+1.

I would love to hear stories about this. The only world class player I've ever sat down with was Tobi Sokolow, and we just played 2 really flat boards.

Fun hand from playing with FCBL last night

LHO opens with 1c, FCBL overcalls with 1h. my hand...

KTxxx

KQJT9xxx


um now what...needless to say my bid confused FCBL, and we ended up pulling each others doubled bids 4 times, and I probably should of pulled a 5th

With a hand like this (that is going to bid 5D anyway over some jump interference), I'd start slow with a forcing 2D. Over 2H, I'd bid 2S (also forcing). If he bids 3H, I'll bid 5D. At least I'm imagining that's how FCBL bid this hand. If he ever takes a preference to one of my suits, I'll bid game in that suit and pray.

1C - 1H - P(!) - ???

Interesting, I originally thought to blast with 5D, but it really doesn't look like the opponents are going anywhere.

Still, I think 5D may be the best description of this hand; the only advantage to bidding slow is that partner might bid spades at some point, but I think that's really unlikely since partner might have doubled with both majors.

A good hand for transfer advances. (Heck, just about every advancing hand is a good one for transfer advances, but I have only had one partner who would play them with me, and he forgot almost fifty percent of the time so we gave them up.)

Playing standard (including forcing advances), wyman's right imo. If partner actually keeps pulling after you've gotten to 5D, there's not a lot you can do about it.

I'm guessing from what you said that you rebid 2C, which partner should take as a not-quite-GF (pure GF for some people), but not necessarily with heart support. A jump to 3D should be fit-showing, with length and strength in the reds and 6-9 HCP or so. A jump to 4D should be a diamond splinter with primary heart support. A jump to 5D would be RKC for hearts excluding diamonds in my methods, but laying simple stuff it should be taken as natural, and honestly isn't a horrible option

[Playing transfer advances: 2C (transfer to 2D), then 4S (unless that's a void splinter -- 3S would be a singleton) if partner accepts the transfer or rebids hearts below the four level. (If he bids 4H instead, 4S should be kickback but you probably don't play that.) If he actually declines the transfer by bidding 2S, you are going to have to decide whether to try for a grand (reasonable if your RKC responses include void-showing) or just jump to six.]

With him holding biddable hearts and very few diamonds, this is not likely. Also, RHO's failure to raise clubs competitively suggests that partner has a few of them (though RHO could just be lying in wait over pard's hearts, or he could easily have a zero count on this auction, though that wouldn't stop some of us) -- it's a club, not a diamond, so LHO almost always has 5+ here, and RHO knows it. Partner rates to be about 2=6=1=4, and it's hard to construct a hand with which he would have started with a double unless he has a high card point moose (something like AQ AKJxxx — KJxxx at minumum if it's me).

I guess players who think that every fifteen count is too strong for an overcall (which is a horrible way to play, unless you're the Squadra Azurra) would have doubled, but that's almost irrespective of spade length. Maybe it affects his decision when he's exactly 3=5 in the majors -- so let's say he probably doesn't hold 3=5=0=5.

Come to think of it, leaving spades in the picture may be a pretty narrow target. 4S is almost never substantially better than 5D with the hands partner can have (which, as I say, almost have to have long clubs, and will average 6 hearts given your void). 6S will be better than 6D a moderate amount of the time, though partner almost has to have QJxx of spades and a diamond void for that to be true. If he has just QJ9 AQxxxx — KJxx you'd be OK in 6S, but not thrilled.

Thnking about it, I'm liking an immediate 5D more.

BTW, worst reasonably likely case is partner has something like xx KQJxxx — KQJxx, but notice that with this hand (and most others that justify a 1H overcall, instead of 2H), LHO will probably be giving you tricks and board entries every time he is on lead against 5D. You will never go down much, and will often make it even when partner has ostensibly no help. (Yes, you may go down two; going down three will be tough even with a spade stack to your left, as partner will own a club stack in that case and LHO will be endplayed about three times. The spade spots could matter a lot in such a case.

Yep, but FCBL took it as Western Cue. IE I want him to bid 3NT with a club stopper. You can imagine what happened next...

I took it as western cue. I bid 3NT. We then went to town and ended up in 4NTX.

Dude, just stick with the Vugraph boards. They were cash money.

