[dboxley]

Hand 1

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Hand 2

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CA lead followed by H shift... -1

Hand 3

-1

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[Cyberyeti]

1: I'd certainly double 4N with the S hand, but you're not getting desperately rich out of 5♣ (unless you lead a small spade at trick 2), which is where they retreat to.

2: unless your Michaels is always a good hand, 3♠ by E is enough, or possibly 2N to find out the second suit as if it's clubs your hand is big. I have every sympathy with W, Kxxx, xxx, Kxx, Axx is perfectly possible here and you're laydown for 7.

3: I'd open 1♣ with the W hand but am aware I'm in a minority on that. I'd also probably open 1♠ or 3♠ with the E hand. 4♠ seems too commital. While the raise could be right, it's pretty risky with such defensive minor suit cards.

[paulg]

• I think we have entered the Twilight Zone. Hard to see where North found the 3♥ bid from, but highly successful. East seems to have a normal 3NT over this. I guess West is bidding 4NT to show diamonds with secondary clubs and East has decided to pass before the double hits. Although I can understand South believing that EW may have running diamonds and some clubs, passing seems extraordinary given partner's free 3♥ bid. I think I need to go and lie down!
• I can envisage having the same auction.
• One down is good bridge. I know that you can beat 5♥ by two tricks with a club ruff but I don't see too much wrong with this.

[dboxley]

I forgot to mention that it's MP's and it's the EW auctions I am interested in. Some of the NS auctions are also bizarre but we had no control over those.

[Coelacanth]

1. I think W should pass over 4♥; he's shown his hand with 3♦. Given that he did bid 4NT, though, I have no sympathy for E not bidding 5♣.

2. 4♠ was aggressive but not unreasonable at these colors. W got too excited; RKCB would tell him he's off 2 keys and he can subside in 5♠.

3. Don't agree with the 4♠ opener. If W knows that E might have that hand, bidding 5♠ over the double is madness. This is a question of style; it's evident from these hands (especially the last 2) that E and W have very different ideas about aggressive bidding and neither of them knows this.

[mtvesuvius]

1. I blame the opponents on this one. The 3♥ call is from outer space. 4N is a questionable call however I would duplicate that call as well. The pass of 4N was actually quite a good choice on this particular hand. Getting out undoubled is a major victory. I'm not sure I would find it, and fairly often I am sure 5♣ would be the winning call. 3♥ wins the award for worst bid here.

2. 4♠ is pretty far out IMO. A 4333 hand with no controls and QTx in the opponent's suit is not anything resembling a 4♠ call. I don't fully understand the jump to 6♠ either, since without any void, Keycarding is a normal option. Given that we are *cough* not playing Keycard, I would bid 6♠, 4♠ wins the award for worst call of this auction though.

3. 5♠ is not great, but understandable. I might duplicate this auction.

[cloa513]

mtvesuvius, on 2010-November-04, 16:14, said:

1. I blame the opponents on this one. The 3♥ call is from outer space. 4N is a questionable call however I would duplicate that call as well. The pass of 4N was actually quite a good choice on this particular hand. Getting out undoubled is a major victory. I'm not sure I would find it, and fairly often I am sure 5♣ would be the winning call. 3♥ wins the award for worst bid here.

2. 4♠ is pretty far out IMO. A 4333 hand with no controls and QTx in the opponent's suit is not anything resembling a 4♠ call. I don't fully understand the jump to 6♠ either, since without any void, Keycarding is a normal option. Given that we are *cough* not playing Keycard, I would bid 6♠, 4♠ wins the award for worst call of this auction though.

3. 5♠ is not great, but understandable. I might duplicate this auction.

3H is hardly bad- you have diamonds, EW have diamonds therefore its at least fifty-fifty that partner has hearts indeed its probably even higher than that given that both opponents have strength then its more likely your partner is sitting over the strong hand with hearts at least 3 and an honour (best place for it).

[mtvesuvius]

cloa513, on 2010-November-04, 16:41, said:

3H is hardly bad- you have diamonds, EW have diamonds therefore its at least fifty-fifty that partner has hearts indeed its probably even higher than that given that both opponents have strength then its more likely your partner is sitting over the strong hand with hearts at least 3 and an honour (best place for it).

• You have 5 hearts to the Ten.
  
• You are Red/White
  
• Partner could have shown both majors, and did not.
  
• You have diamonds, meaning this is probably a misfit.
  
• Even if partner has Heart support, you will be ruffing diamonds with all of partner's heart honours.
  
• Partner will be expecting MUCH more than this, in both values and suit quality, and be raising quite often to a hopeless game.
  
• Anything I missed?

[Zelandakh]

To judge Hand 1 we should probably hear what the NT range is and what the agreement was about the 4NT bid. On the surface it appears that East upgraded the hand for no reason whatsoever and that West decided to improvise 4NT to show xx64 without letting East in on it. On Hand 2 East overbid and West did not use RKCB when this was pretty obvious. For Hand 3 we need to know what opps' Double was. Traditionally the double here is left in most of the time so extending the preempt is unnecessary. As was already pointed out the preemption style is also relevant. The evidence across the 3 hands is that both partners are trying to be aggressive (not a bad thing) but not making allowance for the fact that their partner is also being aggressive.