It's in the OP

Sick, congrats

Bah team (mostly) POG nearly pulled it out

http://www.bridgebase.com/myhands/ha...64-1329006802-

Except for Kaplan finding a nice time open 3S with 5 on hand 8. Also opps gamble on 1 also worked nicely. Was a fun little match to play prec against a forcing pass.

Chuck and I are planning to **** on a Sectional next month. Ultraelite East TN sectional pair imo.

Holla holla

Well,

We finished 8th in the NAP. I just got word that a bunch of people declined the trip to Memphis, and it was offered to me and my partner.

Unfortunately, it is too late for me to make arrangements for the trip, so I had to also decline

I am bummed out.

Dang, that's too bad.

atb

AKJ10xxx
Axx
x
xx

xxx
QJ10
AKJx
Axx

1N-2H!
2S-4D!
4S-AP

2H transfer, 4D splinter

+480

It's bad enough that my district had the NAP finals 6 weeks before Memphis. Then they give me an option a week later and like 30 minutes to make up my mind. No way I could have gotten the time off from work, and found someone to take care of my son while my wife was working. There was NO way she could get time off from work either.

Add that to the fact that the $200 each that we would receive would not make a dent in the expenses. Airfare alone was about $550 each round trip.

If we had come in 3rd originally, I would have found a way to make it all work.

4th seat r/r IMPs

x / Kxxxx / x / Q109xxx

Q1: who would you rather be?

(1C) 1H (1S) 2H
(4H) 5H (P!) P
(X) P (5S!) P
(6S) AP

(p = forcing, 5S is slam invite)

or

(1C) 1H (1S) 4H
(X) AP

Q2: Your call in 4th?
Q3: Your lead against 6S?

Q1: If we are going for more than 500, then they usually have a slam, so I want to be dummy in 4HX.

Q2: 4H, without hesitation. I hate 2H here.

Edit: Actually I might hesitate, but it's to consider 5H.

Q3: Partner didn't double, so I don't lead a club. I suppose it's barely possible he has the heart ace and a club void, in which case the heart king is fine, but I trust him to double with that. So I choose the diamond. When this loses, the cost is usually an overtrick, whereas failing to make it costs the contract when partner has [never mind, I'm not giving hands itt any more, but you get the point].

The hand in 8533 is tough imo. Opener's hand is terrible — I would even consider downgrading if playing 15–17. (And if you play strong jump shifts, it's easy to find after a diamond opening.) (I realize you play 14⁺–17.) After the splinter, it would be lovely if 4H were last train, but I assume it isn't and 5C looks fairly pushy with the crappy spade holding. Partner usually has only six spades and will hope for better support.

Meanwhile, there's not much else responder can do after the signoff (and the splinter is obv fine). I guess he can reason that opener would have control bid the heart king, so if he doesn't have that he will usually have a club card, but it just smells too much like wasted diamonds and no fit for spades.

But...

I tried to find a hand opener could have that makes 5S unsafe, and there aren't many of them — at worst it's on dropping the spade queen opposite a small doubleton, and losing two top clubs. I think responder might risk a 5H bid after 4S.

... But if that's true, then was 4D correct? I think it was, because 3H, though safe, sounds like 5–5 and it will be too hard to unwind.

Hmmph. Opener 30, responder 40, bad luck 30.

My question I guess is: is it even worth a last train if that's your agreement? He has a dead min and 8/15 in the splinter suit.

I guess the "extra" trump and AK/A are pretty good, but...

Meh. I guess another auction might be better:

1NT – 4H!
4S – 5D(?)
5S – 6S (guessing that if opener can't control bid 5H he is likely to control clubs [i.e., after 5H responder would bid 5S and pass it back])

But this seems way too unilateral to me. Nice suit and six losers, but I don't think it's the near-slam-force that this auction presumes.

And my answer is yes, definitely. The reason for last train is to show slam cooperation below the danger level, and this hand, though not awesome, can cooperate. The trump support isn't as bad as it might be, we control one of the problem suits, and the diamond king will often not be wasted. It's not necessarily good enough to cooperate at the five level, but if we can keep it as low as 4H then partner can either control bid, or find out our trump support doesn't include (say) the queen. This changes our evaluation of our own hand (wrt whether to cooperate) completely.

