Three problems

[Apollo81]

All problems MPs

 

1. All Vul

 

♠xx

♥AJ10xxxx

♦x

♣xxx

 

open 2♥ or 3♥? would your preempt level change if your majors were reversed?

 

2. Vul vs not

 

♠AJx

♥xx

♦A10x

♣AJ10xx

 

(p)-3♦-(p)-?

 

3. All Vul

 

p-(2♠)-Dbl-(3♠)

4♥-(all pass)

 

♠K

♥AJ10

♦A984

♣AK843

 

♠Q4

♥Q9532

♦Q1032

♣QJ

 

LHO leads ♦6. Plan the play.

 

See hidden for what happens after you play from dummy:

If you rise with the Ace on trick one, RHO plays the d5, upside down

 

[Codo]

1 3 ♥ or 3 ♠

 

2. 3 NT, yes I know I know, they may attack Hearts and maybe pd has no stopper. But it still is MPS and he still has more then just KQxxxxx and out. In Imps 5 Diamond is much easier.

 

3. MPs... I try a club to the queen and the Queen of Heart. Even if the finesse loose and a diamond comes back, I may still survive if the Ace of Spade is well placed and the clubs are not 5-1, which is very unlikely.

[jdaming]

1) 3 of both.

 

2) Depends on partner. Vulnerable prempt at the 3 level some like to have a very nice hand others require less. With a pickup I would probably pass. I think that 3nt is crazy. Even if I don't get a ♥ lead off the bat (going through p who has the only hope of a "stopper") I am not sure I am going to be able to get 9 tricks before they get a second chance.

 

3) I play up with the A♦ but rather than try and finesse the ♥ I am going to play A then J, I am more worried about East getting in after I lose the finesse then playing is king♦ getting a ruff. I plan to lose 1♥ 1♦ 1♠.

[gnasher]

1. 3H. With the majors reversed, I bid 3S but more nervously.

 

2. 5D. I don't expect to make 3NT, but 5D might be on if partner has a black honour. If he just has eight diamonds and nothing else, 5D will be one off and 4H cold. If he has 2272 and HK, the opponents may still misjudge. If he has HA, he is an anagram of a well-known 11th Century Anglo-Danish king.

 

3. The lead is probably a singleton or perhaps a doubleton. LHO probably has six spades headed by the ace.

 

I win DA and play trumps from the top. Compared with finessing in trumps, this gains when LHO is 2=2 or 2=1 in the reds without HK; it loses when he has HKxx and Dxx, or HKxx and Dx and no SA.

 

The only other thing I might consider is to try to cash some clubs, but I can't think of a layout where this gains.

[kfay]

1) 2♥. Just a few weeks ago I was playing in a regional and opened pretty much this exact hand 3♥ and got CRUSHED by a passed hand balancing double. Maybe I'll be back to 'normal' sometime but the pain is still too near.

 

2) 3NT

 

3) I'll take the ace, cash two clubs and finesse in hearts.

[han]

1. You are such a chicken for suggesting 2H. Grow some balls man, you have the suit and you have the shape. What else do you want?

 

2. 3NT. I'd expect to make this about half the time, which is more than 5D.

 

3. Will have to think about it more than this.

[pclayton]

1. 3♥. My answer does not change if we have spades.

 

2. 3N. Sometimes they don't lead a heart. Sometimes hearts are 4-4 or they block. Somtimes pard has a stop.

 

3. Curious. RHO seems to have bid 3♠ with 4. I'm inclined to put him on a flattish hand, although he appears to have 4♦ as well. LHO should be 6=2=1=4 or 6=3=1=3. I can't tell about the ♥K, and I'm not 100% sure that diamonds are 4-1, although it looks likely and I'm going to play under than assumption. I'm also assuming LHO has the ♠A.

 

a. With 6214 (and LHO holding the King), I can either hook the heart for a 12 tricks or play A♥, ♥ for 11 (their diamond trick goes away).

 

b. With 6214 (and RHO holding Kxx), I need to play A♥, ♥ to make this.

 

c. With 6313 (and LHO holding Kxx), its the same as "a".

 

d. With 6313 (and RHO holding Kx), I can't make unless I play four rounds of clubs pitching my 2 spades after the ♥A. If RHO ruffs in he does so with the stiff ♥K. If LHO ruffs in, he has to use his his least heart to get to his partner's hand for the ruff. This line looks kind of silly under "c" however, and looks really bad if clubs are 4-2.

