[pclayton]

Lunch tasted a little better today. We got the client into Day 2 of the Bracket I's. The early round robins were a squeaker. You lose to one team by 6, but nip Hamish and company by 1.

The 2nd RR were more wide open. You trounce one team by 48, but lose to the other by 40 LOL.

A few decisions:

1. ♠JT ♥Qx ♦QTxxx ♣AJTx

(red / white)

1♠ - 1N (F1) - 2♠ - ?


2. ♠J9xx ♥ Axxx ♦xx ♣AJx. 1N on right, 2♥ on left dbl by pard, 2♠ on right, you try 3♥, 3♠ on left, all pass.

What is your lead? (2♠ promises 3).


3. ♠J9xx ♥8xx ♦J8xx ♣xx. You and pard are silent:

2♣ - 2♦ - 2♥ - 3♥ - 4N - 5♥ - 7N. Your lead?


4. ♠7xx ♥7xxx ♦Jxxx ♣xx

All vul - pard opens a weak 2♠ and RHO x's.

[gwnn]

1. 3♠.. we may belong to 3NT or 2♠ but why not make the normal bid? we'll feel silly when they cash their 7 hearts off top
2. we should try to force dummy. ♥A, ♥. declarer has the king? that's life.
3. ♥? sounds like declarer is confident in hearts
4. normal weak two? I think 3♠ is a little too much, color me yellow, I pass.

[655321]

(1) 3♠ if it denies 3 cards, else 2NT if 3♠ could show 3.

(2) ♦x. Don't like to lead unsupported Ace here even when partner has shown the suit.

(3) ♥8.

(4) Pass. I do admire 3♠, and I will wish I had bid it during the rest of the auction, but...I do not have the courage. 1100, 1400, 1700. Mind you, "if we get by this round", 3♠ will be OK.

[gnasher]

gwnn, on Feb 1 2008, 09:25 AM, said:

1. 3♠.. we may belong to 3NT or 2♠ but why not make the normal bid? we'll feel silly when they cash their 7 hearts off top
2. we should try to force dummy. ♥A, ♥. declarer has the king? that's life.
3. ♥? sounds like declarer is confident in hearts
4. normal weak two? I think 3♠ is a little too much, color me yellow, I pass.

Agree with all of that.

On 2, I would have bid 2NT, if available, to show a good raise in hearts.

[Codo]

1. 3 Spade
2. A spade
3. A Heart
4. 3 Spade

[P_Marlowe]

#1 3S
#2 Ace of hearts, maybe we get the forcing
defence started
#3 hearts, should be the safest lead
#4 Pass

With kind regards
Marlowe

[gnasher]

Jlall, on Feb 1 2008, 09:51 AM, said:

On hand 3 I would lead a heart assuming they play RKC.

If you're going to lead a heart most of the time that you don't have the queen, why should they bother with RKC?

I'd lead a heart too, but only because the other options look too risky. I'd be quite relieved to see partner's small card at trick one.

[Apollo81]

Jlall, on Feb 1 2008, 03:51 AM, said:

Red at imps I think you have to bid on hand 1.. I might pass at MP but missing a game is too big of a risk here.

Ace of hearts on hand 2, anything else is a guess and partner made a lead directing X so what else will I do. Maybe I can tap dummy.

On hand 3 I would lead a heart assuming they play RKC.

On hand 4 I would bid 3S, maybe some of the time I would psyche 3C but usually 3S.

Agree with these except on #4, where I'd pass.

[han]

1. 3S, I prefer to have a little more but I can't pass red against white.

2. Heart ace, obvious?

3. Heart.

4. I'd pass.

[skjaeran]

1. Playing standard methods I'll raise to 3♠. With my regular we're able to show a strong 2♠ rebid by 2♥ trf. Playing that I've got an easy pass here.

2. ♥A, going for the forcing defence.

3. ♥

4. Clear pass.

[mikeh]

1. Pass. Yes, I am in a tiny minority here, but a lot depends on style... where is your partner's dividing line between 2♠ and 3♠? This is a soft hand. Plus partner, red at imps, is taking the invite to game on any excuse. I assume we play a style in which we tend to be full values for invites and treat them as asking opener 'bid game unless you are minimum' rather than 'bid game if you are maximum'. If we play the latter style, then I raise to 3♠... but I don't play that.

2. ♥A. Any other lead suggests you didn't here the auction. Partner didn't double 2♥ just because he likes to see the colour red in the bidding tray. May be wrong... get over it

3. heart. what else? any other lead risks blowing a trick in the suit, while no competent opp is off a heart card (and if they are, it is short in partner's hand so they are not going wrong anyway)

4. Pass. Yes, they may have slam, but why can't partner hold AKxxxx and the suit be 2-2? And of course there are lots of other ways he can take 2 tricks. 3♠ takes away a cheap cue bid, but the opps may be preempting themselves if they go that route, and my guess would be that if it went responsive double all pass, we'd be losing imps.

[FrancesHinden]

I pass on the first one. Too many queens not enough controls. (obviously it depends a bit on what your partner's minimum opening hand looks like, and their maximum weak two).

2. Ace of hearts. Too stupid to do anything else.

3. First of all I want to check that RHO didn't think 2H was Kokish and LHO think it was natural i.e. they know what they are doing. If they do, a heart.


4. Pass. Can't face it.

[mikeh]

Jlall, on Feb 1 2008, 04:38 PM, said:

Wow you guys are a bunch of girls (sorry Frances!). Don't worry they never double you in 3S

Where I come from, most of the really aggressive (over) bidders are women!

Seriously, this is a hand right on the cusp, and there are partners opposite whom I would invite, but not opposite any of my regular partners... because we all play a style that accepts invites readily, while also opening, especially 1♠, on hands that some traditionalists would choose to open 2♠.

And while a raise wins big when game makes, it has 2 ways to lose 5-7 imps and only 1 way to win 10. This is NOT the same as deciding, as opener, whether to bid 4♠ after we are at the 3-level. There, we have only 1 way to win and 1 way to lose, and the loss is far less than the win.

This is consistent with the 'invite heavy, accept light' approach.

[han]

I bet jlall was talking about hand 4. ("they never double you in 3S")

[mikeh]

Hannie, on Feb 1 2008, 05:06 PM, said:

I bet jlall was talking about hand 4. ("they never double you in 3S")

I think you are probably right... and that my take that he was speaking of hand 1 was the result of my having real doubts about my action there

[rogerclee]

3♠ on 4 for me. I can barely remember the last time this got hit for penalty. Time to force LHO to make a very heavy bid.