bftboy

Opps bid the hand against us, and S passed 3nt. They made 6 after a spade lead when N turned up with Kxx AKJ Axx Q10xx. Our N player dbld with the hand, S bid 4♠ , and they got to 6♣ easily. My thought was that N will either have a hand that looks pretty much like this, or he will have stoppers and ♦s he hopes to run. He can't be much stronger than this or he'd surely double, and he can't be much weaker or he just wouldn't have a vul 3nt call. Either way, the S hand looks worth a slam try. The S player said she didn't know what 4nt would or should mean here. Quantitative? Generic blackwood? Bid a suit? We didn't discuss 4♣, but is it even forcing? Should it be? 5nt is clearly an all or nothing bid, which would have worked out on the actual hand, but not on others where N is weaker with long diamonds. That leaves 4♠. That seems right to me. You can pass or guess to gamble on 6 if N bids 5♦. If he bids 5♣ or possibly 5♥, you can bid 6 and expect to make it.

[hv=pc=n&s=shq9832dk65cakj72&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=3s3np]133|200[/hv] imps. What now? Does an immediate 5nt pick a slam work here? If you think so, do you pass 6d if pard bids that? If you start with 4s, how do you think the auction is likely to develop? thx for replies

Thx for great replies. I agree, dbl must be penalty, showing a hand more or less like the one given. what would a 2nt call look like? you could be on 23-24 hcp if you held something like K10xx KQ98 xx QJx (assume unfavorable and that pard opens 1♣in 1st seat). What else can you do?

[hv=pc=n&s=skt2hq983dkt53cq6&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=pp1cp1hp1npp2dpp]133|200[/hv] matchpoints. What does/should double mean here? What does/should 2nt mean? Arguing with pard over this one. thanks in advance

Yeah, I pretty much knew I had made a bad mistake when I pulled the green card. It was just dumb. You've all listed lots of good reasons to bid. I think I've just had a run of bad results from responding with sub-minimum values, and was trying to figure out whether there are any go or no-go general guidelines that might lead to more good results and fewer bad ones.

[hv=pc=n&s=sjt982hq32d7543c5&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1cp]133|200[/hv] We lost a Swiss final because I didn't respond 1♠ with this hand. They did at the other table, and the subsequent auction kept our teammmates out of a making 3nt. Usually, when I respond 1♠ with this hand, P makes a strong rebid and we are down at 2nt or 3 o4 ♠. So, I am looking for any advice or guidelines on when - and when not - to respond to p's opener on sub-minimum values. thx

[hv=pc=n&s=s832hqj54daqjcaq9&n=sakj7hdk96543ckt2&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1np]266|200[/hv] This hand popped up in a mp club game the other day and no one bid the ♦ slam, including some pretty good players. Thoughts or comments on how the bidding shoud go after S opens 1nt? Should N xfr or stayman? In either case, what are sensible continuations? thx.

Actually I don't think the slam is very hard to bid, and of course it is nothing to make if they don't lead two rounds of ♥ to start. That alone means the slam should probably be bid. But there is a pretty good chance that good defenders will lead trumps, especially if the bidding pinpoints that lead. On the actual hand there wasn't a lucky layout that would allow it to be made after that start. So I guess I am ambivalent about whether it should be bid after all.

[hv=pc=n&s=shjt98752dak6ck94&n=saqt9873hkqdj4ca6&d=n&v=b&b=13&a=1sp2hp]266|200[/hv] Imps. What is the best way to reach the slam after 1♠ and 2♥? I'm sure you've noticed that the slam is in serious trouble if two rounds of ♥ are led, and in fact there was no lie that would allow it to be made, absent a discarding error. Nevertheless, we probably want to be in this one, don't we??

[hv=pc=n&s=sj2haqt987daq3c97&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=pp1hpp1sp]133|200[/hv] MP. Do you agree with South's initial pass? What now, after P balances`with 1 ♠ ?

This seemed to me to be just sort of a high-level balance, where the object is to push them a level higher without getting whacked. You won't be allowed to play in your 5 level contract anyway UNLESS you happen to pick the one that opps can x for 500 or more. So, seems best to give p a chance to bid 5♣ by bidding 4nt. That's what I did, P bid 5♣ and opps went to 5♠, down one, average plus for us. P had a funny hand, something like Ax Q Q109xx Kxxxx. 5♣ can make, but takes careful play as W has 3-0 clubs and E has 4 hearts K109x. 5♥ will be x'd for -500.

[hv=pc=n&s=shaj87532d4ca6532&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=2sp4s]133|200[/hv] MP. Choices seem obvious. What is yours and why?

