[skjaeran]

1. Pass. We're most probably not making any game here.
2. 4♦, 5♦ is just too much.
3. 3.49♥, NOT splinter. (I'd rebid either 3 or 4♥, probably 3 a little more often than 4.)

[Edmunte1]

1. Partner held: ♠KQJx ♥AKxx ♦♣Qx AKx. I passed, opps bid game, lost 7.
2. Partener held ♠K ♥KJxx ♦Kxx ♣AJ10xx, Diamonds were 4-1, but surprisingly ♣ finesse worked this time, so 3NT was the lucky call this time.
3. Partener held: ♠QJx ♥10xxx ♦x ♣xxxxx, but all cards were lying well so the game was on

[gnasher]

Edmunte1, on Feb 28 2008, 08:27 AM, said:

2. Partener held ♠K ♥KJxx ♦Kxx ♣AJ10xx, Diamonds were 4-1, but surprisingly ♣ finesse worked this time, so 3NT was the lucky call this time.

But presumably it was down 5 on a heart lead. Heart to the queen, spade to the ace, heart to the ace, spade.

[Edmunte1]

gnasher, on Feb 28 2008, 05:09 AM, said:

Edmunte1, on Feb 28 2008, 08:27 AM, said:

2. Partener held ♠K ♥KJxx ♦Kxx ♣AJ10xx, Diamonds were 4-1, but surprisingly ♣ finesse worked this time, so 3NT was the lucky call this time.

But presumably it was down 5 on a heart lead. Heart to the queen, spade to the ace, heart to the ace, spade.

Of course you're right

[Cascade]

Edmunte1, on Feb 28 2008, 08:27 PM, said:

1. Partner held: ♠KQJx ♥AKxx ♦♣Qx AKx. I passed, opps bid game, lost 7.

Partner has a good maximum - that hand is pretty good for a "bad 22" - and game is on.

Oh well.

2. Partener held [sp]K [he]KJxx [di]Kxx [cl]AJ10xx, Diamonds were 4-1, but surprisingly [cl] finesse worked this time, so 3NT was the lucky call this time.

Another marginal game.

Oh well.

Quote

3. Partener held: ♠QJx ♥10xxx ♦x ♣xxxxx, but all cards were lying well so the game was on

Another.

Oh well.

We can't expect to get all of these marginal hands right and not even close to that when they are lucky.

[gwnn]

No offense meant to your pard Edi, but that 2NT opener was horrible.

[Cascade]

gwnn, on Feb 29 2008, 06:46 AM, said:

No offense meant to your pard Edi, but that 2NT opener was horrible.

The 2NT is near maximum. It was explained as 10-Bad 22.

I might have bid the same way.

In my partnership we play a slightly different range Good 20-22.

I use a rule of thumb based on the controls as a tie-breaker for good/bad 20s.

The average number of controls for any hcp value between around 5 and 30 hcp is:

Expected Controls = 0.4 * HCP - 1

If I have average or better controls I say i have a good 20 otherwise a bad 20.

For 22 HCP the rule is 0.4 * 22 - 1 = 7.8

So a hand with 7 controls or fewer is bad and 8 or more is good. This hand has only 7 (sure it has some other good features).

This rule works well when partner is contemplating slam as she will know you either hand good controls (slam cards) or extra values.

Here is a table of HCP and Expected controls if you are interested:

     Expected 
HCP  Controls  Rule of Thumb
 0    0           -1
 1    0           -0.6
 2    0           -0.2
 3    0.320197     0.2
 4    0.803729     0.6
 5    1.060915     1
 6    1.355393     1.4
 7    1.801656     1.8
 8    2.190595     2.2
 9    2.538884     2.6
10    2.935475     3
11    3.372256     3.4
12    3.75236      3.8
13    4.151926     4.2
14    4.580263     4.6
15    4.989942     5
16    5.390077     5.4
17    5.811109     5.8
18    6.23443      6.2
19    6.627308     6.6
20    7.049111     7
21    7.464047     7.4
22    7.859953     7.8
23    8.258722     8.2
24    8.672875     8.6
25    9.05688      9
26    9.418196     9.4
27    9.835929     9.8
28   10.16499     10.2
29   10.5083      10.6
30   10.88096     11
31   11.12181     11.4
32   11.46308     11.8
33   11.67227     12.2
34   11.84657     12.6
35   11.96154     13
36   12           13.4
37   12           13.8

[Halo]

1.Pass
2.4D
3.4H

Maybe need to rethink 1., but right now no choice but to pass.

On 2. I just like to be a simpleton. If I keep losing out to 3NT, I'll have to rethink.

Partner says I can't splinter on singleton Ace. Not sure, but that's the current position.