Tramticket

But Wank delibately chose a pretty disgusting 10 count to illustrate his point. There are many hands where you would pass as declare but would give reasonable prospects of game.

1NT = A normal weak NT (sorry RMNKA447, but playing weak NT I would open this every time). 2C Stayman = This is a bit strange. It can sometimes improve things, but since West is maximum I see little point in this bid. Double of 3C = Aggressive action at these colours. Why do we want to compete aggressively for a part-score, red vs red at IMPs? Penalty pass = I might do this at pairs, trying for the magic +200. But this it is a silly risk at teams - doubling opps into game.

My instinct is to try to force declarer and lead a diamond, continuing diamonds at every opportunity.

If the 4♣ jump doesn't imply diamond tolence I am assuming that east has all seven missing clubs (would also explain the lack of a club lead). In this case I take the ace of diamonds and exit with a diamond.

Two pieces of information would help: Does east's jump imply diamond support (or tolerance)? What are E/W carding agreements? I am placing west with KQ of diamonds and I think I need west to hold the ace of clubs (west hasn't led a club, so may be some hope there?). Let's also assume that west has one heart honour or the queen of spades to justify the overcall. It would help if opps opened up the heart suit or opened up the trump suit, so I'm leaving those alone for now. I take the ace of diamonds then leading a club towards the king....

It is a little more complicated than this. If they were playing a weak NT they would have opened 1NT on this hand. A 1♦ opening will generally show at least 15 HCP or be unbalanced with five or more diamonds. With a strong NT hand he will be a lot happier bidding 3NT with only a single stop (the auction is less likely to occur anyway). With an unbalanced hand, it is more sensible to rebid the diamonds to show the minimum. I have sympathy for OP transitioning to "strong and five" from "weak and four". He will encounter new problems.

The opening was 1♦ not 1NT. They were probably not playing Lebensohl in this sequence.

I agree - if we know East has the ♠K we could play your line. If we knew that west has the ♥A it would also be easy. But I am struggling to come up with a best line that combines these chances. I can't improve on Nige1's line.

Either 7-4 or 6-5 are possible I think.

I agree with this!

This is plausible. I agree with the shape and was looking at a similar line. Does west bid 1♥ with that hand? I guess that depends on opponents' agreements, but it feels as if west should hold either the K♠ or A♥ for the advance? But maybe not with that 6-5 shape?

What are you discarding from dummy on the three long diamonds? You seem to be squeezing yourself. For that matter, what are you discarding from hand on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th club?

Ah, missed that. I was expecting to find it in the level 4 section. Thanks

I sort of remember that the weak option of a multi had to be limited to a five-point range. But I can't find this in the Blue Book (current one or previous one). Have I mis-remembered? Or did this change at some stage?

Pass for me. North had to make a seven-level judgement. Under pressure, North (even Vampyr :)) may have over-stretched. I would hate to make a (very costly) phantom sacrifice.

Cue-bid, showing a control, for me too.

I agree with this. Also, I expect partner to hold a strong hand and be bidding in the expectation of making 5m rather than as a sacrifice. (The opponents have not shown significant values, so no reason to sacrifice). With particularly good controls, you might jump to 6.

Thank you all. I held the East cards and was in two minds whether to invite. I didn't like the 4333 shape but it was the KXX in partner's suit (always 4+ often 5+ in our system), which persuaded me to go on. I can see why partner accepted the invite, but QX in hearts does look like a downgrade - largely compensating for the 5th club.

[hv=pc=n&w=s82hdkj98532cat96&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=p1n(Weak%20%5B12-14%5D)2c(ASPTRO%3A%20Hearts%20%2B%20another)]133|200[/hv] Pairs. Your methods include Lebensohl. Your bid.

[hv=pc=n&e=st9742hqj6dak64c5&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=2h(Weak)2s3h]133|200[/hv] Pairs. Your bid?

Partner has made a free bid and has some values. Opponents do not have the HCP for 3NT, so are presumably basing the bid on the hope of running diamonds. I suspect that establishing the clubs might be too slow (if I did lead clubs, it would not be the 4th best club) and I'm tempted to find partners suit. I am leading an ace to give me the option to switch to the other major if that seems right and to avoid blocking the suit (leading the 7♠ looks very likely to block the spades). I'm guessing the A♠

[hv=pc=n&w=st54hq9dakqcaqj42&e=sak97hk83dj93ck76&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=p1c(Natural%20%5B4%2B%5D)p1sp2n(18-19)p4np6nppp]266|200[/hv] Although one pair made 6NT on the lead of the ace of hearts, it has no play on any other lead. Who (if any) has bid too much?

You could duck the spade, playing west for both the QJ of spades or rise with the ace of spades hoping to drop a singleton Q or J spade with East (meaning that west started with six spades). We know that East started with seven red cards and West with four, so there is room for west to have a six-card spade suit. But with six spades and six/seven points he may have found a bid on the first round. I would guess to play a low spade on the spade switch.

That's an interesting psyche at red ... :) I was defending, holding the west cards on this deal. I led the Q♥ against inexperienced opps who had stopped in 2NT after a misunderstanding. Declarer wasn't up to finding the elimination / end-play!

My friend and occasional partner, John Williams wrote up this hand, played at Chelmsford on 7th April 2014: [hv=pc=n&s=sak3hak5dakqjcakt&w=sq97hqj973dt987c5&n=sj652ht42d53c9643&e=st84h86d642cqj872&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=ppp]399|300[/hv] A Most Difficult Hand to Bid Part score hands, games, slams, bidding over pre-empts - which are the most difficult hands to bid? For me none of these, it’s hands where one player holds about 30 HCPs in a balanced hand. Such a hand was noted by Tom Townsend, the bridge correspondent of the Daily Telegraph in a recent article . A similar hand (above), containing 31 points, occurred at our table on Monday 7th April at Chelmsford Bridge club. Curiously Tom’s article appeared on the same day as the above 31 HCP hand was played. Both hands had been randomly computer dealt. After three passes South opens with an Acol game forcing bid of 2♣ (or a Benjamin bid of 2♦). What to do next, after a negative response by North? 3♦, 3NT, 4NT, 5NT, 6NT are all possibilities but I see no sensible way of finding out about the three missing queens. Perhaps an opening bid of 4NT, 5NT or 6NT is the best guess? All pairs, bar two, bid a slam , either going 2 off for -200 or three off for -300. Top was a pair making 3NT +3 (some feat) with the second top pair making +180 in a NT part score (also some feat in a strange way). At our table South bid 3♦, his only 4 card suit, after the negative response by North and we finished in 6♦-2. As he said, ‘at least the trumps broke nicely’.