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2N should not get passed out. A balancing X here by W says "Pard, please lead Their suit." ...at which point 2NX goes for a large number, or NS run and expose the psyche; giving EW a chance to recover and get to a decent spot. Psyches can be fun for some peple, but remember it is usually possible to at least expose them, and many times "tag", the side using them.

One presumes partner will reopen with short spades -- pass is trying for a juicy penalty. Andy Trap Passing often backfires. Badly. Better to help GOP out in knowing what is going on. Getting 1100 is nice. Frequency wise, making sure We do everything we can to get to the right spot pays off better, even if we occasionally miss out on collecting 1100. Put it this way, E not passing on this hand gives EW at least a chance of exposing the psyche and still getting to a makable game instead of going back to team mates with a ridiculous result. ...and no, I do not like rebidding 2N with a void in Opener's suit. OTOH, I have extra values to compensate for the presumed misfit.

Playing Standard American: -Many if not most 5332 11 HCP hands should not Open. -1S-2H promises 5+H -A 2/1 is one of a) a Full Opening bid, GF b ) Invitational w/ support for Opener's suit. c) Invitational w/ a rebiddable suit, usually 6+ cards long d) a really strong Natural 2N invite w/o support ~11-12 HCP. (yes, you raise a 2N rebid by Opener to 3N) e) combination of b+c In general, any hand w/o support must be stronger to 2/1 than any hand with support. 10 HCP hands w/o support or a rebiddable suit should be downgraded to minimums. -Opener's 2N rebid after a 2/1 shows ~12-14 or 18-19 (rare you have this) -Opener's 3N rebid after a 2/1 shows 15-17 -1S-2H;3S and 1M-2m;3M show 15+ HCP and very nice suits (the kind of suit that even if Responder has a singleton "x" in Opener's suit it is still not embarrassing). -Opener's rebid of 2 of their Major is wide ranging both in terms of shape and HCP However, after 1S-2H it is easy to show 4+m w/o needing extra values, and the same goes for showing 4+D after 1M-2C. 1M-2D is the problem auction since it requires 15+ HCP to bid 1M-2D;3C to show 4+C When the auction begins 1M-2D, there is a greater chance that 1M-2D;2M and 1M-2D;2N are hiding 4+C because Opener is not strong enough to show them. So in reality all I'm advocating is choosing the more accurate of 2M and 2N as a rebid when holding a minimum Opening. This can often help the partnership find the right spot more easily than just blindly rebidding 2M with both xxxxx and AKQJxx in 12-14 hands would.

Please do not misunderstand. I did not mean any criticism of your pard's judgement! I am also well aware that 2N=20-21 is sometimes called "the slam killer". My POV is that in my studying and experience suggest: 1) You should open as many 20-21 HCP hands 2N as possible so that a) 1foo is more of a Limit Bid (showing 11-19 the vast majority of the time) b ) 1foo when strong is also shapely helping with rebid problems c) you get maximum utility out of your 2N Response Structure 2) This hand type is a Problem weather you play Support X's or not. Let's say you =don't= play Support X's: ♠A542♥KJ♦A4♣AKJ93 1C-pa-1H-(1S);-?? You are still utterly stuck. X as penalty is not going to compensate you for a missed slam, and may very well not compensate you for a missed Game. A 2D Reverse is a lie with regards to shape. 2S! is probably your best bet, but neither shows your strength nor your value placement. 3C definitely does not do this 20 HCP =4225 justice etc. You basically do not have a decent rebid. Uncontested, the plan was probably 1C-1H;2S , and I can easily see that Opener was not expecting a S overcall! OTOH, opening this 2N=20-21 solves all the potential rebid problems at the price of eating the one and two levels. On the balance, it looks like opening this hand 2N works out better than opening it 1C.

20 HCP hands, especially semi-balanced ones, can be difficult to bid. It might be useful to consider opening 2N= 20-21 more often with these sorts of hands. Now at least a 12 HCP Responder knows to think about slam immediately: (...and They tend not to dive into Our 2N auctions...) 2N-3D+;3H-4D= ?55? or ?54? with slam interest. ..and now you can have an thoughtful auction or blast if you feel like it.

♠QJT32♥♦AJ972♣AK7 P-1♥-2♠-?? 15 HCP w/ the overcall suit stopped and a void in Opener's bid suit. 15 HCP -5 playing points for void and presumed misfit auction = 10 playing points. This is at least an invitational hand even if RHO has their bid. I'm bidding 2N. Passing the given E hand on this auction is just not a Logical Alternative.

