WesleyC

I use the analogous Rubensohl bid (transfer to their suit) as showing a t/o hand with real shortage. This means that an actual t/o double usually promises a doubleton in their suit (at least).

2H feels like the wrong choice, even if it is constructive. West's pass is also slightly conservative. If I thought there was a chance of some helpful defense, i'd make a game-try.

100% to the 5D bidder. If partner has the ♠A slam will at least have play, and will often be excellent. On this layout I'd be very happy to be in a diamond slam. Even if there is a spade ruff available (not very unlikely given LHO only bid 1S), the opponents won't always find it.

If I didn't have a gadget to describe this hand after 1C - 1H, I would open 2NT.

I'm confident that 3S is forcing, so I would bid that (planning to pull 3NT to 4C). In 4S, even after the favourable lead, it doesn't look good. I'd cross to the ♠J, play the ♦A pitching the heart, and play ♣T to my ♣J. If spades aren't favorable, i'm in a lot of trouble!

I play 20-21 NT and I would need a 5th diamond to upgrade this hand.

Firstly, I agree with all of the other posters who have suggested that +50 or +100 is probably already going to be a good score. If you're playing in a pickup partnership, pass is probably the safest choice. However playing with one of my regular partners, the auction defines their hand really tightly. They have something close to 4072 shape, and decent values. With a weak hand like [xxxx --- AQJxxxx xx] they would simply preempt 4D. Hands like [Axxx --- KQxxxxx Qx] or [QJxx --- AQJxxxx xx] are consistent with partner's bidding. RHO is marked with only a 6 card heart suit so presumably also short diamonds. Something like [5602, 4603 or 3604] looks most likely, which leaves declarer with [2335, 3334 or 4333], possibly even with some wasted values in diamonds. Even if dummy has Hxx of hearts, they still have to negotiate bad breaks in both black suits while retaining trump control and avoiding a spade ruff. It just isn't going to happen. Also it's also not impossible for partner to have [AQxx --- AQJxxxx xx] where 5D is a lucky make and RHO was just messing around. Especially if RHO was known to overbid, I would trust partner and double.

On this particular hand it's comes down to psychology because expert opponents will be discarding deceptively. This is an area where top experts seem to sniff out the correct play both as declarer and as defense. However, if you change the hand slightly (by adding the Qd to dummy) then you would make it much harder by winning the ♠A and floating the ♥Q at trick two. This puts a lot of more pressure on LHO to duck in tempo when the rest of the hand is still unknown. Playing against a weak opponent who 'always' covers honours, I would even play this line on the actual hand.

To summarize lexlogan's reply more succinctly: If partner plays the ♦T with ♦9xx in dummy it almost always shows ♦HT8 because leading the ten from any other holding can easily blow a trick. (The only alternative is a desperation lead, hoping to cash out 3 diamonds immediately if partner has precisely ♦AQJx.)

When an obviously speculative 3NT contract gets doubled, it feels more valuable to me to use redouble as suggests doubt rather than 'even more blood.' This sometimes means you can't play 3NTxx, but it does also help you avoid a lot of potentially disastrous 3NTx contracts. Admittedly my opinion might change if my opponents started very regularly doubling on the kinds of hands that you're talking about.

My comment was that cashing the AK of spades **MIGHT** doom the contract. If LHO has led from a hand similar to: [Qxx Jxx5 xxxx xx] and you cash the ♠AK then contract is doomed (Losing 2♣, 2♥, ♠Q). However, as long as you avoid creating a 5th trick for the defence you will always come to 9 tricks first (3♣ 2♠ 2♦ 2♥). By retaining the ♠AK, you also keep your options open later in the hand if clubs break very badly. But ♣K and then small to the ♣9 doesn't work on ATx or AJx (if LHO ducks/unblocks twice) assuming the lead was from ♥Jxxxx. RHO wins the second round with the ♣J/T and clears hearts while LHO still has the ♣A?

This situation feels tactical rather than technical. My instinct is to just bid 4S and hope that jams their auction.

As whereeagles points out, small to the ♣Q (then small to the ♣K) always picks up LHO holding the ♣A (Although there is still work to be done if it's ♣AJTx]. Starting with the ♣K and then playing small to the ♣9 does win if LHO holds ♣Jxx or ♣Txx (and loses on singleton Ace). However, LHO ducking the ♣K holding Ace third is so obvious that even I would manage to find that play in tempo! The main layout this caters to is declarer holding ♣KJx but not the ♦A. The fact that you don't have an appealing continuation and want to preserve the ♣A as a late entry to the hearts makes it even more clear. Now Gszes line will go down when LHO holds ♣Axx, ♣ATx (and even ♣AJx if LHO unblocks the J). That's not to say that starting with the ♣K is obviously wrong. It just feels like a solid defender who has led a J high long suit is at least a slight favourite to have the missing Ace... And regarding WinstonM's idea to start with ♠AK. That feels wrong because it might doom the contract when hearts were 4/4 all along (and any other reasonable line would make)!

Show it as a balanced hand!

FWIW, my modern 2/1 sequence would start: 1H - 2C* (*multi, invite+) 2D^ - 2H" (^Accept invite - "Slam interest, natural) After which you have plenty of room to get to the fairly neutral EV slam

Complicated hand. After a few minutes thought, my choice is small club to the Q. Any other line risks going down when LHO has the Ac (having led J high hearts).

Clearly you should move towards slam now. Opposite short hearts, slam will be on a finesse (or better). If not for the possibility of a 4H response, why did you bid 2NT?

I think 3H is a terrible choice! One of the main reasons you're bidding 3S on this hand is in the hope that the opponents will end up in 4H. Also, you're relatively happy to get a spade lead!

If you play 4m as natural then its probably better for 3 level bids to show shortage rather than length. Certainly a reasonable idea though!

If this hand doesn't fit in your 3H bid then you need to re-think your ranges! "Preemptive" shouldn't mean "Weak". The default agreement for 3H is 4+ hearts and (2)5-8 HCP with some distributional strength (based on the vulnerability). This is a really powerful agreement because hands within that range are extremely common.

My preferences here is: 2NT = shortage ask. New suits = natural, forcing. Jumps/3S = splinters. X = Penalty suggestion (but mostly just for consistency, given you basically never want to double in this auction something else would be better) One other comment, is that I would always bid 3H (rather than 2H) on the first round of the auction because it describes your extra playing strength and puts maximum pressure on the opponents.

East might only have 14 HCP, but he has great texture in the red suits and aces in the black suits, which is the exact recipe for a skinny slam. Better to start with 3C, and support hearts on the next round to show a mild slam.

As usual I completely agree with mikeh! With such a chunky holding in hearts, there's also a possibility that 3NT is going down. Partner is allowed to hold a hands like [Qxxxx x AQJx xxx] or [Axxxx xx KQxx xx] where the opps only have 8 tricks.

I'm guessing you didn't bother to read the description of the auction as given in the OP? Opener's 3S bid showed spade values and some interest playing diamonds. It says nothing about control of spades. Opener's 4S bid is showing 1st or 2nd round control of spades. Bypassing 4S would presumably have denied control of spades.

A couple of philosophical ideas regarding the Mini 1NT: I think of the Mini-NT as a preemptive rather than a constructive bid. When the auction 1NT (X) comes up, you're tactically ahead of the field because you've forced the opponents to start their auction with a wide ranging double, that conveys no information about hand-shape. If responder now tries to precisely describe their hand shape they are giving back some of that advantage. Also 1NT redoubled scores HEAPS of points...