WesleyC

On this hand though, what else is there to play for?

We have a winner! The full layout was: [hv=pc=n&s=sa8ha7dak942cq952&w=s972hkqj653djck86&n=st5h42dq853cajt73&e=skqj643ht98dt76c4]399|300[/hv] Which actually makes perfect sense based on the auction. I thought this East was almost certain to have a 6 card spade suit given that they introduced them over 1H, rather than just raising to 2H. After you switch to the ♠8, declarer might give you a problem by playing on hearts but as long as you duck again, you maintain a tempo advantage while denying declarer an easy hand re-entry and guarantee your side a 5th trick.

What if I told you that declarer held a 6331 with the KQJ of spades...

Although there are a lot of factors involved, my one line summary would be that most experienced players tend to be conservative when over-calling a minor at the 2 level or above. They would rather double for take-out, overcall 1NT or pass. Some of the main factors are: 1. Suit quality and length - Overcalling a weak 5c suit should be an absolute last resort. With a good 7 card suit, you should stretch to get involved even with sub-minimum values. 2. Number of cards in the opponents suit. With shortness and no support for the unbid major(s) take an optimistic view. With length/strength usually pass, unless you are strong enough for 1NT. It's usually safer to overcall an off-shape 1NT than 2 of a minor. 3. Vulnerability. You can afford to be more aggressive at favourable with a shapely hand, but should be extra careful when un-favourable. 4. How destructive your overcall is. It's more advantageous to bid 2C over 1D (taking away the 1 level and making it tougher for the opps to find a major fit) than bidding 2C over 1S (which doesn't take away much room at all).

[hv=pc=n&s=sa8ha7dak942cq952&w=s972hkqj653djck86&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=1hp1sdr3c3h3npp4sdppp]266|200[/hv] Playing IMP pairs, West's aggressive 1♥ opening and support re-double seem to have gotten his side to a handy sacrifice. You lead the ♦A and partner plays the ♦3 (suit preference) as declarer follows with the ♦6. What next?

If partner hadn't already passed, I'd take the high road with 2NT. But opposite a passed hand, I think a lead directing 1H overcall is the only reasonable choice.

I think pass is clear, but only because your suit is very poor. If you improved the heart suit a little, say: [xxx KT9xx KTxx x] and you would get plenty of support for some level of interference.

It would depend on the exact hand, maybe? My hesitance to raise is probably a style thing to some extent - I like to give my partners carte blanche when they jump around at FAV. Why punish partner when they might have made a tactical 6♥ bid with extreme shape but not so many high cards. We might already have won the board! It's taken me quite a few years to come to this conclusion, but bidding speculative grand-slams in competitive auctions is losing bridge.

Automatic Pass. If partner wanted to involve you in the auction they would have done so.

To summarize what has already been mentioned on this thread, the 'standard' play in this spot is to lead back top of touching honours. If you are leading a spot card then a low card usually shows a high honour and a high card tends to deny one. However, as you correctly recognize this method creates a problem when the lead could be either HH(x) or Hx doubleton. Although this doesn't belong in the beginner forum, I know that some world class players have a specific agreement to underlead through declarer (with their second highest honour) in a situation like this. The reason this idea works is that in the ambiguous case, declarer will usually cover with the missing card to clarify the position. For example: You hold ♥AQ9x sitting over declarer and partner switches to the ♥J, declarer covers with the ♥K and you win the ♥A. Playing standard methods, you're forced to guess. The switch could be from ♥JT(x) and the suit is running, or it could be from ♥Jx in which case continuing the suit will blow a trick (and likely the contract). However with the agreement to 'underlead through declarer' the ♥J lead would specifically deny the ♥T so you would know not to continue hearts. If partner did hold ♥JTx then they would lead the ♥T. If that got covered by the ♥K, you would know to continue a low heart. Finally, in the ambiguous case where partner has switched to a heart from ♥Tx, (with declarer holding ♥KJx(x)) declarer will almost always play the ♥J, clarifying the position.

I don't understand South's 3C bid on a weak 6 card suit. What's wrong with 2S* artificial, forcing (and economical), leaving North enough space to describe their hand? To me a 3C bid here should show a hand that is actually serious about clubs, and I would happily move beyond 3NT with the North hand.

Although I agree in principle that both partners should be allowed to sometimes take speculative action, the fact that you are proposing to pass 2S on this hand suggests that maybe you're not ready for that kind of power... ;) Partner should have a relatively sound 2S bid because they have the option to double 2C and then convert to 2S and if partner has stretched in terms of HCP, then then they should have short clubs, extra spade length or both! If partner rebids a non-forcing 3S, you have an obvious 4S raise. Finally, holding 2 keycards and a diamond control, slam is absolutely in the picture. How about [QJT9xxx AKx xxx ---] or something similar? If I held an actual minimum hand like [xx KQxxx Kx Kxxx] AND I had a hint from RHO's tempo that they might have some values, then pass *might* have some merit.

Maybe i'm crazy, but i'm very comfortable with 2NT here. It's economical, describes my hand relatively accurately and if we have a better contract than 3NT we've got plenty of room to find it!

