[cherdano]

All problems are IMPs.

1. All vulnerable, you hold Jxx AK7x 97xx xx in 4th.
(1D) 2C (P) P
(2D) X (P) ??

2. All white, you hold AKQJTx xx xx Txx in 3rd
3C (3H), your plan?
(If you bid 3♠ or 4♣, what do you bid over 4♥?)

3. All white, void KJT9xx xx AQ98x in 1st
1H - 1S
2C - 3C
your plan, if any?

4. All vulnerable, you hold AKTx K9 Kx AQT7x in 2nd seat
(1D) X (2D) P
(P) X (P) 2S
Agree so far? Now what?

[Fluffy]

1. I fell close between 3♦ and 3♥, I will go with 3♥.

2. I'll reach 4♠ sooner or later, I have doubts about 5

3. 3♥ ->

Spoiler

The hand looks familiar

4. 4♠, all you need is 5 cards to have a chance.

[whereagles]

cherdano, on May 23 2007, 08:21 AM, said:

1. All vulnerable, you hold Jxx AK7x 97xx xx in 4th.
(1D) 2C (P) P
(2D) X (P) ??

2. All white, you hold AKQJTx xx xx Txx in 3rd
3C (3H), your plan?
(If you bid 3♠ or 4♣, what do you bid over 4♥?)

3. All white, void KJT9xx xx AQ98x in 1st
1H - 1S
2C - 3C
your plan, if any?

4. All vulnerable, you hold AKTx K9 Kx AQT7x in 2nd seat
(1D) X (2D) P
(P) X (P) 2S
Agree so far? Now what?

1. 4♥. Good declarer play with 4-3 fits is a mark of true expertise

2. 3♠ and pass.

3. I take it 3♣ is NF. 3♥ then, followed by 5♣ if pard doesn't support me.

4. 3♠. Need some extras in pard to enter dummy for finesses.

[Fluffy]

Jlall, on May 23 2007, 10:45 AM, said:

Fluffy, on May 23 2007, 05:39 AM, said:

1. I fell close between 3♦ and 3♥, I will go with 3♥.

I really really dont agree with this, you have no known heart fit. If partner was 4405 he would have Xed 1D, if he was (34)15 he will usually X 1D (I agree there are some hands he may bid 2C on with this shape but double would be normal). If he was (34)06 he may bid this way, but no matter what you have no guaranteed heart fit. Certainly 3316 is the most likely shape right?

Yes, yes, but I couldn't imagine any hand from partner wich made any game except 4♥.

I hope it is not a 4-2 fit :S.

[inquiry]

cherdano, on May 23 2007, 03:21 AM, said:

All problems are IMPs.

1. All vulnerable, you hold Jxx AK7x 97xx xx in 4th.
(1D) 2C (P) P
(2D) X (P) ??

2. All white, you hold AKQJTx xx xx Txx in 3rd
3C (3H), your plan?
(If you bid 3♠ or 4♣, what do you bid over 4♥?)

3. All white, void KJT9xx xx AQ98x in 1st
1H - 1S
2C - 3C
your plan, if any?

4. All vulnerable, you hold AKTx K9 Kx AQT7x in 2nd seat
(1D) X (2D) P
(P) X (P) 2S
Agree so far? Now what?

1). 2♥

2) 3♠ is first bid, I will rebid 4♠ over partners bid, whatever it is (well i would pass 3NT should he bid that).

3) 5♣ may not make, but even not vul, I think I wiill try to push to that lofty height. I am going to bid a "psyhic" 3♦ cue-bid at the table to discourage a diamond lead. Hope partner can bid 3♥ over this.

4) This is close between pass and 3♠ (it is no where near strong enough for 4♠). Being vul, I woulld try 3♠.

[Gerben42]

1. 2♥, after all that is what partner asked you to do, and it's a bit lower than 3♣.

