[Ant590]

Hi,

I've posted this in here cus I'm hoping for expert advice, rather than because they are expert problems (I think)...

Playing at a local duplicate, not a terribly high standard.

Relevant System
12-14 NT
4 card majors
Three weak 2s

Many thanks,
Antony.

---------------------------
Question 1

You hold

Scoring: MP

---

Partner deals and passes.
p - (2♥) - p - (p) -
dbl - (p) - ?

We reopen with pretty much any 4-1-4-4 9 count here...

You annoyingly are playing Lebenshol... do you just bid 3NT or choose a minor to play in, if so which one? Anyone pass?

Now some slam decisions

---------------------------
Question 2

Scoring: MP

(uncontested)
1♠ - 2♦;
2♠ - 3♣;
3NT - 6NT

---

So,
q2a) The general consensus amongst the people in the room was that 2♠ is an underbid and that West should rebid 3♣, any comments?
q2b) 3NT or 4♣?
q2c) 6♣ is obviously the place to be. Any ideas how to bid it either with 2♠ or 3♣ rebids?

----------------------------
Question 3

Scoring: MP

(uncontested)
1♠ - 2♦;
2♠ - 3♣;
3NT - 6NT

---

Happily we both agreed on all of the bid's meanings at the table and this sequence rattled off nicely with the LOLs satisfyingly running out of pass cards. Only afterwards we felt uneasy...

(1) We play this as 100% forcing, but do not play XYZ after
(2) We play 4sf as forcing to 3NT+
(3) We play first round controls only

q3a) I felt this was the only way to make a slam try in spades due to
o 2♠ being any minimum with 4 spades, making it hard for lefty to balance
o 3♠ is an invite (although in hindsight is this a GF spade hand?]
o 4♠ does not invite slam

I then took a back seat and watched the play.
♣ Q is lead, and partner won with the Ace on table and advanced a small heart.
Happily enough North hopped up with the ace (we presumed this was a bad play?).

Any advice on how to proceed now? (full hand to follow)

[pbleighton]

1. 3C. I've made games with 20-22 hcp, but rarely 3NT

2.
a. This depends on your agreements and how light you open, if 2S shows a min (is this ACOL?), and if you open lots of 10 counts, then 3C would be better, but it really depends on your agreements. It doesn't strike me as a bad bid.
b. 3NT, we are in pairs after all, and you don't have a great hand.
c. If opener rebids 3C, showing extras, then East has a huge hand and should drive to 6, either directly or perhaps with 4C (RKC or request for a cue). You have to be careful you know what your p will think it is, a good argument for some players to just bid 6.

Peter

[Codo]

1. I wrote something silly here, pd is a passed hand, so I will choose 3 Club.

2. a I don´t know your system but for me 2 Spade had been clear cut.
b 3 NT we play pairs, don´t we? Does not work well on this hand, ok, but will win in the long run
c Easy to reach 6 Club after 1 ♠ 2 ♦ 2 ♠ 3 ♣ 4 ♣ but I won´t be there. Even easier with 1 ♠ 2 ♦ 3 ♣ 4 ♣
But I had no way to reach this contract after the bidding reached 3 NT. Of course there are possibilities, but nothing I would have done at the table.

3. nice bidding.
I would play Ace of Spade, low Spade, if both follow, I play high hearts, discarding a diamond and a club, ruff the 4. Heart and look what will happen. If I survived so far, no ruff from the last trump, I would play King of Club and ruff a club and see what happens now. North cannot have the jack of Hearts , so even if he can ruff higher, I may still make the contract. If trumps are 4-1, live is much trickier, in this case I must hope, that clubs are 3-3 or the Hearts play for no looser. I would ruff another Heart and play K of Clubs, club ruffed. If they are 3-3, I can take another trump and one high heart, discarding the diamond loosers from dummy and play a diamond.

Maybe a simple cross ruff had been better, but I am not convinced...

[Echognome]

1. 2NT lebensohl doesn't make sense to me. 2NT scrambling does.

2. 2♠ clear bid in Acol. 3N is clear. I think 5NT pick a slam is better than 6NT. Why not let partner choose?

3. I think after 4th suit forcing, you should bid 3♦ shape showing. Then it will go 3♠ and you're off to the races.

[Fluffy]

First hand playing game is plain wrong, you can bid 2NT hoping partner to pick a minor (if he passes its not so bad at MPs), or just bid one yourself

the bidding for 2:

1♠-2♦
2♠-3♣
3NT-4NT (NAT)
6♣

at 3, 2NT is wrong, partner has to bid 3♦ to show what he has, not bid NT to play the hand.

3NT I don't understand either, rest of the bids are ok, and yes, 3♠ is the only way to show slam interest in spades.

[P_Marlowe]

#1 since partner is a passed hand, 3NT is out,
if available bid 2NT as scrambling, else bid 3C

#2 a) 2S is the bid, 3C should show add. strength,
I wonder what a min. opener looks like if you
believe this a lot better than a min. opener
b) 3NT looks fine, you are min. the diamond
shortage does not improve the hand either
c) No, We can talk about 4C, but I prefer 3NT,
it is still unclear how strong responder is,
and 3NT maybe your best game

#3 Assuming the right side opened, 3NT over 3S is garbage,
spades are set, partner should cue bid or sign of in 4S,
he already showed the willingness to play NT, no
point repeating, i.e. 4D it is, responder should bid
4S over 4D saying, that the slam interest was only mild

With kind regards
Marlowe

[drinbrasil]

#1 bid 3♣ because cant bid natural 2nt.

