I prefer 1C. If partner doesn't respond, I may be able to double back in if the opponents bid hearts. I plan to jump shift to 2S the next round opposite most responses.

2NT is okay, but the singleton heart is a flaw.

Strongly dislike 2C. This hand is not strong enough.

1 if playing sayc or 2/1. Why anything else?

If you defend, your partner may be on lead and a diamond
lead is likely better than a club lead so discount 1.

2NT is awful if "transferred" to hearts on a 5-1 fit and 2 if
unbalanced usually means a good two-suiter with a longer suit.

If somehow you end up declaring in 3NT, a black suit lead could
help eliminate a guess.

w/r, i have:

s: Q852
h: QJ94
d: J82
c: T4

me last to act, bidding is:

p - p - 1s - p
2s - p - 4nt - p
5d - p - 6s

i thought about doubling here, but decided against it, opinions?

No way. Let him find the bad split the hard way. No sense telling him how to play it from trick one. If you're lucky enough to beat it, take the + score.

I definitely would not double:

1. If the slam goes down, you are probably going to get a good score anyways, so the potential difference between 100 and 200 isn't that valuable.

2. More importantly, your double may permit him to play the trump suit more accurately, thereby having him make a contract he would have failed at otherwise, which would be a disaster.

yeah, thought as much

Easy pass as mentioned by others. Even if you had:

KQT
QJ943
J82
T4

doubling could cause the declarer to find one of the few
lines to make the slam.

Brag: Qualified yesterday for the national finals of the North American Pairs [came in 2nd overall in the District 12 (MI/OH area) qualifier]

Variance: Flight C [0-500 NLM]

Brag: Subsidized trip to Houston for spring NABC

Beat: 2nd < 1st

I'll try to post some of the more interesting hands if I get some time later.

Congrats Wyman!! Good luck. Hope to see your picture in ACBL Magazine.

wait, there's an under 500 pairs?

I might have to try for that

Congrats, Wyman -- very nice. I never managed that (did represent my district in the GNTs once, and it was tremendous fun -- this should be really good too). And it's quite an impressive feat.

I actually just accepted a job in Houston, starting tomorrow or the next day; maybe I'll get to drop by.

Congrats Wyman.

atakdog, if you're ever looking for a partner in a club game in Houston, let me know!

r/w, MPs:

xx / Qxxx / xxxxx / xx

(P) - P - (1H) - 2D
(P) - ??

--------------------
w/r MPs:

Axxx / Qxx / ATx / xxx

(P) - P - (1S) - X
(3S*) - ??

*when asked, LHO reported that 3S shows a limit raise.

both red MPs

My partner is a Pakistan pro who I play with every once in a while

I'm in 4th seat with


T7
AQT542
K7653

Bidding goes

P-1NT-2S (natural)-??

what now?

Yeah my answer was 3S. Should pretty clearly be a minor two-suiter. 5D (rather than 5C) over 4S looks right as you will pretty much always need the diamond suit whether it's trumps or not. I'm not sure what the point of partner's 5H is if he's just going to bid 6D over a positive response, he may as well just bid 6D himself the first time.

Also, lol at the opponent who bid 2S-4S.

I don't think 3S 'clearly' shows a minor 2-suiter. It totally depends on agreement. How do we show hearts? Negative double? But what about all those hands where we want to say "yo, partner, they just stepped in it". I mean especially at these colors, you may *really* want to hit 2S.

For many, 3S asks partner to bid 3N with a spade stopper. It's not clear at all to me that we're making a slam here. I'd make a forcing pass over 4S at these colors; maybe partner has a spade stack and this is going for +800 or +1100.

If you're playing Lebensohl (which it appears you're not), 3S is stayman, showing a 4-card heart suit and no spade stopper [you would bid 2N, which is a relay to 3C, followed by 3S to show a 4c heart suit with a spade stopper]. This is a great convention to learn to deal with interference over 1N with a regular partner, not suggesting it for pickup games.

What's really important is whether 3D is forcing by you. If so, you should be making a 3D call here. Else, you have to cuebid spades. [This is another advantage to Lebensohl. You can make 3D a forcing bid, and if you want to drop in 3D, you can relay through 2N-3C-3D].

Bid hearts?

2S is somewhat preemptive, so with undiscussed methods you're just not going to find your best spot 100% of the time.

OK, but what does it ask him to bid if he DOESN'T have a spade stopper?

Hugely unlikely on this auction imo, especially with partner under the bidder. I'm also not sure I'd trust a casual partner to think pass was forcing.

Of course I meant "how do we show 4 hearts"?

Of course, but we can try.

A 5 card suit. If only 4 card suits and I haven't shown 4 hearts, his better minor.

Even if the spades bidder has AKQxxx of spades and nothing else, his partner's unlikely to contribute more than a trick here. Agree that I wouldn't trust a casual partner to treat pass as forcing. Hm. Plus I have no idea what yo-yo holds with his 2S-4S.

I dunno. I guess my inclination is always to double these bad re-preempts on principle. But if I can't, and I'm not going to trust my partner to take a call, I guess I'm stuck bidding 5D.

Seconded that Lebensohl is a fine convention to learn.

Even in the absence of Lebensohl, thou shalt know that after 1NT and a 2-level overcall, double is penalty, cuebid is Stayman, 2 of a new suit is weak, and 3 of a new suit is forcing, however.

So, on the actual hand, 3D followed by some number of clubs seems like a plan. Playing leb at MPs I could be convinced into 3NT (denying a spade stopper) rather than trying to reach 6 of a minor. The 3S bidders deserve to go down in 6H.

Re Wyman's questions in #763, first reaction is Pass and Pass. On the first one, you'd like to make a weak raise to 3D, but 3D is liable to sound 6-9ish without discussion. On the second, you'd like to double for penalty but that is liable to be responsive. If you pass partner may well double a second time and let you still hit it.

Alright hand with FCBL

IMPs r/w


AQT93
AKT2
A842

I deal, bidding goes

1H-P-4H-4S
???

5, even if 4 is weak; almost cold for slam if partner
has as little as xxxKxxxxQxxxx.

With a "four-loser" hand with 7 controls and a void, you have
to make a forcing call. Hopefully, partner will also bid six with
a hand like xxxxKxxxxxKJx and sign off with
xxKJxxxxxQTxx.

My 4 heart response implies a singleton somewhere. Does this change your analysis?

I am promising 5 hearts, not very many points, and a singleton or void.

If you have a stiff/void, it will almost never be in spades
(opponents would likely jam the auction), it's great if it is
in clubs and awful if in diamonds; however, even if it is in
diamonds, six is very likely if clubs break and you held the
K as well as the K. I think you simply evaluate your
hand based on hard values (aces/kings and king of trumps)
and diamond honors but it's hard to think six is cold from
your point of view with

xxxxKxxxxJ9xx .



At this vulnerability, you'll rarely get rich whacking most
sacrifices and sure, sometimes partner can't even make 5
(but in that case, opponents can sometimes make 4)
maybe because dummy is a two-count or worse.

why do you play it like this?

If you're implying a singleton or void then it's a very easy 6H. It's hard to construct a hand for you where 6 doesn't have very good chances.

At these colours I would probably just bid 6 even without that inference. Bidding 5D gets you out of some unmakeable slams but also an awful lot of cold ones (eg xxx Kxxxx xx QJx).