[Phil]

All IMPs

1. w/r. ♠Kxxx ♥Jxx ♦AKQT ♣Kx

RHO opens 1♣. You double (showing 15+ and usually balanced). Pard bids 1♠ (5-7). Make a move?


2.

1D - 1S - 2H - 2S
3D - 3S - pass - pass
3N - pass - 4H - AP

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Pard leads the ♠Q. Declarer ducks and you encourage which denies a high club. Pard continues the ♠T. Declarer wins and plays a heart off the board. Win or duck?

3. w/w, ♠AKJ9 ♥T9xx ♦Jxx ♣xx

pass - pass - 1♥ - 1N
2♥ - 2♠ - 3♥ - 3♠
pass - 4♠ - pass - pass
?

[whereagles]

1. 2♠. There are some decent 6-7 counts with 5 spades that should offer a play for game. (By the way, what bid shows 15+ bal? 1♣ or my dbl?)

2. The instinctive play is to duck. I probably wouldn't even think of something else at table. If declarer insists on trumps, I might just try a diamond while I have the last trump.

3. Dbl. They're not making an overtrick and may go down quite a bit.

[kenrexford]

#1: 2♠ seems obvious. You have four spades. That's enough to raise to 2♠. Fortunately, you don't have to worry about bidding 3♠ because you already showed 15, and you only have 16.

#2: I don't get what partner is doing. If he has the club Ace with no heart entry, he'd cash at trick two. If he has the club King without the Ace, he'd switch at trick two, hoping I have the Queen. I'm thinking partner started with only two spades, but this still seems weird. So, I'll assume partner actually has the club Ace but has the heart K. I'll let him win the heart to switch to a diamond. I'll win the second heart and table-lock dummy in diamonds. I should probably cash my spade winner before locking Declarer on dummy, but I'm not that much of a believer.

#3: X

[whereagles]

just say "as above"

[mtvesuvius]

"as above"

[pclayton]

1. I raised to 2♠. Pard held: QJxx ATx xxx xxx and made a game try. 3♠ was a little too since unfortunately the the ♣A was offside unexpectedly as were both hearts. Game really isn't too bad.

2. I think its pretty normal for pard to take out dummy's entry. Fortunately, it doesn't matter what you do since declarer held xxx KQ9xxx x Axx and there are several ways to beat it.

3. I doubled. LHO held: 8xxxx, void, AQTxxx, xx. RHO held QTx Kxx xx AKQJx. I think he can always hold it to -2 by staying off trump, but he played a spade to the 10. I made a clear error by winning the J, although we can get -3 if I draw trump and pard does some unblocking in hearts. An interesting defense is to win the King and exit a heart. He might take the bait and play for trump 3-2. if he does, the roof falls in.

[kfay]

pclayton, on May 20 2009, 12:20 AM, said:

1. I raised to 2♠. Pard held: QJxx ATx xxx xxx and made a game try. 3♠ was a little too since unfortunately the the ♣A was offside unexpectedly as were both hearts. Game really isn't too bad.

2. I think its pretty normal for pard to take out dummy's entry. Fortunately, it doesn't matter what you do since declarer held xxx KQ9xxx x Axx and there are several ways to beat it.

3. I doubled. LHO held: 8xxxx, void, AQTxxx, xx. RHO held QTx Kxx xx AKQJx. I think he can always hold it to -2 by staying off trump, but he played a spade to the 10. I made a clear error by winning the J, although we can get -3 if I draw trump and pard does some unblocking in hearts. An interesting defense is to win the King and exit a heart. He might take the bait and play for trump 3-2. if he does, the roof falls in.

How do you, PClayton, know what happened in Phil's hands?

[Phil]

Quote

How do you, PClayton, know what happened in Phil's hands?

I was going to ask the same thing.

Stalker.