2. 4♠. To play and hope opps agree

3. 3♥. Nice hand even with the not-so-many values. Shape rulez

4. The 2nd dbl is not pretty but you're kinda stuck. I pass as partner couldn't bid the first time round so he is less likely to have a hand for game.

[Codo]

1. 2♥ is enough opposite a 3316. Pd did not promise 16+, didn´t he?

2. I will fail to make any contract, so what is the best way to avoid them to reach game? I guess pass is my only chance, because they miss a lot of HCPs and hopefully they won´t discover the pureness of their holdings. If they bid 4 Heart, I bid 4 Spade.
Only other possibility is a direct 4 Spade bid. Maybe this will keep them silent or bring them to 5 Heart.

3. 3 Club is gameforcing, so I show my control with 3 ♥

4. Pd has no 5 card spade suit, or he has at most Jxxxx,xxx,xx,xxx. This makes no game at all, so I pass. I told him that I have about 20 points, didn´t I?

[mikeh]

1. 2♥. Most probable degree of fit here is 4=3, and even 4-4 would leave us short of game on almost all hands. He wants to compete for the partscore... not for game.

2. 4♠... not easy at all, but I'd rather make the opps guess at this level than make me guess over 4♥... a good rule is to always try to make the opps make the last guess on a competitive hand. 5♣ also does that, but it is too much opposite a 1st seat white 3♣... far easier to double an 11 trick contract holding a sure trump trick (or 2) than it is to double a 10 trick contract when your highest trump is the 9.

3. 3H... very close, and on another day I'd probably blast 5C.. the most likely game, but if partner can raise to 4H, that rates to be a better contract... 3H should be forcing...

4. 3S. Bidding 4S is, imo, a common error.... falling in love with good hands is unavoidable, but failing to recognize the temptation to overbid such hands should be avoidable. Partner is still there and he heard us double twice and raise... this is the kind of power we should have.. he should bid game with all hands on which we have a good play.

[whereagles]

I don't know what I was thinking on hand 2... 4♠ stands a mile.

[cherdano]

Codo, on May 23 2007, 09:50 AM, said:

1. 2♥ is enough opposite a 3316. Pd did not promise 16+, didn´t he?

He did not? How much did he promise?

[gwnn]

- 2♥, although 3♥ looks nice. I feel that pd won't pass this with game-fitting hand.
- 4♠. I've got spades.
- 5♣. "I've never planned anything in my life" - Cool Hand Luke
- 3♠. I might have tried 2♣ at the table, but X sounds a little better.

[jdonn]

1: I like 2♥. I don't mind a 3♣ bid either, but prefer 2♥ in case partner has 4 and is good enough to raise so I can find game.

2: 4♠ for the sac. I really don't like 3♠ at all. Either you are going to sac and should do so right away, or are not going to and in that case should bid 4♣ and avoid telling them about your surprise spade lead.

3: I would pass. I think the odds bidding gets us too high are about twice as likely as the odds we have game. I think 4♣ is probably a safe contract, but I also think if I invite we will get to games going down. If one of our hearts were a spade it would barely be an opening bid, so I'm not going to get too excited because I am void in the suit partner bid. If I did bid though, definitely 3♥.

The 5♣ answers are ridiculous to me. We are going to get a diamond lead which is bad, partner bid our void, and our hearts are KJ not A. About the only time 5♣ gets you to a making game when a lower bid wouldn't is when partner has nothing in spades, and that is a silly assumption to make.

4: 3♠ seems right. I don't consider pass an option, this is closer to 4 than to pass. People sometimes get caught up in the fear partner has xxxx xxx xxx xxx to the point of not being practical, in my opinion.

[han]

1. Seems like a clear 2H to me. We may have enough HCP for game, but it looks like we don't have a major suit fit or a diamond stopper. 90% of the time we will not have game and 3H may already be too high.

2. Knowing all the hands I am not sure what I would have bid here. The 3C bid is a warning sign and we have a lot of losers. But I agree that if we are going to bid 4♠ then we should do so right away.

3. I agree with 3H. I hope you and your partner have good agreements about when you can stop in 4♣.

4. 3♠ seems exactly right.