Anyways, that is some hand! I think diamonds are definitely going to be trump here. With 4 spades, it's likely that FCBL would double, so at most he has 3. With your double-void hand, I think you'll be a lot happier with the longer suit as trumps, so I'm bidding 5D right off here, and hoping for the best. There's not much FCBL can do to get your hand to slam. He would have to have a holding like:

AQx-KQTxxx-Ax-xx, and even then, he's stretching for a really good max. If he has AJx-KQJxxx-Ax-xx, it's perfect, but only if the Q and A are both on side.

I really don't see you playing in anything other than 5 here, so I'll just blast to it.

How do you end up in 4NTX looking at chuck's hand? I would think you would HAVE to pull to diamonds. NT just looks god awful for these weird distribution hands...

Like I said, I should of pulled it a 5th time, but after the bidding went 4dX, 4hx, 4sx, 4NTx I just said **** it and left it there

Again, this is is wrong -- holding both majors does not justify a double with a then-likely void in diamonds. (4=5=0=4 should almost never be doubling a club bid for takeout). Also, 3=6=2=2 (and almost all other hands that make slam) is impossible against even slightly competent opponents, because with 11 clubs between them they wouldn't be willing to sell out at the two level. In fact, almost any hand with long spades is extremely unlikely, again because partner also needs a large number of clubs.

If 2C were asking for a club stopper (which should be one possibility, and is how some people play), a jump from there to three notrump shows substantial extras, essentially a strong notrump (but with diamond shortness preventing a 1NT overcall). Note that this treatment is poor -- a jump to 3C should ask specifically for stopper help for 3NT (probably, on this auction, with running diamonds, say Qxx x AKQxxxx xx), while 2C can be the start of various sequences, looking for either the right suit or the right level (though if new suit advances are forcing, heart tolerance is implied). For example, many pairs would play that invitational heart raises start with the 2C bid, because a jump to 3H would (and should) be preemptive. Note that had LHO doubled, almost everybody would play it that way.

From the standpoint of the 2C bidder, the jump to 3NT shows enough strength that the next move should probably be 4C if you play Gerber, 4NT (quantitative) or a jump to 6D if you don't.

In fact, I think the only reason not to bid an immediate 5D is that you miss 6D when partner holds three top tricks either including the spade ace or plus the spade queen (the latter assuming the spade ace is onside, and still in danger of a spade ruff). (e.g., Qxx Axxxxx — AKxx, Ax AKxxxx — xxxxx, or Qx AKQxxx — xxxxx)

I wish I could remember what my hand was so that I could post it and you can all make fun of my poor bidding

Don't worry about it -- yours was a reasonable interpretation of his 2C bid, and your hearts were obviously quite good so the 3NT bid was probably not too bad. And you pretty clearly had a diamond void, so pulling 4DX is not horrible.

Claim to have had Qx AKQJxxx — QJ9x and your bidding will be right.

his hand was something along the lines of x AKJxxx x some value here in clubs

What's the best way to open this hand from the dealer's seat? Assume you're playing SAYC with w/w vulnerability.


A K 10 9 4
A K 7 5
A K 8 4

{Before looking at the spoiler}

I'm not opening this 2, even though it's strong enough, because I want to be able to get my suits in. I will of course be forcing to game opposite any partner response.

{after looking at spoiler}

Of course, I think the 1 bid is fine, although, like I said above, I don't think it's a strength thing, I think it's that 1 is much more likely to get you to the right contract. If partner doesn't have 4 spades, the opps are very likely to compete (in spades, so you can double to show your shape), and if partner does have 4+ spades, he will make every effort to make a bid.

Automatic 1 opening, you're not strong enough for 2 plus you take away too much bidding space to describe your entire hand.
With so many spades out, the chance this is passed out is very small, and if so, we may well not have a game.

I think the hand is plenty strong enough for 2C. The idea that this hand is weaker because of the lack of intermediates is a bit bizarre. AK combinations are very strong and aces are worth slightly more than 4 HCP. Think about how little you will need from partner to make slam. Something like xxxx Qxxx xx Qxx is pretty much icy for 6 and might make 7.

That said, I wouldn't open the hand 2C. You should try hard to avoid doing that with a distributional hand, especially with a void. Here 1H is a much better option.

I will take the dissenting view here. I'm opening 2C. I have a lot of offense (downgrading because of no queens is not the right logic here -- your AKs provide suits with no losers!), and I have a lot of defensive values in case the auction gets out of hand: 1H - (4S) - now partner has no idea what to do, and when I double, he still doesn't know what to do.