 

This looks like a perfectly normal contract, but the line of hooking the heart looks a little reckless to me. I'm really hoping that 4♠ is a successful sac, because with 10 spades its going to be very tempting to some. When the ♥K is in the slot, we'll be getting 800 against 4♠ which makes my play moot.

[miguelm]

1. 3H/E. I hate to be passive (that excludes Pass) and I try to avoid opening weak 2 bids with 7 cards.

 

2. 3NT, for no particular reason rather than trying to score more than in 5D.

 

3. I am letting the Diam. ride. If it turns out he actually held the singleton I still survive if he started with both the trump King and the Spade Ace (which is favorite to hold)...

[MFA]

1) 3♥.

2) 5♦. I prefer pass to 3NT, but in second seat red, I'm used to solid preempts, often with good distribution.

 

3) Is this from the same hand as Q1? :)

After I got this idea, it's simply much too irresistable to rise with the ♦A and play ♥A+heart. :) On the basis that either 2♠ is on 7 spades (and thus no ♥K) or 3♠ is on 4card support, which might indicate some secondary stuff outside, especially in hearts.

[rogerclee]

1) 3H/3S. If partner expects more, I might pass (er, edit: clearly meant 2H/2S), but none of my partners do :).

 

2) Partner's preempt here should be very sound. I'll bid 3NT and pray, but just barely.

 

3) Odd that they have ten spades.

 

Anyway, I'm playing the opening leader for a stiff, which means I have only one diamond loser after I rise at T1. If the lead was made quickly, I'm sure it is stiff. Since this is MP, I strongly suspect I can make 6, since I expect the heart K to be on. At these colors, if LHO opened on AJTxxx and out, he got me.

 

I play a club back to hand and lead a small heart. If the finesse loses, I'm probably down, but if it wins, I cross back with another club (almost 100% that this is going to hold) and take another finesse. If trumps break evenly, I get to discard my two spades and a diamond on the clubs and get to enjoy a good score of +680, with a top being +800 in 4Sx-3.

 

If it turns out that LHO is 6412, I'm only making 4, but I beat everyone else in 4Sx-2, so I feel okay about it.

[whereagles]

1. 3♥. Would bid 2 only with a 7222.

 

2. 3NT. Might make :)

[655321]

1. 3♥. I would never open a weak 2 with AJT to 7. AJT to 6 and an outside king is a weak 2, changing the outside card to a 7th card in your long suit does not give you an equivalent hand to be opened at the 2 level, it gives you a more preemptive hand that needs to be opened at a higher level.

 

2. 3NT. This is interesting because LHO is a passed hand, making it less likely that they are about to bid and make 4♥. Nevertheless, 5♦ looks a long way away, and whenever I think of reasons not to bid 3NT on these hands, the opponents always do get to their 4M game.... so 3NT it is. Sometimes it even makes!

 

3. Win ♦A, play ♣ to hand and take a ♥ finesse. It is possible that LHO chose a ♦ lead away from the King because he had the Ace of Spades, but I think the singleton is more likely.

 

I notice (3) looks like the companion hand to 1, in which case my line does not work. Still, Ace and another only works when Hearts are specifically 2 small with LHO and Kxx with RHO.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

 

#1 3H

#2 Pass, 5D is a long way to go,

and 5D will be on a finesse at

best, playing IMPs I would bid

5D

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

[Fluffy]

1: 3♥ but I find it closer than the voting so far. I never bid different for having another suit.

 

2: 3NT and pray

 

3: ♦A, ♥A, ♥J

[Apollo81]

Problems 1 and 3 were indeed from the same hand, although the player actually held:

 

♠J109xxxx

♥Kx

♦x

♣xxx

 

After a lot of thought I decided that hooking the heart was too reckless a line and played ♦A, ♥A, and a heart for making 10 tricks. Was about a 30% board. Most people hooked but some ducked trick 1 and went down.

 

I am very surprised that no one has suggested 4♦ on problem 2. I would judge that there is no game, they can make 3♥ (or possibly 4) opposite the typical hand from pard.

 

pard does have the critical card (♥A) for all the 3NT bidders...and also the critical shape for all the 5♦ bidders...

♠xx ♥A ♦KJ98xxxx ♣xxx