[mikeh]

jillybean, on 2026-June-02, 16:27, said:

Neither contract is makeable , 3NT did make on the ♦ lead


Table1

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Table2

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1nt/ xyz to 3♣, or a direct 3♣, what will North do?

North should swing low. His club J is wasted (almost always) once responder shows 5+ clubs. His spade holding could hardly be worse…he knows he can’t pitch his 3rd spade, and if responder merely invited, he can’t have good enough spades plus the likely club King and anything useful in the reds.

The 3N bidder got lucky, which happens more often than perhaps one would expect. The opening lead on an almost blind auction is often very hard to ‘get right’. 5C on the other auction looks wrong to me. We probably have two heart losers and opener didn’t promise either the diamond ace or the spade queen. Iow, he needs magic cards for 5C to make and as the GOAT said: don’t play me for magic cards, I won’t have them. But, having said that, 4C doesn’t sound particularly invitational once east bids 3H, so maybe I’m being too pessimistic.

[jillybean]

mikeh, on 2026-June-02, 13:35, said:

Why do you feel that you have to make that decision now? If you’re prepared to contemplate 3N, maybe you should describe your hand first, so that partner can have input. It’s not as if he has promised both reds stopped and Axxx or AQx in clubs.

Plus why rule out either 5C or 6C? Picture something mundane such as xx AKxx xxx AQxx.

I know your partners are not strong bidders but nobody improves when their partner masterminds. I occasionally (more like rarely) play with weak players. I never mastermind. So I get to watch partner misbid and/or butcher the play but I always remember that there was a time when I was far weaker than I am today and I credit my many mistakes as part of how I improved. I’d screw up and my (stronger) partner would explain my error.

You do need to make an immediate decision to force game or make an invitation in clubs. If I describe my hand further, showing clubs via xyz, I leave the final decision to partner, which may well be the best approach.

I do try to avoid masterminding. Not all of my partners are strong bidders but many are, although we may have different styles.
In lieu of stronger partners, I use bbf to critique my game.