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Hi Martin, Yes, it could work out to leave the double in, but with 3 small clubs South is never going to do that! As it happens, I think 3C can make for E/W as they should lose only 2 diamonds, 1 heart and 1 spade (ruffing spades in the dummy). Therefore leaving 3C in doubled could be a disastrous score for N/S! Dom

Hiya Toto, 1) I assume you mean would I have passed as South when 3C came back round to me. If N/S were vulnerable, I would certainly have considered pass but I still think double would be the correct bid. South's hand is just too good to let the opponents get away with pinching the contract in clubs. 2) I would not recommend normally opening a strong NT with a singleton Ace as it is skews your bidding later. I think it is easier to just bid your shape naturally. The only time you might consider this option is if your natural bidding would be awkward/difficult and that would only be the case with a 4441 hand. So I would perhaps consider opening a strong NT with a singleton Ace if it was 4441, but even then just opening 1 of your minor seems like it would work well most of the time anyway. Hope this helps, Dom

No, you would not have found 2♦️. Bidding would have gone 1❤️ - 1NT and then there is probably a choice between pass, 2❤️ or 2♠️.

That 3 club bid was the killer! Though even then declarer was incredibly unlucky. The 3 Club bid nonetheless paved the way.

I agree with all of the above! The likely end contract would have been 1NT, if E/W had not intervened. Dom

Not everyone watching bridge videos are at Master level yet !

Hi Irene, The bidding before this had gone: 1NT (X) P* (P) XX (P) 2C (P) 2D (P) ? Apologies that this wasn't clear in the vid! Dom

Thank you. I always njoy your bridge videos ,find them very informative.But usually I cannot see the other bids .

Indeed! Dom

I've not come across that rule before, but it seems reasonable :) Dom

Hi Michael, There are ups and downs to pretty much every system and playing 5 card majors is no exception. I personally like an opening of 1 of a major promising 5+ cards there, but as you say, it isn't always good! Thanks for your comment :) Dom

But normally you would not open 1❤️ with longer diamonds anyway? Unless playing some canapé system.

Hi Bazil, I would personally play that 5H is indeed a sign-off so in the situation where the suit above the RKCB response is the suit you are playing in, you have to go one further. So I would therefore say that 5H would indeed be a sign-off and 5S would ask for the QH. Hope that helps :) Dom

Not the best of play from everyone, I agree. We've all made mistakes though haha. Dom

I agree. I have no idea why the defenders didn't start with spades, and as you say, they certainly should switch to a spade when in with the KD! Dom

Hi Richard, Yes, ruffing a club back to hand and then playing a spade back after ruffing your final diamond loser is a reasonable play. As it happens, given the way North had played this hand, you need the spade to North to 'survive' in order to make all 13 tricks so it is largely the same play in whichever order you ruff the club or play a spade - both have the same aim which is to get the lead back to North to facilitate another diamond ruff. There is a small chance that playing a spade or indeed ruffing a club back to North could lead to trouble if West is short on either of these suits. If short on clubs then West could not ruff and instead throw a spade, which is no risking a potential spade ruff at a later trick. And if West is short in spades then they could already be ruffing spades. I agree with you that ruffing a club and then ruffing another diamond is a better line and will often lead to 13 tricks, but this North appears to have just 'taken their safe 12 tricks' which isn't an unreasonable thing to do, but statistically your suggested play is a better one. Dom

Hiya, Whilst a 5NT contract would be unusual, I understand what you mean. If I needed to make 11 tricks, would I change my play. We have 5 diamonds, 2 hearts and 3 spade tricks on top, so my inclination would be to try a low spade to the 10S as a finesse of the JS if we needed an 11th trick (as mentioned as a possible play by a commenter below!). If this finesse lost, then we would need a club trick which looks unlikely, but the best chance would probably be a low club to the 9C on the table. The problem with this is that we probably don't have the time to set up a club trick before our heart stoppers are forced out, so to make 11 tricks here we would almost certainly need the 10S to be a trick (with a winning finesse of the JS) or indeed some kind of misdefence to help up establish a club trick. Hope this helps, Dom

Yes, probably ends up in a similar, if not the same contract. Perhaps the 2H response might put the opponents off from competing in clubs as West would have to intervene with a 3C overcall now, so it could well lead to North-South playing in 2H instead of 3H - the advantages of 5 card majors! Dom

Hiya, This depends on your partnership agreement. I would certainly not play it as black and white as you are suggesting. I play that a double of a suit below game is usually takeout unless obvious, so I would argue that a double at 13:00 would indeed be takeout as it is not obviously penalties, nor would you often want it to be penalties! Perhaps you are confusing the situation where your partner has already doubled for penalties? In that case, if one of you has doubled for pens, then I would indeed play any subsequent doubles as penalties. Hope this helps, Dom

