[jillybean]

Dealer: South Vul: All Scoring: MP

West:
♠KJ10xx
♥Kxx
♦Axx
♣xx

S W N E
1NT ?

Learning SAYC, should I be bidding? (I need 6♠ to use DONT?)

TYIA,
Kathryn

[pbleighton]

Vulnerable, I would pass, although it is close. Not vulnerable, I would bid, whatever convention (or natural) I was using.

Not vulnerable, you should jump in pretty aggressively against a strong NT. While most SAYC bidders will expect 11+ points to intervene, with an understanding partner I would bid with this hand NV even if the heart king was a 2.

Peter

[Fluffy]

When deciding to overcall against opponents NT it is nothing to do with HCP, all about distribution, if you have balanced (liek here) pass, when you have a poor hand with a 6 card shoot, or a 5-5 bid, or maybe 5-4 on favourable vulnerability, just bid.

[Free]

you have a great defensive hand, so let them play whatever they want in NT. If they transfer to 2♥, perhaps you can bid 2♠ then. I think 3NT probably goes -1 so you don't need to interrupt their bidding so soon imo. Sometimes it's good not to bid when you can

[pbleighton]

Fluffy writes:
"When deciding to overcall against opponents NT it is nothing to do with HCP, all about distribution, if you have balanced (liek here) pass, when you have a poor hand with a 6 card shoot, or a 5-5 bid, or maybe 5-4 on favourable vulnerability, just bid."

Agree with this vulnerable. NV, I would overcall with this hand like a shot. With 11 hcp, and opener having (say) 16, the responder needs 8 out of the remaining 13 hcp to invite, and will therefore probably either pass, or maybe transfer to hearts. Better to grab the contract, if you can, for -50 or -100.

I agree with Free that 3NT is probably down, but it probably won't be bid, either.

Peter

[Flame]

Ok i see most agree not to bid, and i wouldnt bid either, now what about the lead.
Lets say the bidding was simple , either 1nt p p p or 1nt- 3nt
what do you lead ?

[mishovnbg]

Pass, J♠, normal bridge. Misho

[Flame]

I will lead 4th best of spade against 1nt p p p
and J against 1nt 3nt.
not sure that i'm right.

[Free]

♠10, coded Against 1NT perhaps 4th best might be better...

[Trpltrbl]

Pass and depending on who I play with either ♠J of 10 lead.

Mike

[EarlPurple]

I'm either going to lead a small spade or the king. King works if dummy has a stiff Q. Leading J or T rarely gains anything.

[joker_gib]

Agree with Misho and Free !

Pass and J♠ with anyone
Pass and 10♠ coded with my partner

[Flame]

EarlPurple, on Apr 22 2004, 02:36 AM, said:

I'm either going to lead a small spade or the king. King works if dummy has a stiff Q. Leading J or T rarely gains anything.

Those K leads are great but with 6 card suit, with 5 if the Q is sgl then opener will have 4 card suit and another stoper.

[EarlPurple]

Flame, on Apr 22 2004, 09:36 PM, said:

EarlPurple, on Apr 22 2004, 02:36 AM, said:

I'm either going to lead a small spade or the king. King works if dummy has a stiff Q. Leading J or T rarely gains anything.

Those K leads are great but with 6 card suit, with 5 if the Q is sgl then opener will have 4 card suit and another stoper.

not if partner has 9xx

[Flame]

EarlPurple, on Apr 26 2004, 08:26 AM, said:

Flame, on Apr 22 2004, 09:36 PM, said:

EarlPurple, on Apr 22 2004, 02:36 AM, said:

I'm either going to lead a small spade or the king. King works if dummy has a stiff Q. Leading J or T rarely gains anything.

