[rcbought]

1)

Scoring: MP

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My partner opened 1D, and I bid 1H
Partner says 1NT and I bid 2C (new minor forcing)
partner replys with 2H (minimum with 3 heart support)

What next? I know bidding blackwood is wrong because of the void I know I want to get to slam but how can I figure out if my partner has help in spades?

Should I have even used NMF at all and just have bid 2S?


2) In another hand I had J9xxxx in dummy and KTx in my hand. What is the best way to play the suit?

[kgr]

1) I would start: 1D-1H-1NT-2S-?-3D (GF after 2S)
After 1D-1H-1NT-2C-2H I wouild bid 2S and bid 5C voidwood later. If I don't play voidwood then I would bid 6H
2) Small to the T (This could be wrong, just my feeling!)

[P_Marlowe]

1) 2C is fine, over 2H, bid 3H
which sets the trump suit and
is forcing

2) lead the jack, intending to repeat the
finesse against the queen

With kind regards
Marlowe

[ArcLight]

Is this hand really going to make 12 tricks? Opposite a minimum?

[sceptic]

Quote

2) In another hand I had J9xxxx in dummy and KTx in my hand. What is the best way to play the suit?

I can't really answer the question correctly, but, I now have "Bridge The standard plays of Card Combinations on Flash Cards" by Devyn Press. It is Alan Truscott.

I have found these to be excellent help in playing cards at the table, they are quite cheap and easy to learn from.

there are around 130 cards to learn both NT and suit contracts

[uday]

Quote

In another hand I had J9xxxx in dummy and KTx in my hand. What is the best way to play the suit?

Short answer: finesse, all else being equal, because RHO might have aqx


All else being equal, assuming you are missing AQ32, the cards might be split

A Q32 // finesse
Q A32 // go up king

A2 Q3 // finesse
A3 Q2 // finesse

Q2 A3 // go up king
Q3 A2 // go up king

so far, it is a tossup. But there are 2 more cases

2 AQ3 // finesse
3 AQ2 // finesse


Where you need to finesse. so, by finessing the q you pick up these 2 additional cases.

[EricK]

When partner opens 1♦, you should immediately be thinking about a slam - your hand has about 25 support points assuming partner has a genuine ♦ suit. The likely deniminations are ♦, ♥ and ♠. You have now eliminated ♠ as a possibility, so tell partner about your ♦ and see what he can offer. 3♦ is my bid.

[luke warm]

ArcLight, on Mar 11 2006, 10:22 PM, said:

Is this hand really going to make 12 tricks? Opposite a minimum?

i'd say, on a bad day you might make only 5.. but that seems overly pessimistic to me

[OliverC]

I think giving partner a chance to show 3-card Heart support via NMF is a good plan, because it right-sides the hand to play this in Hearts (to protect your K♠ when partner does not have the Ace or Queen). You have to be thinking in terms of a slam from the outset, though. partner can only have 5 points in the red suits and so is likely to have something in Spades. True, partner may have a really filthy opening hand like

♠ Jx
♥ Qxx
♦ QJxx
♣ KQJx

but I try to avoid partners who open hands like that .

So 1♦-1♥-1NT-2♣-2♥-???

Since NMF has made this a forcing sequence we can now afford to go slow, so 2♠ would be my choice followed by 3/4♦ to pinpoint my Club shortage.

As far as the play problem is concerned it has to be right to take the finesse:

Once LHO plays small the chances of bringing home the suit for only 1 loser by finessing are just over 32%, against just under 20% by going up with the King.

In 24% of cases it makes no difference - ie: where LHO has AQxx or where RHO has both the Ace and Queen, and you've already eliminated the other 24% of the possibilities as soon as LHO plays low.