[cherdano]

In 3, after bidding 3H, what do you rebid over 3S? Over 4C?

[mikeh]

cherdano, on May 23 2007, 12:36 PM, said:

In 3, after bidding 3H, what do you rebid over 3S? Over 4C?

over 3♠, 4♣, regretting the whole hand

over 4♣... well, if I've bid 3♥ rather than 5♣ (and I do think that 3♥ is best while recognizing that I'd sometimes blast 5♣), I think that, to stay disciplined, I have to respect partner's application of the brakes. Note that 4♣ cannot be forcing: I limited my hand with 2♣, non-forcing, he limited his hand with 3♣, non-forcing, and my 3♥ bid, while forcing one round, was not gf.

The more I think about this hand, the less I like my own inclination to consider the 5♣ blast and the happier I am to have chosen 3♥

[mike777]

cherdano, on May 23 2007, 03:21 AM, said:

All problems are IMPs.

1. All vulnerable, you hold Jxx AK7x 97xx xx in 4th.
(1D) 2C (P) P
(2D) X (P) ??

2. All white, you hold AKQJTx xx xx Txx in 3rd
3C (3H), your plan?
(If you bid 3♠ or 4♣, what do you bid over 4♥?)

3. All white, void KJT9xx xx AQ98x in 1st
1H - 1S
2C - 3C
your plan, if any?

4. All vulnerable, you hold AKTx K9 Kx AQT7x in 2nd seat
(1D) X (2D) P
(P) X (P) 2S
Agree so far? Now what?

Great problems.

4) With a two suited hand and only Kx in the third suit prefer to just bid my suits out in order. So prefer to start with 2clubs here. Yes, I have extras but will take the risk that the bidding will not die and I can get another bid in.

[cherdano]

mikeh, on May 23 2007, 11:44 AM, said:

cherdano, on May 23 2007, 12:36 PM, said:

In 3, after bidding 3H, what do you rebid over 3S? Over 4C?

over 3♠, 4♣, regretting the whole hand

over 4♣... well, if I've bid 3♥ rather than 5♣ (and I do think that 3♥ is best while recognizing that I'd sometimes blast 5♣), I think that, to stay disciplined, I have to respect partner's application of the brakes. Note that 4♣ cannot be forcing: I limited my hand with 2♣, non-forcing, he limited his hand with 3♣, non-forcing, and my 3♥ bid, while forcing one round, was not gf.

The 2♣ bid is limited to 17 or maybe bad 18. So if 4♣ can still be in the upper end of this range, partner will almost always be unable to pass.

Do you think the 4♣ bid implies a minimal 3♥ bid, and partner will be able to pass fairly frequently? Then COG hands have to find a different bid?

(I jumped to 5♣ over 3♠ as I thought 4♣ is almost forcing.)

[mikeh]

I think pulling 3♠ to 4♣ says that I was minimum for my earlier game try of 3♥ and, at the same time, says that hearing about ♠ values was not exactly what I had hoped for. It would tend, I think, to suggest a concern about the obvious lead... the ♦ suit.

Note that 3♠ was an ambiguous call... it is not clear that it was not a suggestion to play in ♠s opposite some 2=6=1=4 hand.... Kx KQxxxx x AKJx opposite AJ10xx x Kxx Qxxx for example. Or it might be the AKxx x xxx Kxxxx hand we saw in the parallel thread.

Responder is permitted to bid over 4♣, but he is equally permitted to pass.. he has identified a feature of his hand (strong ♠s, no desire to play 3N or 4♥) and I have said: 'in the context of the auction so far, if you lack extras, we have arrived'. I think that the AKxx x xxx Kxxxx hand has a tough call... but if partner, who is at least 6-4, is turned off by the 3♠ bid, then I think pass is best...but I'm not sure I could find it... after all: x AKxxxx xx AJxx is a reasonable game and he has at least this kind of strength if he lacks a 5th ♣....