Our dealing machine was at it again today - quite a 4-board round to start with. First board we played in 4S, down 3 undoubled vulnerable, against opponents making 6H.
2nd board: J9 void AQ84 AKQ10652. Game all. First in hand, you open 1C. (2H) 2S (4H) to you.
Next board. P P 1S to you, love all, holding void AKQ1062 AKJ43 AK. Assuming you double (I would not use Michaels with a heart suit that good), it goes 2S pass pass back to you.
4th board was a “tame” part score, except trumps broke 5-0 so opponents got a top for staying low.
2-0-4-7 hand: On that auction, am I correct that some treat the 2S as weakish, with double followed by a spade bid used for stronger hands? In standard methods I’d guess 6C is likely to be a fair contract. Do tactical considerations apply? Bid 5C and let them push me into 6? Or jump to 6 and hope they sacrifice? I dunno.
0-6-5-2 hand: I wonder if that’s the very strongest hand I’ve ever heard of! You want to be in Six even if partner has zero hcp. If partner shows a heart preference do I raise to Seven? If I keep bidding Spades to force, will partner finally decide I have spades and pass? :smack:
Playing with a pickup partner I like Michaels on the second as it’s simple and those sequences usually work well when you’re strong. Get an immediate preference from partner and take it from there.
In a well-oiled partnership I know what a passed hand cue means over my takeout double, and whether it promises another bid if I go 3H - it looks like it doesn’t (ie 2S is weak and natural) unless RHO is massively arsing around with their third seat opener, so 3H might be risky. If that is not on the table as a forcing bid then I either subside in 4 or gamble 6 - need some red cards from pard and no way of finding out (Which makes Michaels look like a better approach, in hindsight).
We had another teams match last night and played well, won comfortably. My pard showed his class and made a demanding 3HX contract that I doubt anyone else in either room would have brought in, broke the opps spirit. Sets up an absolute six-pointer, relegation decider next week as the last match in the season.
2S would be Michaels, showing hearts and a minor. It could be anything from weak to very strong. Double then 2S is indeed strong.
I posted an ever stronger one a few weeks ago - I opened 7H.
I doubt it. There again, I did play in a 3-1 fit on another hand. Playing with an occasional partner, she opened 1NT, RHO bid 2C, a transfer to 2D. In theory, we play systems on over a 2C interference, so I bid 2D to transfer to hearts. All pass.
I will refrain from commenting on what is the right contract on these big hands for now in case anyone else wants to weigh in.
It was an occasional partner. I rejected Michaels because partner will nearly always choose the minor and I want to play in hearts opposite very little - we are playing matchpoints. If partner bids 2NT (what is your minor?), at what level do I bid diamonds and how will I get back to hearts when partner is 2-3 in the reds? Partner is likely to pass whatever level of diamonds I bid.
RHO is well-known for arsing around. I think double, then cue, then 3H should be forcing.
I’d expect a jump to 4D to be GF tbh, 5-5 and large. Even if it’s not strictly GF pard knows we’re not getting any matchpoints for 4D, so will give us a preference back to 4H even holding one.
This is better, then - if we hear 3S back then I’d take this as pard really having nothing for us so 4H it is. 4H from pard and I’ll bid 6 with the expectation that it will have some play - not entirely sure how we’re getting to dummy absent the Q or TD, but if RHO is a bit of a comedian we might see some spade stops on the table and might win the opening lead.
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Here’s a hand I picked up the other night: S: KQx H: AQT98xx D: x C:Ax. I was just thinking about a possible 2C opening (yes, on 15 points!) when my partner opened 1H! (4+ cards.) I almost fell off my chair. A bit of Blackwood later we ended in 7NT which was cold. Most people ended up in 6H.
The dealing machine has been at it again. Yesterday my partner held void QJ986 AK1086543 void. Game all. Partner opened 1S (of course) and RHO bid… 2D! She passed and it came back to me and I doubled. Partner passed this (of course) and her LHO rescued with… 2H! Before she could get a chance to apply the axe to this, RHO bid 2NT, doubled and all passed.
Opponents have a 5-0 diamond “fit”, getting a 8-0 break; a 4-4 spade fit, getting a 5-0 break, and a 5-3 club fit, getting a 5-0 break. They only went 2 down in 2NT as whenever anyone got on lead they were endplayed.
