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Armchair quarterbacks


cherdano

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[hv=d=w&v=e&s=sa63h743djcakqj85]133|100|Scoring: IMP

After West passes, your partner opens the bidding, and it goes (uncontested):

1-2-3[/hv]

Partner's 3 showed a solid suit, and a little bit more (no gambling preempt).

 

What is your bidding strategy? Do you blast to 7? or 6? Or do you try to find out whether to play 5m or 6m? Or 3NT or 5m?

 

Finally and most important, does it depend on whether you are commentating, or trying to win a world championship? :P

 

Arend

 

P.S.: Sorry for having a little fun at the commentators, but they treated the players way worse than I am treating them here...

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3 and if partner bids 3N, I am torn between 4 and 4. I think that 4 is best: if partner has promised a solid suit, he can assume that 4 is not an effort to play in but is a cue-bid. Thus he can and should safely cue 4 with either the K or the Ace. With a weaker player, I'd be tempted to bid 4 to really emphasize my interest in the suit.

 

Problem: is 4N by me over 4 keycard or an offer to play 4N: ie a quantitative move? I think keycard, because with the other possibility, I would usually raise 3N to 4N, and it would make little sense, after forcing a cue-bid, to make a passable call.

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After 1-2-3-3-3NT-4, partner will bid 4. Pick your favorite meaning of 4NT in this auction if you need.

Yikes...looks like pard has QJx of hearts lol. If 4N is natural I bid 4N.

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After 1-2-3-3-3NT-4, partner will bid 4. Pick your favorite meaning of 4NT in this auction if you need.

After 4D, just bid 5D. Pd will bid 6 if he has HK. 4N could be right but I am not so sure. If pd has Qx of heart, that would be disaster. I think 5D is safe.

He shouldnt bid 3N with Qx of hearts in this sequence.

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:ph34r: 3 is a polite bid, but why shouldn't I look for the ace of hearts with an ace asking bid? If it shows up, then 7 ought to roll even if pard's diamonds are substandard for his prior bidding. If playing RKC, then 4NT ought to be RKC for diamonds. If we are off a key card, then 6 should make.
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I was given this hand to bid over the phone as it was being bid at the table (I have no access to BBO here in the Netherlands, my husband was watching it live at home in London). So I can be completely honest.

 

i) Over 3D I would bid 4C. You aren't going to pass 3NT, so tell partner what your hand is about.

 

ii) I am told partner will bid 4D over 4C. I now bid 4S.

 

iii) Partner will bid 4NT (non-forcing). I'd love to be able to say I'd pass this, and I would have MPs, but I have a nasty feeling I'd end up going off in 5-minor instead, having carefully highlighted the heart problem.

 

Edit: I wasn't told 3D showed a solid suit. The table i was given the problem from was where Townsend/Gold were bidding, where 2C is not FG and 3D just shows extra values with 6 decent diamonds.

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iii) Partner will bid 4NT (non-forcing).  I'd love to be able to say I'd pass this, and I would have MPs

Brilliant; you can make 5NT, but not 5 of either minor. Why not go down like the rest of the world?

 

Are you saying that you can stop in 4NT when everyone else is in 5 or 6 of a minor? In that case I congratulate you. Gold and Townsend must be seriously bad then, because they ended up in 6.

 

I know that it made. It's a 4 or 7 hand.

 

Roland

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Sure we can stop in 4nt, no problem. Would be very surprised to see World Class players not be able to try for minor suit slam and still play in 4nt natural. What were the hands?

 

As I said if partner bids 3nt I bid 4d and now partner can bid 4h(ace ask) or 4nt to play. Just last night I had this auction:

1d=1h

1s=2d(XYZ)

3c=4c

4nt=p

 

btw with no ace asking on the actual hand should we just bang down the A or K of hearts on opening lead or is that to double dummy in 6?

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Partner's hand was QJ Qxx AKQ9xxx x.

 

(Our hand was Axx xxx J AKQJxx.)

 

As you can see, 4NT is already too high, while of course we knew from our hand already that one makes 7 of any contract with the right lead. Hence the right contracts at IMPS are either the safe 3NT, or 6m/ 6NT in an unrevealing auction. This may sound unrealistic, but that is exactly what most of the field managed to do!

 

11 tables played 3NT+4, 3 played in 5m all going down(!), and 8 tables played in a slam, half of them making. At the table I was watching, the South gambled on slam after by raising to 4 and 6 over partner's 5 cue. This was of course not appreciated by the commentators, who instead constructed cue-bidding auctions ending in 4NT or 5m (similar to the ones given here) after having found out about the heart problem.

 

So it seems like to be an expert commentator, you have to do some cue bidding here, whereas to win, you have to give up after 3NT or blast immediately.

 

Arend

 

Btw, if you think they will find a heart lead most of the time, put yourself in East's position: What do you lead from xx KT9xx Txx Txx on the auction 1-2-3-4-5-6?

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Thanks for posting hand, I really hate bidding 3d on that hand over 2clubs but I assume they win often with this style.

 

BTW as for the lead I only hope I BANG down the K of hearts on that auction. Lead aggressive against small suit slams yes? If I do not lead K of hearts on this auction I would really give myself a Big charge! I note leading the K of H seems to have blown a trick btw2, I only pray partner does not over take with the Ace,....then I have a newspaper lead :).

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Partner's hand was QJ Qxx AKQ9xxx x.

 

(Our hand was Axx xxx J AKQJxx.)

 

As you can see, 4NT is already too high

4NT is not too high. As I pointed out earlier, you can make 5NT, because the heart suit is blocked for the opponents.

 

AJ

 

K109xx

 

Heart to the ace and the jack back. You duck and all they can get is 2 heart tricks. Lucky yes, but there is no law against being lucky.

 

Roland

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Partner's hand was QJ Qxx AKQ9xxx x.

 

(Our hand was Axx xxx J AKQJxx.)

 

As you can see, 4NT is already too high

4NT is not too high. As I pointed out earlier, you can make 5NT, because the heart suit is blocked for the opponents.

 

AJ

 

K109xx

 

Heart to the ace and the jack back. You duck and all they can get is 2 heart tricks. Lucky yes, but there is no law against being lucky.

 

Roland

I know. However, my comment was meant single-dummy, where you definitely don't want to be in 4Nt.

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