wyman

Maybe I'm too imp-minded, but my gut reaction was 4H. I can totally understand 3H at MP, but I am more afraid of missing 4M our way than I am of getting doubled off for being too high. This hand is way, way better than a usual 3H bid. I think partner will have no sane way to judge whether or not to raise to 4 on this hand. I'd love to be able to open this hand 1H (and prefer it to 3H, though I understand that we cannot have an agreement, explicit or otherwise, to do so), and on the right day I might do just that.

I wouldn't bid 4S at any colors in either spot. edit: d'oh, my pony is appx 1 minute slower than that of mg.

Yes, which is why you're in the wrong forum.

Wrong forum.

To be clear, I didn't ninja edit my post or anything (I label with "edit" when I edit), so "very. 80%?" was not part of my post, and I'm not sure whether it was a FYP or what the intent was.

Double, fairly. edit: I cannot bid 4C showing C&S. It's less clear imo if I can do that. Also influencing my decision is what I know about opps. But against a random, I'm doubling. I expect that partner will pass a lot, and if not, I won't be too embarrassed to put down 5 card support and a void. If he bids diamonds, I'll hope for the best and probably mutter "preempts work."

Or the mods could just nuke his absurd posts in the NB forum (and expert forum, hopefully) and we could continue to flame him when he posts in IA, which should be more self-regulating.

2C 2S (showing 2 of the top 3) 3D 4D 7N

Auction is normal and I pass at all forms of scoring whether my spade is K or 2.

I agree that 4C is a splinter. Isn't "Baze" the structure over 1N-2C-2M, though? I never remember the names of these systems...

I would overcall 1S, but I'm not opposed to dbl. If I pass now, I've endplayed myself into passing if LHO bids 2H or 3H(wk) and it comes back to me, and that just feels wrong at pairs. I sympathize with the NB/IA discussion here, but despite posting in NB, eagles is I. Plus I think telling a novice "look, we don't usually overcall 4 card suits, nor do we dbl with a doubleton in an unbid, but the conditions here are a perfect storm: we can make a cheap (1-level) overcall, we're overcalling a very chunky suit, we have a very good hand, we want a spade led or led back, and - perhaps most importantly - we rarely ever are checking out at the 2-level when opps have a fit, and passing now may really create a bidding problem for us on the next round," is totally fine. I mean, I'm not totally convinced of how I should rate X, 1S, and P, but at least I can share the fundamentals (that I am fairly convinced are sound) that went into my decision, and those are valuable for a player of any skill level.

Well it was a little tongue-in-cheek. But I'd also argue that there is some similarity. basically, gib is bad, and taking decision-making away from gib is a good thing. Gib can bid over 1n way better (and opps are shut out more) than it can over 1c (or 1c-2n) -- especially if opps come in. With a regular partner, I don't fear the nonsense that gib perpetrates. Edit: my point is just that it doesn't surprise me that starting w 1n produces good results w gib, and I don't think that's strong evidence that downgrading this hand is sound in general.

I also routinely open the "wrong" minor in robot tourneys, but I don't advocate it at the table :)

1C. I don't consider this close to a downgrade.

Usually the fmr is voidwood (s void).

Texas-4n pretty std rkc here. 2d-4n std quant

I'd bid 2D. I can't see defending this being very profitable.

This is not an interesting bridge hand; it belongs in N/B.

This is defensive; I attempted to be constructive.

Also, I'm not sure that this is really an interesting bridge hand. It's more a N/B "how do I proceed with a strong hand once we've discovered a fit" type of topic. edit: and you ask for "improvements on the bidding method," but you don't give any bidding methods. If you're looking for improvements over a style in which you just jump to the contract you think might make, there are a lot of improvements I can suggest.

One way or another, east wants to find out about the ace of spades. He can do this by initiating a cuebidding sequence or by bidding 5C voidwood. Missing the ace of spades, we'll play 6H and hope for the best in diamonds. 6H would be my choice as East if you gave me one call only (after W raises to 2H). But I can't imagine not at least trying for 7.

I'm in. X

Both of these are, imo, extremely good points. Aces are better suited to suitplay, and slower quacky honor cards are better suited to notrump play. And you can describe this hand well on the second round (you can show 9 cards!) by bidding 1D-2C. You can always bid NT later to show stoppers in the majors if partner makes a try. When in doubt -- especially when partner hasn't made any descriptive bids or hasn't limited himself -- making the most descriptive bid possible to help pard judge is usually a good idea.

There are two common (and quite standard) meanings: 1) If you play 4-suit transfers (i.e., 1N-2S is a xfer to clubs, and 1N-2N is a xfer to diamonds), then this sequence shows an invitational hand with 4 spades and without 4 hearts. [Playing 4-suit transfers, you'll have to bid 2C followed by 2N to make a balanced invitation as responder. Since opener can still have 4 spades here (along with the 4 hearts he's promised), responder bids 2S with a 4 card spade suit to check or 2N with no 4 card major.] 2) If you do not play 4-suit transfers (i.e., 1N-2N is invitational), then this sequence usually shows an invitational hand with 5 spades and 4 hearts. [With an inv hand with 5S and < 4 hearts, you'd transfer to spades and bid 2N.] As others have mentioned, there are many other possible meanings. There is a lot of discussion in these responses that I consider inappropriate for the novice and beginner forum, but hopefully you can glean some info out of some of them. The upvoted posts are a good place to start. Welcome to the forums. If you can successfully perform triage on the responses, there is a lot of value to be gained from posting here. Cheers.

Cuebid