I agree with iron. A competent partner would never stop short of slam after your double, unless he's playing you for not having anything near your call. Even if you have imperfect shape, there must be slam, probably in each of three different suits. 4NT would be a common advance, 4H is better to confirm spade length, 5NT might actually be my choice, trusting doubler to bid seven with the heart ace (you can't be void, or we'd have heard from responser). There's something to be said for an immediate 6S, too.

To say you were asking for trouble is a mild underbid. The only way it's right is if your opponents, and probably partner, are ludicrously weak, or if the opening bid was a psych, in which case doubling is probably the only way to get any matchpoints. Your call, but I wouldn't do it ever. Pass.

LHO deals, passes, partner (FCBL) passes, RHO opens 2h our plan with:

s: 8
h: -
d: AK98732
c: AKQJ6

Double. If there is no interference (unlikely because West could have some
hearts), and partner bids 2 spades, you bid 4 diamonds/4 clubs. You're about
a 2-1 favorite to make 6 diamonds in this hand and 6 clubs is likely an even
better spot; thus, you may simply want to find out if partner has club
support (more likely than if he has diamond support).

The bad news is that if there is no raise in hearts by LHO, partner might have
some almost worthless heart honors and LHO may have some length in one or
both minors. Also, 2 NT by partner is usually Lebensohl (most experts play it
that way).

There's much to be said for blasting if this is matchpoints since LHO could
just jump to an obscene number of hearts (what's the vulnerability?) so that
you get a heart lead. On the other hand, you miss a chance of a grand slam
and there's a tiny chance partner could have a gross misfit (he may not have
preempted with a spade suit because of heart length) where you may even
be down one.

Not sure which I like better:

1. 4N unusual. Raise whatever 5-level (minor suit) contract he says to 6. Pray.
2. 6. Pray.

Chuck bid 5D, I raised him to 6D.

We made 7.

Without discussion, I would bid 4NT, and then bid 5H over whatever minor partner bid. This auction demands a 5S bid from partner if they have the ace.

In regular partnerships, I like to play that a direct cuebid of 3H is either a hand that needs a heart stopper for 3NT (typically containing a long running minor) OR a very powerful hand with both minors. This allows the direct 4nt bid to be somewhat limited.

6. I don't think you are going to get the information you need by bidding slowly.

I like 4NT-and-raise better than the unilateral 6D. If partner has 3 clubs and 1 diamond, you'll do a trick better by being able to ruff to establish the suit.

I am giving up on any sane exploration for seven. In the event LHO comes up with 5H and partner passes, I will probably try 6D on my own.

How can it hurt to bid 5H on the way to 6m with this hand?

Right, it can only help a lot to know if partner has the spade ace!

In matchpoints, 7 clubs should be there more than half the time when partner
has the Ace of spades.

In addition, partner may simply have the ace of hearts and no ace of spades
(without LHO holding it; okay, so LHO is favored to have it, if you're missing
it!), so you can pitch the spade in hand after the lead!

The question now is: how often is 7 clubs there if partner has the ace of
spades? [ At IMPs, need to be 17/30 vul and 14/25 nonvul ]

Even if partner has no diamonds, they could break 3-3 so you may only need
one ruff; if partner has the queen of diamonds, both minor suit slams are
favorites (barring a diamond ruff if in 7 clubs), and even if partner only has a
stiff diamond, 7 clubs should be a favorite (just need one ruff if suits behave
well). Of course, RHO preempted and all the hands around the table will have
unbalanced distributions most of the time!

7 clubs should be the right contract most of the time when partner has the
ace of spades.

I have a simple question about a hand play. My partner was an "expert" player on BBO (I'm intermediate BTW), and told me I played the hand wrong.

We're vulnerable at IMPS and reach 3NT, with west dealing. The auction proceeds:

1 - 1
3NT (Is 1 the right bid here? How do I show my hand strength without reversing? Or is 2N is right bid? I figured p for at least 6 HCP, and 4 diamonds, so NT was probably the best contract).

T
J 9 8 4
Q J T 5 3
8 7 3

J 7 6 2
K Q T
A 2
A K Q 6

West leads the A, then continues the K, and East takes the third trick with Q. He then switches to the A, West playing low. I dropped the K under the A. East exits with a small heart.

Now, I won trick 5 with the Q, and then immediately played out the clubs, in case there was a 3-3 break. There was, and I claimed 9 tricks.

My P says that I should have run the diamond finesse, since West was marked with 5 spades, and already showed 7 points, it's more likely that the finesse works.

I think this plan will lose you one trick if the finesse doesn't work, and makes if it does. My line (playing off the clubs first, then reverting back to the diamond finesse if the clubs don't break) would do the same, but gives me an additional chance, with the risk of going down 2 if West has the last club and the K.

Lastly, I notice that the contract can easily be defeated if West doesn't block his partner's Q. But at vulnerable IMPs, is there any better contract?

Any improvements on my bidding or line?

