, he can ruff the king instead of a low card. And if he has the diamond Ace (dummy singleton etc), we can have a free look at dummy to decide the next lead.

I suppose the key to this question is: If Opps are good, what kind of hand will use RKCB? And why bid slam without a follow-up 5NT? Is ♠?? ♥A??? ♦AQ10?? ♣A(+K/QJ)xx more likely or Is ♠?? ♥A??? ♦x ♣AKQJxxx more likely? I think 4NT bidder has a solid club (or even heart?) suit is more likely than a very strong 7-9 control hand. With the latter, he may have followed-up with 5NT as well. So, I choose a low club. Hope partner ruffs and can cash his Ace

Consensus seems to indicate non-forcing / passable (My belief so far was "it as forcing as long as partner is not a passed hand") Anyway, please help me with my related question: * What are the forcing options available to partner?

As I mentioned in my text, to me the 4NT appeared to be RKCB. I was reasonably sure, but I agree I was wrong to assume RKCB. The 5♥ dbl increased my conviction that partner is holding a strong hand and opps are the one bidding on thin air. The 6♠ is incorrect (overall) but the 5♥ did not help! By the way, I think E/W have a comfortable 11 tricks in 5♥x.

The first post can be found at: http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?showtopic=30980 I held ♠Q108763 ♥A6 ♦Q73 ♣52. I asked whether you would bid 2♠ in the first seat. Among the people who responded (thank you all), the underlying theme seemed to be "matter of style" but more people prefered to pass. That's what I did at the table... The bidding then continued: South West North East Pass Pass 1♣ 1♥ 1♠ 4♥ 4NT Pass I asked what was your opinion about 4NT. Anyway bidding proceeded 5♦ 5♥ Dbl Pass What do you make of 5♥ dbl by partner? What should I bid now (or should I pass)? Please decide before you look further I guess there is no point keeping the full hand and the eventual debacle as another post so here goes. I considered the 4NT bid for a few seconds but honestly thought partner meant RKCB. The consensus from the previous post suggests 4NT is minors - so I obviously got this wrong. However, a couple of people pointed out that 5♦ could still work out if partner had minors. The next problem was the 5♥x. I was now doubly convinced that partner meant RKCB (and 5♥ is trump queen ask). So I jumped to 6♠! It went, dbl by LHO, then 7♣ by partner which was doubled! So we were headed for a disaster but I still wondered whether I should pull to 7♦ -- before eventually passing. The full hand? [hv=d=s&v=b&n=sxhxda1098xckq109xx&w=sakjxhj109xxdxxxcx&e=s9xhkqxxxdkjcajxx&s=sq108763ha6dq73c52]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] The other table played it in 4♥ after South opened 2♠ and chalked up +650. We were -1400 in 7♣x for a hefty loss. From that point on, it was all downhill and we lost the match eventually. As an aside, feel free to assign share of blame between North and South for the debacle

Hi! This is my first post. So please bear with me if I make mistakes. The background: This was a 32-board IMP KO match with score comparisons after 16 boards. At the half-way interval we were down 5 IMPs only. The second session was going well and my feeling was we had wiped out the deficit and were ahead about 10 IMPs. My partner and I are playing a simple SAYC-type system with limited gadgets. This was board 23: Both vul. Dealer South (me) I held ♠Q108763 ♥A6 ♦Q73 ♣52 1. Considering the state of the match, would you bid 2♠? OR If you play multi (which we did not), would you start with a 2♦ bid? 2. Regardless of your choice to part 1, please help me with this part: I chose to pass and the bidding continues South West North East Pass Pass 1♣ 1♥ 1♠ 4♥ 4NT pass ?? In your opinion, opposite a first-time partner, do you expect 4NT to be Blackwood? If yes, we play RKCB and my response is 5♦. If you believe 4NT is not Blackwood, what is it and how do you bid? I will post further queries on the same hand and the eventual denoument in a later post. Thank you!