[jillybean]

1st here is the 'good', I dont get these too often so I think its ok to brag when I do

Scoring: IMP

---

West North East South

 -     -     Pass  1♦
 Pass  4NT   Pass  5♠
 Pass  7NT   Pass  Pass
 Pass  

Second, here's another lesson for me - BID YOUR HAND!

Scoring: IMP

---

West North East South

 -     -     -     Pass
 1♦    3♠    4♣    Pass
 5♦    Pass  Pass  Pass
 

[kgr]

For the good:
It's possbile that your partner has 3 aces and nothing else and you won't make 7NT. I think it's better to start with 1S to get some more info first.
I partner bids 3D now then you have a better way to go to 7NT.
 
For the bad:
If you play negative DBL over 3S then East should DBL iso bidding 4C.
If you don't play negative DBL then 4D or 4H by West are better bids then 5D.
- 4D needs to be real in this auction (and not fi a cue bid).
- 4H is also real and given that 4C is GF it should not show extra's....not sure about this.

[ralph23]

I agree with kgr on Hand #1 that 1♠ is superior to Blackwood.

Opener may have just scraped together an opening on a balanced twelve-count (Haven't you?)... Yes, you have a nice hand, but it is a ghastly 4333 shape and an 18-count. If partner also has no real shape (e.g. maybe 4432) and just 12 HCP, you have two balanced hands with 30 HCP between you, and you may not even make 6NT, even if you have all the Aces.

Also, and more subtly, Blackwood is ... er, unilateral. It says "I know what's right, partner, just tell me about your danged aces." And that's simply not true with this collection. Give partner a chance to describe his hand more. Partner will not pass 1♠. Maybe partner will jump raise that to 3♠ !

[ralph23]

On hand #2, East has a whale of a hand with his stiff spade. I think you already must play negative doubles this high (around my bridge neighborhood, 3♠ limit is pretty common, and if your limit is lower I think you should probably raise it to that ... we play 4♦ limit in my partnership), and double is right with East, on that assumption.

If South now sticks in a messy raise to 4♠, it gets complicated. Don't you hate it when they preempt you like this? 5♥ is of course making but what do you do at the table as West? Now -- It's an interesting exercise in partnership discipline and understanding at this point.... what do you think JB?

[skjaeran]

Hi Jilly.

I don't really know why you think the 1st is good and the 2nd bad. IMO the 1st was bad, but lucky - you had no idea partner held a 6-card suit which would allow you to make a grand. Better start with 1♠, when partner rebids 2♦ (that's the correct bid IMO) that should show 6 (unless you rebid 2♦ on 4♥5♦) and could drive to the grand.

On the 2nd you got to the safest game contract at IMPs, so nothing to worry about.

[mikeh]

I agree with the criticisms of the first bid: it is very, very easy to come up with hands where opener has 3 aces and you have zero play for grand. And what if partner had 2 Aces? Again, you have no way to count to 12 tricks. Partner had SIGNIFICANT extra values.. in the form of 2+ extra tricks in the diamond suit, and North bid 7N with zero idea that those values existed. This was a horrible auction that got lucky.... I assure you that no expert would bid this way.

Just making up a hand at random: give S Axxx x Axxx KJxx: after his 5♥ response to blackwood, where are you playing? Are you really going to reach 6♠? 6N has zero play.

As for the second, the 4♣ call is okay... altho double is more flexible.... you'd probably be okay if West rebid 3N on say AJx xx AQJxx Qxx.....and the double makes it easy to find the heart fit if S actually did pass... which is far from clear.

5♦ looks like it was based on some misunderstanding about bidding, but no harm came from it. Consider the 'normal' rebid of 4♦.... East bids 4♥.... is this forcing? If not, how would/should East be bidding with x AQJx Kx AKxxxx as an example...... yes, 6♦ rates to be ok, and maybe East just gives up on hearts with this hand...

If E had doubled 3♠ and S had bid 4♠, I think West has a tough call, but he survives a pass because E will reopen.

BTW. Harald is absolutely correct in observing that you were in a good contract.... once an opp has preempted, 5♥ is definitely not attractive.. the odds of a 4-1 split are too high... 4♥ is wonderful, 5♥ not.

[helene_t]

On the first one, my p started with 2N, showing a balanced GF. Then I rebid 3N which should show 11-12 points since we play a 13-15 1NT. Probably she would have made some kind of slam try if I rebid 3♦. Alternatively I could have opened a forcing 1♣ and then she can't stop below slam of course. Or it could have gone 1N-4N-6♦. If she had responden 1♠ to my 1♦, though, I have a rebid problem and would probably bid 2♦, but again that should take us to at least small slam.

On the second one, it went (my p overcalled 2♠):
1♦-2♠-X-4♠
5♦-5♠ -6♦.

This is similar to another thread we had
http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?sho...20263&hl=minors: Opener has nice shape but by rebidding voluntarily he makes responder too enthusiast. Still I would say that their 6♦ contract was mainly bad luck.

[jillybean]

I was south in both of these, so the first hand I didn't actualy have much input to the auction. Note I said 'good', the auction isn't the best but hey 7nt is 7nt. I agree with the comments about the bidding.

In the second hand I passed 4♣ to see what would happen; thinking that I would like to defend against 4♣. Of course when the bid came back to me jumping in with 5♠ was not attractive, so I passed my second chance

[ralph23]

jillybean2, on Jul 22 2007, 04:06 PM, said:

In the second hand I passed 4♣ to see what would happen; thinking that I would like to defend against 4♣.

But now that you've thought about it, you realized that 4♣ was a forcing bid and would never become the final contract anyway, and that with an 11-card ♠ fit ... as you say, bid your hand !