pooltuna

I don't see the button to hide your response but you should look closely at the spots and you will see 3 holdings that can be guarded against. Sorry about lack of specificity but I am trying to be abstruse since I can't hide my response.

Somehow I think the ♦Q creates an optical illusion of value. Change the East hand to ♠AJ2 ♥T932 ♦32 ♣J653 and I think it is easier to pass. Now contrast the original EW hands with WEST ♠KQ64 ♥AK2 ♦65 ♣AQ74 EAST ♠AJ2 ♥QT93 ♦32 ♣J653 where only the ♥Q and the ♦Q have moved. While far from cold a 4♥ call is within the realm of a reasonable contract.

I think you misevaluated how strong your hand is! Let's say you are dealer and you got exactly one bid for the hand. What would you call?

You are just cooked on this hand if you need a ♠ trick at least for all practical purposes. I tend never to underlead either the A or the QJ against a suit contract. Consequently you may have to hope that LHO thinks he is defending a NT contract ;), failing that you have to hope LHO is one of the players that underlead the QJ.

I'll triple that :)

you definitely need to know this information before you move on to a sequel ..."Partnership Defense" by Kit Woolsey

2♥

If one is available then South for not making a nonconstructive raise. Edit: Did see the data on the 2nd hand earlier. I always start these with an XX if I have the HCP values.

gut is to lead a ♣ to dummy and lead a ♦ towards the Q

Because you don't like to hang partner when you are playing a strong No Trump Not everybody plays a weak NT where you look pretty forced to bid 2NT with 15-17

the most unacceptable call is 3♣

gut reaction is all

Hopefully you are being sarcastic here as you are more likely to miss bidding a making 6♥ contract than go down in 4♥. If you are not you deserve every LOL you get on here. Where is JLOGIC when you need him?

Jilly I think if you do a quick simul you will find that 4♠ makes a ridiculous amount of the time opposite a minimal response but not quite enough to justify a 4♠ call so 3♠ is probably the %age call you might want to see as a reference the "convention with no name" which most people play IMO way too strong in terms of HCP values.

mostly no blame altho North is guilty of a pass and pull which probably shows more than North actually has IMO

Not sure if a negative X followed by a ♠ call shows this hand but IMO it should.

If I understand the question correctly then yes IMO the call by North is a psyche. Not that you asked but IMO South has a clear X of 1NT and hence fielded the psyche. As a caveat since I open light I expect partner in 3rd seat to have full values for an opening call. Those who play Drury and 2/1 are more constrained and IMO they probably did not field the psyche.

It looks like east requires and expects west to hold a 2♣ opener to X 2♠ :)

It is really ***** irritating to have the cards shift around when I am on opening lead and lead a completely different suit than I intended. If you are going to do that you need to insert a 10 or 15 second pause after you move the cards to prevent me from leading something different than I intended :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

That is because you are screwed in ♠ several ways and you just ask partner if he has a ♥ stopper with a 3♥ call. Other possible calls are a slightly undervaluing 3♠ call

This doubling structure of course puts a lot of pressure on the 1NT bidder when he is in the 6-7 HCP range and has the 2xy2, 2xy1 & 1xy2 hand and the bidding is passed around to him. Altho he will probably rebid his 6+ card suit if he has one but with more trepedation. Likewise it will be harder for you to pass in the 14-16 range with your 4+ card ♣ suit. Well everything has a price and this looks like yours.

Somehow I think you are out of context with a followup post where RHO runs to 4♦ I think at this point in the auction bidding 4♥ rather than passing the X is just insane.

WTP you have all the advantages of opening ♠AKxx ♥AKxx ♦T863 ♣x with a 1♦ call :)

I would call 6♣ as partner could have 2155 rather than 2065. IMO the call is pretty clear based on the auction. I expect partner to have at a minimum 12-13 HCP in the minors to justify his bidding at these colors.

Just because it is automatic does not at the same time mean comfortable :)