Pickup partner on BBO, "full SAYC" is agreed.

I am dealer, none vul

985
J3
T92
AKJ85

P (P) 1D (1S)
?

Edit: I hadn't realised in play that I was passed, which probably makes this a pretty obvious 2C. But what do you do if you aren't a passed hand?

P?

As an unpassed hand, it's close, but I'd stretch to 2C.

i would pass and see if partner reopens cuz if not they have a heart fit and there side already bid spades so it would be tuff to win the war.

Bleah. very close. (Yes, easy 2C bid by passed hand.)

What you don't want to hear after trying 2C is 2H by partner. Your spade length is exactly wrong here, making the best contract likely 1 Notrump (by somebody, probably the first one to bid it) or two of some suit by somebody, and your 2C gets beyond the first, and also beyond the second unless partner has good clubs or diamonds -- and in the latter case you're probably getting out bid anyway.

Accordingly, I think pass is best. If LHO bids 2S and that is passed around to you, bid 2NT, which now would show this hand. If LHO bibs 2H they're probably in a good spot, but can't stop there, so things are OK. If he bids 1NT, and that swings around, I think you try 2C but even that's not clear. If partner reopens with a double, you bid 2C; if he reopens with a suit, I'll be surprised. If he bids 1NT, raise to game.

wut he said

In the actual hand I passed and it was passed out in 1S. Partner had:

Kxx
AKxx
QJxx
xx

1S by them and 2C by us both make. Pass is best if I'm unpassed; 2C gets us too high. If I'm passed, best is 2C which partner ought to pass.

^^ And (for those who didn't notice) if you pass (as an unpassed hand), partner reopens with double and you get to the right spot.

Also, you probably make exactly 1NT from partner's side (after the likely spade lead), though you can't get there without playing a weak notrump. If LHO plays 1NT, they make it on the button or with an overtrick, depending on the opening lead, provided LHO has an entry (including the HQ after a heart lead).

If the spade ace was offside, the opps ought to be able to beat 2C (3 spades, 2 diamonds, and at least one trump).

... or a diamond ruff -- if these things didn't happen, the opposing hands much have been fairly balanced, with RHO holding Qxx of clubs. Something like AQJxx Tx Axx Qxx opposite xx Q9xxx Kxx xxx is about right (any more and LHO would have bid 1NT).

If the opps can take the first 3 spade tricks, then either there is a diamond ruff (E has <=2 or W has 3 and discards one on 3rd spade), or there is a trump promotion (3 spades, then 2 diamonds ending in E, then 4th spade).

Thus even with Qxx of clubs onside, NS will lose a trump trick.

w/r MPs

KJT9xxx
x
Axxx
x

passed to me in 3rd seat. What do I open?

Four spades.

pass. you have spades and always get to bid last.

wat



4 looks good to me, especially given the vulnerability.

in these spots the opponents always think your stealing and overvalue there hands to get to laydown 6 clubs. try it sometimes.was always taught that spades rules bridge and you have spades.

I think 4 has a pretty good shot at making, especially if partner holds 2 spades and one of the non-trump aces. It's a lot tougher for the opponents to find their slam; LHO needs to have a big hand to do that, when more likely, each other player has 10-11 points in hand.

We don't want the opponents to find their heart fit, which can still be done if we open 3:spades:. We have such good distribution (two singletons, plus outside ace), with a decent suit, so 4 seems like the best bid.

Sure, the opponents can potentially make 6, but if they could, passing is only giving them more bidding room to get there. It's also a lot tougher to outbid 4S, especially since the vulnerability is very unfavorable for the opps. Only in very very rare scenarios are the opponents passing out a hand where they can bid up to a slam only if you pre-empt here.



OK, fun hand with Chuck. w/w I'm in third seat. We're playing 2/1, chuck opens 3, and RHO overcalls 3

A Q J 3 2
A K Q T 9
6 3
J

How are we going from here? Not just my next bid, but where do you see the hand ending up?

I would double now, which should get the message across pretty clearly. to make a slam, we need good enough hearts or spades to run trump and second round diamond control. the first is very likely, given the diamond overcall, so it's down to finding out about diamonds. not really sure how to do that though.

Er I would certainly not be thinking about slam. We need partner with the CA and a singleton diamond to even think about having a chance. Even if he has both of those, it's hardly going to be laydown unless the clubs run. And the clubs shouldn't run, since presumably you're playing gambling 3NT and he's denied 7 to the AKQ.

As for what to bid, I think bidding on is better than doubling. I would bid 3H or 3S and if partner replies 4C then I would bid 4D, which should elicit a major suit bid. If he bids 5C I will throw the table over and storm off.

A double here (or any time pard opens with a pre-empt) is for penalty. I'd worry that we don't have a game, let alone slam - xx xx xx KQTxxxx

Note that even when partner has that hand, the bad guys are not making three diamonds, so a penalty double isn't the worst thing in the world here. (They're making the club ace plus whatever diamonds they have, assuming the spade king is with RHO -- most likely result is down one, maybe two.)

I am not concerned in the slightest about missing slam. If partner has a stiff diamond (unlikely) and the club ace (less than 50%, after a first chair nonvulnerable preempt), and the spade king is onside, we'd still some luck, as we'd probably be short on entries to hook the spade.

One reasonable plan is 3S, following that up with 4H if either 4C or 4D swings around to you. That's probably superior to 4D (I'm assuming you wouldn't play that as keycard for clubs, though you could), because when pard holds Kx or Q9x (or so) of diamonds you may get to 3NT.

--------------
Re the double being penalty: people get confused, because on their convention card they've written that doubles are negative through 3D (or 4D, or 4H, or sometimes 4S, or even 6H if you play with me), so they figure this one is too -- but ctj is still correct that this one is penalty. Why? Because there is no reason for a negative double in an auction in which partner has already described his hand. Partner has announced with his preempt that he has a one suiter, so asking for his second suit doesn't make a lot of sense. Deals like this one, in which you want partner to take out even though you know he doesn't have a second suit, are uncommon; on the other hand, auctions in which the opponents are pressured by the preempt into making bad bids are pretty common. If you play negative doubles through 3D (it really should be through at least 4H, but whatever), then you are referring to auctions like 1S (3D) X, not 2S (3D) X.

Thanks. Future bidding disaster averted.

I have a question/would like some help.

I'd like to start playing bridge seriously and competitively. I'm not a member of ACBL yet. I feel like given some time, I can be an expert player. I live in Columbia, South Carolina...so the live bridge scene is pretty terrible here. What steps can I take to improve and go to the next level? (other than playing a lot which i already do)

Gambling 3NT is an excellent way to wrongside perfectly good notrump contracts, though I have still been known to play it. Of course, in a perfect world you could play that 3S transfers to 3NT, but ACBL general chart-land is no perfect world.

With the spade king on side, you would be hoping for xxx Jx x AJTxxxx, which isn't a bad slam if you think the spade king is on side. (Or with 2=3 majors, which is a bit better.) You might even hit Kx xxx x AJ9xxxx, which would be great (albeit not cold, given the warning that the major suits are not breaking). So it's ahrdly silly to think about -- it's just not going to be found intelligently. Among other issues, when partner has a hand that makes slam good, we are often going to be faced with a diamond raise from LHO, which will reduce our accuracy...

Bidding 3H is bad, because we can never get our second suit in. If you're planning on bidding, you're committed to trying both majors (which is kind of safe when LHO shows club length, as pard is fairly likely to have three cards in one of them), and by starting with hearts you're making that impossible.

Make sure your partner knows, too.