4C. I have a GF with S support (CHO must have 5+S and 10+ HCP else could have made a Negative X) and a C suit I want to emphasize as a source of tricks. We are playing 4S, 6C, or 6S. This is the best way to get Us there. If my hand looked more 3 suited or more non-committal but still too strong to just bid 4S, I'd cue bid 3D or jump cue bid 4D (which shows the splinter).

♠AK♥Q5♦A72♣AQJ762 20 counts are often hard to bid. Especially when they are focused on the minors. Standard here is to either 1) Open 1C planning to a)rebid 3N (which promises the kind of C suit you have but not necessarily the HCP you have) or b ) rebid 4C (which show your HCP better but is often unpopular becauses it bypasses 3N) OR 2) Open 2N with all balanced and semi-balanced 20-21 HCP hands so that you at least get your general values and shape across ASAP. You will find things easier if you don't choose what to Open until you have made at least a tentative plan as to what your rebid will be. So, here it goes pa-pa-1C-pa;1S-(2H) by the nasty opponents who don't know that we have 20 HCP and partner has ~6-11 HCP. We belong in a Game or They should be X'd for penalties. 3H is your best choice here, and it doesn't really matter what it means beyond "Partner, we are in a GF auction. Tell me more about your hand!" 3s= 6+S and now you can bid 4S confidently. 3n= shows H's stopped and denies 6+S. 4c= denies both of the above and shows 3+C. We are probably playing 5C. 4d= shows 5+S and 4+D AND extra values (say ~9-11) Sometimes pard will have to fudge a bit and bid 3S with 5 good S's or 3N with only 1/2 a stop (Jxx, Txxx, that sort of thing.) Nothing in Bridge is certain, bit you will land on your feet the vast majority of time this way.

Also, I have found it useful to use both 1S-2H;2S and 1S-2H;2N as catchalls. The difference being the length and quality of the S suit: 1S-2H;2S implies 6+S or a hand where a significant number of my tricks are in S's (Hhhxx for instance) 1S-2H;2N is the catchall for everything else that can't find or afford a more descriptive bid. This makes 1S-2H;2N the most common sequence here by Opener. This also has the pleasant side effect of more often "right siding" NT contracts. So, 1S-2H;2N-?? 3m= all sorts of hands. (Some play 3C! here as artificial so Opener can further describe their hand below 3N) 3h= 6+H 3s= 3card Limit Raise 3n= To Play 4m= all sorts of shapely GF hands. 4h= To Play 4s= GF Spade Raise Hope this helps, Foo

Fair enough. It was beginning to look like things were evidently getting a bit more heated then they actually were. Thankfully :D "GOP" is short for "Good Old Partner" in a Bridge context. "CHO" is sometimes the other term for partner... "YMMV" is an old internet chat / news abbreviation: "Your Milage May Vary". It expresses the fact that our experiences color our perception of Truth, and that truth (small t) is very often context dependent and personal. My apologies if I was not clear enough as to my reaction to 1C-pa-1H-1S;2D-pa-3D. My intent was to point out that if you were playing "up the line" you would know that GOP had 5+H and 4+D and therefore could still choose to play 4H rather than 3N if you felt strongly about being Dummy and/or We having better chances in 4M rather than 3N. Regardless, GOP's D raise opposite a Reverse promises GF HCP and therefore We should have reasonable play for Game. (Given that you have ♠A542♥KQ♦64♣AKQ108 , GOP must have 8+ HCP from the set {K,Q,J; A,J; A,K,Q,J; J} Give GOP 4+H and 4+D and 8+ HCP from that set and I think you will see that the vast majority of the time 3N has decent play.) As for the math, grinding out the calculations to show that the the most likely number of H's for GOP is 4, then 5, then 6 is tedious but not particularly challenging. the point was that the odds are very much against Us having a H fit as opposed to a m suit fit. Especially a C fit. The safest games on the deal with the information we have in descending order of probabilty are 3N, 5C, 5D, 4H. By far the most likely slams if there is a slam present are 6C and 6N. Choosing Support X over other calls risks inappropriately emphasizing H's and missing the more likely opportunities of the deal. Note that I can see myself at some point in the future being ironically forced to make a Support X holding HH tight because it is the best of the miserable choices I have at that point. Bidding is =not= an exact science for all that theorists try to make it so. I just do not think that this is the deal where Opener is backed into such a corner. YMMV. Peace.

