[MickyB]

Spade lead. Thoughts?

North thought this was tricks based and didn't fancy a 6-1 heart fit. South didn't want to cue and risk partner thinking his diamond stop wasn't great.

2H over 1C would have been invitational*, 2NT over 2D would have been 17-19, X would have been support, and a 2NT opening would have been 20-21. If you can't live with opening 1C then please consider xx KJ AKQx AKJxx or xx KJ AKQ AKJxxx.

Would it make any difference if doubling would have been for takeout?

* There is a reason for this that's not really relevant to this post; Anyway, 1H then 2H is nominally 4-8.

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[jillybean]

MickyB, on 2012-July-31, 16:08, said:

If you can't live with opening 1C then please consider xx KJ AKQx AKJxx or xx KJ AKQ AKJxxx.

I would still rather open 2N, perhaps 1♣ 2N with the second alternative hand.

[gnasher]

I'd open 2NT on the original hand, but not having done so I'd rebid 3NT. On the other two hands, I'd open 1♣ and play in 3NT. This doesn't look great, but 4♥ may go down on a ruff.

I don't have a solution for this problem, except to say that in this sequence it's rare to hold a very strong hand with good diamonds and weak spades, and it's reasonable that one's methods should cater for more common hands, accepting that it makes this hand-type hard to bid sensibly.

[Quantumcat]

Since 3NT really does sound like solid long clubs (I would have opened 2NT and borne the blame if responder had 5/5 majors), you could always rebid 3♦. This sounds like a very good hand without 3 hearts and without a diamond stopper and without long clubs, but responder can bid 3♥ which you can raise, 3♠ (just values presumably) over which you can bid 3NT (showing something similar to your actual hand although maybe with singleton spade or heart), and if responder happens to bid 4♣ you can bid 5♣ which is probably a good contract if responder can't bid 3♥ or 3♠. Or if you decide you want to look for slam you can try 4♦ which will probably show the same hand as the 3NT rebid over a 3♠ bid by responder (if it's not keycard that is).

[the_clown]

I blame the system, if N had weak jump available there is no problem.

I would have opened the South hand 2N, but after opening 1♣, i dont see any alternative to 3N......

[rhm]

3NT immediately is trick based and shows long near solid clubs.

I think the best by far is to double 2♦.
Yes this promises 3 card support in hearts, but it is cheap and will not be passed.
Next you intent to bid 3NT.
If partner takes it out into 4♥, who says 3NT would have been better?

Rainer Herrmann