A strong clue that partner doesn't have a singleton club, is that we know he is looking at a keycard. Given that he 'knows' we can't hold the ♣A it would be a poor choice to lead a singleton club. I also don't necessarily agree with KGSmith that partner won't have a club honour. Aggressive leads against suit slams where the opponents have shown a long suit are generally considered normal. In any case - it looks clear to switch a diamond because dummy's diamonds could easily be discarded. However dummy's 3 card spades (and our JTxx of diamonds) mean that failing to cash partner's ♠A might not be fatal. For example if declarer holds [QJx Kx Axxxx KQx] or similar, he won't have the entries to establish and cash the long diamond but holding [AQJx Kx Qxxx Kxx] we need to cash out right away.

2♦ looks reasonable to me.

Sorry, I misread the explanation of what actually happened. If you pushed me into acting over 4H holding the 3343 hand then I would much rather bid 4S than double. Regarding your second point (and I'm somewhat arguing about style here) if you surveyed top experts [Qxx, Kxx, xxx, AQxx] would also be an automatic 2S bid on this auction! You have a lot of HCP, but an awful hand. Both opponents have bid, your values are all defensive (and sitting poorly) and you *know* partner has a minimum overcall. If partner does have a strong shapely hand with diamonds (which is your main chance of making game) then your hand is terrible! Bid 2S and then consider a speculative penalty double on the next round if the opponents end up in clubs. I think a cue raise should look like KTx Axxxx Qxxx x or similar. A hand that actually does have prospects of making game opposite a shapely overcall if you have the right fit.

I think your partner's judgement is off. Introducing diamonds on a minimum game-force feels misguided. Bidding 4S directly gets you to the right spot, makes the opponents guess and conceals the nature of your hand. Once he does bid 3D, and the opponents jumps to 4H, if you held short diamonds or heart values on this auction, surely you would double 4H? When you don't double 4H, he needs to recognize that his hand is offensively oriented and bid 4S.

Hi Greiman and welcome to the forums! My first instinct was to cash the ♠A, but I don't think it's correct. Have a closer look and I think you'll find that Cyberyeti's line will also make if either player has 2 hearts and ♠Kx. The main gain case for not cashing the ♠A early is when LHO has ♠Kxx and a doubleton heart. They can ruff the 3rd round of hearts (after you pitch) but you can fall back on the spade finesse - more likely than stiff King offside.

If you don't think [T8762 QJ7 JT6 76] is accurately described by a 3♠ bid then don't bid 3♠! Bid 2♠ or pass and consider backing in later. I appreciate that at MPs there is room for tactics and creativity, but holding the hand from the original post there is no need. 3♠ describes your hand perfectly and leaves partner in a great position to make the final decision.

I think the 2C cue-raise is already a pretty significant overbid so i'm going to pass and leave partner to make the final decision. Maybe my opinion is skewed by the fact that my partners will usually prefer to blast game rather than inviting, especially at these colours. Regarding your methods, I strongly believe a wide ranging 2♠ raise after an overall is the way to go. Taking up an entire level of bidding space is incredibly valuable on what will usually be a partscore deal. Taking away the 2-level against opponents who haven't even found a fit is far more important than precisely defining whether advancer has a 5 count or a 9 count. Giving away the location of the high cards might even end up helping declarer in the play!

I like clever partners too. In competitive sequences I give them an accurate description of my hand and let them use their 'cleverness' to produce very good results. If one of my 'clever' partners bid 2S and then 4S on this hand (without a strong situational justification), I would find a partner that was even cleverer and play with them instead.

I like Cyberyeti's line although I think it's pretty close. To expand on the reasoning, the ♠A is a valuable entry so if you're planning to play on hearts then you can't really afford to cash it early. If hearts are 3/3 you'll probably make (ignoring 4-0 trumps). If Hearts are LHO 4, RHO 2 you're in good shape. If RHO ruffs small you overruff, cross to the ♠A, ruff a heart and then hope to get to dummy with a diamond ruff. If RHO ruffs with the ♠K you pitch a club and are probably home. If Hearts are LHO 2, RHO 4 you're in slightly more trouble but still not dead. You pitch a club and then probably end up needing to fall back on the spade finesse. I'd guesstimate this line is in the 65% ballpark - slighty better than ♠A and then a diamond finesse.

Pitch a spade, and win the ♣A. ♦A, ♦3 to the ♦T. The case where your choice of diamond pips matters is when LHO holds ♦Kxx. If LHO held two diamonds including the 3♦ they would always play it on the first round so essentially you are playing the card you're hypothetically known to hold. When you play the ♦3, RHO's play of any small diamond becomes consistent with ♦Jx and LHO might be tempted to jump in with ♦K to win the trick and deny you a dummy entry - especially if they don't hold the ♥K. If the opponents were playing natural count and attitude then you could achieve the same ambiguity by playing ♦A and then ♦J. If the ♦T wins in dummy then I'll reassess based on who has shown out.

Double.

Obviously we're arguing about style to some extent, but in my experience of 2 over 1, opener's 3C raise does not deny a 4cM. Why would you ever want to introduce hearts on a balanced hands like [T9 Axxx ATxx AJ9] or [AT xxxx ATxx AJ9] which have weak heart suits and great slam potential in clubs? I also don't understand why the only bid below 3NT should show such a specific holding as a partial stopper? It might not be a problem on this hand where dealer has such an excellent hand for clubs, but if North were holding a much less slammish hand like [xxx KJ QJxx KQxx] and the auction progressed the same way, the 3S would be absolutely automatic because you know that 3NT played by partner could easily be the last making contract.