A:  4
What could partner have in the light of our double fit and the opponents remaining silent: 
I bid 4♦ as a natural force and leave it to partner to choose between 4♠ and 5♦.  The trouble is that I there are few hands where 5♦ is better than 4♠.  One such could be ♠ Jxxxx, ♥ AK; ♦AJ98x ♣x where 2 losing ♠s can be ruffed in dummy and the 5th spade established to make 5♦. 
 
B: 4
Do make a tell bid of 4♣ or do I find out more about partner’s hand with a double? 
Going over what I would do after I double if partner bids:
3♥ (showing 6♣ +5♥ unlikely) I bid a forcing 4♣ showing my ♣ support
3♠ ( showing 3=4=1=5 or possibly 2=4=2=5 with no ♦ stop)  I bid 4♠
3NT ( showing a ♦ stop)  I have a problem
4♣ ( I bid 4N RKB ♣)
Hmm!  I reckon the tell bid is better.  4♣ a natural game force with possible slam interest. 
             
C: 3
Partner has made a take out double without the top 3 ♥ honours and East has not raised ♠s.  So partner could at worst have something like ♠ Kxx ♥ Jxxx, ♦KQxx, ♣xx.  I will be cautious here and just show my suit is ♣s.

D:  Double
If partner has 4 hearts then must have fewer than 7 points.  2♣ is too wimpish so I double.  This could hit the jackpot if partner has 4 decent spades.
                                         
E: Double
With 7 ♥ I cannot catch up with a leaping Michaels 4♦.  I am too strong for a bid of 4♥ so I will double  And correct to hearts when partner bids a number of clubs.  Out on a limb here I see
                           
F: 4
Partner could have min:  ♠Axxx; ♥ Qx; ♦ Jxxx; ♣Axx where we would want to be in 4♠ or ♠Axxx, ♥ Ax, ♦Jxxx, ♣AKx where we would want to be in 6♠.  Cautious 4♠.

G:
Double
Very tempted to pass but with 10HCP I think I have to make a noise so double and hope that the 4-3 spade fit plays well. Maybe partner is sitting there with a 2♥ penalty. 

H: 7
Lead trumps

I am not sure I have a partner for my team now.  Vee cannot play. 

Bill!  (Billhiggin) I haven't seen you to ask

PatCCR3 cannot play so I need 2 who know each other to be team mates  (Volunteers please!)

If I cannot get Bill then my last resort is to ask a non iac member

Sanya tells me that Boleo1 and Redbird are keen on playing and I see Southcross would like to take part also.

I will be on holiday in Samos (greek Island)  so my time on line will be limited to speak to potential players. 

If the early session is short of a player I could step in to play as well as captain a 7NT team if I can get the players. 

Problem A
If "Exclusion" is allowed then 5 is the obvious bid.  So partner has  xxxx  Axx  xx    10xxx shows 1 non excluded Ace  and 7 a near laydown.   

SOLUTIONS FOR:
Jack Goody

Guildford
England

PROBLEM A: 1 Heart
PROBLEM B: 4 Clubs
PROBLEM C: 3 Hearts
PROBLEM D: 2 Notrump
PROBLEM E: 2 Clubs
PROBLEM F: Double
PROBLEM G: 4 Diamonds
PROBLEM H: Spade 6

A 1
If ever there was a right time to overcall with a 4 card suit, this must be it

B   4
Partner's initial take out double will be showing at least 4-3 in the majors.  I bid 4 .  With both majors she will likely bid 4 which I am happy with. 

 C Still thinking
We could have game with partner having as few as 3HCP.    xxxxx,  Jxx,  Qxx,  x.  That gives the opps 25HCP between them and yet they have not intervened.  My guess is that partner must have wasted values in spades and at least a doubleton club.  Is a bid of 3 a blocking bid or an invite? 

  D  2NT
Partner is unlikely to have 4 spades and we may well have a good play for 2NT.

E 2
I pass partner's response. WTP?

F  Still thinking
I am toying with going out on a limb and bidding 2NT

G  4
We are likley to score at least as well in diamonds as in no trumps.  So I force with 4

H  6
To take away ruffing value and unlikley to give away a trick

North:
x x
A K Q x
A K J x x x
x
South, opener:
A Q J x x
x
x x
K Q J x x

I am more in Ken's camp than Jim's on the best bidding.  So I will answer the questions as given:

1) Is south strong enough to bid 3C, does that bid shows extra values in opener's hand?

With this 5-5 distribution you do not need any extra strength to make the high reverse into 3 .  This is the advice given in the book "2 over 1 Game Force by Audrey Grant and Eric Rodwell" 
So yes rebid 3 .  This could also be showing a 4 card    suit with extra strength.

