wyman

I'll add a bonus question to the mix: Is west allowed to play 4C undoubled on this auction?

Matchpoints [hv=pc=n&s=s73hakt4dkqj5caj5&w=sa9842h6dackqt962&n=skt5hq832d9743c73&e=sqj6hj975dt862c84&d=n&v=e&b=9&a=pp1d2cpp2n3s3npp4cdppp&p=c3c4ca]399|300[/hv] * 2N * 3N * X * ♣3 Bad decisions? Or bad luck?

I would overcall 1S, but I don't have a strong anti-1N sentiment. I'd prefer to have a better spot than the 8, though.

the 13th is in a minor, of course, but I don't remember now which.

There's a really small chance of a club ruff here, but enough of one that I'll consider it. And then I'll lead a diamond.

If these are in roughly equal probabilities, it seems like pass < 3N < 3S, since 75% of the time, partner has a forward-going hand. I'm not sure we want to bring Bayes into our UI discussion, but just because it's not 100% clear what partner's problem is doesn't mean that an action is not suggested on expectation. [my opinion; IANATD]

Heh, a friend of mine and I were talking about him like a week ago, and he wrote to me: "only in the nba is it unexpected news when a 23 year old asian guy with an econ degree from harvard succeeds in new york. just sayin."

Even then, I think I'd play low to the ace. I am not playing LHO for 5 clubs, so either the diamonds are 2-2 or 3-1, stiff on the right. And I think LHO would have led a diamond from the K, so I'll cater to stiff K on the right. This time I would have won for the wrong reasons :)

1N was strong

I think the biggest thing for me was the ♥2. If this is really a club card, I can't see how low to the ace, low to the queen is wrong. But I did not see lefty holding a five card club suit.

Friday eve. And I didn't call the director back to see if they should be forced to take the result of 2S-5 instead of 2H-3.

That's why I was asking if 2S was an LA. Obviously if opps had some document that says "if we make a 2-suited overcall of 1N, we _always_ pref the cheapest with equal length" then there's no issue. I would expect that this is a normal agreement, in fact, but that doesn't mean that 2S is not an LA. I know if this happened to me, I would have bid 2S.

There was no deprivation. Additionally, 4th seat took about 20 seconds _after_ the 2S call before alerting the 2D. She knew they were playing Capp but was struggling to remember what 2D meant. Knowing that it wasn't natural, she still didn't alert it until way later when she figured out what it meant. This wasn't some sinister plan I cooked up to share UI with my partner and fleece my unsuspecting 70 year old opponents.

I will look, but according to the TD, I'm correct. I don't understand why my side should be penalized for their failure to alert in a timely manner. edit: TY Bluejak

2S is definitely UI to both the overcaller and the advancer. Otherwise you could slowroll your alerts always with impunity. edit: but 2S is AI to opener, as it turns out.

You are right. Declarer may have started with 8xx/AKxx/xxx/Axx. The good news is that a club is still needed.

agree with the 4♥ q, 5♦ over 4♠, but opposite of Phil I'll raise 5♣ to 6 instead of taking partner's 6♣ back to 5♣ :P

All red, MP. The partnership agreement is Capp over all NT. 1N (2D) 2S Now 4th seat alerts 2D as majors, and 3rd seat retracts his 2S 1N (2D) P (1) Holding Qxx / 7xx / xxx / xxx, is 2S a LA to 2H? Suppose you believe that 2S is a LA and 4th seat is compelled to bid 2S. Or suppose that the above never happened, and you see the following: 1N (2D) P (2S) P ? (2) Holding 1=3=5=4, and having intended 2D as natural, is pass a LA?

Sure I understand what you're saying. I guess I've never run into it in a team match where someone says 'no questions' super fast every board and then shuts up when we have a weird auction. But I've definitely had righty on occasion say something like "ok i pass, no questions pard" and it didn't even occur to me to Secretary Bird him.

Looks like declarer will score 5 hearts (4 + 1 ruff), 3 diamonds, and 1 club for sure. So the things I know about the hand: * I need partner to have the ace of spades. * Declarer has a dummy entry, so leading a spade here establishes a spade winner for declarer, and the hand is over. * If declarer has 4 diamonds, he has the J and it's all over. * Nor can he have ♦Jxx. * If declarer has 2 dummy entries (which he does if he has a diamond and a club still, then he can get to dummy and take a ruffing finesse against partner in spades) * If I lead a diamond, that's his second dummy entry. ------ at this point I know I have to lead a club. I'll lead the K because otherwise he might ruff the low club in dummy, pitch a spade from hand on a diamond if necessary, ruff a spade back to hand and I'd be endplayed. But we can still look further to see if this is hopeful at all or if we need to rethink and swindle declarer somehow... ------ So declarer must have started with a stiff diamond for us to have a (legit) chance. Declarer's possible starting shapes with a stiff diamond are: 2416 3415 4414 If 4414, declarer has the SA since I've seen the other spades. If 2416 and I play a club, his clubs in hand are established. Plus this would have been a super weird line for him and defense for pard. If 3415, and I'm playing the K, I need partner to have the Q, but this is fine. He ruffs the CK, pitches a spade on a diamond and now takes a ruffing finesse against partner. Partner covers, but now declarer ruffs and endplays partner in clubs. GG us. --------------- Ok, so DD we can't beat it. What are declarer's possible mistakes? With 2425 or 2434, he could play for the spade ace to come down in 3. In particular, with 2434, which doesn't seem unreasonable (since he played 84 of spades, and since he didn't try to establish clubs), he could combine chances for spade ace down in 3 or 3-3 diamonds. So I still have to lead a club I think. But I guess I'll lead low in case declarer has like Q10xx and misguesses or J10xx.

people know about the awards now, so they are posting better

2N is split, 2D is 100%GF

2/1 1M-2D 2N-4D is standard here some kind of picture bid with primary or secondary support for M, or is this a slammish single-suiter? If the latter, is it demanding cuebidding or suggesting? And is 4N to play?

Obviously non-leader shouldn't be asking questions until the lead comes face down, but it is super-nitty imo to tell someone to not say "no questions" until the lead is made face down. I mean yeah sure I could encode some lead-directing info into when I state "no questions," but c'mon...

Putting on my detective hat: The lead: LHO led from a 3 card suit; certainly he does not have 5 clubs. First discard: LHO the lavinthal ♥2, suggesting clubs. This could be the ♣Q but another implication is that he doesn't have ♦KJ, especially since he could spare a high heart spot. RHO played the ♦7, which we now know was his lowest. This is ostensibly also a club signal, and it was played before LHO's ♥2. Carding in the side suits: Both gave count in spades and hearts, so I have no reason to distrust their carding. LHO's ♣2 should probably be UD count after the ♥2, but (a) there's really no need at this point to card faithfully, and (b) it's not clear that he's not just giving positive attitude, which he might if the ♣J is a true card. So far we have LHO = ♠953 ♥752 ♦6 ♣72 + 4 cards Ok, so I'll trust the ♣J, and assume that LHO has the CQ. Also I think it's unlikely that he pitched the ♣7 and stiffed his Q. So my guess is that LHO has 2 diamonds and 2 clubs remaining. I can totally see something like 953/752/Jxx/Qxxx picking a spade here. It's less attractive to do that from Kxx. But the shape imo is more interesting. Since I think diamonds are 2-2, and I had reason to believe that LHO doesn't have KJ, I think we can't go wrong playing ace and a diamond. If they are 3-1, LHO must have 3, since otherwise he'd have started w 5 clubs. But again, since I don't think he has KJx (recall the ♥2), that would put a stiff honor with RHO, so I'll still play ace and a diamond. Did I win?