20231010 Tue

[@davidsolomon7981]

Love the commentary on bidding and declarer play. Always concise and clear. How about some defense ?

[@BruceRicard]

In the 3rd hand, when you cue bid your diamond control with 4D, I'm used to this meaning that you don't have the club control, and so your partner should only continue if they do have the club control. But here he bids 4H without the club control. I thought he had to bid 4S, because there's a missing control. I don't think that the 3C means club control. You could have QJT of clubs for example, and be asking for A or K.

[@durhamdbc]

Hi Bruce; Since I already bid 3C, I am forcing (manipulating) my partner to cue-bid hearts if they have one. By bypassing clubs after having bid them already, there is a strong inference that I am not worried about clubs. There is nothing wrong with bidding 4C. Since I have the ace of diamonds, partner will make the same heart cue-bid. In general, you are correct, a club cue-bid is clearer to partner. Great observation. Cheers, Rob

[@annoyingbstard9407]

1:05 at that point you have three hearts not two.

[@harikannanramadas6564]

Is it matchpoints? Why prefer 2s to 2d on the second board?

[@durhamdbc]

Hi; These hands are from my 0-500 masterpoint game on BBO. It is matchpoints (pairs). At pairs, you want to be in the contract that will score the best while maintaining a reasonable level of safety. I would always bid 2S on this hand at pairs. At imps (teams), you should generally look for the safest contract. On this hand, 2D is absolutely safer than 2S since partner must have 4-5 diamonds on this auction, but may have only two spades. Also, if you do bid 2D and the opponents do back in with 2H, your partner is in a great position to compete with 2S (showing 3S) or 3D with five diamonds. Excellent question!

[@harikannanramadas6564]

Thanks for your detailed reply.