bucky

Very interesting lead. Too bad we don't have the not-too-unlikely deserving scenario of South holding singleton ♥K, especially after this bidding.

If 3♦ doesn't imply 5th club, what would North's shape be? 3-3-3-4?

1NT followed by 4♠, in the context of absolutely forcing 1NT. This leaves 2/1 suit quality/length better defined. I realize this is not ideal either. My preferred solution is to use 2NT as balanced GF hand, and use alternative bids for 4+ card forcing raise.

There is a subtle difference though: when opening bid was 1♥ and you passed first, you won't have a decent hand with 5 spades; when opening bid was 1♠ on your right, you could still have 5+ clubs with some value but not enough to overcall.

The lack of diamond raise worries me a little. With partner passing initially, I don't think pass here is clearly wrong. If I do decide to invite, the choice is 5♠, asking for a diamond control.

I think this is a bit harsh. It is not like East had 5th or 6th heart. The 2NT bid ALREADY SHOWED 4-card support, so this should not be a factor in deciding whether to bid at 5 level. The five-card spade suit headed by AK, together with DA, argues for bidding. The mediocre trump support and lack of overall strength suggests defense. I think it's a tough call. I would have a slight nod for bidding on, since the likely shortness in partner's diamond increases the chance of reasonable fit in spades. But I consider it far from clear-cut. Move one of West's club to diamond, should West still make an encouraging pass? Should East still bid?

Doesn't 3♦ imply 5th club, therefore it is a better bid than 3♣ anyway, even if 3♣ would have been forcing? I think North should consider making a move after 4NT.

As I said in a different thread before: considering the average level on BBO, how many sensible bids do you expect to see out of a small sample of 16 tables? When the field is meaningless, "many" in the field don't hold water. And the presence of a couple of "BBO-experts" at the table probably would skew it even further downwards. Of course that doesn't mean all bad results on BBO can be dismissed as lacking field protection. But IMO the random 16-table field cannot be relied on to make a conclusion one way or another.

The lead of ♠2 is to show partner that we have 3 spades, not because we know to preserve the 9 (which happens to be a key spot card for this deal, but it's hard to foresee). Regardless of your normal methods of leading from 3 small cards, try leading low when you haven't supported partner. Partner then knows that you have 3+ in his suit. He will figure out that you may not have an honor in that suit, otherwise you may have already showed the support during bidding. On the other hand, had you raised partner in the bidding but you have 3 small, lead a high spot card. Partner knows that you have 3+ card support (so you need not lead a low card to repeat that message), now it is more important to let him know about the quality of support. In short, when deciding what to lead, try to give partner most useful information that couldn't be obtained from the bidding.

If partner couldn't reopen, what's wrong with defending against 1♥ (and hope to get plus score)?

I would probably choose between 5♦ and 6♦, but like others said, anything could be right. I am not sure if the actual result from this hand would teach me anything. The sample space is so small that the success or failure of a certain bid isn't meaningful enough to generalize.

This is a totally different auction. Partner's negative double shows EXACTLY 4 spades, and from opps bidding you can infer partner probably has 2 hearts. Therefore we can expect to have 9+ card fit in a minor suit. That still doesn't make 4♣ a good call, but it is saner than when partner bids 1♠ showing 5+, in which case you no longer have a safety net.

LOL. The trouble is that LHO may duck anyway, for wrong reason. He may be afraid of his partner holding singleton ace of trumps (not impossible given that the opponents never checked keycards)...

Many people never open 5-card major hand with weak NT, although they would routinely open strong NT containing 5+ majors.

Since you posted in SAYC and 2/1 forum, I assume we are not talking about big club system. In that context, the lower range of reverse should not be as low as 11 HCP, otherwise it is not SAYC or 2/1. Having said that, I really don't understand South's 2NT (and subsequent 3NT) either, why conceal 4-card support and insist on no-trump with very shaky side-suit stoppers? In short, it is probably better to get earlier bidding right than trying to decide what to bid on 4th round with damages done by previous wrong messages both ways.

Then what if South hand has black suits reversed?

At least in North America, support double is a very popular convention, but it is still marked as red (alertable) on the convention card. The way I see it, if we haven't discussed anything, I would not assume that we play any alertable conventions.

Standard loser count shows 8 losers, this hand is slightly worse than average 8-loser though, since 4th and 5th spades won't be winners. But the singleton is nice.

Do you play Smith Echo?

So what had happened?

Would OP care to tell us what happened?

I share a similar view. For me it is a toss-up between 4♥ and 5♥. I would never open 4♣ even if Namyats is available to me, since it gives opponents too many options, they can double immediately to show a lighter takeout of hearts, or bid 4♥ as michaels, or bid 4♦ natural. In theory 5♥ is an invitation to slam, asking partner to raise with either heart ace or king (but not based on any side suit control). But since I am holding both heart honors, I *know* partner cannot raise, and the preemptive effect of 5♥ has clear merits.

4NT shows minors. 5♥ shows spade slam invitation with heart control (5♠ bid would be invitational without heart control). 5NT should be pick-a-slam, perhaps a hand with 4 spades only.

I think the cuebid should be an ace in this case. Partner has a single-suited hand with shape, a side K may not even be useful. Plus, with some K's but no aces, the responder can bid 3NT (forcing and waiting).

Would you care to elaborate? I cannot see how the contract can possibly be made on ANY lead. Even if the lead misled you and you kept playing diamonds (which happened to be the best defense anyway), what were declarer's 9 tricks? I am assuming that North didn't duck the first spade (a huge error IMO), but still the defense could get at least 6 or 7 tricks.