#2 i always raise my partner with 4 cards suit, so after 3♣ i bid 4♣ this should be a rule. (this hand is in limit to bid 3♣ over 2♦)

#3 after 2♦i bid 3♦, i have 4cards of this suit also! I show my hand, partner can judge whats better for us! 2nt with void 5-4-4 is totally out of question. (3nt in some positions can be the last try, but i can show all my hand before this!!)

[joshs]

Ant590, on Jun 11 2007, 05:30 PM, said:

Hi,

I've posted this in here cus I'm hoping for expert advice, rather than because they are expert problems (I think)...

Playing at a local duplicate, not a terribly high standard.

Relevant System
12-14 NT
4 card majors
Three weak 2s

Many thanks,
Antony.

---------------------------
Question 1

You hold

Scoring: MP

---

Partner deals and passes.
p - (2♥) - p - (p) -
dbl - (p) - ?

We reopen with pretty much any 4-1-4-4 9 count here...

You annoyingly are playing Lebenshol... do you just bid 3NT or choose a minor to play in, if so which one? Anyone pass?

Now some slam decisions

---------------------------
Question 2

Scoring: MP

(uncontested)
1♠ - 2♦;
2♠ - 3♣;
3NT - 6NT

---

So,
q2a) The general consensus amongst the people in the room was that 2♠ is an underbid and that West should rebid 3♣, any comments?
q2b) 3NT or 4♣?
q2c) 6♣ is obviously the place to be. Any ideas how to bid it either with 2♠ or 3♣ rebids?

----------------------------
Question 3

Scoring: MP

(uncontested)
1♠ - 2♦;
2♠ - 3♣;
3NT - 6NT

---

Happily we both agreed on all of the bid's meanings at the table and this sequence rattled off nicely with the LOLs satisfyingly running out of pass cards. Only afterwards we felt uneasy...

(1) We play this as 100% forcing, but do not play XYZ after
(2) We play 4sf as forcing to 3NT+
(3) We play first round controls only

q3a) I felt this was the only way to make a slam try in spades due to
o 2♠ being any minimum with 4 spades, making it hard for lefty to balance
o 3♠ is an invite (although in hindsight is this a GF spade hand?]
o 4♠ does not invite slam

I then took a back seat and watched the play.
♣ Q is lead, and partner won with the Ace on table and advanced a small heart.
Happily enough North hopped up with the ace (we presumed this was a bad play?).

Any advice on how to proceed now? (full hand to follow)

Hand 1: If 2N is lehbensohl you are kind of stuck, and I would have to bid 2N planning on passing 3C. It might be better to play 2N as scrambling over a passed hand x.

Hand 2: After 1S-2D-2S-3C opener migh punt with 3H, since he does have doubt about strain, but with 1.5 stopper in the 4'th suit and a misfit for responder's 2/1 I like 3N. I think 6N was a bit misguided. 12+19 and a misfit is only 31 which isn't enough for 6N, so you need partner to have extras. If you want to force to slam, certainly you should bid 5N (pick a slam)m which will let you find 6C. But I think the correct bid over 3N is 4H which is a natural slam try, showing the rest of your pattern. 4H is like a 4N bid (although it could have some extra values) .
Over 4H opener is only worth a 5C bid. 5C is more encoraging than 4N since it shows a fit, but it denies any extra values. On the other hand, responder will like the 5C bid since opener will have to be 5314 or rarely 6214 with strong hearts and weak spades. Since responder only has the DJ wasted, but otherwise his hand fits well, he will probably gamble 6C over a 5C bid.

Hence my suggested auction:
1S-2D
2S-3C
3N-4H (forcing to 4N)
5C(Not forcing)-6C(I like partner's shape!)

Hand 3:
After
1C-1H
1S 2D (ART GF)
(Note: most play 1S as non-forcing these days, but I sort of like the old KS style of this being forcing unless responder made his first bid on a 4 count)
At theis point, 2N is a mistake. yes you have a diamond stopper, but you don't want to declare NT, and you have a perfectly good natural bid of 3D. 3D shows something like 4045, or 4144 (if you open that 1C in your partnership), or possibly 4135.

In any case, after bidding 2D responder has two different slam tries available next, 3S and 4S. Most play 4S as a mild slam try with 4S and strong hearts. Partner can bid over this on suitable hands. Since 4S uses up so much space it should probably be a very specific hand such as a strong 5 card heart suit, 4 spades to a top honor, and no control in the 4'th suit. Perhaps it should have no control in either minor, I have no strong opinions.

Anyway, in your sequence:
1C 1H
1S 2D
2N (3D is a better bid) 3S (4S is the other option)
Now 3N is rediculous. You really do not want to play 3N with a heart void. You definitely should cue bid 4D but I have trouble seeing these two hands get past 4S on any sensible auction. Maybe they will get to 5S if both players are enthusiastic.

[whereagles]

1. hum.. I feel like passing, but since I don't think 300 is likely, I'll just try 3♣ instead.


2a. Looks like you're not playing 2/1 GF. In that case 2♠ is an impeccable, correct and technical bid.

2b. 3NT caused a serious problem, but it certainly feels the right bid. I would stick to it.

2c. 6NT is over-exubertant. The side may have a mere 31-32 and is misfitted. A quantitative 4NT is quite enough. Then opener could jump to 6♣ to propose a choice of slams.


3. huh.. ruff, back to dummy on trumps, ruff another heart, pull 3 rounds of trumps and claim 6 or 7 or 1 down if trumps don't break I'm sure there's better but I can't be bothered to look for it now