Tramticket

I might have opened 3♣. Your partner is a passed hand and has then made a take-out (negative) double of the 1♠ overcall. He is not showing spades. He still has the same hand when he makes the second double, but is probably showing some extra values (a maximum pass). The trouble is that we are looking at one defensive trick - maybe two at a stretch. How many defensive tricks do we expect our passed-hand partner to provide? I'm running - 4NT looks the best way of finding our fit.

It might save declarer a guess or open up a frozen suit.

Based on partner's doubles, we seem to have our fair share of this deck. J♠ seems like a reasonable attempt to minimise ruffs. But K♥ or 8♣ might be right.

Similar to others: Natural - from a good 15 up to 18. All systems (Stayman / transfers) are on.

for me a bid a 4♠ is a bid based on power and denying shortage (no splinter) - so this is definitely not a 4♠ bid. If you are prepared to commit to game then 4♦ seems right and allows partner to downgrade his diamond honours. 3♥ doesn't set spades as trumps and is unhelpful. I am happy to invite with 3♠.

I think that playing AK might be right - for the reason suggested by gszes. We are in a poor contract and need to take an anti-room line to regain ground. Edit: I win trick 1 in hand with the ace to preserve an entry.

I agree with a positive being forcing to 4NT. But if 2NT is natural, I want it to be made up of aces and kings, to be helpful in a slam. I'm not bidding 2NT with some random collection of quacks, adding up to nine (but of little use to partner). Our 2NT is natural in theory - but I can't remember bidding a natural 2NT.

We play, after 2♥/♠, 2NT: 3♣ = Second suit is Clubs - lower range. 3♦ = Second suit is Diamonds - lower range. 3♥ = Second suit is the other major - lower range. 3♠ = Second suit is the other major - upper range. 3NT = Second suit is a minor - upper range.

It isn't just that a 2NT wrong-sides the contract. The hand is quite a bit under-strength for a positive response on a flat and ace-less seven count. But the big problem is that this response will get in the way if partner wants to show his suits. This will be a real problem if the 2♣ bidder has a two-suited (or three-suited!) hand and has to show the second suit at the four-level. You have taken away the room needed to investigate a slam and have already gone past 3NT if that happened to be the best contract.

I like 3♦, because you know that opps have some points and a likely fit in at least one of the majors. But, I can't remember it coming up for us before, so we were both a little unsure if we were on the same wavelength! We were, but partner judged to pass. Fair enough.:)

Thanks, I have a couple of questions on this (this is new to me and very different to our current methods, so might be a silly question): (1) If opener has a five-card heart suit and only two spades and responder has a five-card spade suit and three-card heart suit, am I right in thinking that the auction will be 2NT, 3♥; 3NT - where 3NT denies three spades? Is there any way of finding the eight-card heart fit? (2) We include a balanced 21-22 in our multi. Would the structure need changing? (e.g. after 2♦, 2♠; 2NT where the 2♠ bid shows 3+ hearts)

Thanks all for the comments. I can't remember ever opening 3♦ in 4th seat before. I was West and the full hands were: [hv=pc=n&s=skt964ha87d2c7653&w=s852hqdaqjt943ckq&n=sqjht432d75cajt94&e=sa73hkj965dk86c82&d=n&v=e&b=9&a=ppp3dppp]399|300[/hv] The west hand is at the top end of the range, but worth a 3♦ bid? Or would you have opened 1♦? Partner judged to pass. In a way she was right - 3NT fails on a spade lead. But in practice, when the hand was played in 3NT, they received a club lead.

No we play a multi so no natural weak-two in diamonds available.

This is true - as always. :) But let's just speculate that, even in a seasoned partnership, this particular issue has not come up before or been discussed (yes maybe it should have been!) ... What would you expect from your intelligent and knowledgeable partner (me)? :)

[hv=pc=n&e=s93h3djt9ckq96432&d=n&v=b&b=13&a=1sp2dp3sp4n(RKCB)p5s(2%20%2B%20Q)p6sppp]133|200[/hv] IMPs

[hv=pc=n&e=sa73hkj965dk86c82&d=n&v=e&b=9&a=ppp3dp]133|200[/hv] IMPs System: Four-card majors, weak NT & multi. What are you expecting partner to hold (diamond suit quality / point range)? Are you bidding? If so, what? If you are passing, is there any holding where you would bid?

