Tramticket

IMPs or match points? A trump at match points. I'm considering a diamond at IMPs (probably the ace, but a low diamond is an interesting idea).

This is of course true. It is also true that opponents need to discuss their continuations after your artificial escape. Is a double for penalties or take-out? And subsequent doubles? Are passes forcing? What does it mean to bid your anchor suit? What does a 2NT bid mean? Even seasoned partnerships can have mis-understandings.

I'm not looking at 3NT - even at pairs.

The auction doesn't really compute. Partner has seven+ spades for his bid. I have three spades. South has two spades for the 1NT. North has a decent stop. there are too many spades and it seems that someone has psyched Probably south since he blinked first. Jack of hearts.

I'm tempted by A♠ to have a look.

A slam is likely to fail. Even with the king of diamonds favourably placed, a club lead and ruff will defeat the slam. The exact auction will depend on you methods. If you play transfers in four suits, you will bid 2NT as a transfer to diamonds and partner will show a strong holding (some bid 3♦ to show this, others 3♣). You will then show a heart shortage (some can bid 3♥ to show a shortage, others will need to jump to 4♥). Cue-bidding will highlight the missing first-round control in clubs and since you are missing the king of diamonds you will stop in 5♦.

You might want to read a recent thread on this subject. The idea that all strong hands start with a redouble and new suits are non-forcing is out of favour. Most would play changes of suit as forcing and similar to your usual response if there were no double. The other thread discussed a hand at the margins of bidding and revealed some differences of opinion. . I'm no expert on Precision, but in my opinion, this is nowhere near a 2♣ bid. You might dredge up a 1♠ bid, but with a misfit for partner and partner limited to 16 HCP I think that this is a pass.

I strongly recommend that, if possible, you find a club in your area that can produce computer-dealt hands. With the hand records and a very brief notation on the convention card, you should be able to analyse the issue later. The notation might be something like: "4C??" = "Should I have competed to four clubs" "Bad trump break" = "look back at the hand to see if I could have guarded against the bad break". I would recommend only selecting a few deals - but review in detail.

One deal proves nothing of course, but this prediction proved remarkably accurate. In a field of 48 teams, 24 played in doubled four or five-level contracts in Hearts or Spades. The average penalty for these players was greater than 1100 and for two pairs it was 1700. Of course, you risk missing a vulnerable game if you pass. You might miss a slam? Well, possibly, but I would judge that opps are far more likely to have slam than you. I was interested to see how people assessed the risk / reward balance. It was an interesting hand. What do you do with the South cards if 3NT is passed to you: [hv=pc=n&s=sk952hqj76dak972c]133|100[/hv] [Note: South doesn't have an extreme hand - just a misfit for partner and values in the red suits].

It could easily be worse, I agree. My feeling is that it will be better more often.

I would pass 1NT. Making 3♣ scores 110 and requires 9 trick. Making 2NT scores 120 and requires 8 tricks. You have to score two tricks better in clubs to improve on a NT contract. Your hand is semi-balanced with no singletons. My judgment is that sticking in 1NT will score better more often at pairs.

I think that you missed that 2♥ is a weak two-suiter?

Sorry, I don't get this. This is pairs. Pass. Don't even contemplate a club contract. If you happen to make nine tricks then you will score well.

Local club player, not a beginner.

[hv=pc=n&e=s86hakt532dqj853c&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=p3n(Gambling)]133|200[/hv] Swiss Teams Are you bidding? Opposite a passed partner?

[hv=pc=n&w=sakj9ha3d984caj73&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=p2h(weak%2C%202-suiter)3d]133|200[/hv] Pairs - local club. Partner opens 2♥ showing a weak 2-suiter, 5-9HCP, five hearts and at least four in any other suit. Your agreement after the over-call is that double is for penalties. What do you bid? Are you happy playing penalty doubles in this auction? If not, how would you play the double? (take-out? game invite? Inquiry for second suit? values?)

There are two possibilities: - Ace then queen of clubs works if the clubs are 3-2. - The spade finesse works if east has the queen. If East has ducked, it is because he has four and wants you to play AQ♣ or he has three clubs and wants you to take the spade finesse???

You can play that 1NT, 2♦; 2♥, 2♠ is a balanced game (or slam) invite. Opener bids 2NT with a minimum, otherwise four-card suits up the line (Baron style). Other continuations after 1NT, 2♦, 2♥ show a five-card heart suit and correspond to the equivalent bid after a Jacoby transfer. Breaking the transfer is possible (but can't be on a minimum hand). Playing this style, you go through Stayman to show five hearts/four spades: 1NT, 2♣; 2♦, 3♥ shows invitational strength and 1NT, 2♣; 2♦, 3♠ is game forcing. I used to play this years ago and quite liked it. I haven't played it for years.

I was interested in the general principles rather than the specific hand. Nevertheless, for those interested, the hand was: [hv=pc=n&s=sak74hk6dkqj4cqj6&w=st953h97d963cak83&n=s82hqj85d85ct9754&e=sqj6hat432dat72c2&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=pp1hd1sppp]399|300[/hv]

We would have opened 1NT with this shape. Partner actually held a 3541 shape.

There is plenty that you need to learn and a lifetime is not long enough to do it by trial and error. Different people have different learning styles. I never went to a single lesson, but I did read a lot. Others find reading books boring, preferring to pick up their bridge knowledge through formal lessons, or through informal interaction with experienced players. There is no right or wrong. Good luck with acquiring your bridge knowledge.

Thanks for setting this up. Interesting results.

Thanks mike. I think that you missed that I was a passed hand - so I think that you will agree that partner is entitled to pass? (we held a combined 18-count). We also don't play support doubles / redoubles - mainly because we play a weak NT and we use a double to show our strong and balanced type. But I will definitely discuss a transfer structure with partner.

Thank you

Thanks to those who have commented, including Mr Ace, who responded on the duplicate thread. [As an aside, it is very easy to accidentally create duplicates on this site]. I agree with Mr Ace: "No double does not change the responses at 1 level. It shows 4+ suit and 6+ hcp. But you may decide to pass marginal hands [...] The hand in your OP is a very legit hand and I do not see any reason to pass. you may very well be belong to 4 ♠ and that double does not guarantee 4 card spades." Unfortunately we found out, in the post-match discussion in the restaurant, that we have been on a different wave-length for years. Partner agrees with The Badger, ggwhiz and mcphee. We will now be getting our methods aligned. Fortunately, this board did not prove a disaster - I made +80 in 1♠ (a trump lead would have defeated me by one trick). our eventual agreement may include transfer responses (we already play transfer responses to over-calls). If anyone has an links to good reference material to transfer responses after an intervening t/o double it would be welcome.