If you play last train, I put almost all the blame on opener.

Edit: And if you do play last train, responder absolutely cannot move after 4S.

There may be hands where it doesn't work, but I think I'd prefer Texas then 5H from the North hand. The problem with the sequence chosen is that opener will often not have a cuebid to make on this auction (as here) on a bunch of hands where 6 is cold.

I don't blame South one bit for not moving with wasted diamond values, bad spades, and topless hearts. Can't North have AKJTxx Kxx x Qxx?

If you're asking, I think I'd rather be in 4Hx than 6S (but I know I'd rather be in 4Hx than 4S). I would have bid 4H with that hand.

Against 6 spades, I think I'll lead the heart king. If we don't have any heart tricks we may not be beating this, and I can lead something hopefully non-awful at trick 2. Partner's clearly not void in clubs, so that's out. If I was 2515 I'd lead the stiff diamond for sure (playing partner for one of two aces); here I would be basically playing partner for the diamond ace when it's more likely I'm just blowing up the suit for declarer. (Disclaimer: I'm writing a seven-volume bridge collection entitled Opening Leads That Didn't Work.)

w/w IMPs, playing 2/1

T 5
K 6
Q 7 5 2
A Q 9 6 5

2nd seat, RHO passes

1. Is this an opener?
2. If so, is 1D or 1C standard?

I opened. Here is the auction

(p)-1D-(X)-1H
(p)-2C-(p)-2S
(p)-3C-(p)-3S
(p)-?

I took 2S as FSF but I'm not sure what 3S is.

I open it an apologize if it goes wrong. I know some like to open it 1d, but I tend to open it 1c then rebid 1nt, once again apologizing if wrong. 3S looks like a last ditch attempt for you to bid 3nt. I'm bidding 4H now and apologizing to partner for my dummy.

Yeah chuck bid it the same as myrm. It was me that messed it up.

i open 1C. If I do the 4=5 1D, it's because I have a stiff somewhere. and if it's a stiff heart, I might rebid 1S 3=1=4=5 if it's a chunky suit, so I'd open 1C anyway.

3S should be natural, showing at least 5–6 in the majors. You've already had one chance to show a spade stopper (over 2S), so rebidding it doesn't just ask the same question again.

Having come this far, you bid 4H. But this is a really awkward hand, as you can see. If you're planning on rebidding 1NT over any response you open 1C, not 1D; even if you plan on rebidding 2C over 1H, you should probably open a club. (You're probably best off rebidding 1NT after a 1S response, and raising 1D to 2D.)

First seat I'd follow this path. Second seat, I'd probably flip a coin as to whether to open or pass. And then after the game I use it as evidence that we should be playing a 10–13 notrump range.

I personally would not open this hand in a vacuum, but I probably would open it playing with most of you just because you would expect me to -- if that makes sense. If forced to open it, I would open 1C (I believe in opening my long suit first) and rebid 1NT. The fact that we're basically going to treat this as a flat 11 point hand is the reason I don't want to open it in the first place, though.


Given this auction, I think I squeak out 3NT, not because I think partner's got a stopper either but because both my opponents had a chance to overcall in spades and didn't; maybe we can claim 9 after they run 4. Or maybe they'll block. Or maybe they'll not lead a spade from like AQ9xx for some dumb reason like trying to get partner in.

So you think partner is asking for a stopper, not showing real spades?

How would he bid with a 5=6=1=1 13-count? And if he's asking for spades, doesn't he have a 3D bid available to do that? Didn't his 2S bid make 3D here forcing?

I think 2S created a game force, and if he were interested in NT he'd either have bid it, or temporized with 3D. So that's out, and what we're left with is a genuine heart-spade two-suiter. Now, if you want to be in 3NT opposite KQJxx AQJxxx x x, then 3NT is the way to get there, but I'm choosing 4H.

What's he do with a 3523 with no spade stopper? I guess 3D isn't terrible with that hand, but it's sure not pretty.