Why in the world is partner more likely to have four hearts than 5+? Fair enough that 2♦ is not your choice, though you obviously don't mind it. But it's funny the spin people put on their own choices. Doubling when short one card is 'masterminding', but bidding 3♣ when short one card is a 'book bid'. Right. There is no spin on my part here. Do the math. CHO is more likely to hold 4 H's rather than 5, and certainly more so than 6, given your hand and this auction. OTOH, a) the odds are far better that CHO has 3+C rather than 6+H, and ♠A542♥KQ♦64♣AKQT8 has such good C's that you have multiple reasons for wanting to emphasize them: :D They are more than 1/2 of the expected tricks in your hand. c) They are good enough that they may be the better playing 52 even if there is a 52 fit in both H's and C's. d) ATM, the most likely Games and slams are in NT and C's. And GOP doesn't know it. Might be nice to get their help/cooperation in picking the right strain and level don't you think? I =never= said any bid was the book bid. I said 2N and 3C were the closest to the book bid given the hand. (If you want to pick a fight in public, at least quote people accurately!) ..and of course, the prosaic 2N rebid is still reasonable (given the percentage of my hand that is in C's, the 3C rebid still stands out; although I hate the space taken up by it.) How about if he raises to 4♦ on a good hand (and why shouldn't he if he has good trumps and slam interest, or so he thinks)? Or how about if he misjudges the later auction based on his diamond holding? And isn't seizing captaincy a lousy idea when you, as you sort of admit, don't know what to do after one of his likely bids, 3♦? You have misquoted and/or distorted my words again. I never said "I don't know what to do over a 3D response.". I said it was "the response I don't want to hear". I also said I knew =EXACTLY= what to do if GOP bid 3D... ...bid 3N. Again, if you want to pick a fight in public, please get your facts correct. The Jump Raise to 4D should be nigh unto non-existent in this auction if everyone has had their bids so far, but if it does occur We have the values for 6N or possibly 7N. Again, I am not advocating this "artificial reverse", although The Blue Team and Kaplan+Sheinwald are historically known for having used it effectively with reasonable regularity. What I am saying is that the 2D Reverse is just as much a non-partnership bid as a Support X is here, and it is significantly less dangerous than a Support X is here. A Support X lies about a feature in your hand that you do not have, it does not tell GOP what strength your hand is, and it completely ignores the feature of your hand that makes up more than 1/2 your expected tricks. As for trusting or not trusting books, cliches, etc. "If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants."- Sir Isaac Newton Some very bright people have given us the benefit of their experience, knowledge, and wisdom. I find it prudent and profitable to assume they are worth listening to as a starting point and then look upon going counter to that gestalt only after very careful study and experiment. YMMV.

♠A542♥KQ♦64♣AKQ108 ...and what does GOP do with the more likely hand that does not have S length or S stops? After all, you have Axxx and one of the opps has bid S's. There are only 13 of them to go around after all... Denying a stop when you have one can put GOP in an impossible situation. As to the dangers of the 2card 2D Reverse; let's note up front that I said it was lying and did =not= say I was in favor of it. Just like making a Support X on KQ tight when GOP is more likely to have 4 rather than 5+, it smacks of masterminding. But then again, to some extent thinking we shouldn't bid 2N= 18-19 when holding Axxx of the opponent's suit is also to some degree masterminding. As I've said, the "book bids" that come closest to describing this hand in this auction are 2N and 3C. Any other bid is to some extent or another an operation on our part. So just how bad is 1C-pa-1H-1S;2D-?? Let's see, assuming 2nd seat passes: 2h= Wonderful! Now we know We have a H fit or that GOP has something like hhhxx in H's or some other reason to be willing to play the 52. Since we have more than a minimum Reverse, we are now driving to Game. 2s= GF HCP, no extra H's and looking for S's to be stopped. 2n= moderate values and at least half a S stop. Since we have more than a minimum Reverse, we will drive to 3N. 3c= Wonderful! Suddenly even 6C is not out of the question. 3d= What we do not want to hear. OTOH, this shows GF HCP and we have more than a minimum Reverse. Shrug your shoulders and bid 3N or 4H depending on the inferences of the partnership's bidding agreements (do you bid "up the line"? Then you know GOP has 5 H's.) Fancier Reverse Structures may change things a bit, but the gist should remain about the same. In sum, we can handle the auction no matter what after the Captaincy seizing bid of a Reverse to 2D. Might not be as bad as you think. OTOH, if GOP leaps to 4H when 3N or 5C is where we should be playing, or worse we miss 6C, that Support X on KQ tight is going to renamed the "Pepto X" or the "Malox X" Cliches often get to be that because they have a great deal of truth to them. However, cliches are not what is choosing my POV. Playing the odds and the desire to keep partners happy is.

