[jillybean]

---

IMP

[P_Marlowe]

1S

[mw64ahw]

1♠
A small advantage of the TW I play is that 1♠ shows 4xx6 after 1♦

[mike777]

1S
5-4 for me, TW.

[jillybean]

TW?

[blackshoe]

Not sure, but I suspect "transfer Walsh".

[Cyberyeti]

1♠

[pescetom]

1♠ for sure by me.
Who cares about the points, which are borderline anyway?
We're in misfit but have shape and we need to exchange information.
The bad news is that over here people still bid balanced hands up the line and I could easily be 3-4.
The good news is that now we are into XYZ.

[akwoo]

2S vulnerable at IMPs, and also if I feel like I can and need to take advantage of the opps at the table.

[jillybean]

It'sIMP but we are not vulnerable, no need to take advantage of ops, this time.

Transfer Walsh OMG WTH another abbreviation to slide in there.

[Huibertus]

1♠ Maybe I'm naive but I can't see what the problem is. We're going to play 3NT, with 7 sure tricks, unless we have a ♠ fit. 1♠ is sometimes going to steer opps away from a ♠ if that is the killing lead which will bring us the 8th and potentially the 8th and 9 trick immediately.

[jillybean]

I was told after the hand, I must bid a 2♠ reverse.
This may be a difference in style perhaps, maybe Mike will have a moment between matches at Penticton to weigh in.

[mw64ahw]

jillybean, on 2026-June-16, 09:23, said:

I was told after the hand, I must bid a 2♠ reverse.
This may be a difference in style perhaps, maybe Mike will have a moment between matches at Penticton to weigh in.

maybe a 3NT reverse?

[DavidKok]

jillybean, on 2026-June-16, 09:23, said:

I was told after the hand, I must bid a 2♠ reverse.
This may be a difference in style perhaps, maybe Mike will have a moment between matches at Penticton to weigh in.

I strongly dislike this style, but there are people who will insist that, say, a 1♠ rebid shows 11-16 while a 2♠ rebid shows 17+ or some other hcp range.
The theory is that responder may have stretched with (say) 3-4 hcp and short clubs, trying to bail the partnership out of the 1♣ contract. However, an astute observer might notice that 17 opposite 4 with a misfit is not a great candidate for game, so jumping to cater to this range doesn't actually benefit the partnership much.
Instead I've mostly seen people combine these ranges with a desire to pass 1♠ with hands of up to around 7 hcp. I don't understand this at all. I have no desire to play 1♠, and I have a lot of desire to not jump with a strong hand and deny our partnership precious bidding space. I don't mind the occasional pass of 1♠ on this sequence, but it should in my opinion be reserved for hands that are worth well below a regular response - to me holding as little as a lousy 6 or decent 5 hcp is enough for responder to bid again over 1♠.

Some people take this a step further and start making 1♠ forcing, or artificial. I think they have also somewhat missed the point, but at least the damage is much smaller.

Putting it differently, it is a style question.

[P_Marlowe]

jillybean, on 2026-June-16, 09:23, said:

I was told after the hand, I must bid a 2♠ reverse.
This may be a difference in style perhaps, maybe Mike will have a moment between matches at Penticton to weigh in.

2S is NOT a reverse, it is a jump shift and forces to game.
The void in partners suit is not a plus, you have 17, try to find a fit,
after that, you can start the engine and go into overdrive.

1S should show an unbal. hand, i.e. you will show 4+ clubs, 4 spades,
and at most 3 hearts.

I like to play 1S as forcing, but dont do it in my reg. partnership, it does
not matter much.

[jillybean]

P_Marlowe, on 2026-June-16, 13:59, said:

2S is NOT a reverse, it is a jump shift and forces to game.
The void in partners suit is not a plus, you have 17, try to find a fit,
after that, you can start the engine and go into overdrive.

My response exactly, but with a little more emphasis.

[mikeh]

jillybean, on 2026-June-16, 09:23, said:

I was told after the hand, I must bid a 2♠ reverse.
This may be a difference in style perhaps, maybe Mike will have a moment between matches at Penticton to weigh in.

When one plays mostly with and against weak players, one is often told nonsense, usually because, on the lay of the cards, a silly contract makes and the advice giver is resulting.

Here’s a tip: a game force jumpshift should never be in a terrible suit. There is not one players whose ability I respect who would bid 2S on that pile of crap.

I’d bid a spade but my (distant) second choice would be 3C, not 2S. Indeed 2S literally would not occur to me.

While I upvoted David’s post, I do not agree that the choice of 1S or 2S is one of style. In my somewhat curmudgeonly view, it’s a matter of understanding the game or having virtually no clue.

[jillybean]

I did say 2♠ was not a reverse but a Jump Shift, and this crappy 4 card suit is not the hand to make it on.
I was shot down

"Age and experience, and masterpoints not, an expert make." sigh

Let's see some hands from the Regional.

[mikeh]

I’ve made my share of mistakes in the first four sessions in Penticton but have had a few good moments. Hers one, from the semi finals of the top bracket KO

---

North would have opened 1N with 10-13 balanced and almost all distributional 11 counts and many 10 counts so south has some inferences from the pass.

1S was normal and 2C shows 4 spades and at least a decent constructive raise.

At imps we don’t play many game tries. We’d rather just bid game with most hands, to avoid information leakage. Defence and, especially, the opening lead are made much easier by the declaring side describing their hands not just to each other but also to the opps. So 3C was a natural mild slam try.

Partner correctly loved his club holding despite being dead minimum in hcp, so he cue bid 3D. We cue first and second round controls as economically as possible below game.

I was encouraged by 3D but really wanted to know about the club king so I cuebid 3H. This got me the desired 4C cue. We do not cue shortness in partners main or secondary suit without extra trump so I knew he was almost certainly showing me the King


Since even xxxx xxx Kxxx Kx gives a decent play for slam, I could hardly bid less than 6. 7 was possible..Kxxx xxxx Kxx Kx as an example, and I could have used keycard since he can’t hold the heart ace and both minor kings…he’d have opened. But even that 9 count perfecto wouldn’t make grand cold…I might need to ruff clubs good and then pitch a diamond and ruff the diamond, which would require 2-2 trump. Grands on minimal values should be really high percentage since often just bidding small wins big.

As it happened, clubs broke and the trump king was stiff onside so 13 tricks rolled home.south

We’ll never know whether the other team could have duplicated the auction since our teammate in east opened very weak weak 2H….via multi 2D. He and my partner and I play 2D as 5-8 with occasional upgrades. Despite the acbl still mandating written defences, their south player got it wrong and they were in fact lucky to even get to spades. North had to work out that south has made a misbid. So they played in 4S.

I expect most readers will see this as a wtp? hand, confident that they’d breeze into slam. I’ve shown it to maybe half a dozen players I’d consider advanced (just my hand) and none got beyond game.

[mikeh]

Here another one. You’re at favourable, same semi final match. In 3rd seat, after two passes, you have to decide what to do with:

9 K8754 Q A98654


What do you do (and pass is obviously permissible) and why?