I've not come across that system I don't think, but I doubt I prefer to the system in the video - I love exit transfers! Dom

Hi Andrew, No you cannot get penalised if you stray away from your normal system as long as your partner was equally misled. For example, if you opened 1NT with only 11 or 15, instead of the 12-14 your system card says, this is absolutely fine because your partner will expect it to be 12-14 so you have not gained an advantage. A small modification to system like this is often known as upgrading or downgrading, and most good players will do this kind of thing often. Like opening an 11 count because it has a few tens and good shape, or opening a 19 count with 2NT (20-22) because you the 19 count looks strong etc. However, if you regularly veer away from your system to the point where your partner starts to expect it, then this is absolutely NOT allowed. You must declare all systematic understandings in your partnership to your opponents. So for example, if you often open 1NT with 11-14 if not vulnerable, then you need to let your opponents know that. In short, if it is not often and your partner is equally misled then it is fine. If it is regular to the point of a system understanding then you have to inform your opponents what you expect. Hope this helps, Dom

@ Yes, that’s really clear, thanks.

Correct. When you are playing this system, with a strong hand that wants to play in 1NT, you pass, forcing partner to redouble, and then pass the redouble. The 1NT opener will not know which kind of hand you have (either intending to leave them in 1NTXX or intending to start showing 4-card suits) until you pass the redouble or bid your own suit.

@@andriyu Yes, exactly right!

in North

@@danielclohossey4456 Hi Daniel, Yes, there are 14 points in North. AKQ of hearts (9 points), K of diamonds (3 points) and Q of spades (2 points). 9+3+2=14 :) Cheers, Dom

Glad you enjoyed. Making it sound simple isn't an easy task as you said! Dom

Hi Andrew, Yes, of course you need to think about the deal as a whole, but the presence of a long heart suit in the dummy should actually dissuade us from a singleton heart lead as it is more likely that the declarer is also short in hearts (as was the case in this hand) so our chances of getting a ruff are diminished. As it happens, even with this strange shape and long heart suit in the dummy, I still think a singleton heart lead is right, but I certainly wouldn't say that a top of 'sequence lead' in diamonds is wrong (ie leading the KD). Cheers, Dom

@ Thanks

I cannot fathom East passing there. Not sure what level the players are at but that is just the worst bid with that hand.

Interesting. Perhaps he or she was busy with the phone or arguing with someone? It happens.

Hiya, Yes, I agree the pass from East was completely bizarre. An 11 card fit and you pass a 2S opener?! Definitely not for me! As you said below, perhaps they were distracted or didn't notice their partner's opening bid or something. Cheers, Dom

Hi Heather, Not particularly with such a good suit like in this video, but yes, generally, you would want a slightly stronger/better quality suit to repeat it when vulnerable. Hope this helps, Dom

Hiya, The Losing Trick Count is a much better mechanism than adding on points for shortage. I have a lot about the wonders of the Losing Trick Count on my website. There is the start of a 2 part article series here (allthingsbridge.co.uk/the-wonders-of-the-losing-trick-count-part-i/), a video lesson here (allthingsbridge.co.uk/the-losing-trick-count/) and a quiz here (allthingsbridge.co.uk/a-quiz-on-the-losing-trick-count/). Please check them out to see what you think. Cheers, Dom

Hi, Thanks for your comment. Whilst I agree I think this is a tricky hand to bid (and therefore, there are always going to be differing opinions about what is right etc.), I am not sure I agree that you 'must' act at matchpoints (or indeed teams). 5H could easily be going off, which the LTC tells us it is, and 4S could also be going off. Similarly 4S could be making and 5H therefore probably going at least 2 off if so. Don't forget that the negative double only promises 4 hearts and around 10+ points so the 5 level could be way way too high. The negative double hand having the AS is a fantastic asset and you still cannot make 5H or defeat 4S. Change this to the KS and give them the JH to compensate (which is more likely given the bidding) and now 5H is an absolutely car crash of a contract. As you can see from the hand in the video, passing 4S happens to not work well because the opponents can make due to the fortuitous lie in clubs for them, but bid 5H and you will almost certainly get doubled and then likely go down 2 (2 clubs, a diamond and a diamond ruff for the defence) which is still -500 at this vulnerability, even with partner's aforementioned dream Ax in spades holding. Swap the QC and the AC between North and South, the bidding is identical but now 4S is going off AND 5H is still going off, so passing is now the correct action (or penalty doubling 4S but you simply cannot know to do that with only 2 certain tricks in defence between the two hands). I think you hit the nail on the head with the opening sentence of your comment: 'EITHER bidding 5H or doubling their 4S has to be correct'. Yes, it is very likely one of those two will work out, but it is not clear at all which one is indeed correct, so it is effectively a guess. The safest action in my view is to pass as you cannot know either way. Hope this helps explain the rational behind my thinking in the vid. Cheers, Dom

@@learnmodernbridge101 Okay, I thought East/West were favourable vulnerability.

