[akwoo]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-February-21, 17:49, said:

https://www.bridgewe...ub=youngchelsea

I tried to do that tonight (board 8) and I was told that I shouldn't do that.

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I held 17 HCP 4=4=3=2 and pulled it to 2H, as they were likely to have an 8-card fit and I was told that it was a bad bid because I didn't have 5 in the suit.

You should compete over 2♣, but there is a better way than bidding 2♥. Instead, you double for takeout, asking partner to pick one of the other suits. Partner is supposed to prefer a major over a minor, and they also can pass with good enough clubs to think that 2♣ is going down.

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On board 15, we bid 4H at red, they bid 5D at green, I bid to 5H and ended up down 1 as I thought they would make, but the fact was that they would have gone down 3.

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I held 2 small ♦, partner held 1, how the heck would we know 5D would get down 3?!

They have 10 diamonds. You have 8 hearts. You pretty much know this.

That makes 18 total tricks. According to the Law of Total Tricks, if they make 5♦ (11 tricks), you only take 7 tricks and go down 4 in 5♥. (Sometime the Law is off, but not by that much...) So bidding 5♥ as a sacrifice is out at the given vulnerability. You might bid it to make, but I don't think that's too likely either.

You have more than half the points in the deck, including what looks like 2 sure club tricks (probably not 3). Do you really think partner with an opening hand doesn't have an A or a KQ somewhere that will take a trick?

[mikl_plkcc]

smerriman, on 2025-February-21, 20:40, said:

You received a ♥T lead to the J, Q, and A? Your ♥9 is a stopper so the opponents can't run hearts if the club finesse loses (though they also can't even in your line, so I'm not sure what went wrong.)

What I did was to cash all 3 As and attempted to run the ♣, which failed, that's why I only had 5 tricks at the end. I couldn't think of another way to make the contract as I assumed that the weak 2 bidder had 6, so he would start playing KQ to drive out all the remaining ♥ if he regained the lead.

akwoo, on 2025-February-21, 21:21, said:

You should compete over 2♣, but there is a better way than bidding 2♥. Instead, you double for takeout, asking partner to pick one of the other suits. Partner is supposed to prefer a major over a minor, and they also can pass with good enough clubs to think that 2♣ is going down.

Our agreement regarding double is that all doubles after our natural NT bid is penalty, so I couldn't use one here.

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They have 10 diamonds. You have 8 hearts. You pretty much know this.

That makes 18 total tricks. According to the Law of Total Tricks, if they make 5♦ (11 tricks), you only take 7 tricks and go down 4 in 5♥. (Sometime the Law is off, but not by that much...) So bidding 5♥ as a sacrifice is out at the given vulnerability. You might bid it to make, but I don't think that's too likely either.

You have more than half the points in the deck, including what looks like 2 sure club tricks (probably not 3). Do you really think partner with an opening hand doesn't have an A or a KQ somewhere that will take a trick?

1. How do I know they didn't have 11 ♦ with some singletons around, that I could only take 1 and partner could only take 1 trick?
2. We only have 8 trumps and my 4♥ bid was based on strength, what's the implication?

[awm]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-February-21, 17:49, said:

In particular, on board 3, RHO opened weak 2H at the first seat, partner balanced to 3C and I bid 3NT, as I had Axx in ♥.

I assumed that the weak 2 opener had 6, so his partner must had 1 and duly played the A at trick 1, and tried to play for the drop of ♣Q, as I couldn't afford RHO having it and gaining the lead again. It didn't happen, LHO got the ♣Q, and surprisingly he had a second ♥ which he duly returned to RHO and ran it, and our 3NT got -4 where the other tables made.

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I had no idea how I could play better at all without risking a club finesse which may put the weak 2 opener on lead if it failed.

On board 3, you have to consider the hand as a whole. After winning the first heart, if you cash the diamond ace and then lose a club, the opponents will be able to use the diamonds for transportation and you will almost surely go down a lot. If you play clubs without touching diamonds and lose a club, you have only eight tricks (six clubs, heart ace, spade ace) since you cannot get back to hand. Putting these together, it's hard to see how you are going to make if you lose a club trick. So your goal is to figure out how to run the clubs without losing a trick. This requires clubs to be 3-2 (there is no holding you can pick up with clubs 4-1); your play does not matter if the 2♥ bidder has three (either the club queen is protected always or it's doubleton onside) but if the 2♥ bidder has two, he is less likely to hold the queen (40%) so finessing is the best play.

I understand that you're trying to keep 2♥ opener off lead, but this is a bit of an illusion here because you're not going to make unless the clubs come home regardless.

[awm]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-February-21, 17:49, said:

On board 15, we bid 4H at red, they bid 5D at green, I bid to 5H and ended up down 1 as I thought they would make, but the fact was that they would have gone down 3.

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I held 2 small ♦, partner held 1, how the heck would we know 5D would get down 3?!

If you listen to the auction, it's clear that opponents are not making 5♦. East bid only 3♦ at first turn (rather than a stronger bid or higher preempt) and West bid only 4♦. Either of these could easily be passed out; if the opponents really thought they had a chance at making 5♦ they wouldn't have both made non-forcing bids at a lower level. They are also white against red (the best colours for sacrificing).

You shouldn't really be thinking about "what if the opponents make 5♦?" on an auction like this -- it's very unlikely. The question is whether you can make 5♥. While not completely clear, two small diamonds is the worst holding for bidding five over five (you could have two diamond losers pretty easily) and you also have weak trumps and most of your strength in a side suit where partner is not likely to have length (so your honours may not help much on offence but will usually cash on defence). As is often the case, "the five-level belongs to the opponents" and you should double and defend.

[akwoo]

You know the full version of the Law of Total Tricks: your trumps + their trumps = your tricks + their tricks? It's not 100% accurate all the time, and there are a few known adjustments that improve the accuracy (but not to 100%), but it's a good start.