3♥ Must be based on shape. No, I would not have started with 2♣.

My post just gave a solution how to escape to 3C/D, not whether you should do it. Let's consider first the situation where you hold zero points opposite the weak NT, but a six-card club suit. You know two things: (1) 3C rates to make more tricks than 1NT, (2) LHO will almost certainly double 1NT if given the chance. You have two choices: - You can use whatever method you have agreed to escape to 3C (in this case 2C followed by 3C). On a good day, you might not be doubled and the opponts fail to find their game contract... It depends on your estimate of the opps of course. ☺ - You can wait until LHO doubles 1NT, then you can escape to 2C. Now both opponents know that the hand belongs to them and they are well placed to choose to double (but only at the two-level) or bid game their way. (Or slam?!). The choice may be affected by vulnerability and your view of the opps, but I usually find it best to start the escape mechanism and muddy the waters for the opponents. With a few more points it becomes a more interesting choice - but vulnerability will often be important. I would only gamble 3NT with sub-minimum values if I held at least two of the top three honours.

Many play either 2♠ or 2NT as a transfer to a minor or both minors (on a pass or correct basis). But you specified that you don't play these methods (may be worth thinking about for the future :) ). In the absence of these methods the traditional Acol approach used to be to bid 2♣ Stayman and then bid 3♣ over the response. The 3♣ bid is a signoff in clubs and does not promise a four-card holding the major. This method can be extended to diamonds. But you need to make sure that you are on the same wavelength as partner - most modern players will have different uses for this sequence.

Have another look. North will not have another diamond!

Thanks Phil - interesting ideas. On (1), I can see that opps have ♣AKQ between the two hands, so the J is dead anyway. Hence clubs is the safe passive lead. It is not totally risk free: partner might hold ♣TXXX and declarer ♣A9, when the club suit is frozen. But I can see that clubs is the least likely to concede a trick.

Flippant answer: There is a known method of dealing with this issue - switch to four-card majors and all of your opening will promise at least four cards in the suit. You may not want to fundamentally change your system to deal with a very rare occurrence. :) If you open a strong (15-17) no trump, the problem will only occur if you hold a balanced 12-14 or a balanced 18-19. If you are in the range 12-14 and partner doesn't have enough to make a one-level response (fewer than 5 HCP) then it is likely that your opponents will compete and spare you the problem. The time when you are most at danger is when you open 1♣ on a two-card suit holding 18-19 - now it is more likely that opponents' will not have enough to compete. But has been said above, it doesn't happen very often. Lesson to learn: now put yourself in opponent's shoes after the auction starts (1♣), Pass, (Pass). Do you protect? The advice is to consider passing if holding length in clubs - particularly if the opponents are vulnerable - instead of protecting with (say) 1NT. It doesn't happen often, but worth considering.

Multi-tasking is even worse driving home and carrying-out the post-mortem! :)

Phil - For those of us who are less experienced in the details of the South African regulations, perhaps you could help us understand exactly where (section number) it states that "it is MANDATORY to be alerted". Thank you

I may as well have go: (1) Opponents seem to be bidding 6NT on power, based on balanced hands. If responder had some shape he would have shown his shape and looked for a fit and maybe a grand slam. I have 6 HCP and partner has little or nothing. The usual advice against a 6NT contract is to lead passively and I can see no reason to lead away from any of my honours. ♦X (2) This is a completely different sort of auction and I am guessing that it has been bid based on a long running suit (after checking for aces). The long suit is likely to be diamonds (my singleton) and I'm not leading that. There is potentially room for partner to have something - maybe even a king. The strong hand is on my left and I'm guessing to lead: ♠X