Hi Daniel, Yes, apologies about that. There was a particularly bad glare coming from the sun on the day we recorded these videos. In future recordings (new videos every week!) you will see that we have rectified this problem. We decided to upload these recordings anyway as we had spent the time to go through the hands so we thought we might as well upload them, albeit the glare can make it a bit tricky to see the cards at times. Check out some of our more recent videos where you will hopefully see that this problem has vanished! Thanks for your comment, Dom

@@learnmodernbridge101 Dom, thanks, I see the improvement on subsequent vids. I'm sure you're aware but the analysis in both Akol and Standard American Yellow are very helpful. I also really like hearing you review the likely options for bidding or playing because very often I'm thinking one way or another when I see the hand and it really opens the thought process to see what the various reasonable options are. Lastly, do you have a source you can recommend which helps learn the percentages of various hand likelihoods? I'm new to bridge but I'd like to eventually get a better handle on how to know or quickly evaluate the odds of one scenario vs. another so I can better evaluate which option for play is better, based on the likelihoods. Anyway, thanks for the resource you're providing.

@@danielclohossey4456 Glad to hear you are enjoying the content so much Daniel :) The best thing to do regarding odds is to quickly learn the most likely suit breaks and finessing odds etc. A website I would recommend is: www.bridgehands.com/P/Probability_of_Card_Distribution.htm If you go down and click on the links at the bottom of that page you will see that it shows you a lot of different odds for given scenarios. Hope this helps :) Dom

Hi Kimii, I disagree. You need your partner's diamond suit to be absolutely solid in order for 3NT to stand a chance here. Yes, it could be making, but you could easily be losing a diamond in the process of setting them up and then the spades kill you. They should not be leading a heart as it would be the 2S bidder on lead, but not only that the 2S bid told the weak 2 hand what to lead in any case. A spade lead forces your KS to be played early and you will only get to 9 tricks now if the diamonds are completely running. If you need a finesse or kind break in diamonds then you are at serious risk of going a LOT down. As I say, 9 tricks could make, but simply too unlikely to be a good idea in the long run. Certainly not a 30% chance like you stated was needed for it to be a winning action (and even then, that number is only true if you are vulnerable and playing teams and it needs to be 37% by the way!). Hope this helps, Dom

Hiya, This isn't an unreasonable approach at all. I personally like a 2NT* enquiry (which is forcing as you say) to have at least 2 cards in partner's suit, so you know that the 3 level is safe in their suit, should they be minimum. I therefore play that a change of suit is forcing for 1 round. Not necessarily always useful as you will sometimes want it as non-forcing, but that is my preferred style. Cheers, Dom

@@learnmodernbridge101 yes, you'd either want to have support, or more points. Playing with 7 cards trumps is not the worst if you have more points.

Hiya Bazil, Yes, I wholeheartedly agree! I think your suggestion of leaping to 5NT as 'pick as slam' is an excellent one. North will most likely opt for 6C over this and it is up to South to bid 6D over this, forcing North to choose diamonds or spades as you say. Cheers, Dom

Hi Joshua, Yes, a good idea for a hand this good. A 3-loser hand is usually good enough to open 2C* as a GF bid. If South had opted for this, then it would make the optimal contract of 6D easier to find. Something like: 2C* - 2D* 2S - 3D 4D - 4NT etc. Would probably get North-South to the minor suit slam. West might still intervene with a weak jump overcall, but they might not given that they are vulnerable against not over a 2C* opener with such a lousy suit! Cheers, Dom

Indeed! Weak 2s are so good! Dom

Hi Kimii, Yes, you must have conversations with partners about what is and isn't forcing, especially after weak opening bids as these can often pre-empt your partner out of the bidding, so you need ways to deal with the aggression - even if it is your own aggression! I personally would say that 3H in response to a 2S opener must be forcing, otherwise you have to leap to 4H without a known fit or known game on, which does not work. I hope you and your partner agreed this after the hand you have described so it doesn't happen again! Dom