Diamond to Q seems bad, because you win not much if it wins. For example with Kxxx before the ace, you still lose 2 tricks unless you play low to J9 bare.

You cannot take the diamond finesse before tackling trumps, they might return diamonds and get a 3rd round ruff

I like:

Win the SA, I think I'd do it on the second round because they rarely switch here but I doubt it matters much
Try to draw trump
Probably ruff a spade, finish drawing trump
DA, D toward the J I'm pretty sure is the right way to play the suit for 3 tricks, plus playing them this way could leave a club hook in reserve if they haven't taken that option away yet

odd auction, curious to see how some of you might bid this differently

imps red vs white

AJT85
82
-
KQJ873

(1S) - 2C - (2D) - P - (2H) - P - (3D) - DBL

3d goes down 1 on best defense (not too hard)


Hands later shown to be

OPS

K9743
A963
A
965

-
Q74
KQT87652
T4

Partner shown to have

q62
kjt5
j943
A2


Even though 3D goes down, 5S, 5C both make.

So my question is given the vulnerability should the double be pulled?


Also, is there any merit to passing instead of 2C with 5 spades.

Edit : never mind. Combination of reading this on my phone, and the weird way it's presented, confused me.

Now that I see it clearly: 2C is correct. As for pulling the double, I probably wouldn't. But partner should probably look harder to play the hand, given the colors; I don't like his pass of 2D. If he either doubles or risks 2NT, you get to 3NT.

I disagree with the 1st round pass of partner over 2D. imo this is a superobvious dbl to show values. Having 11 HCP in this auction is fairly surprising.

If opener rebids 2H, you will rebid 3C with this hand and partner can end it with 3NT. Getting to 4S seems impossible, but 3NT seems achievable.

Silly hand time:

Let's say you open 1H (1st seat, all vul, MP) with

A98xx
KQT9xx
x
Q

and partner responds 1S.

What now? And, any serious objections to the 1H opener?

I understand the theory behind 1S here. But in practice 1H always seems to work better for me.

At this point, shrug, I might try 4D. Always bidding game, might as well show one of the shortnesses.

Partner's hand:

4H opening every time. Shape rules.

I'd splinter, and I'm not sure that 4C is better than 4D. The return control bid we want is 4H, which, whether it's real or last train, will be good news. A mere lack of control of clubs won't turn partner off, because we haven't denied it. Meanwhile, I'd rather partner not get turned off (by a club splinter) with Kxxxx Ax xxx KJx. (Admittedly, most hands that make slam will control bid something regardless which splinter we elect to use, so it doesn't matter much.)

The splinter is better than the the immediate 4S because the latter implies the inability to make the former, imo, thus a semibalanced 18–19 count (4=5=2=2). (I can understand a different view, wherein a splinter requires extra values so a minimum shapely 4=5 hand will bid 4S; I don't like that too much but even if you play that way, this five loser hand has so much extra that surely it's good for a splinter.)

Fun fact, in troll club the opening is a spade, and responder is likely to see his hand as slam-cooperative so he'll make some inquiries. Unfortunately, the room gets eaten up before you can avoid the five level, I think. The only auction that works, which is far from 100%:
1S¹ – 3H²
3S³ – 3NT⁴
4S⁵ – pass

¹ 8–15 HCP, 4+ S, can have a longer second suit.
² Transfer to 3S, either weak or GF, spades are trump.
³ Not quite forced with a playing maximum, and opener might elect 4H here, showing a very shapely (usually 5=6) offensively-oriented hand (thus often a minimum), which theoretically could shut responder down but might not succeed.
⁴ Demands control bidding, up the line.
⁵ Unclear, as I've never decided whether this sequence should demand only aces. Note that responder has other ways to inquire about shape (and can almost always learn exact shape before going beyond 4S — here, the sequence would be 1S – 1NT; 3H – 4C; 4H; only a 5=6=2=0 goes as high as 4NT), so what matters when responder chooses this route is high cards. If we decide to show kings, opener rebids 4H, and I think responder still shuts down without asking for aces, as he needs opener, who is limited to 15 HCP and can have as little as 8, to hold at least the spade AK and the heart A. I dunno. With spades being trump his only alternative is a pedestrian-sounding 4NT, which of course is too high.

GL in the USBC trials JLall.

tyty

Gogogo

Interesting hand. I open 1H always btw. After 1S I think I bid 4C. It is interesting what 4S would be, I guess some 18 count 4522.

After 4C if partner bids 4D I cue 4H and if he signs off in 4S he has 3 keycards never and I pass.

4th seat MPs, w/r club game

♠ A Q J 10 6 4
♥ A 9 4
♦ A Q 8
♣ 4

Auction goes

(P)-P-(1D)-X
(P)-2S-(P)-?

What is your plan now?

start with 3D and plan to bid keycard unless partner bids 4C

check the backs of my cards

4C is a splinter here right?

Not sure what keycard is ever going to tell you. Slam could be cold opposite 0 keycards (Ks is onside) and 0% opposite 2 keycards.

This is a typical example of a hand where you do not want to tell partner what you have, but partner has to tell you what he has. The most important thing you want to learn is heart values with partner, so is think 3D is the best bid indeed.

If partner bids hearts I'm probably not stopping below slam. If he refuses to bid hearts, I am probably satisfied with just 4S.

What gabe said. Except I'll feel bad stopping in game when partner has Kxxxx xx xxx AKx, but I guess I can live with that risk.

3D first, if partner bids 3H, 3S should set trumps and be extremely forcing....

With that hand you do not bid 2S over 1D-dbl. You bid 2S with Kc less. It seems a perfect 3S: limit with 5S (if you play it like that and why would you not)

If we splinter here partner will know that heart and diamond honors are good and club honors are not good and isn't that what we want him to look at? My main worry is he blasts 6 with Kxxx Kxxx Kxx xxx. With the cuebid/3S combo we are really praying partner does NOT cue 4C, right?

Why will partner bid hearts with Kxxxx KQx JT xxx? We haven't agreed a suit yet.

Basically, partner has limited his hand and we are making a slam try, we ARE asking partner for what we want.

partner should bid 3H with that hand. He doubled a minor suit and bid opp suit when you jumped in spades. He either is looking for a stopper and 3NT (some 2335?) or has spade support. He is basically never looking for hearts (3H is forcing in this spot ldo) and unlikely you have a heart suit either (you could have bid 2D). So 3H in this spot shows heart values.

Yes, but 4C consumes more bidding space than 3D

what will partner do with a 3442 beast over 3H? Answer: he will raise to 4H.

I have consumed bidding space to make a highly descriptive call. That's what it is there for.