For the bidding: I see 2 possible auctions, assuming no agreements other than SAYC or so.
1-1:diamond/1-2/3NT
1-1/2NT-pass

3NT as a rebid is usually reserved to show a hand with a long running club suit I think. 2NT shows what you have: 18-19 balanced. 1 is possible if you're confident it's forcing.
I would have passed 1 with partner's hand, BTW.

The play: your play is clearly optimum, combining the chances of a 3-3 club break and a on-side K.

You are aware that BBO-expert means anything from rank idiot to reasonable player?

As for the contract: both of you overbid, so normally you'd end up below game.

Partner opens 1d playing five card majors and 15-17 nt, we eventually get to 6s with this:

s: AKJ92
h: J63
d: A964
c: A

LHO leads 4s, dummy flips:

s: QT76
h: AK74
d: KT5
c: 62

We ended up one down (losing a heart and diamond), but others made it, what's our line of attack?

Clearly, you don't touch diamonds, so elimination should be the theme:
A clubs, spade to Q/T, ruff club, draw last trump if necessary (here, I assume
3-1 break); then play off the A, K of hearts (hoping for queen to fall). When
the queen of hearts doesn't fall, play the third round of hearts and hope they
split 3-3 so that opponents have to open up diamonds or give you a ruff-sluff.
Also, if the opponent with the queen of hearts has JUST the queen of
diamonds, that's probably his best return, since some declarers may place him
with the jack of diamonds; if opposition returns a low diamond, play for the
diamond honors to be split.

If hearts aren't 3-3 and you have to ruff the 4th heart, you want to figure out
if anyone could have a stiff diamond and play that player for a stiff honor. If
that isn't possible, your only hope is that someone has QJ-tight in diamonds.

But, then can't partner pass with 6 HCP? I'd rather be in game with 19 across 6 right?

I'm still new to BBO, but I'm figuring that out.

If you accurately describe your hand with a 2NT bid, your partner will make the right call about game or no game.

Re the 1=0=7=5 hand: If oops are competent, there is not a lot of time to screw around; we will play 6C if pard lacks the spade ace, 7 clubs if he has it. The times when diamonds makes more tricks than clubs are sufficiently rare that we will forego that aspect of the investigation.

Accordingly:

5H, exclusion keycard (in this case, exclusion Blackwood). You should play 3041 responses to this even if you play 1430 otherwise. (I'm not in love with everything in Kantar's Blackwood book, but I'll note that he agrees on this point.) Over pard's 5S, bid 6C. Over 5NT, bid 7C.

If my opponents suck, I will proceed more slowly, finding 7NT when pard has the major aces and the diamond queen.

Myrmidon: First, 2NT is right. If partner passes, it was right to do so (he might have stretched to respond withe a crappy four-count). And as usual, if there are bigger things in the offing, nothing beats telling partner what you actually have.

Re the play, you "expert" partner is wrong. Test clubs as you did, and cash the fourth spade. Usually you'll be taking the diamond finesse, though if RHO has the long clubs it's technically a showup squeeze: if RHO retains his spade guard when you're down to two cards and lead the diamond queen from dummy, then he must play his only diamond -- if it's not the king then your finesse is destined to lose, and you might as well rise with the ace, hoping for the unlikely dropping of the offside king and in any case limiting your losses to down one when the contract can't be made.

Expert indeed.

spade guard or club guard?

In the 3NT hand, some pairs play Wolff, so after rebidding 2NT partner relays
with 3 clubs where opener almost always bids 3 diamonds and that's a
common contract at matchpoints.

Club guard -- whoops. There's obviously no spade threat. Mistyped.

The line is not really a lot better than the finesse, but I wanted to point out the showup squeeze line for those who would otherwise worry about going down extra tricks when the finesse fails.

Ah ok. Thanks for clarifying both points. I thought I was completely missing something!

It's a good agreement (but not quite standard) to have 1X-1Y-1Z as forcing for 1 round. This is because the sequence 1X-1Y-2NT has some problematic features with (for example) a hand like KQxx/Ax/KQJxxxx/A where it's very convenient to be able to play 1 as forcing for 1 round.

Nope.

You make when clubs are 3-3 or the diamond king is on side or when clubs are long on your right but diamond king is offside stiff, or when LHO holds short clubs and Kx of diamonds, and greedily hangs onto a winning spade.

Another thing to consider is what to do if LHO drops two of J, T, 9 on the first two clubs. Now you have the option of finessing the club. Restricted choice says to take that finesse instead of the diamond; I think I would do it if I thought my opponent were less than expert (in which case the falsecarding is too easy).

Interesting question whether the one-round force actually is standard. In ACBL-land I'd say it is, among 2-over-1 players. I would never consider passing that (except as in effect a psych) unless it had been discussed, and I have played with a ton of pickup partners in fairly high-level events.

With your example hand a 1S rebid looks clear, and I think most good US players would bid it. There may be geographical differences at work.