nm
Ah, the power of a pre-empt to be a big PITA.
Yes, start with a double. Partner bids 3D. Could bid 4C even though partner may have nothing. In match points I might go against the field and simply bid 3NT.
If I cue-bid I expect a 4D response or four of a major. Will try Blackwood to play in five or six diamonds.
Like K364, I think double then cue bid 4C tells partner you’re huge, so I do that and see what happens, BW over 4D (if it appears) will then tell you about the AD, and you can be at 6 also knowing about the QD and KS, if 7 is on.
MPs and I’m bidding 6D regardless in this sequence - let’s go down with the ship. IMPs I’ll hold up in 5 if we’re missing diamond ace.
I would double. If partner bids anything other than 3N I then bid 4c - forcing. So over 3D I bid 4c. I’m hoping to hear 4H. Then I check for aces with Blackwood. A negative response gets left at 5D. Over a positive response I ask for Kings. If partner has both an ace and a king I will hazard 7N.
BTW after 2C - 2D I would bid 3N.
This isn’t another bad beat story - because it wasn’t my big hand. I was the pre-empter and was very glad to have scraped up 3C on 7 to the QJ and a side King.
At the table, after 3C - Dble - P - 3D - P, LHO tanked for a long time and then pulled out 6D direct. As he put down dummy, he commented that he couldn’t think of a good way to investigate 7 - but his partner had virtually nothing (xxxx xxx Qxxx xx) and even 5D doesn’t make. 3NT was the sweet spot, but very few pairs got there.
4C must be better than 6D, but after 4D - 4NT - 5D you’re still getting a minus score.
I think that at MP scoring, there’s a case for either gambling the slam is on, or gambling it isn’t and bidding the higher-scoring game - but then again if partner has something like Qxx xxx Txxxxx x, you’d rather be in 5D after all.
Not being very well, I bombed at a match last night but I did pick up one hand of interest. I held S: KQT H: KJ4 D: 875432 C: 5. Partner opened 1N (weak) so I bid 2C - Stayman - and passed his 2D response.
I’d rather be in 4H. Win the club lead and play a diamond (best is KD, I think, as LHO is more likely to win that, nullifying a spade switch). If they play another club, win that, cash two trumps and play another diamond. Now if they play a third round of clubs you can ruff in dummy and avoid being forced. All you need is trumps 3-3 or 4-2 and you will make 11 tricks with diamonds 2-1 and 10 if 3-0 and they get a ruff. If they don’t continue clubs but are able to put a spade through your AJ, win with the ace, draw trumps and play another diamond. You still make 10 tricks as long as hearts are no worse than 4-2.
5D is in danger because it is wrong-sided. How do you play it on a spade lead? If you duck it you might lose KS, a spade ruff and a diamond. If you win AS you will need a diamond honor onside and to correctly guess which one, and still might suffer a spade ruff.
This strikes me as a hand where you want partnership agreement that any change of suit is 100% forcing for one round. Then the powerhouse hand can bid 3H over 3D. This puts the weak hand in a horrible position since they have no distribution to work with (and will probably assume partner has more than four hearts), I guess they would be best opting for 3NT as a second denial/showing a flat hand. Which in this case could turn out rather well - the big hand will want to bid on, but assuming they understand 3NT as a weak bid, what with? They are not likely to be keen to pursue diamonds with potentially one or two honours missing and flat distribution, and 4H doesn’t seem to be any better than 3NT. Not an easy one to achieve (and I certainly wouldn’t manage it at the table) but I can see how it could be possible.
I have seen this use of Stayman in a few bridge books and columns - nice to learn that it shows up “in the wild”, as it were. Did your partner initially have the proverbial look of horror when you passed, thinking that you had forgotten the convention?
He had had several glasses of wine so was suitably relaxed.
LOL
Good bid Quartz, hopefully turned out well.
