nigel_k

This is not logical. If partner's 1NT is suspect then XX is safer than 2♣. If partner psyched he can pull the XX to his suit. Everyone will look at him and smile then the auction will continue normally. Over 2♣ the psycher has to choose between passing, possibly conceding a number of undoubled undertricks (unless his suit is clubs) or making the Stayman response and risking partner leaping somewhere with his next bid. If anything, the choice of 2♣ over XX suggests trust in the 1NT opening. After LHO tanks and RHO bids 2NT, Fred is fully entitled to pass, drawing the obvious inferences from the opponents' actions.

[hv=d=e&w=skthkqjt5daj962ct&s=s96542ha963dcj863]266|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Opponents reach 6♦ after East opened a 12-14 1NT. The auction was science fiction so I won't repeat it but the essence is that East has one ace and preferred 6♦ to 6♥ (he would have been declarer in either). Therefore they are off two aces. You lead the ace of hearts, partner plays the seven and declarer the two. Partner's card will be suit preference or a singleton (not that this helps much given the eight and four are still out there). What next?

1♦. Too weak for 1NT and 1♦ is fairly safe even vul and has several ways to gain. Length in RHO's suit is not a drawback on this sequence.

3♥ is enough. The field will bid more so I'm a bit worried about going against them but game is sufficiently unlikely that I'm willing to do it here.

I'm with Ken on this one. Semi-forcing is like semi-pregnant. It's not too late to give it a real name. It's less than a game force so why not just 1NT LGF? Obviously you can't pass if partner might have 15 HCP but normally it is at most one of several invitational types, i.e. balanced, three card raise or single suited minor. I don't see anything wrong in playing that a hand with no game interest opposite any of those can just pass 1NT.

I'd pass. I'm a bit nervous about clubs but I'm also worried about playing the wrong partscore since it could easily be our hand. 2♣ by LHO, pass, pass, double for takeout would be nice and is quite possible. If I could pull and show diamonds and hearts that might be an option though.

I'd suggest a single raise of a major being a good 6 to a bad 10 and respond 1NT on weaker hands with three card support, otherwise the single raise covers too wide a range. In that case the jump to 4M here is that weaker hand. With the three card support limit raise hands you either cue bid or bid 3M and catch up later. That is a bit awkward but probably no worse than consuming space with a jump to 4M.

Definitely pass. Will balance though.

It's not worth zero points if we're considering 3NT or something similar, but for the purposes of deciding whether to make a takeout double in this situation the QJ is worth next to nothing. Competitive decisions are based on offensive/defensive differential not just a count of our side's assets. If partner has a five card major and some values and they compete to 3♦ he is going to get it wrong if I double with this hand. I might have valued the QJ as negative on the grounds that opponents will have more elsewhere when missing QJ of their suit, plus it has a better chance of scoring a trick on defence than offense. I took a rosy view and just counted it as zero :)

6NT. 6♥ might be better, e.g. x AKxxxx KQJx xx and 2-2 hearts. However 6NT will very often be as good or better than 6♥. If they have a choice between a club and a diamond lead, the diamond may seem more attractive if it's through partner's cue bid instead of around to it.

Pass. I'll balance over 2♦ but an initial double is too likely to encourage partner to continue over their 3♦ when that is wrong. It's equal to Q98 QJ2 32 AQ642 and considerably worse than Q982 QJ32 32 AQ2, which is still only a minimum double.

Re Pearson, I always open when I have opening bid strength and only look at the spade holding when I haven't. This hand is strong enough that the spades don't matter. I'll bid 3♥ and expect to make it at least 80% of the time. We might miss a game but it's only matchpoints and I want to start high because I'm scared of letting them get to 3♠.

While game could be terrible opposite some openers, this is not an invitational hand as you want to be in game opposite most minimums. I'd be very nervous if it went 1♥-3♣(invit)-pass. Prefer to bid 2♣ game forcing and hope for the best.

Pass, but I know I'm more conservative on these than many people. With this shape and honour pattern I'd also pass if the four card suit was a minor. The overall offense to defense ratio of this hand is low enough that I'm not too worried about being shut out if I pass.

The problem is that most of the field will be opening one spade with a five card suit and their auction will go 1♠-1NT-2♣/♦-3♠-4♠. This will probably make even if partner has 14. So passing consigns you to a near bottom in that case. When partner has only four spades, 2♠ will usually be the best spot. However, even when the raise gets you to a subpar contract (defeatable 3♠ when field is in 3♦ making 3-4, or defeatable 4♠ when field is making 3NT) there is still a decent chance for partner to save the board through superior card play. That's why I like the raise.