If this is rubber/IMP scoring, I can't afford to miss a game here. My hand plays for 3 losers if I find a fit.

At matchpoints, I still think 2C is going to get you to the right spot more often than 1H, but I'm open to other opinions. In general, I don't like opening big 2-suiters 2C, but this is a big 3-suiter, and it's just too good a hand.

Another thing is that partner could easily have a spade stack here, and he'll be less likely to be unilateral when I open 2C. He'll know that I'm in the driver's seat, and it's his job to describe as best as he can. When I resist his spades a few times, he'll know that he needs to start telling me something else.

Partner's average shape is actually 4=3=3=3 (actually 4.3=2.7=3=3), his average HCP count 6.3. Without unusual shape, his hand will be likely to make you a heart game only when it contains four-card heart support or a non-spade queen. If he is an aggressive bidder, any hand that fits that description is very likely to bid after your heart opening. If he doesn't have that, hearing from the opponents in spades would not be unusual.

A good test of whether a marginal hand is a 2C opening is whether a decent-fitting yarborough would make game cold. Here, it woudln't. Oppposite a 4=3=3=3 zero count you have to lose a trick in each suit besides spades, and you will go down if trump are even one of your suits fails to break. Opposite 4=3=4=2, you probably need 3-2 hearts and diamonds, and non-horrible clubs. That hand has trouble in diamonds because there's no entry to his hand. With 5=2=4=2, there's almost no chance unless partner has a non-spade queen.

In short, if the auction goes 1H - all pass, you're likely to be pretty darned happy.

If you open 2C and partner has a hand that would have passed your 1H bid, you're likely to have something like this auction: 2C - 2D (I'm assuming that's negative in your methods); 2H, and then:

• with three-card heart support, 3H -- but you have no idea what you can make;
• with long spades, 2S; then probably 3C by you; now what will you do if he bids 3D -- you probably can't make five -- or 3H -- that's probably just a doubleton, and you will probably pass;
• with no five-card suit and no heart support, 2NT; now, depending on your methods, you may get to play three of a minor or just get too high.

I you play 2H negative, 2D waiting, it will start 2C - 2H; 3H and you will be passed there a lot of the time of the time, raised a lot of the rest -- but when raised, it will be wrong a lot. Or you could judge to pass his 2H bid, gaining nothing over the 1H opening.

It is not wrong to consider what happens opposite a really bad hand, because that really bad hand is the reason you're reluctant to open a lowly 1H.

Granted, the times partner has xxxx Qx JTxx xx, you'll miss a good game. Basically, you're unhappy opening 1H when partner has a working queen but almost nothing else, unhappy or ambivalent otherwise.

Of course, open 2C and you'll miss your slam when partner holds Jxxx Qx Qxxxx Jx (2C-2NT; 4H - P or several other possibilities all of which end in game), while instead it could go 1H - 1S; 3C - 3H; 4D - 5D; 6D. You'll also find the slam with the partenr's minors reversed, while you're moderately likely to miss it after a 2C opening.

Monstrously strong three-suiters are one of the reasons to play precision, because patterning out after a 2C opening requires the assumption that partner is not broke, which is often incorrect.

Disagree. Unless he has a huge heart fit, he knows to pass. And after your double, unless he has a very good fit with one of your suits, he still knows to pass.

If he passes when you actually have good prospects at the five-level, you will probably be cashing about five AK-tricks plus maybe a long trick somewhere or a ruff, so depending on the vulnerability this ranges from mildly wrong to tremendously right. In fact, you're in a hell of a lot more danger after 2C (4S). Or how do you feel about 2C (4S) - X? On the other hand, after 1H (4S) - X, you still have a guess but at least you know the opponents are going down 800 or more.

The more likely interference is 1H (1S), but that may help you, and even when it goes 1H (1S) - P; (4S) it's not awful. Or there's 1H (1S)- P (2S); 3S, which will almost always work out well. Opening 2C lets the bad guys interfere before you've shown any suits. Also, against some opponents it gives them the incentive to interfere aggressively with garbage -- often bad for them, but good when you have a hand that takes a long time to describe. It could even give them the opportunity to break out some artificial toys.

Alright a play of hand problem

Dummy is

AK
KQJT
64
A7652

My hand is

QJ7
A754
A953
Q9

Lead is a small diamond. How do you make 6h?