Wild hands tonight

I play in a weekly neighborhood duplicate game most weeks. 2 or 3 tables playing swiss teams. This evening I had a lot of interesting hands.

The most interesting was:

AKxxxx
Axxxxxx

RHO opens 1. I have the two suited hand you can't bid, as unusual 2NT would show diamonds and hearts, and Michaels would show both majors. So I doubled.

LHO bid 1 (whoopie!)
Partner takes a bid and says 1
RHO bids 3
I bid 4
p, p, 5
So I bid 5, which partner corrected to 5. We made six.

Any suggestions as to how else to bid it?


The next hand (yes, two in a row) I sorted my cards and found
KQ
AKQxxxx
AQJx

Vul vs. non-vul. I don't recall the exact bidding. Opponents opened , I doubled, and then jumped to 4 when partner didn't bid. They pushed to 5, partner doubled, and I (perhaps foolishly) bid 5 Partner had two little hearts and the king of clubs, so it made 6.

We also had two hands bid to 6NT, one of which made 7. It was quite the evening.

[Klaymen]

Originally Posted by Lucy

The most interesting was:

AKxxxx
Axxxxxx

We made six. Any suggestions as to how else to bid it?

Partner has shown at least four spades, for a minimum of 10. Chances are about 75% that you will be able to draw trump in two rounds. If partner has the queen, even a 3-0 might not be much trouble; it depends on the diamonds.

As for the diamond suit, how can you have lose two tricks in the suit?

Holding xxx in your own hand and have a 3-0 split (very unlikely)
Holding xx in the suit, there is only one loser when both opponents have 2. When they break 3-1 you should have enough trump to first draw two rounds, lose a diamond, go back to the board and ruff one more out. 4-0 is again a rather unlikely situation.
Hoding x in the suit, it might pay to start ruffing diamonds out first; if you lose one trump on an overruff that way it may be no big deal.

Assuming only four spades and nothing else, I'm guessing this is an 80%-90% slam.

[jeremiahsjohnson]

Just curious - what do people play a 3 diamond overcall of 1 diamond as?

[Len Myers]

Originally Posted by jeremiahsjohnson

Just curious - what do people play a 3 diamond overcall of 1 diamond as?

There are three four normal possibilities:
1. I have a long, running suit, if you have a diamond stopper, bid 3NT;
2. I have a diamond stopper, if you have a long, running suit, bid 3NT;
3. Natural and preemptive; or
4. I really, really have the majors.

In an experienced partnership, it might well vary with the kind of 1 opening. Seriously, I'd go with #1.

[Klaymen]

Originally Posted by Len Myers

1. I have a long, running suit, if you have a diamond stopper, bid 3NT;

Seriously, I'd go with #1.

[jeremiahsjohnson]

Ah, for this problem I should have said "What do people play a 3H overcall of 1H as?"

OK, I believe your general explanation of 1. So, you get this auction:

1H - 3H - pass - 3NT
pass - 4D

What does 3H and then 4D show?

[Len Myers]

Originally Posted by jeremiahsjohnson

Ah, for this problem I should have said "What do people play a 3H overcall of 1H as?"

OK, I believe your general explanation of 1. So, you get this auction:

1H - 3H - pass - 3NT
pass - 4D

What does 3H and then 4D show?

Natural, and a slam try. Alternatively, you've encountered a Turkish player.

[Len Myers]

Now here's my unusual hand from the Sunday club game. Nearly as rare as a two-suited hand, but if you aren't looking for it, you might easily miss it.
Q7 2 KT843 AJ965.

Spoiler:

Two-suited bridge hands: 62,403,588, if I can still do the math.
Bridge hands with one of every pip value: 67,108,864.

ADDENDUM: Usually if you get a hand of this type, it means

Spoiler:

someone dealt the hands from an unshuffled deck. Which is rare these days

I don't recall ever getting one of those.

[Klaymen]

I might have had ten of them and never noticed.