> Board 4 (both vul)
>
> 3
> K1084
> AQ74
> KJ104
>
> Partner deals and opens 1D. RHO comes in with 1S. You double, but
> LHO bids a natural 2H anyway. Partner p***** and RHO rebids 2S. Lots
> of bidding for the points you're looking at. What's your next move?
> If you try 3S, partner responds 3NT. Anything to add to that?
=======
Interesting. I thought it was fairly standard expert practice to
cuebid the stopper you have when the opps have shown two suits and the
partner****p might be exploring 3NT as a final contract. If someone
gave me the auction without the hand, I would think that East has
spades stopped and West hearts. If West is on the same wavelength
(Txxx, Ax, KTxxx, AQ) the opps are about to cash a lot of spades!
With a regular partner I would pull to 4D to let partner know that my
3S was a cuebid in sup****t of diamonds but then again, with a regular
partner I would have bid 3H to let him know I have a heart stopper(s)
and would contentedly pass a subsequent 3NT. It also depends a bit on
my opps - are they solid citizens, gay overcallers, or rank
beginners? (Because the auction suggests a N-S layout such as:
AKJ9xx Qx
--- QJxxxxx
Jxx x
xxxx xxx)
If my partner is not an expert, I pass. Otherwise, I'd bid 5D unless
there was a marked hesitation before 3NT in which case I again pass.
==============
> Board 5 (opps vul)
>
> Dummy
> K10764
> KQ104
> 10
> J52
> AQJ5
> xx J5
> xx 96
> A8763
>
> Your LHO deals and opens 1D. 1S from RHO and you interject with 2C
> (no cringes from the audience please!). LHO rebids 2D. RHO scrapes
> up a 2H bid somehow but p***** when LHO bids 2NT.
>
> Partner dutifully leads the club four. You win the ace and return the
> suit, but partner pitches a heart and dummy wins the jack. Declarer
> leads the diamond ten from the board and it holds the trick. Declarer
> now leads the king of hearts. This rides to partner's ace, whereupon
> partner switches to the nine of spades, to the ten and your jack.
> Your lead.
=========
Well that's a candidate for the top ten worst sandwich 2C overcalls of
all time. (And since this is the player that bid 3NT on the last hand
- I defintely pass 3NT now). Very lucky that LHO didn't sit for
penalties holding KQT9 of clubs behind you. Anyway, you didn't
mention whether or not North (dealer) follows to the spade. Assuming
he does then his hand should be something close to x, xx, AQJxxx, KQT9
(because with one more diamond he would have pulled to 3D and with
stronger diamonds, he would have rebid 3NT) and the full layout
something like:
x
xx
AQJxxx
KQT9
AQJ5 98x
J5 A8762
96 K8xx
Axxxx x
KT76x
KQTx
T
Jxx
It appears declarer is headed for -1 no matter what you do. He has 7
top tricks after dropping your heart jack. And even if he misguesses
hearts he makes 7 tricks if he first cashes all his minor suit winners
since you will be endplayed away from the spade ace at the end. I lead
the heart jack for style.
================
>
> Board 6 (your side vul)
>
> K9532
> 3
> KQJ96
> 109
>
> You deal and pass (or do you?). Partner in third seat opens 4H. RHO
> comes in with 5C. Anything to think about here?
=======
Have we talked about preempts vulnerable? Are we playing NAMYATS? In
theory, partner is supposed to have a decent hand here vulnerable.
Since this is matchpoints, I wouldn't quarrel with double but I
believe it would be speculative. If declarer has the ace of hearts,
he'll probably need to draw trumps right away which brings my side
suits into focus since he won't be able to ruff too many losers in
dummy.
============
> Bonus problem (still matchpoints):
>
> A KJ104
> KJ AQ104
> 108643 KQ92
> AKJ42 Q
>
> 1D 1H
> 2C 2S(4SF)
> 3C 3D
> ?
>
> Agree so far? How should the bidding proceed?
=======
Weak trump suits make it very hard to visualize big things. West will
not think about diamond or NT slams since the former will suffer from
a lack of trump quality and the second from a source of tricks in the
partner****p's best fit. And here, East will not fully appreciate
West's problem as he would with the AKQ of diamonds. The value of the
club queen and jack, which are pivotal in reaching slam, will not be
showable, although it may be inferred. I would think that West would
probably rebid 3 sp to see if East can rebid 3NT and let it go at that
if he does. East should elect to return cue since he knows that the
hand has slam potential and West should now show some semblance of
life with a heart cuebid. Now East will likely Blackwood and, over
the 5H reply, rebid 6D. West miiigth convert to 6NT but it wouldn't
surprise me to hear him pass. I would think the matchpoints (on an 8
top) might be distributed something like this:
6NT 7.5
6D 6.0
3NT+3 3.5
5D+1 1.0
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