Those K leads are great but with 6 card suit, with 5 if the Q is sgl then opener will have 4 card suit and another stoper.

not if partner has 9xx

yes but thats too rare, you want partner with exactly 9xx and sgl Q on table, it can happend but its alittle bit too much to ask for and even then you will need to know to play small spade next if you are on lead. leading the K is not without a price, you will not like it if declere has QXX

[EarlPurple]

Yes it's true that if declarer has Qxx and partner has the ace then leading the king loses. However I am going with the odds and it's strong favourite for declarer to hold the ace.

If I don't lead the king, do I lead a lower honour? What are the odds that partner has no honours at all and I lose 3 tricks by leading low? And if declarer does have AQ9 there's still a possibility that partner can get on lead next and lead one through. The odds of finding dummy with Qxx and declarer with nothing are also minimal. And if partner does have a doubleton honour (quite likely) and the suit breaks 4-2 a low card from me at trick 1 turns out a lot better. Finally if declarer has Qx and dummy 9xxx then leading jack or ten will lose a trick (king will cause inconvenient blockage but won't cost a spade trick).

Against 1NT I'd lead a low spade because I expect to find partner with some values.

Against 3NT I'd go for the king, especially if the bidding went 1NT-2C-2S-3NT.

[1eyedjack]

Flame, on Apr 26 2004, 08:56 AM, said:

EarlPurple, on Apr 26 2004, 08:26 AM, said:

Flame, on Apr 22 2004, 09:36 PM, said:

EarlPurple, on Apr 22 2004, 02:36 AM, said:

I'm either going to lead a small spade or the king. King works if dummy has a stiff Q. Leading J or T rarely gains anything.

Those K leads are great but with 6 card suit, with 5 if the Q is sgl then opener will have 4 card suit and another stoper.

not if partner has 9xx

yes but thats too rare, you want partner with exactly 9xx and sgl Q on table, it can happend but its alittle bit too much to ask for and even then you will need to know to play small spade next if you are on lead. leading the K is not without a price, you will not like it if declere has QXX

King can also work if declarer and dummy have between them Qx opposite A9xx. Opps have two tricks (Ace and Queen) which cannot be avoided. But leading J or T (losing to Q) can end up conceding a 3rd trick in the suit. The situation is not that dissimilar to leading Ace from AQJ in the hope of finding opps with Kx opposite Txxx.

Not that I would have led the King, I think.

[Flame]

Well i asked the question because i like leading Ks when im strong and partner is weak, it worked many times for me so im not virtually talking , however i have lots of respect to partnership things like when leading partners suit and leading by our agrement, im not the one you will find leading 5 best when we decided to lead 4th best, i want my partner to feel confortrable, and i know that on the long run this is very importent. here on this hand i think the odds are unclear and i would lead by agrement and not the K, but i have nothing about leading the K and in general i think most players not do that enough.

♥ Happy independent day to anyone from ISRAEL ♥

[easy]

HI jillybean

I think think your question deserves a more in depth answer than yes or no.

First of all the system you are playing (sayc, precision,2/1) has nothing to do with your bid /not bid decision. On the other hand the form of scoring (mp vs imps) and the vulnerabilty has everything to do with your decision to overcall.

When playing match points we have to ask ourselves what return do we expect from an overcall of their nt opening. Do we expect them to make 1nt? Do we hope to go plus when we overcall? How much will we gain if we beat 1nt?

In your example they are vulnerable and you are not. When you have a good hand it's not very smart match point strategy to overcall because the opponents are likely to go down and if they go down 2 you gain 200 pts(the match point kiss of death for your opponents) If you overcall and make 2s you will gain 110 but will have lost the opportunity to get a top.

On the other hand if you were vulnerable and they not they desire to overcall should be stronger because if they go down 2 you get 100 rather than 110 (assuming 2s makes) and would actually get a below average score (assuming others would overcall 2s with your hand.)

All that having been said i would pass 1nt. (Also because i "never" overcall 1nt openings with 5332 distributions.

[jtfanclub]

Question:

If the opponents are using a 12-14NT, then do you bid?
What about 10-12?

Assume your partner is playing 'pickup' SAYC.