CamHenry

As it turned out, LHO held: ♠Jxxx ♥J ♦Kxxxx ♣Jxx Yes, I should have tested ♥ first, but the J falling meant I could overtake safely for my 5 tricks there. I ended up making when the ♣J fell; not how I'd have liked the story to end! (For what it's worth, cargobeep, it was MPs in a weak field - so -1 is the same 0 as -13 would have been, since no other pair bid grand).

[hv=pc=n&s=saq87652hkqtda7ck&n=sktha9865dqcaqt75&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1hp1sp2cp2d(4sf)p2sp4n(RKCB)p5c(0%20or%203)p7nppp]266|200[/hv] Last night I found myself playing 7NT on a club lead, ducked to the K. We'd had a slight misunderstanding about partner's ideal followup to 4th suit forcing on this hand type, and he showed spade tolerance; when I found he had 3 keycards I thought I could count 13 tricks. Dummy came down; I won the opening lead in hand and led to the ♠K. RHO shows out; time to plan the play!

1. What system are you playing? If it's not 2/1, S should respond 2♣ to show the relative suit lengths. 2. I'll assume you ARE playing 2/1, so S can be forgiven for the 1♥ response. In that case, I'm OK up to the 2♣ bid. Do you play 2♣ as forcing? If it is, then South's 3♣ is a big underbid, since it probably shows xx/KQxxx/xx/Qxxx or similar. If it is non-forcing, 3♣ is a slight underbid but not too bad. 3. North's 3♥ bid isn't too bad - it shows, I think, 3-card heart support (and therefore at most one spade). It also shows better than a minimum for previous bidding, which North technically has, but not by a long way. 4. South then bid 4♣. Was this intended as a slam try in ♣? There's a fair argument that 3♥ establishes a game-force, especially if 2♣ was non-forcing. If 4♣ was to play, S needs a serious lesson in hand evaluation: you know there's at most 1 spade loser; partner can probably cover a heart loser meaning you only have 1 heart loser; your clubs are excellent, and you have good diamond filler. 5. North evidently thought 4♣ was non-forcing. I don't think it should be, but what N should do depends on the possible strength of the S hand. Overall I think you need to form agreements on: - whether you're playing 2/1 or not, and therefore whether S should show his longer suit first - whether N's 2♣ rebid is forcing (as a new suit) or NF - whether 3♥ is F1, GF, or neither (I'd recommend GF) - how strong S needs to be to make a slam try after 3♥ - how strong N needs to be to cooperate with that slam try For what it's worth, I'd want to find 5♣ on this board; the fact that 6 makes is neither here nor there. I'm also surprised your oppo didn't intervene at all!

Not sure - I definitely have that agreement in any competitive partnership. For what it's worth, my auction would be: 1♦ - 2♣ Strong / transfer to ♦, weak or slam try 2♦ - 2♠ No great support / side suit 3♠ - 4♣ Spade fit (4+) / 4 or 6 controls (A=2, K/singleton=1, SQ=1) 6♠ - 7♠ 7 controls, no K/singleton / AK in all suits, AKQ trumps, source of tricks

If I held the South hand, I'd open it Namyats. Sure, there's the opportunity cost of a natural 4m preempt, but every now and again you get to stop in 4♠ and have play for an overtrick if everything breaks :-)

I may go out on a limb here and rebid 2♥. I know you're sub-minimum, but to me the Kxx in partner's suit makes up for that. If you don't play reverses as GF (and I don't think many people do), you can stop in 3♠ at worst.

I think semipositive, without a diamond stopper, is very good here. The DN/GF double is appealing as well; subsequent action will make it pretty obvious which option I hold. With a semipositive *with* a stopper, do you bid NT? If so, what continuations do you play?

3. It depends on the hand type. If I have AKxx/xx/AQx/xxxx, my options would be 1♠ or 2♣; I much prefer 1♠ on this. Alternatively, if I have Axxx/xx/xx/AKQxx, I respond 2♣ - I'll still be able to show my spade suit. If I have something with some support, e.g. Axxx/Kxx/Axxx/Kx, I consider a fit jump at least plausible (assuming I'm playing them and they don't promise 4+ cards).

What range do you play Michaels? I play split-range, either weak or very strong, and I think this hand is worth treating as very strong. I therefore cue-bid, then bid ♥ again - partner should get the message.

If anything I'd be more inclined to bid red-vs-green. Oppo could well be preempting on air, and I don't want to be talked out of anything. At favourable, they'll be sounder, so I consider pass. I think I bid every time, but then I bid too much.