The 2D overcaller had KJ54 K QJ972 AK8. I think I would overcall 1NT with that.
With a singleton King of Hearts? 2D seems fine to me. I’m confused as to the bidding sequence. How did it ‘come back to you’? Once LHO bids 2H a contract of 2N seems entirely reasonable though over 2N I might convert to 3S as partner obviously has 3+ spades and a double stop for her bid and I’m seeing plenty of ruffing value from my diamond void.
I’m have trouble parsing this as well - am I right that the “Partner” who opened 1S was your partner’s partner (i.e. you) and the bidding went:
1S - 2D - P(!) - P
Dbl - P - P - 2H
P - 2NT - Dbl - All P ?
I wouldn’t overcall 1NT on KJ54 K QJ972 AK8 with 1S on my right and two players yet to speak. If the singleton K was Clubs, then maybe, but as it stands there’s way too much chance of winding up in 3H or 4H on a 5-1 fit.
Partner does not expect any more than two hearts, so is unlikely to be bidding higher with only five of them. And stiff king is better than two small anyway. For example, K opposite AQxxx plays for one loser 63% of the time. xx opposite AQxxx plays for one loser 18% of the time.
The benefit of 1NT is that it gets your values across and you don’t have to bid a crappy suit at the 2-level. With 8 or 9 points partner could easily pass 2D when you have a game on.
I held S: JT9xxx H:AQxx DAx C:x and opened 1S. Partner held S:AKQxxx H:KJxx D:x C:KQ! He raised to 4S which I left. The lead was the Ace of Clubs and after dummy was tabled, I just tabled my own hand and claimed. The question arose of how to reach 6S. We decided that if we had being playing splinters the bidding would have gone 1S - 4D (splinter) - 4H (cue) - 4N (Blackwood) - 5H (2 Aces) - 6S. But we weren’t playing splinters so how should we have bid?
At other tables my hand passed and raised partner’s opening 1S to 4. Personally, I’d open that hand with a strong 2S or 2C.
Make partner’s hand a little weaker and bidding might be a challenge, but as is: Jump to (any variety of) Blackwood! Opposite three Aces, 13 tricks will be at worst on a finesse.
If you have no game-forcing raise, you can’t bid the hand. Jacoby 2NT takes about 30 seconds to discuss with partner, fills a gaping hole in Acol, and is the tool most people learn first in a natural bidding system.
You wouldn’t make a direct splinter in response holding 18hcp, as it goes - too strong. Splinters are tightly defined in terms of shape (obv) but also strength - pard needs to know exactly where they stand to evaluate slam, as it puts you on the 4 level immediately. I play 10-12 which I think is fairly common.
There are other sequences where a splinter can have quite different hcp qualities, but that immediate bid from responder has to be quite disciplined in terms of strength.
1S - 3H is a game-forcing raise in every natural system I’ve heard of, and it works fine here: 1S - 3H, 4H - 4NT, 5H - 6S (if you’re playing RKCB, that 5H will be 5S, but it matters not).
Jacoby 2NT, if you’re playing it, is better (and it works over an opening 1H, while 1H - 2S gets risky if partner raises Spades), but a lot of Acol players play 1H/S - 2NT as an invitational raise rather than an unconditional force.
Or there’s a straight Blackwood 4NT, as septimus suggested.
Whatever the system, 4S is a serious underbid - you have a 4-loser hand and a massive fit.
Assuming partner has a 5-card suit (and even the "Often 4"ers don’t open Jxxx, do they?), it is a 60% a priori chance that he has two or fewer hearts. (The a posteriori chance is even higher since RHO failed to pre-empt in a minor.)
This could be a textbook hand, even with the two Queens removed, of where an immediate jump to Blackwood is absolutely clear-cut. (Or is the field so tough that making 7S will be below average, that you need to discover 13 top tricks in No Trump?)
Save the mental effort for the next board; I hear it involves a winkle squeeze!
Even this beginner knows that 1S - 4S implies a relatively weak holding by responder. Serious raised eyebrow there. I think merrick has the right sequence - change suit to force another bid, and jump to show extra strength. Opener initially thinks hearts are going to be trumps, but it doesn’t matter - responder will always make sure it’s spades.
