nigel_k

West should bid 3♠ instead of 2♠. Imagine partner with a hand such as KQxx xxx AKxx xx. It has perfect cards but is minimum, and the doubler would pass 2♠ with quite a lot more than this since we didn't overcall.

It's no good if you are the only one who complains. Obviously you would be justified in calling the director, but if everyone else lets this stuff go, then they won't change. If there is a club newsletter, I would write up the hand, without mentioning their names, but with a general tone of 'isn't it shocking this kind of grossly unethical behaviour is going on in our club?'. Or just stick something on the noticeboard.

Quite possibly. But opponents will often have problems too, and I won't necessarily be any better off if I pass to start with. Regardless of what you preempt with, there will be some variation in how good your suit is. And when your suit is barely adequate (however you define that) but you have compensation shape and stuff elsewhere, it can easily be right to bid one more if partner raises because it improves your hand so much.

3♣ for me. I don't really pay much attention to the rule of 2 and 3. Opponents quite often make a mistake when you preempt. In any case, I'm not so sure the field is passing this hand.

Definitely. I would if one of the kings was a small card.

And you could just have a small centralized administration to deal with things like foreign policy and take care of any need to regulate commercial disputes between the separate states. Great idea. Why has it taken until now for someone to come up with this?

It's close but I would pass.

Adam's point is key. Finessing has no way to gain matchpoints, regardless of the spade position. Apart from that, it's better to lead x from JTxx, not the jack. But leading from Jx is quite bad as well. I would rather lead from xxx in hearts or even a minor suit, especially at matchpoints.

Sometimes you have a hand where you dial it back because you have really bad trumps, but the hand improves a lot when partner raises. If you open 2♥ with x AQJxxx x Jxxxx and partner raises, then the problem occurs because you should have opened 3♥ in the first place. But if the hand is x Jxxxxx x AQJxx then I think opening 2♥ and continuing to 4♥ if partner raises is ok.

Definitely don't double. I would bid 2♠ and just follow up with 3♠, or 4♠ if partner jumps to 3NT. Bidding diamonds could be right but it suggests a better hand and maybe partner can bid diamonds himself on some of the hands where we belong there,

Maybe this is not how directors rule in practice, but I think that 'but for' causation is not enough. I.e., in order to show that the misexplanation caused damage, I think you have to do more than establish that, but for the incorrect explanation, South would not have bid 3♥. Otherwise the marriage of Hitler's grandparents caused the deaths of millions of innocent people. This is not what we normally mean when we use the world 'cause'. I would be inclined to just rule that South's poor judgment was such a dominant cause of his poor result that nothing else matters. So 'wild or gambling' doesn't come into it. But anyway, 3♥ was wild. And if it wasn't wild, it was certainly a serious error and was unrelated to the infraction because the explanation given in no way suggests that bidding 3♥ is a good idea.

IMO they should describe using the 4-3-2-1 count regardless of how they actually evaluate. Many people cannot multiply by two thirds quickly enough to be able to understand what these descriptions actually mean if they just quickly browse the card.

Preempting and bidding again is perfectly ok. If you have something like x QJTxx KJTxx xx non vulnerable you might open 2♥ and rebid 3♦ after 2♠-P-P. There is a risk that partner will initially play you for a different hand type, but if you judge that getting your suit(s) in early is more important then a good partner will understand that even if it doesn't work on a particular hand. Opening a weak two and then doubling with a maximum and takeout shape is also quite common, especially after two passes. On the hand from the other thread, there was a bit too much disparity between the suits so, if it was a bit weaker and not good enough to open 1, I would probably treat it as a single suited heart preempt and open 3♥.

I would jump shift in diamonds and then support clubs (assuming your jump shift is strong). If the jump shift is not strong, then respond 1♦ and make a forcing club raise next time, however you do that depending on your methods and opener's rebid. Something like 1♣-1♦-1NT-4NT-6NT is ok, but 6♣ will often play better than 6NT (as it does here).

The first double is fine and I think a second (penalty) double is ok as well. 3♣ could make, but I expect it to usually fail and we'll often collect 500 when we have no game (or weren't going to bid one). If partner is the sort of player who will stand the double with a club void expecting to get rich because we clearly have a massive club stack, then it's too risky obviously.

It used to be standard that the raise shows extras but I don't think this is the case any more. Plenty of people will raise on any hand with four spades but plenty of people also still play that it shows extra values. So you need an agreement. I prefer it to show extras but am probably old fashioned. In the actual auction, the strength of the 1♠ bidder is quite closely defined as they could pass if weaker or bid 2♠ if stronger. So it should be fine if 3♠ is the only way to invite game. But after an auction such as (1♣)-X-(P)-1♠-(2♣) it is harder as the range of the 1♠ bidder is a lot greater.

Probably not. But the issue is what opponents are reasonably entitled to expect if you do double and describe that double as 'takeout' when they ask.

2♦, intending to show a good club raise :) This is far too much to pass. I don't play that partner necessarily needs a mountain to overcall vulnerable at the two level, but still I expect 3♣ to usually be pretty safe if there is nothing better.

Double. Obviously spades are a worry but the hand is just too good to pass at this vulnerability. Maybe partner will bid 1♠ before they find their spade fit :)

Is Three Mile Island an option or has it been cleaned up now?

Novice/Beginner is not the same as very first lesson for someone who has never played the game. Beginners need to learn early on that bridge is a game of judgment and you cannot succeed by following rigid rules. In any case, if you add up HCP and heart length and ignore everything else, it is a 2♥ opening and I wouldn't be surprised if a beginner did that. Getting them to understand why 1♥ is better is pretty fundamental.

Of course 'takeout' means it is not for penalty and partner will usually bid something. But that is not all it means. When opponents have bid two suits, the normal meaning of 'takeout' is that the doubler has the other two suits. Maybe not always four cards in each, but certainly not a singleton in one of them. N/S might have asked for clarification but IMO were reasonably entitled to assume 'lighter takeout with hearts and clubs' from the explanation given. Maybe it would be fairer, when one side is using their first language and one is not, that the side using their first language has more of a burden to ensure that full explanations are given and understood. But that is not the rule now and I don't know if such a rule could be created in practice.

I would bid 3♥ if systemic and don't agree that fit showing is anywhere near universal. Otherwise I would bid 2♥ and rebid 3♥.

After you have said a couple of things that somebody doesn't agree with, that tends to affect their perception of everything you say afterwards and they take you less seriously as a result. This forum is no better or worse than elsewhere in that respect. But the advantage of an online forum is that you can start again with a different user name.

4♠ is correct with no slam interest, as others have said. If I had a 4063 and enough to be interested in slam now, I would have responded 2♦ not double. Or would bid 5NT now if willing to commit to slam. What is left is a hand with primary club support so 4NT is RKCB or general slam try, or whatever you normally do with 4NT when clubs are trumps.