It's impossible, so Something Else must have happened.

Let's look at this from a mathematical and Bridge Logic POV. 1= GOP has shown shape and values appropriate to making a Negative X over a Intermediate 3D bid. Their most likely hand is 2-S, 44 in the roundeds, and Invitational values. Note that invitational hands most often do have 3 defensive tricks. If GOP does not have 3card S support, there is a very good chance the hand is a misfit where We have ~17-18 HCP and They have contracted for 9 tricks without a fit. What would we do w/o the X present? We'd defend. Risks are higher because of our light 3rd seat opening, but the math and logic remain the same. 2= Your pass does not end the auction. It tells the table you'd rather defend than play, particularly in the presence of a misfit, and that is the exact truth. They may not want to play 3DX... Please note I'm not =happy= to be in this situation, but once here my job is to try and make the best of it.

Yep. Which is why you shouldn't bid 2S here. Regardless of the fear of NT running through this thread, Axxx is a very legitimate S stop. As often happens, no bid is perfect for some situations. OTOH, 2N or 3C are so close to the "book bid" description of this hand it is surprising that everyone is considering all these other contortions. I agree that it may very well be better for GOP to Declare, although that is not 100% (it's usually not good to have the vast majority of Our assets in Dummy). 3C will likely allow GOP to Declare. If you are playing a sophisticated relay or semi-relay structure over Reverses, a Reverse into 2D may work just as well or better. Lying to CHO about Major suit length or about NT stops is very hard on partnership harmony.

Which is easier: taking 9 tricks, perhaps on a misfit and definitely with less than 20 HCP; or taking 5 tricks? AKTxx.xx.xxx.xxx has 2 Quick, AKA Honor, AKA Power, Tricks. Responder's Negative X implies that they have 2-S, so both your A & K rate to take tricks on defence. In fact, unless GOP has 6+H there is a mild implication that the deal is a misfit. Pass 3DX. Is it guaranteed to work? Nope. Will you sometimes get a bad score? Yep. But it is the percentage action. ...and BTW, opening this hand 1S in 3rd is not a psyche partially because you do have those two Quick/Honor/Power tricks. AKTxx.xx.xxx.xxx is definitely a better 3rd seat 1S opening than a 12 HCP 4333 w/o any A's or K's 1m opening would be. Probably better than a 3rd seat 1N= 12-14 opening on such Quacky trash would be as well. Yet no one would give you trouble for opening said 12 HCP hand 1m or 1N= 12-14 (except possibly GOP after you get a bad score!) Neither a 1S nor a 2S opening in 3rd seat with the OP hand should be considered illegal or unethical.

1) IIRC, Eric Rodwell invented Support S's so he could avoid playing in his 33 "fit" (sometimes called "The Rodwell" in his, errm, honor?) as often. I wonder how he feels about 42's? The only person I know of who has made a study (unlike Eric, he studied them rather than experimenting with them ATT...) of when a 42 fit is best is Tom Andrews, so perhaps the 42 should be called "The Andrews". GOP is not going to be happy if they decide that their hand is suitable for a Moysian based H contract and your "support" is KQ tight. If one gets the impression I'm not thrilled with a Support X holding 2 card support, even AK tight, you'd be right. Call me old fashioned. If one can't stand 2N with only Axxx as a stop, rebidding 3C with 18+ HCP and AKQT8 can't be that bad. If one is willing to consider lying anyway (which is what a Support X on 2 cards is), then Reversing into 2D is also possible and less likely to cause long term problems... 2) HQ in each example. If they are from the same deal, can I at least have extra A's instead of extra Q's? B)

♠A2♥A83♦QT4♣AKQ87 ♠KQT4♥KT42♦A98♣92 31 HCP w/o a fit and without something special going on doth not a good slam create. Sorry for the 20 IMP swing, but the Opposition was clearly swinging and got lucky.

1. 3N is 100% Red at IMPs, We have at least 24 HCP between us, you have a nice C suit source of tricks, and slam is unlikely after the sandwich 1S overcall. Under other conditions, if 2N shows 18-19 that is the bid. Else some other noise that makes my hand sound like it is at the top of the possible range of my previous bidding. If I can't find such a call, I'm bidding 3N. 2. Clear pass. WTP?