[hv=pc=n&s=sqjt7652hdckqj984&n=sakhaqj98daj865ca]133|200[/hv] Just a cool hand that popped up at our local duplicate yesterday. S deals and the 1st question is what to open? Regardless, your granny can get to 6♠ on this one. The trick is to reach the cold 7♠, so you can think about it. I think in a lifetime of playing I've never held 7-0-0-6.

[hv=pc=n&s=s8hqj76daq965caq8&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=pp1d3cdp]133|200[/hv] matchpoints. 3♥, 3nt and 4♥ are all possible, and maybe something else I haven't thought of. What's your choice? What sort of hand do you put p on?

I fully understand and accept that one hand doesn't prove anything, but pass was the winner here as opps will balance and end up in 2♠, down 1 after a ♣ lead and ruff. It may suggest, tho, that bidding isn't as automatic as it appears. I'm not that conservative, and I'd certainly bid 1♥ here if the suit was a little better, or longer. The real risk isn't missing a very unlikely game, it's going -200 or -300 in 1♣ when opps don't have a game, and that could certainly happen. I'm just more pessimistic than most of you that responding here will be a long-run winning action.

N certainly should pass 3♣, bidding again is a huge and obvious error. It's closer whether N should pass 2nt if that were the call; I have more sympathy for a 3♦ call here. And it's close between 2nt and 3♣, IMO. 2nt is probably the better mp bid. But is everyone agreed that 1 ♥ over 1 ♣ is a sound call? It's not a matter of having only 5 hcp. It's a matter of having them in two bad suits and being very awkwardly placed if P does anything other than raise ♥ or reverse into ♦. I'd pass.

MPs. -300. Fire away, there's plenty to shoot at.[hv=pc=n&s=sqt2haqdkjcaqt642&n=s43hk9852dq9874c5&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=1cp1hp3cp3dp3nppp]266|200[/hv]

Surely 3nt in 4th position means something different than it means in the first 3 positions, just as opening 2 or 3 of a suit has a different meaning in 4th position. P ought to infer a hand something like the one I have, i.e, I expect to make 3nt with a long running minor if has a bit of something, and he should pull if he doesn't. With solid diamonds and no ♣ A I'd open 3♦ and hope P could bid 3nt.

Sounds to me like we want a ♦ switch to come from P, so ♠ 9 for me. If P's ♦ are good (QJxxx), he may not have an entry to them. If they are not so good, say J10xxx, he may have a ♠ entry to them. Anyway I'm leading the ♠.

Sorry, forgot about this. I did bid 3♥. P bid 4♣. After a kc sequence where P denied ♣Q, we played 6♣. P held 9 65 AKJ43 AJ964 or close. The hand is very makeable. Ace and trump finesse in ♠, pitching a ♥. LHO ruffs 3d♠ low, but remaining ♣ are 2-2, making 6. Only P didn't play it that way and went down. He then argued that I should have bid 4♠ over his 3♣. Didn't think so then and still don't.

As many supposed, we were playing penalty doubles here and that is the action I took. It was "right" in the sense that P finally sat for it, and we beat 3♥ one trick, +100. The action was wrong, however, because I could not be certain that 3 ♥ would fail, or that we did not have a higher scoring contract. P must be 6-5 in the minors on this bidding. He`was and we make 4♦ and a couple made 5 with defensive help. We made one mp out of 12. While it's very unlikely P will reopen with a dbl, I should have allowed him to bid his hand.

The bidding is fine. The hand is just the victim of common ordinary bad play. As others note, ducking the J♦lead is a fatal mistake. Win it, play a couple of hearts and declarer will very likely end up with 9 tricks.

[hv=pc=n&s=sqj987hkj987dat4c&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1s2hd3h]133|200[/hv] I read Simon's famous book years ago and was reminded of the title when a couple of poorly judged actions cost us first place in the local duplicate. What action did I take that was wrong, but more importantly, why was it wrong? go ahead, beat me up.

[hv=pc=n&s=saqjt76ha82dtckt8&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=p1dp1s2h3cp]133|200[/hv] matchpoints. what now and why? thx for your thoughts.

If you bid 4♠ on this, opponents shouldn't even bother looking at their hands before doubling and collecting 500 80% of the time. When your 4♠ call keeps them out of slam they will collect 800 or more and a top anyway. Maybe one time in twenty they weren't making 4♥ so it loses again. To me the real choice is between a call like 3♠ which at least gives them a guess they will sometimes get wrong, or out of the box calls like 1nt or even 2♦. I don't really expect any of these calls to work, but they might. 4 ♠ just concedes them a good result.