Unfavourable at pairs? If we can take 200 we're looking at a good score on this board. What do we need to take 200? I can see one spade trick (S plausibly has a singleton), one diamond trick, and a likely trump trick (if partner's singleton is an honour). Without defensive help from partner, 3♥ is making; if he has something like KQxxx/x/Kxx/xxxx, we've got good play for 3♠. Since I have no reason to believe we should either be playing the hand or doubling, I'll let partner decide. I'd probably rather have shown my diamond suit earlier: what would 2♦ have meant over the double of 1♠?

My instinct would be to win and immediately give up a ♣. A sleepy S might pounce on it, then find himself unable to lead a trump without giving up a trick there. I win the return, then play to cross-ruff as much as I can (throwing a ♦ on the ♥K). Takes good breaks nearly everywhere, but should be feasible on the right layout. (At the table I'd probably lead up to the ♣K, just in case the A was onside)

Adding my vote for 3!c.

This is the difficulty in opening strong 2-suiters with 2♣. Even though your first round is quite efficient, by the time opener has shown his two suits you're at 3♠ already. I think 4♥ and 4♠ each set trumps; 4♣ probably emphasises clubs, and 4♦... well, it can't really be looking for a stopper for NT, and therefore probably IS choice-of-games. I'd therefore suggest that 4♠ is quite wide-ranging, but what you need to discuss is whether 4♦-4♥-4♠ is stronger or weaker than a direct 4♠. My suggestion would be for a stronger hand to go that way, since you can bid on after 4♦-4♠. Presumably responder has already denied primary ♥ support, and therefore a direct 4♥ shows a very poor hand for spades.

I stand no chance of improving the contract, and if it has no play then partner's hand evaluation is more likely a problem than mine. I have described my hand as best I can (according to the methods provided), and doing anything other than passing would be an overbid. Even an SOS redouble could make things worse: if partner's 2-7-1-3, for example, 4♥ may be our least bad spot.

I always have a strong opinion. On this occasion, it's that I'd bid 2♦.

I think you're misunderstanding the plan. My reading was: - lose two clubs - win the ♥ switch in hand - lead the ♦Q - when LHO wins, play small on the spade and win cheaply in hand, then cross to a high trump, play ♦K and ruff a ♦, hoping the ♦J drops in 3 rounds so we've set up 3 ♦ cards for ♠ discards, or that LHO's spade holding included the J but not the K. - if RHO wins the ♦Q and returns a spade, win the A, then continue as before.

How did it go? I can see you making if you guess the ♦ position, especially on a red-suit lead!

Helene: BBO doesn't display your alerts to your partner, so unless they type stuff in the chat, that's not a problem.

1..4............523

I'm quite tempted to double for takeout myself. It's a shame the director wouldn't permit this! Absent that option, it seem I could try passing - but we've probably got game on, partner's not got more than 1 diamond, and oppo may have a cross-ruff for -1 or similar. I could bid 3♥, thus grossly misdescribing my distribution and strength. I could bid 3♠, which could find a 3-3 fit and play partscore. 4♣ looks like a bad call, 4♦ might show first-round control instead of "no clear direction", and 4M is overly committal. I'm going to bid 3NT and hope it's correct, but I reckon 4♦ is the second-best option here.

I think

Was partner's double of 1NT penalties? If so, why did I pull it? I'm going to bid 3NT here. It's our best chance of game, and I've given up on extracting the best possible penalty.

I've got a 12-count with good shape, partner's opened, and LHO has a shapely hand with long hearts, but not too much strength. It looks like 3NT may have difficulty, since we can't hold up my stopper, but either 4♠ or 5♦ may well be making. The call that really keeps these options open is double. Now for the ethical information: I have UI that W was going to pass a natural 1♥. That doesn't tell me much other than that he has "hearts or a bad weak hand", and I already know that from the AI of his 3♥ bid. Since the UI conveys no information that isn't also conveyed by the AI, it may well not suggest any action over another. I think I'm therefore ethically OK with doubling; I would not appeal if a director ruled that passing was an LA and double was suggested. In fact, I would probably call the director after the hand myself if we got a good result, in order to be fair to the opponents.

♣A ♦A ♦ ruff ♠A ♦ ruff My hand is now ♠ 8 ♥ AQJ543 ♦ - ♣ 8 I am missing 5 trumps, and can afford one trump loser. I therefore make if they're not 5-0, assuming oppo don't start cross-ruffing. I lead a club from dummy. If LHO ruffs in, he's ruffing my loser - so I don't care. If he then plays a spade for RHO to ruff, I have 6 trumps, with 3 missing, and I have the top 3: I'll find it very difficult to lose another trick. If he cashes a spade then plays one through, I ruff low, letting RHO overruff, as it's harmless. Admittedly this line fails if 3♠ was opened on KQJT9765, but that's a pretty obvious 4♠ bid to most people!