Jinksy

Agree about the second X. What do you object to about the first?

I'll risk it, trying not to look nervous. If the honours are scattered, we might get away undoubled,

But it also shows lack of club control, and he obviously(!) must have one for bidding 2♣, so I think it suggests he has no idea what he's doing (if the 2♣ opening didn't tip us off).

What's the vul? 2♦ seems insane to me, assuming it's Michaels. P's going to compete on all the wrong sort of hands. Pass for me vul, though it's close since I have the spade suit pretty sewn up, and I'd rather compete now than later. But for this cheap an overcall, I need a bit extra. NV, I'd probably stretch to it, but I'd feel dirty about it.

Oops, yeah.

This hand is a good case study of why it might be risky on such a weak hand. You give NS another chance to find their slam.

'Slight' seems unrealistic to me. On the actual hand you're probably getting passed out, and it's not especially unusual. Meanwhile, if anyone does bid, you'll be introducing clubs at the five level, when you weren't confident of making at the 4 level.

5♦ is tempting, but I don't see the point with so much defence. There might be no making games around, or our only one might be 3N. Not sure what my rebid is, tbh, but I'm relying on the opps to make that problem easier for me.

I would have thought after that auction (1S 2C / 3C), you could mostly solve the problem by having responder cue with strong hands, double-fit or no. You lose the ability to easily switch to ♠s, but that shouldn't matter too much at IMPs?

I was the doubler, but I agree with everything mikeh said. I flipped on this hand, with: Qxx AQJxx Qxx AK I did have the sense to apologise to P, but also felt mildly annoyed that she'd left it in. 3♦x made, of course.

I passed, for all the reasons above. But it reminded me of something Justin said recently about people not treating part score IMP competitions the right way, since a double part-score swing is worth a lot. Here's the hands: [hv=pc=n&s=sk52hjt6d75cajt53&w=sj3hak2dkj43ckq96&n=saqt987hq73d82c87&e=s64h9854daqt96c42&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=1c1sd2sppp]399|300[/hv] 2♠ and 3♦ both make on the nose. Though now that I look at it, west obviously should have opened 1N or Xed.

4♠. You're never going to explore slam scientifically, whether you start at the 4, 1, or 0 level. Give the opps the difficult decision.

Judging by a couple of recent threads, it sounds as though the sequence 1M 2C / as clubs or balanced, rather than a simple natural bid is the norm in the US. I had some questions, to people who've played it. Assuming I want to play follow-ups as natural/intuitively as possible, am I right in the following interpretations: 1) 1M 2♣ / 3♣ Opener has 4+ clubs 2) 1M 2♣ / (any) 3♣ Responder has 6+ clubs 3) 1M 2♣ / 2M 2N / 3♣ Opener has 3 clubs, or perhaps Hx 4) 1M 2♣ / 3♣ 3DH Responder had 4+ clubs, and is either probing for 3N or investigating slam 5) 1M 2♣ / 2♣ 3N Responder had either 2443 or a (3433) shape that didn't want to play in spades 6) 'Balanced' here doesn't include hands with 5♦s Either way, that leaves me with a couple more questions: 7) How do you deal with the sequence 1M 2♣ / 3♣, when responder is 2443 or similar, and too strong to want to sign off in 3N? 8) What does opener do with 5(404) after 1M 2♣? Should he raise clubs, or bid the cheaper suit at the two level? If the latter, how does he then persuade responder he had 4♣ later? 9) What do the sequences 1M 2♣ / 3(new suit) mean? Are they splinters, showing 5 clubs? Splinters with 4 clubs? Or something completely different?

I wouldn't consider opening the actual hand 4♠. If people want to do so, that's their decision, and could be a long-run winner (I doubt it). But if they miss a slam as a result, that's their cross to bear. Never mind the hands eagles has been posting, with those outside kings bolstering them - I would consider eg KQJTxxxx xxx - xx a WTP 4♠ in any seat except 4th at any vul.

Pass, I think. Heart lead looks a little too easy for opps to find, even if I just blasted six, and P should have a robust suit, but could easily be missing the A or K, which will make 5♠ too high unless he does happen to have a heart control (which looks odds against).

IMPs, opps vul: T9xxx xxx xxx xx LHO deals, anf the bidding goes 1♦ 1♥ P P 2♦ X P 2♥ 3♦ X P ? What's your call? What sort of hand do you expect opposite?

I dunno, I agree with Justin that 'good suit' can mean a 7th, but I would not dream of a 2nd in vul 2H bid on the W hand. Dist like that doesn't stop you from getting smashed if the opps have your suit (and gives you more defence against 4S, though I wouldn't bid it with 4m instead, either).

ainec? And it's not even close?

Am I the only one to whom 'sound' should mean 'good suit' rather than 'random scattering of 9HCP'?

IMPs: [hv=pc=n&e=s64h9854daqt96c42&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=1c1sd2spp]133|200[/hv]

First try: 'Yes! Made it! 8 tricks in the bag!' Take 2...

I feel lucky on all of them, though the Fantunes one at that vul scares me. Probably not enough to make me pass, though. ETA - actually, sod that. On 2 I'll pass at this vul. ETA ETA - Before you give the results, I'd like to know your selection method for the hands, though :P

Would you then pull to 5♣ if 4♠ was doubled?

Well, I'll join those being lolled at. I can't see any good reason not to bid 4N with the S hand, though I don't think I'd find the slam even if he did. If you do and N gets to bid the suit first, it's a great slam. (in practice, I suspect N would either bid 5N if he was feeling ambitious, forcing his P to pick the suit, or more likely 5♦, getting corrected to 5♥ - no dice either way)

Ah, I see. Yeah, that looks interesting. My guess is still that you're way overestimating the value of rightsiding. Weak hands opposite a weak NT are quite rare, both a priori and since the opps are more likely to compete when they have near half the points; also with a weak NT, opener rarely has more than one tenace, so with 20ish points, the opps will often have an easy lead. Re using up space that's true, but there's only so many hand types you can sensibly put through Stayman, and slam-hunting hands opposite a weak NT are much rarer than weak takeouts, so I've been constantly finding that what looks like a good trade (a non-forcing weak TO bid for an F1 bid that gives you several new pathways to game) often isn't.