[quiddity]

These don't count as "interesting" but whatever..
Imps scoring:

1.

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2.

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[rogerclee]

1) 3S
2) 4H

[Hanoi5]

3♠

4NT

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

#1 4C - should show the shortage.
And if they bid our suit, I can bid their suit.

#2 4NT - Unfortunately, I am can think of a bid, that
has more fun potential, oh well - of course you can
jump to 7S, the fun is short lived, if they cash the
Ace of hearts, but this gives me an idea to make it
more interesting for you - how about 5H?

With kind regards
Marlowe

PS: #2 Forget 4NT, p did not promise anythig add. , so 4S
seems to be enough, but I am not against 4H, inviting slam.

[Free]

3♠ on the first one is rather obvious imo. Not that we like ♠ for the lead, but it offers us a COG and possibly a 'sacrifice' against 5♣.

The second one is more difficult imo. I don't want partner to be too excited when I raise in ♠. Basically I've already told him that I'm strong, ♥K is possibly useless, we have only 2 card support and if we need to ruff ♥ it will be with a high trump. I guess 4♠ is enough, partner can have anything from 5HCP, if he's strong he can continue and I'll be able to show my huge amount of keycards and the ♥K (or if he asks the ♣Q).

[mfa1010]

5♦. I give up on spades to make the pressure bid. If partner fits spades also no way we buy it in 4♠. If partner doesn't fit spades then mentioning them only hurts his evaluation (lead) and gives the opponents more room to clarify.

4♥. Not strong enough to just blackwood ahead. I pass 4♠. Did partner promise anything yet?

[JLOGIC]

Yes, I like 5D on the first one, bidding spades seems hopeless. The opps are in a forcing pass, and hopefully will double us in 5D, but if they do bid 6C then we certainly don't want partner leading a spade. I was considering maybe 4C or something to try and help partner be involved in the decision of what to do over 6C, but I thought that just bidding 5D and not giving our strength away was tactically better, as I'm not sure 4C will even accomplish anything. Our hand is strong enough to assume they will double us in 5D, and if they do bid on that we can hopefully beat it.

As MFA said, no chance in hell we are going to buy it in 4S if partner raises us!

[mtvesuvius]

I agree with MFA on both -- On the second, this hand isn't strong enough to Keycard, but it is enough to make a try below game.

[quiddity]

Thanks for your comments!
On the first one, 5♦ was not a success:

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-500 against nothing on a trump lead. But I don't know if it can be avoided. Even if I bid spades and they later bid 5♣ and partner doubles I'm going to feel a lot of pressure to pull because partner didn't know about my diamond support when he doubled and he assumed spade values opposite his shortness.

On the second one I really like the 4♥ bid, it seems obvious in retrospect. It even crossed my mind at the time but I guess I was scared of a misunderstanding. I tried a direct raise to 5♠ which was a disaster:

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[655321]

 quiddity, on 2011-June-15, 17:37, said:

On the first one, 5♦ was not a success:
-500 against nothing on a trump lead. But I don't know if it can be avoided.

Oh, I don't know. What about if partner doesn't make a vulnerable 2 level overcall with a 5 card suit and a 7 count?

[Fluffy]

I am about to create some extra accounts to upvote the above

[JLOGIC]

It is a good idea to remember, when there is one and only one cuebid below game, it just shows an artificial strong raise. In this case, it usually shows 3 spades with hands that raise on 2 just bidding 4S, but obviously this hand is so strong and you have the AK that it is fine on this hand.

[quiddity]

Yes, I mean it can't be avoided after the overcall. I don't mind the overcall to be honest, I would hate to be on lead against 3NT with this.

[JLOGIC]

 quiddity, on 2011-June-15, 18:20, said:

Yes, I mean it can't be avoided after the overcall. I don't mind the overcall to be honest, I would hate to be on lead against 3NT with this.

I guess I can't advise you to result, but I am surprised you wouldn't mind a call that is so unorthodox after what I would imagine is a typical result (partner overbids and goes for a number because we don't have anywhere close to the values we should have, and we have enough defense to beat their contract). I mean, partner doesn't even have short clubs, so it is almost a lock you will start bidding a lot after our 2D bid. You will probably bid spades if our LHO doesn't beat you to it.

Do you think partner should open 1D in first seat also to avoid having you be on lead against 3N? It would be similarly bad imo (well, I guess it has more upside than when RHO has shown an opening bid with long clubs and I have 4 clubs as well!).

[nige1]

IMO 4♦ = 10.
Over 4♥ we can bid 4♠ to suggest another possible strain -- but, hopefully, without lead-direction connotations.
At any level ♠ may be the less costly sacrifice.

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IMO 4♥ = 10, 5♠ = 8, 6♠ = 7, 4♣ = 6, 4♠ = 4.

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[quiddity]

 JLOGIC, on 2011-June-15, 18:24, said:

Do you think partner should open 1D in first seat also to avoid having you be on lead against 3N? It would be similarly bad imo (well, I guess it has more upside than when RHO has shown an opening bid with long clubs and I have 4 clubs as well!).

No, but then I don't expect that the other table will open 1♦ either.
How far should I be willing to stray from normal bidding in order to avoid random system swings? North "knows" that the other table will start 1♣-(1♦). There's a decent chance that East will declare a spade or notrump contract so it seems reasonable for North to shade his overcall to avoid a swing - but perhaps not this much.

[han]

Your partner would do well not to worry too much about what's happening at the other table and to play good bridge himself.

[ArtK78]

I was reading this thread during lunch and I didn't notice that the 2♣ opening on the first hand was a Precision 2♣. I assumed that it was a strong 2♣. Some of the discussion didn't make sense (like the idea of introducing the spade suit). Then the hand was shown and everything became clear.

WOW. Partner overcalled 2♦ on AKTxx on an 0454 hand with nothing else? He certainly has stones.

Yes, this terrible result could have been avoided. Partner needs to have something approximating a vulnerable 2-level overcall when he makes a vulnerable 2-level overcall.

As for the second hand, I like the 4♥ bid as a last train slam try. You were certainly unlucky to go down in 5♠, but you shouldn't get that high.