nigel_k

Responder's 4♥ sets hearts as trumps. If there was no Kickback, 4NT would be RKCB and 4♠ a cue bid. With Kickback these are reversed, i.e. 4♠ is RKCB and 4NT is a spade cue bid.

I would invite on this. It is the flipside of the other threads where people are upgrading 14 and 17 HCP hands but never downgrading even quite poor 15 and 18 HCP hands. This is justified on the basis of being 'aggressive'. But it's not aggressive at all if responder compensates by bidding less. You're simply playing a NT range lower than 15-17. The answers in this thread are consistent with that. Also, the morbid fear of ever playing in 2NT is overdone IMO, especially in this forum.

I voted for 2♣. Partner has real clubs more often than most people think, especially in third seat. And if partner has only three clubs, he is at best 3433 or 4333 and we don't necessarily want to compete to 3♦ over two of their major. If partner does have clubs and we don't raise now, things could get tricky. What will we do if LHO bids 2♥ or 2♠ and it comes back to us? Partner could have either Axx Axx x KQxxxx or Axxx Axxx xx KQx.

I believe there is a line that will always succeed if neither minor suit is worse than 4-2.

4321 is fine when you play in NT and both hands are balanced. But neither of those can be known when you are considering the opening bid. For example, it makes sense to use 4321 when raising partner's 1NT opening and use ZAR after an opening one of a major has been raised. But people seem to rely on these things too much on opening bid questions where to me it makes more sense to do something in between until you find out more.

Definitely agree with the first one. The second one is questionable but these things often work and I don't have any problem with it, especially if partner has seen this before.

If they overcall 1♠ and you have five hearts, it just seems wrong to woodenly double or pass or whatever because of how many points you have, then hear the next player jump to 3♠. I would play invitational or better transfers and double for takeout. When the auction gets competitive, partner needs to know about your long suit much more than whether you have 6 HCP or 8 HCP.

Definitely don't downgrade the first, aces are undervalued already. I think the theoretically correct values, given you know nothing about where the contract will be played, are 4.4, 2.8, 1.6, 0.8 and 0.4 for tens. So this is 16.4 as a starting point. I would downgrade the second though. Kaplan/Rubens overstates the first and understates the second, assuming you play in notrump. If you play in a suit though, the second is going to be quite a lot worse than partner will expect. Downgrading has the added bonus of indicating a club lead.

It is a hand that would bid 3♦ natural over a weak 3♣. Your other agreements will determine whether it could be a strong flexible hand, strong with just diamonds, or maybe ELC.

In general there is no requirement to alert or do anything else when you have no agreement. But if you are both experienced and opponents are not, then effectively you have an implicit agreement to do things based on general bridge knowledge, but your opponents may not have that knowledge. So I would alert in that case and just explain there is no specific agreement but it's likely that 3♣ asks you to bid a major if you have one (carefully not mentioning whether you think it is Puppet or standard).

Agree. This is a beginner level problem. Don't bid your hand twice. Double says you have extra values and no extra shape.

[hv=pc=n&s=sthaj8765dcaq9765&w=sak5432h2dq32ck32&n=sq6hk43dkj987cj84&e=sj987hqt9dat654ct]399|300[/hv] I agree with mikeh and the above (example) layout seems fairly normal. We are 6-6 and partner raised.

The shadow creature is in the books and I don't think it could be taken out without major plot changes elsewhere to compensate. Future episodes will explain why this is so.

I think a constructive raise is ok if partner would open routinely with 11 HCP and 5332 shape. But it is still close. If opener had something like Qxx AQJxx Axx xx then game is well above 50% but still far from cold. Sometimes that happens when you have no wasted cards and open a wider range of hands than most people. If opener is any better than that they need to move over a constructive raise and are getting close to a 1NT opening anyway.

I don't understand how we can make an invit+ call showing clubs. If we transfer and bid we are playing at least 3NT, otherwise we pass 3♣ and play there. I would just bid 3NT over 2♠, or do whatever shows a 3NT bid without a stopper. On the second one, I would pass.

I would double if partner passes. The club shortage means that I might get a ruff or partner could have a deep club trick so I think we'll get 300 more often than -550. If partner doubles, I will guess to bid 5♠ but pass could also be right.

I would double, then bid 2♠ if they pull to a red suit. I don't agree that our chances of beating 1NT are better than our chances of making 2♠ or 3♣. East might have bid Stayman with a weak 3442 or similar hand so could easily be 2452 and we can't hold up in diamonds. When 1NT is failing and they pull it, we have enough shape to expect that partner's choice of black suit will have pretty good play. If the double ends the auction, probably RHO is balanced which gives us a much better chance of beating it.

The problem is about comparing your expected score from defending 2♥X with your expected score from playing 3♣. Trying to figure out what we expect for playing 3♣ is obviously a big part of that. If the suggestion is that, because this is hard to figure out and our estimate might be wrong, we should just assume that playing 3♣ will be worth 50%, then I don't think *that* is the right way to think about this problem, or any problem.

I have never played in a field where everyone would be in clubs making the same number of tricks on this kind of hand, though maybe such events exist. Someone who is in contention to win an event should expect their matchpoints for playing 3♣ would be well over 50%.

I want to bid 6♦ but will start with 5NT choice of slam first so partner gets the message that my grand try is two suited rather than one suited. If partner chooses clubs over 5NT and hearts over 6♦ then I will bid 6♠ and give him a chance to get out if he has something like Jxx Axx Kx KQxxx.

If the question is what to do without a specific agreement, I would rather bid 3♠ on this hand than try 2NT and hope partner works it out. If the question is what is the best agreement, I prefer 2NT as hearts and a minor and 3♠ as both minors. This allows us to stop at the three level on two of the three possible two suiter combinations while leaving partner in a better position if the bidding gets high quickly.

I prefer 3♠ as minors or diamonds, and 4♣ directly over 2NT as single suited clubs. This means that opener will rebid 4♦ setting trumps on this hand. If you play 3♠ as minors or clubs you can't do this. So we are in a cue bidding sequence after 4♦. Responder's 4♠ denies a heart control and therefore opener's 5♣ shows one. You will confidently reach at least 6♦ after that.

There are opportunities for both players but I thibk the clearest one is for East to overtake the ♠10 to play a club. It's easier for East because he is looking at the jack and ten of clubs and needs to assume partner has the queen.

I think there are two kinds of opponents: 1) the kind against whom you take your best chance and don't try to get into mind games 2) the kind who never play high from HTx So decide which kind of opponent LHO is and play accordingly. No need to get into the percentage stuff.

And their opponents could get by just filling out the section on doubles.