An alternative to Jack's method. The remaining cards in the suit split as follows: A. 6-0-0 0.158% B. 5-1-0 3.077% C. 4-2-0 10.256% D. 4-1-1 11.111% E. 3-3-0 7.521% F. 3-2-1 53.332% G. 2-2-2 14.545% Of these you will run the suit: A. One third B. One third C. One third plus (two sixths of half the others) D. One third plus (one sixth of the others) E,F,G: All I make this a total of 85.973%, i.e. 86% Of course, if partner knows to pull 3NT to 4 of a minor when he has a void your chances are even better :)

I agree with Helene_t. If you're going to do something more than basic RKCB, kickback is more effective (there's always a queen ask for any trump suit) and the agreements you need around around it are probably less complex than a set of rules about when 4NT is 1430 and when it's 3041.

The above example illustrates a bigger problem. For distributional hands, the value depends on whether you have a fit and what trumps are. You don't know that when opening the bidding so it makes sense to initially count your distribution as less than its expected value. It's much easier to add than subtract later on. The 'average' trick taking power across all hands with a given distribution is more or less meaningless when bidding an actual hand. The actual value will be more if you have a fit and less if you have a misfit. So find out which then evaluate how much extra your shape is worth. Also, I don't agree with 6-4-2-1. It's true that 4-3-2-1 undervalues aces for suit contracts but 6-4-2-1 is almost equally wrong in the other direction for suit contracts and is just plain inferior for notrump contracts. The most accurate for practical purposes is 11-7-4-2-1. This adds to 25 so you can easily multiply by four and divide by ten to get an equivalent number on the 4-3-2-1 scale, e.g. with KJxx QTxx KQx Jx: 2x7 + 2x4 + 2x2 + 1 = 27 27x4/10 = 10.8 HCP I use this at the table all the time now. Obviously you still need to adjust for short honours, honour combinations etc but I don't use any rule for that.

I agree with Tyler about the Seniors. At some point your brain starts to slow down. Hamman is still world class but he is coming off a previously godlike skill level. With so many older players and the biological fact of their brains slowing down, it's right to have a separate category for them. But the age limit should be higher. The same doesn't apply to women.

South 100%. I'd play 3♠ as forcing there but 4♠ is too much either way. I wouldn't crucify South though as the previous commenters have suggested. The preempt makes people guess and this time it made partner guess. 4♠ could make but it's just not the percentage course of action.

I doubt there is any near unanimous agreement on this but it must depend on precisely what double means. If the double is simply negative or for takeout, then you are basically supporting partner's suit, i.e. 1♣-1♠-X-2♠-3♦ is similar to 1♣-P-1♦-2♠-3♦. I'd prefer to play that 1♣-1♠-X is just hearts, i.e. would have bid one heart if they hadn't overcalled, then a diamond bid by opener is a 'new' suit and so a reverse.

If partner has five spades I want to be in 4♠ and if he has only four of them, I'd guess 2♠ is enough since 3NT probably doesn't make or we could get 140 instead of 130. 3♠ is not entirely logical as a compromise because I don't really want to invite anything. But I suppose partner will often go on when he has five spades anyway just because his hand will be stronger and we may well be ok at the three level if he passes with four spades and a minimum. I don't normally open 1NT with a five card major but if I did it would be good to have some kind of asking mechanism using 3♣ and/or allow him to 'superaccept' with a five card suit. I'm assuming here you don't do that.

Avoiding giving offence has never been one of my strengths so here goes: I think it borders on insulting to even have womens' events. There is no reason that women can't compete and win against men, and plenty of women have done so. It's not athletics. The womens' events actually hold women back. If there were special events only for left-handers and anyone left handed was encouraged to play in those events, over time the effect would be that the standard of the top right handed players would increase relative to the left handed players just because they would be swimming in a larger talent pool. If top women players refuse to enter the Wagar they are making the right choice.

1. 5♣ 2. 4♣. 3♣ should be forcing but 4♣ is descriptive. Slight worry that those who suggested Gerber above may not have been joking. 3. 1♥. May get to bid diamonds below the 5 level and involve partner in the final decision. Reluctant to use UNT with 6-5 and anyway I play it weak or strong and this isn't enough for a strong one.

I don't play support doubles but I see no reason why it wouldn't apply here. This hand is a perfectly normal 'raise' to 2♠ that happens to have only three trumps. Spades may well be the best denomination for a partscore and this alerts partner that he'll need good spades if he wants to go any higher in that suit.