Jinksy

I would bid 4♣. Agree with a lot of what rmnka said, which merits caution but a) we're favourable with good chances of a profitable sac and b) I think (s)he makes two errors: Partner is odds on to have some spades, but he's hardly 'marked with length'. At these colours, RHO might have a five-card suit, and there's nothing stopping LHO from having 9 of them. I actually find sequences missing the A and K/Q play better under a (hand likely to be a) weak NT than over them. Esp when you have the 9, you'll often be able to run an honour through an bare king towards P's ace, and it's fairly unlikely that they'll be able to make three natural tricks in the suit - you'd need both honours and the T to be with LHO. I would rather have holdings like this, conditional on P having points, than eg K9 or even KT holdings under the stronger hand. That doesn't make quacks any more appealing in the abstract, but subject to our side having them at all, I feel relatively good about their positioning. I would rather bid now and potentially involve P than decide what to do when 4♠ comes back to me.

It doesn't seem like you need Lebensohl over an exit transfer, since you can just X 2♥ to show values.

Penalties.

[hv=pc=n&w=shkqj4dkt7cakq854&e=st854h3dqj843ct32&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=pp1sd2sp4s5cppdppp]266|200[/hv] a) Do you agree with W's bidding (systemically X-then bid shows 18+) b) N leads the 9S, which you ruff. Both follow with pips to the first round of trumps. What's the best line from here?

[hv=pc=n&s=sa83h8djt962caq52&n=sk9754h643dackt97&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=1h1sp2h(exactly%203-card%20support%2C%2010%2B)4hppp]266|200[/hv] We managed to take this off by only one, but the less said about that the better. More importantly, we want to be Xing or bidding over them. But which, and by who?

[hv=pc=n&s=s854haj2dak984c64&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=p1n(12-14)3c('wide-ranging')d(Takeout)p3dpp3nppp]133|200[/hv] Your lead style is 2/4 in case it matters here.

[hv=pc=n&s=st6ht53dq94cat873&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=1n(11-14)p3nppp]133|200[/hv]

I like this idea. It's relatively simple, which is a plus given its rarity, and prob makes a lot of distributional hands easier to bid, while balanced opposite balanced can fend for themselves ok with a quantitative raise. Since (per my comment immediately above) 3N promised something in spades that's unlikely to be the ace, responder needn't be too discouraged by the wasted K, since he almost has the values for his bid without it, and opener should have taken the waste of at least a couple of HCP into account already.

Yeah, maybe should have posted it before asking, but I figured I could adapt any suggestions I liked. It's still the second one from this thread. Our 1♣ opening is 14+ with clubs or 15+ any bal (except 5cM), so says very little about clubs. Our 3N response is nat, 10-12, no 4cM but with semi-stops in both majors, and promising at least 3 clubs.

I'm not crazy about it, but it seems like if you jam it through a normal GF bid you'll potentially overload those sequences unless you introduce a lot of artificiality of the sort that I'm trying to get rid of. How do you bid them? And do you have a better use for the 3N jump? I have thought about using 1♣ P 3♥ to deal with all hands of this type. Atm for us, 3♥, 3♠ and 3N are all balanced with a 3-point range, no 4cM and no 5cm and, but missing a stop in the unbid suit - but it doesn't feel like we'd lose much by concealing the info. If opps can't overcall 1♥ or X 3♥ we're probably safe from a heart lead, and we have room to cue 3♠ as a stop ask. That would give us some more space here, though I don't think bidding the slam would become trivial.

This: http://community.dur.ac.uk/bridge.club/documents/bacon.php

[hv=pc=n&w=shj94dakq8ckqt763&e=sk95hkq8dt942ca42&d=w&v=e&b=16&a=1c(Means%20whatever%20you%20want%20it%20to)p3n(See%201!C)p]266|200[/hv] Play whatever system you might realistically play, subject to it having these two first bids. Is there any sensible way to judge to find the slam from here? (Per Akwoo's suggestion, can you equally stay out of it with E's majors switched?)

Responder's hand seems consistent with a minimum response and preference showing? Having GFed, it's hard to imagine opener having sufficient extra strength to go slam hunting and a self-supporting spade suit when he couldn't open 2♣. So I'd expect 5440.

Agree with 4♦. But I'm curious whether others think this should be a limit bid, showing approx a minimum on point count (or approx something starting slightly better than min), or whether with a decent 5-card suit you'd normally prefer to bid it regardless?

I'd double no matter what it showed. 5-level bids are all obscene, and even if I'm confident partner will take 4N as showing minors is too likely to lead to the wrong denomination (even if there's a right one). Take the money.

MAF?

Eh, I had a very weak preference for passing, but put it on here because I had no conviction about it, and the post mortem view was split 3-way between three competent players.

We had more different views on how these hands should be bid than there were post-mortemers: [hv=pc=n&s=s74hkt32dak83ca85&w=sakt653h86dt62cq2&n=shaj95dq975cjt976&e=sqj982hq74dj4ck43&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=p1n(See%20below)]399|300[/hv] IMPs. For E/W, NT overcalls are nat (except 2C for majors). NS have a takeout X if W overcalls. No substantial further agreements. a) What is your preferred auction for all four hands if S's 1N showed 12-14? b) What is your preferred auction for all four hands if S's 1N showed 14-16?

[hv=pc=n&w=st98hakjdajt9cq85&d=e&v=e&b=6&a=p1s]133|200[/hv] What's your call at IMPs? Would it differ over a 1S opening to your right in any other seats/vul/form of scoring?

They're not pulling their full weight, but I don't think they're worthless. RHO is unlikely to have all the outstanding honours, and with any one of them, your holding looks worth a trick or two. If LHO has any, he's quite likely to lead the suit and help you at least clarify the position to make sure you get all the tricks in the suit to which you're entitled.

With 4504 and a minimum opening, suppose you open 1♥ and partner's 2♣ comes back to you. Do you normally show spades at this point, since there's nothing stopping him from having 4nn5 and a minimum? Or normally not, since (let's say) 2♠ would show extra values? Or the former, but justifying it on the grounds that we (probably) have an 8-card club fit which means our void makes the hand non-minimum? Does it make any difference whether P's 2♣ was GF (assuming that you'd still play opener's reverse as showing extra strength)?

I like 5♥, too. IIRC in one of the bridge world MSCs they argued that it should be a try for grand with a cue in the suit, which sounds to me like the N hand. It seems too restrictive for it to agree spades, esp if 4N would be RKCB.

[hv=pc=n&w=shj8542dj3cakq863&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1cp1dp1hp3np]133|200[/hv] MP scoring (does that make a difference?). What do you do now?

Well, for a sufficiently low value of 'good' :P

What does responder do over 2♠ with eg xxx KQxxx x Kxxx?