[Hanoi5]

Well, I started the second session against a difficult pair and was caught in this situation:

♠KQT9xxx
♥x
♦T98
♣Q8

All white, South opened with a gambling 3NT, Pass by partner and RHO. What would you have bid? After deciding, what would you have bid if

Spoiler

RHO had taken a LONG time to pass?

Then I got to 3NT on this layout:

♠KJxx
♥Jx
♦KJ
♣KJ8xx

♠ATx
♥KTx
♦Q9xx
♣Axx

I received a heart lead (the 3, and no 2 in sight) won with dummy's J and should have played...
For those who decided on

Spoiler

a small club towards the Ace, RHO plays the club ten...

Finally another bidding situation:

♠Kxxx
♥Kxx
♦T8
♣AQ9x

They were red and we were white:

Pa Pa 1♣ Pa
1♦ 1♥ 1♠ ???

What's going on? What do you bid? I went sort of crazy in this one:

Spoiler

Pa Pa 1Club Pa
1Diamond 1Heart 1Spade 1No Trump!
Pa Pa 2Diamonds ???

so advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Fluffy]

When god created the good 7 card majors........

I would try 4♠.


I'd try ♦K at trick 2 on the 3NT


And I wanna make a cuebid wich is perfectly clear to partner, and that must be 2♠.

[Simplicity]

1. 4♠ with or w/o the hesistation, reading too much into the pause here is very perilous and its not like you're going to catch them in 3NTx is it? They'll run when its right and then you'll just have to bid 4♠ at your next turn.

2. ♦K next, if LHO has the Ace i'll be in good shape. He's almost certainly got to clear the hearts else i can play the black suits safely. Consequently i'll have 8 trick and just need to combine my chances in the black suits for a ninth. If the ♦A is on the right i'll just need to hope hearts are 4-4

3. If there was doubt with pard on this sequence about my cuebids i agree with fluffy 2♠ definately gets across my heart raise, i would also expect 2♦ to be a good raise to the 2 level.

[andy_h]

1. I pass. It's all white and I don't think I can get rich for 2 off. I'd bid if we were w/r. I think if RHO tanked I'd be more inclined to pass since by bidding 4♠ may give him a 2nd chance to re-judging giving him options of X, 4NT and 5♦ knowing his partner is likely with spade shortage.

2. I have a slight temptation to lead ♣J from the table.. Did RHO's heart card give any slight indication of count?

3. I would make the appropriate cue raise. It's important to inform partner about our heart fit rather than to take a unilateral decision ourself to play in NT. The auction may not die if we bid 1NT and catching up in the next round to tell partner of our great hand with heart support may not be available to us (or partner may not believe/understand it). Over our cue raise partner can still invite to game with an unbalanced hand etc.

[Jlall]

andy_h, on Sep 17 2009, 11:47 AM, said:

1. I pass. It's all white and I don't think I can get rich for 2 off. I'd bid if we were w/r. I think if RHO tanked I'd be more inclined to pass since by bidding 4♠ may give him a 2nd chance to re-judging giving him options of X, 4NT and 5♦ knowing his partner is likely with spade shortage.

You know its MP right? -2 makes you very rich. Pushing them out of 3N+1 into 5m = makes you very rich. True you might push them into a slam, but given RHOs initial pass it's unlikely.

I am happy to bid 4S. It's not like partner will have 0 tricks, he must have some values on this auction.

Quote

2. I have a slight temptation to lead ♣J from the table..

You know it's MP right? hehe seriously this play gains over banging down AK of clubs when LHO has T9 doubleton, I don't get it.

Anyways I will start by banging out diamonds. If LHO has the ace I will try to figure out what to do with the black suits (likely a spade to the ten then figure out what to do in clubs). If RHO has the DA and hearts are 4-4 I am can try to figure out what to do. If RHO has the DA and LHO has 5 hearts to the AQ I will often have saved myself from going down an extra trick anyways had I misguessed a queen at some point.

This seems way better to me than hooking clubs and trying to guess spades.

Board 3 is a wtp 2D bid. I don't understand 2S, why go past the 2 level opposite a passed hand? 2S should show 4 trumps anyways since we have 2D available. Don't bid 2C, that's natural.

[andy_h]

Hehe sorry, forgot it was MP. Have a habit of assuming imps unless the hand states otherwise. That makes 4♠ on 1 much better to push them to 5minor.

[Hanoi5]

♠KQT9xxx
♥x
♦T98
♣Q8

I bid 4♠ but could have gotten a much better result (100% instead of 70%) if I had just passed. RHO was void in his partner's 8-card diamond suit and held an outside king and AK fifth in clubs (his partner held the Q). I bet not many opened South Hand with 3NT but we could have gotten a great top if I had just passed.

Well I played this:

♠KJxx
♥Jx
♦KJ
♣KJ8xx

♠ATx
♥KTx
♦Q9xx
♣Axx

Just as the doctor ordered (♦K from the table at trick 2) and went dutifully down. Clubs were Q9xx-T and I could make the contract without touching diamonds by guessing them right but I see that's not very clever.

Finally:


♠Kxxx
♥Kxx
♦T8
♣AQ9x

I didn't know which cue bid to use so I messed it up. The suit on my left is better for if I had had it I would have bid it on my first turn I guess.