You are always entitled to draw inferences from your opponents actions, tone, etc ATT. You take all such inferences at your own risk. However, note that such things can easily put that partnership under LA restrictions, and that "coffee housing" (deliberately trying to confuse or mislead the opponents or deliberately trying to communicate bridge information to partner using methods other than in-tempo legal calls) is unethical and you can easily get nailed for it. Extreme enough coffee-housing can often cross the line into out-out cheating (cadence count, cadence bidding, the old "A Club vs 1C vs I'll start with a Club" chestnut, etc, etc).

If the auction had been only 2 rounds long when RHO backed in and GOP broke tempo, I'd be much more inclined to consider pass a LA and therefore feel compelled under 16A to pass. (Note that this does not mean I think 16A as written is the best way to handle UI situations. IMHO the bridge community may be able to better than 16A as presently written.) OTOH, RHO passing twice and then backing into a misfit auction when We are very likely to have more than 1/2 the deck and a reasonable percentage of Their trump suit honors is so highly unusual that IMNSHO all 16A based on break in tempo considerations are off the table. The opening side is now in waters that are rarely explored, and under circumstances that scream that Balancer has made a mistake. Holding Opener's hand I am always X'ing at Matchpoints unless the =opponents= tell me otherwise in some way (what's Balancer and Advancer's body language etc when this all happens?). At IMPs, things are different, but only because of the Conditions of Contest... I do not consider pass to be a LA for Opener under these circumstances at mp's X or bid and if it doesn't work take your lumps like an adult. If you X and the opponents call the Director after They go for a number, protest the attempt at a "two way shot" even if you have to go to Appeals.

IMHO, Bergen Raises have more utility in Contested auctions than they do in Uncontested auctions. To the point where I won't play them in Uncontested auctions but might play them in Contested ones. As usual, the issue is being able to show as many of the important hand types as possible with the bids available. There is no question that there are more hand types without support than there are with support, the questions are how many of them are worth devoting bids to, and how many bids do I need to differentiate hands with support? After 1H-X-?? ♠72♥K942♦AK42♣943 2N, showing 4+H, LR+ ♠84♥KJ3♦AK42♣9832 XX followed by a H raise shows 3 card LR After 1H-(1S)-?? ♠84♥K942♦AK53♣983 2S, showing 4+H LR+ ♠84♥KJ3♦AK74♣9832 X followed by 3H shows 44 in the unbids, 3 card support, and Inv values. ...so far, We need neither Bergen Raises nor other artiificial meanings to our minor suit calls. All these hands are strong enough and have enough support that they are relatively easy cases. Weaken the hands and We need more tools. What does 1H-X-2S! mean? Does it still make sense for it to show long S's when 2nd seat has presumably shown 4 of them? A reasonable suggestion I've heard in the past is for this sequence to show Mixed Raises: hands that have support and ~8 losers but moderate rather than invitational+ values. Usually they are required to have a stiff/void. ATT I find this combined with Fit Jump Shifts into the minors to be better than Bergen Raises. YMMV.

I prefer rebidding 3C rather than 2S: pa-pa-1D-1S;-X-XX-2H-3C; GOP now has more information with which to make decisions and I have "told my story". Then if the 3rd round of the auction goes pa-pa-3D-?? I can pass, else if the 3rd round goes pa-pa-3H I can X here to drive the point regarding high ODR and H shortnes home. Now GOP should be very well placed to make decisions.

Eric Rodwell has said that opening 1M on such hands in 3rd seat often works out well. Holding this hand, I definitely want a S lead and no other if We defend. I can handle the subsequent auction no matter what. 2way Reverse Drury even makes this a safe opening opposite a maximum pass since I can control any auction and keep CHO from getting too excited. This looks like a clear 1S opening in 3rd seat.

correct, wrong example, just exchange 2C with 2H. With kind regards Marlowe Oh. The auction you meant was 1D-pa-2C-(2S)? Playing 2/1 GF, a Forcing Pass has definitely been established. Playing a non GF 2/1, it is less clear. We could have as few as 21-22 HCP if either or both of Us are minimumn for Our bids. That's not usually considered enough to establish a Forcing Pass. If the auction develops along the lines of 1D-pa-2C-(2S);3m-... Opener is certainly not showing extra values or defensive values, just support (3C) or extra shape (3D). OTOH, 1D-pa-2C-(2S);X or 1D-pa-2C-(2S);2N implies decent chances of Us defending a S contract profitably. After either of these, I'd say the "We play or They play X'd." principle has been established. ...and of course 1D-pa-2C-(2S);pa-pa-?? puts the onus on Responder to clarify what options the partnership should be considering.