Doubling then bidding is certainly stronger than bidding immediately. You cannot bid 3H on just a 4-card suit, though. I favor double then 3NT. This is stronger than an immediate 3NT, albeit does not guarantee anywhere near this strength. Still, you are not even making 3NT opposite a bust.
It is quite common if you play 1NT - 2C - 2D - 2H as being weak with both majors.
Partner had D: AQJ and made 5.
Two passes to you both sides vulnerable and you hold
S: xxx
H: AKQJ××××
D: Ax
C: Void
Bid 4 hearts or something else?
Well, if you’re playing them, it’s a perfect strong 2H 
Assuming, like most people these days, you don’t have a 2-bid to show a strong single-suiter, I’d lean to bidding 4H. You’re unlikely to be missing slam opposite a passed hand, and the problem with 1H is that even if opponents don’t interfere, how do you realistically investigate your chances in 4H after 1H - 1NT or 1H - 2C? And if opponents come in, you’re going to end up bidding 4H anyway.
The next question, of course, is what you do after P-P-4H-dbl-P-4S ?
Nice line, though you missed the case where Diamonds are 3-0 and LHO wins DA and gives his partner a ruff immediately, without releasing DQ. Now RHO can put a Spade through and you’re left with the finesse. Still, the 10-trick game is probably better than the 11-trick one.
Given that partner has already passed I’ll bid 4H. If LHO doubles and gets taken out to 4S I will pass. Partner is a passed hand and could have raised my 4H to 5 but did not. And a double would be a penalty double. My defence will be to lead my Diamonds, hoping partner has the King and will give me a ruff.
BTW this hand helped me realise something: a double says, “Yes, I have 4 Spades” whereas an overcall of 4N would be for the minors.
I bid 4 hearts passed around. Partner had:
S: AKxx
H: x
D: xxxx
C: Qxxx
A diamond lead kills any chance at a small slam, but LHO led the Ace of clubs. I ruffed, ran six trumps and ducked a spade. Spades split 3/3 so I made six pitching my diamond loser on dummy’s 4th spade. One table bid 6 hearts and made it. I think my bid of 4 hearts was the right call but I keep thinking there must be a better way to bid.
How many tables bid 6 and went down?
Had a really poor teams game last night, and got the ball rolling downhill myself with the wrong switch against their 3SX which scored up a punishing 960. One of those where I left pard’s double in holding short spades and it was clear we had the strength - need to be careful with this if you can’t judge the trump quality yourself, so was prob wrong as thin partscore doubles are a fool’s errand at IMPs.
The opps later had of those LOL auctions where they have an absolute powerhouse 10 card heart fit, bid BW for controls and find them all there, then bid six. Obv our teammates have this covered - er, no, they bid six as well which was just disgraceful pusillanimity given the state of the match (20 imps down at the half).
Anyhow, apologies for posting another big hand but it’s the only one I remember clearly (no hand records)
Non vuln - you hold
S K
H Q
D AKxxx
C AQJTxx
and pard does you the courtesy of opening 1H first chair. No opps bidding, I bid 2C (GF) and pard then bids 2N. 3D seems normal, to which pard returns 3N. What now (or would you have bid differently?)
4H would be my bid. It also looks like a Namyats 4C opener if you play that - sort of an abstruse thing to have on the card, but 4C or 4D openers are rarely used for anything else AFAIK so it doesn’t hurt. At least pard then knows you mean business, but I don’t think it helps much on the actual hand.
To diagnose the spade / diamond weakness accurately you’d prob need to play a relay system that accurately describes shape, but that’s a whole different game (not one I play myself).
Seems to me you have a misfit, but your shape means you really don’t want to play in NTs. Bid 4D to show you are 6-5 in clubs/diamonds, then partner should be able to pick the right suit? Of course, they don’t know how strong you are, but surely won’t leave you short of game. If they bid 5D that’s probably not a bad spot as some of your points are bound to be wasted in the play.