Julian Pottage
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The S2 lead would work out OK because partner had Axx and declarer is never going to play to drop your queen on the next round – he is going to finesse. if partner had S10xx, however, the trump lead could easily blow a trick.
If you have a good 5-card suit and you are jumping to the 2 level, 8 points could be enough – if you have say KJ10xx of spades and an ace on the side for example.
As David has suggested quite a few people play 2NT and 3C as transfers – the players who do so are generally those you play a strong NT opening, when a slam in a minor is more realistic prospect than when the 1NT opening is weak and when opener is more likely to have a stronger hand than responder does. You could play 4 suit transfers in response to a weak NT opening but few people do.
Because the response (2S) is above two of opener’s suit (2H), opener needs to have some other way of showing a minimum opening. While it is quite common to play that 2NT does not promise 15 points on this auction, if you had not discussed it I would take it as 15 points.
I would say not – if the bidding is not too high, you may be able to show your suit on the second round whether you double first or not.
As I understand it, part of the issue with Court of Arbitration for Sport was that they thought they had not seen enough deals. I have played in a European Championship myself and there is not a video camera at every table, so even if you consider every deal from the tournament you do not have a huge number of deals. There is a video on youtube entitled ‘The Fantoni / Nunes Cheating Scandal’. Many bridge players who have seen the video and have played against the player in question thought they had seen enough.
I think Bernard plays that you respond 2S and then bid your suit next time – since 2H is a transfer showing spades, you do not need 2S to show spades.
I prefer playing 2S as a range enquiry (which you use if wishing to invite 3NT or on some slam try hands) and 2NT as the bid you make to play in a minor – partner bids 3C, which you either pass or correct to 3D.
You can only stop in 2C or 2D if the opponents double 1NT, otherwise ‘low level’ means ‘3 level’
If North had passed, East’s pass would be showing length and strength in diamonds and a desire to defend. After the redouble, the pass is merely passing the buck back to the doubler. With the East hand I would have 1S, partly because you do not mind a spade lead if partner ends up on lead. With the West hand I would remove the redouble to 1H. This keeps the bidding low and hearts is your strongest suit anyway.
If there is one major unbid, the double normally shows 4 cards in the other major, sometimes greater length if responder is too weak to make a forcing bid in the suit.
The responding hand is a bit weak for the double. A guide here is to think whether you would be happy for the auction to end if partner has a hand that a strong no-trump player would have opened 1NT. You are not missing anything with 7 points facing 15-17.
I guess from your post that opener jumped to 3D. Responder then, being minimum if not sub minimum decided to pass. Responder would also be aware that opener could have bid 3C with a huge hand.
It is better if responder passes over 2C. Opener then jumps to 3D and responder raises to 4D. Opener then bids 4H offering a choice of games. Responder might then decide the singleton queen is adequate and pass 4H.
A bid that is a game try by definition cannot be game forcing. If the partnership has already agreed one suit, the bid of a new suit is unlikely to be a suggestion to play in the new suit. Typically it shows a stopper in the suit if the partnership has agreed a minor and some length in the suit if the partnership has agreed a major. While in a legalistic sense 3C in your auction would be a new suit at the three level, bridge terminology does not refer to trial bids as new suits but rather as trial bid suits.
With the 4333 shape and no tens I would pass if vulnerable. As you were non-vulnerable, you are taking quite a big position passing because hardly anyone else is going to. Neither side vulnerable tends to be the ideal vulnerability for declaring because if the declaring side goes down it does so at 50 a time, which is usually cheaper than conceding a contract.
Since the player on lead has doubled, it cannot have any lead directing connotations. Perhaps the opponents have had a misunderstanding, the player who bid 2S playing weak jump overcalls and the player who doubled thinking that 2S showed some strength. It is also possible that the player who doubled has AKQJx of hearts but it would be rash to assume that. Given that you almost certainly have six running tricks, I see no reason to disturb the double. Bear in mind that partner did jump to 3NT – on a hand less sure of whether 3NT was the right contract, partner could have taken the auction more slowly. So you should definitely pass.
If you are playing 4-card majors and you open the major on hands with 4-4 in hearts and clubs (so following Bernard’s style), it is reasonable to do as you did and ignore the 4-card heart suit. If, however, partner would frequently open 1C when holding a 4-card heart suit then I would start with a double rather than 2S.
The opening hand has only 12 HCP, albeit with a 6-card club suit. The opener might bid something other than 3C but supposing the rebid is 3C. Responder might pass but if bidding on can follow with 3S. Since the partnership has been bidding a minor and the bid is below 3NT, 3S is looking for 3NT (though if opener were to bid 3 NT and responder pulled to 4C then 3S would become a control showing cue bid). Here opener would bid 3NT and responder would pass.
On a spade lead 3NT played from the right hand has 9 sure tricks. On a diamond lead 3NT makes if the opening leader has the DK. A heart lead and a spade switch could be a problem if the leader’s partner has one of the high heart honours.
