robertb

E W 1S (canape) 2C (any game force) 3D (6+ diamonds, 4 spades) 3S 4D 4NT 5NT 7S

With an utter lack of imagination, I think I'll win the spade ace, cross to my club queen, and play a low heart to the queen. If it holds and both follow, I'll try the heart ace, then clubs (pitching dummy's diamond). I think, given that the lead wasn't the diamond ace, that the heart king rates to be on my left more often than not. It's very hard to quantify this, but I feel that the obvious alternative line of cashing a heart and then playing three rounds of clubs is less appealing on the lead.

I don't think this bidding is correct. After the jump to 4NT -- regardless of what it means or promises in the partnership -- the bidders are just groping around. After the 4NT bid, which, it seems to me, both partners thought did NOT promise spade support, I think the auction went well. My reasoning here goes something like this -- the 5H bid wasn't a suit, so it must have been conventional; it wasn't DEPO, so it was probably DOPI -- meaning that East thought he had two key cards, presumably implying that the partnership doesn't treat 4NT as keycard. Six clubs was setting the contract. I assume that six spades was offering a choice of contracts, given East's amazing club support. And the seven spade bid over seven diamonds was a reasonable choice, although 7NT is better.

Do the opponents have a heart slam that they may find if I bid here? It seems quite plausible to me. Diamonds are likely to be one trick better than spades, but two tricks? I'm not seeing it. And I can certainly imagine hands where we have the same number of tricks in both contracts. I'm going to hope that partner has a suit that can take 3 or 4 tricks -- surely not that unlikely for a first seat vulnerable bid? -- and pass. Maybe the opponents will have trouble working out which suits to stay away from if we conceal partner's hand? If partner has slow spade tricks, I'm not going to upgrade the contract by playing in diamonds; if he has fast ones, I may never access them.

I am not sure I agree with either pass of five diamonds. The expected value for the opening bid is a losing trick count of seven - not six - and 2 1/2 quick tricks - not two. I've only made one bid; but I know I have a fit, and my hand is better than minimun in offensive terms, and my quick trick in hearts is likely worthless defensively. If partner has four tricks against diamonds, maybe we can make slam. Based solely on LTC, I expect our side to take 11 tricks here. I would bid five hearts over five diamonds, and, if I did pass, I think I would then bid on anyway after the double; partner is unlikely to take me for a defensively oriented hand, although there's certainly a risk that I'll find myself in six when partner has a bad trump suit.

4♠ should show the world here, as the regular canape hands like AJ10xx xxx AKxx x would (at least in the methods I'm familiar with) rebid 3 spades. I certainly think partner has a spade void. I will hope that he also has a heart card, and enough clubs to let me survive the void on my left. Six clubs.

Without thinking about it too much, it seems to me that the contract is hard to beat on any normal line of defense...I mean, leading a spade from that holding isn't very normal. The heart return doesn't work out well, but on the auction it seems reasonable, and I think it can be made on every return at this point anyway (although a spade return does force an instant guess). So I would assign no blame at all.

I like Drury here. Forcing, low level, and I may learn something useful about the hand my partner holds. It's my firm belief that any given partner is likely to play 2NT as natural on this auction, a spade splinter seems awful, and 4 hearts, although practical, won't give me any real chance to blame partner for missing slam if we happen to have one.

I would bid 2 diamonds, showing diamonds and hearts; if partner corrects to hearts, I'll raise to 3.

Seems like it's clear to play a diamond next if South drops the 2 under the 4. If South drops the 7, well, at this point, right or wrong, I think I would play the heart queen next.

Dealer: South Vul: E/W Scoring: IMP ♠ AKJ ♥ AT73 ♦ J82 ♣ K54 ♠ QT83 ♥ K5 ♦ KQT73 ♣ A6 It seems to me that this one comes down to a question of cue-bidding style and agreements. If you bid aces before kings, you'll very likely play in 3NT; if you make the cheapest cue-bid, you may reach 6NT. I can certainly imagine reaching 6NT playing 2/1: 1D - 1H 1S - 2C (4SF) 2D - 3D 3H - 3S 3N - 4C 4D - 4S 5C - 5H 5S - 6N The first 3 rounds of bidding seem normal enough to me (although 3 diamonds might not be a popular decision); 3 hearts is what my regular partner and I would cue-bid on this hand, which promises that there's at least one more cue-bid available (which can be a strong feature in diamonds, such as AK, AQ, or KQ), and 3 spades is forced. 3NT is to play; but I think it's reasonable to make another bid on that (pretty wonderful) collection of north cards, and obviously it's going to be 4 clubs, to leave as much room as possible for partner to cue-bid out his hand. Four diamonds shows a diamond cue bid and a maximum. I'd like to think I'm a good enough bidder to cue-bid the spades over the hearts in response, as, holding AKJ opposite partners four card suit, I might want him to be able to show the queen eventually, and I know that it's not going to cost partner a bid, as he can't possibly be wanting to cue-bid spades. Five clubs is pretty much forced on opener next, who has a rapidly improving maximum for the 3NT bid. Knowing that partner has no round suit losers and likes his diamond suit, I think it's got to be right to bid some slam, so I'm comfortable committing to one with 5 hearts. I can certainly imagine that it depends on the diamonds not blowing up and a spade finesse - but I feel committed at this point. Opener now can bid 5 spades to show the next round of control in spades. And now responder can see that we have as many tricks in NT as in diamonds -- we just have to hope that the number is in fact 12.

I'm the one diamond opener here? I ask because, although the question seems to clearly say that I am, I can't imagine bidding 4 spades, one of the options, on this hand. Also, of course, I suspect that one diamond wouldn't be the first choice of most players.

Spade seven.

I'm with Codo on what partner has - to me it sure sounds like partner is 2155 and is just trying to find the safest game. I think that if partner had first round control of hearts he'd have bid it. He didn't; so that's bad news. On the other hand I think that partner might well have chosen to cud-bid clubs with AK or AQ before showing secondary spades. I think slam is pretty good. I don't want my opponents to KNOW they ought to lead hearts, so I don't want to bid 5 clubs. I think I'll just try 6 diamonds now.

I think the auction would need to go like this to reach 3NT 1♠ - 2♥ 2NT - 3NT I don't know if I'm a good enough player to rebid 2NT at the table, but when I consider it, it seems like the smart action. I'm balanced; it will mean that partner won't support spades on two small, which I ought to know I don't want him to do, and I'm presumably in the right range. After 2NT, I think 3NT is pretty clearcut.