4H

reasonable chances that you will get to bid 5H and they will feel obliged to double - 6H is going to need some good fortune

passing then taking some action is in my view a long term loser - "lurking" as I prefer to call it has a big downside in that when you do finally emerge from the bushes everyone knows what you have

Ended up binking 6h. Worth it just for the first round of trumps.

Tickets booked for nats - who else is going?

Double for me, I don't mind bidding 5h over 4s and judging by how the auction has started ops might not jam it that high anyway

Also a direct cue bid of 3s might have some potential.

I like strip's argument that 4H followed by 5H may net a double.

I don't think double gets us a lot. I'm never playing partner's suit; how many spades am I willing to play doubled — 4? I don't think so. So I guess on an auction like

.. (1S) – P (1N)
X (2S) – P (P)
4H (P) – P (4S)
5H (5S) – X (P)

I might pass and be happy I doubled.

I'll let ya know after the NAP qualifier in a couple weeks

lol gib

lol link failaments

Is this a progressive squeeze?

GIB's spade discard at trick eight gave me two extra tricks, as would discarding a diamond, if he discards a heart he's squeezed in the pointed suits when I cash my second heart.

How should I play the hand after trick three? It's cold if I make four club tricks but if I don't I'll have to rely on a squeeze. I wouldn't be sure what squeeze to play for. Say I lose a club to East and he returns a heart, is there a way for me to play it so East gets squeeze if he guards hearts, while if West guards them it's a double squeeze?

But what if the heart guards are split? If I play low from dummy at trick one it guarantees that only only person can guard hearts ... enough reason to play low?

Test

Yup, repeating triple squeeze. GIB has to throw a small spade instead of the Q and on the last club he cannot discard diamonds or spades because that will give you two extra tricks, so he discards a heart. Now you cash two heart tricks and squeeze him again, this time in diamonds and spades.

Your play in trick 5 is seriously wrong, you have 11 tricks when Qc drops and can develop one in diamonds 100%, spades are risky. Just run the clubs and see if east squirms. If you think he does, you can play for the squeeze. Otherwise just duck a diamond and claim the rest.

Oh my play at trick 5 is awful, as I said 'it's cold if I make four club tricks' ... I thought I was in 7 and had 12 top tricks and was going for the double squeeze!!!

That Th is quite lol, the bidding is also lol. Two aces, singleton heart and JTx of trump, 4S is obvious.

lol@oren's articles always being 'featured articles'. what the heck

Had an interesting club game last night while practicing for NAPs. We had a 74% game through the first half of the session (8 3-board rounds) -- then my partner's carriage turned into a pumpkin.

We ended with a 55%, half a board out of first.

I guess it's good that we can come out with a 55% despite that?

lol spot, r/w second seat

K
xx
AKQxx
AKQxx

p - 1d - 1h - p
2c - ?

meh, it's probably fine to pass

where the hell are the spades? If partner has a bunch, and it sounds like he does, his hand must really suck to not bid them over 1H. If he doesn't, they're missing a fit.

Like my big worry is he's 5341 or something, but even then they probably have 3 off the top before I can get in to draw trump and run clubs for discards and such

Trivial pass. If partner cannot cough up 1S, he must really have utter garbage. And besides that, it smells like a total misfit.

yeah, p had 7 spades and 1 hcp

Obvious pass. It is very often right to pass with length in the suit they bid, especially when partner is already marked with weakness.

I'm still sorta trying to teach my gf bridge. Just yesterday we encountered yet again the "but I have X HCP — I can't pass". Problem. I think passing with these hands is the toughest bidding principle to learn.

Minibridge

JT9xxx
A
QT7
Q64

x
Qx
K964
AKJT42

LHO 11 RHO 7

What contract do you choose?

Say you play 5c, LHO leads a low heart. Plan?

I hope you meant 5C?

Is this just a triple squeeze? Or anything more specific?

That is not a triple squeeze. It is a squeeze without the count or strip squeeze

A player is forced to discard winners to protect a stopper and after this "stripping" he is thrown in to play in a fork