2) Should North bid 3D after 3C, allowing room for a 3H bid from South?


1 - 2
3 -?
Responder has a very strong hand and should look at slam possibilities.  3 I believe is the best bid as it is the most economical and shows a 6 card suit.  So yes bid 3 .

3) In the actual auction, could South bid 3N over the 3H bid, rather than go past 3N?

If the bidding went:
1      2
3      3
?
The 4th suit bid of 3 says "Please tell me more about your hand partner?"  So opener would bid 4 to show a definite 5-5 and no stop in hearts.  Clearly this illustrates that the 4th suit bid of 3 was unsatisfactory.

4) What do you think about 1S-2D ; 3C-3N?

Responder has 17HCP.  The strong 6 card  suit  makes it worth at least 19.  So it is too strong to bid 3NT which would be showing a maximum of 15.

Ss best sequence I believe would be:

1     2
3     3
3      ?

Not an easy decision.  Responder despite the very powerful hand can see the partial misfit and cannot assume that a slam will be on.  Nevertheless, opener could have something like:
  AKxxx
  x
  Qx
  KQJxx

Where 6N or 6 is a virtual laydown and is entirely consistent with the earlier bidding.  If responder bids 3N would opener make a slam move?   I am not sure.
 Opener would know that responder has something extra because he bid 3 before bidding 3NT on the principle of "slow arrival" .  So maybe opener would now take out 3NT into 4 showing slam interest in s. 

So back to the decision on the actual hands:
1     2
3     3
3      ?

What should 4NT by responder now mean?  Keycard in  s or quantitative in no trumps?  You could argue that it must be quantitaive in no trumps since responder could fix the suit as  s by bidding 4  .  So with this fig leaf I say bid 4NT.  There is still a safely run-out, because if partner takes it as  keycard, he will bid 5 showing 1 and now you sign off in 5 .


Quoting JIM who says:  "Personally, I would open 1C with the intent to rebid the spades twice.  This is a treatment that Brian Platnick insisted upon the one time we played together.  Now it will become easier to stop in 3NT, and not get overextended."
If you play it this way then you have difficuly showing hands with 6 clubs and 5 spades. 



 

It really depends on your understandings.  In this case, I have two sets of understandings that would have come into play.  The first involves that many of my discussed partnerships includes that you treat a NT overcall the same as a NT opener, so system is on and 2 would have been a transfer without the intervening double.  The second is that system is on after doubles (but with some additions possible regarding a direct and indirect redouble); nonetheless, the 2 would be a transfer.

However, that is me and many of my partnerships.  The question is whether you have similar understandings in place.  If you do, then you are to blame, if not, then your partner is.  Undiscussed, the blame goes to your partner for presuming an expanded set of understandings.  But now that the disaster has happened, discussion is needed to prevent a reoccurrence.

I was looking for what is the "normal" or "standard" way of taking out of the doubled 1NT to see if I could adopt the standard.  It appears that you are telling me that there is no standard and so each partnership has to work out "understandings"  Hmm! Not what I was looking for. 

So a challenge: Who knows of an X source for the problem Jack describes? How about the  (1 ) -1NT -(Pass)- 2 ?  And other such?

As Ken says a challenge.  I would like to adopt the "expert standard" if there is one.

This was B6 2nd match
Opps vul


North
♠ Q 6 5 4
♥ K 9 7
♦ 10 7 4
♣ A 10 8

South
♠ K 9 8 2
♥ A J 5
♦ A K 5 3 2
♣ 7

East opens 1
1 ! - (dbl) - pass - (1 )
pass  -  (2 ) -pass - (4 )
all pass

So North plays in 4  and East leads K .

If I were playing against 2/1 I would guess that East most likely has an unbalanced hand with clubs but could also have a balanced 12 14.
It is interesting that playing against Acol weka no trump I can be almost certain that East is unbalanced with clubs. Why?

If East had a balanced 12-14 then East would open 1NT.  If East had a balanced 15-19 East would open with 1M if she had a 4 card major and rebid in no trumps.  So since we have 24 in the NS hands we conclude that she either has a balanced 15-16 3334 or unbalanced with at least 5 clubs.  It appears almost certain the latter. 

So how to play the hand:   

 1. E ♣ K 7 2 A  East leads K , You take with Ace and west follows with the 2. 
What can I deduce?  Most likley East has  KQJxxx and West 3 small.  It looks also highly likely that east has a singleton spade or diamond.  So what should my plan be? 

If trumps split 4-1 then maybe I should play on diamonds before drawing trumps.  If diamonds split 4-1 then maybe I should play on trumps first.  I am rejecting trying the heart finesse at this stage,  Is that right? 

Any suggestions?