[akwoo]

From Tuesday's daylong, at MPs:

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I would think this is close to the ideal hand to lie through your teeth and bid 2♦, pretending you didn't have your fourth spade. Extra values and a flat hand would suggest you might take the same number of tricks in NT as in spades, even if partner has 4 of them. Playing against the robots, you have the extra bonus that your lie might get them to misdefend. (A human might also be misled, but they'll usually catch on faster.)

Out of 192 times the hand is played, it's played in 6N 4 times and 3N 9 times. I would've thought more people would've lied.

As a bonus, it turns out the spades break 4-1, and you can take 12 tricks in NT on a squeeze but only 11 in spades!

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I got a low heart lead, which made it easy.

[AL78]

akwoo, on 2020-August-05, 01:32, said:

From Tuesday's daylong, at MPs:

---

I would think this is close to the ideal hand to lie through your teeth and bid 2♦, pretending you didn't have your fourth spade. Extra values and a flat hand would suggest you might take the same number of tricks in NT as in spades, even if partner has 4 of them. Playing against the robots, you have the extra bonus that your lie might get them to misdefend. (A human might also be misled, but they'll usually catch on faster.)

Out of 192 times the hand is played, it's played in 6N 4 times and 3N 9 times. I would've thought more people would've lied.

As a bonus, it turns out the spades break 4-1, and you can take 12 tricks in NT on a squeeze but only 11 in spades!

---

I got a low heart lead, which made it easy.

I'm not one for lying to partner purely based on what is in my own hand. There is no reason partner cannot have four spades and the two hands together play better in spades than NT. Bridge is a partnership game, and it is about how both hands combine together.

[pescetom]

AL78, on 2020-August-05, 02:49, said:

I'm not one for lying to partner purely based on what is in my own hand. There is no reason partner cannot have four spades and the two hands together play better in spades than NT. Bridge is a partnership game, and it is about how both hands combine together.

I would add that (with a sufficiently capable Stayman) North might decide to play in 6nt rather than 3nt precisely because of South showing 4-card spades and maximum.

[FelicityR]

Responder is in control of the auction - as you limited your hand with the 1NT opening bid - and you're not. Simple. Given partner a 4414 hand with something like ♠Qxxx ♥AJxx ♦x ♣Kxxx and a ♦lead with the ♦ honours split will put you on the back foot straightaway in 3NT.

[mycroft]

I agree with everyone here, except for the fact that we're playing with robots.

Lying to get to 3NT doesn't erode partnership confidence or anything else. Which is nice. Lying and getting it right is simply a plus for you; lying and being wrong only a personal minus. Plus, robots make dumb decisions, we all know that.

This one worked. Next time partner will have 4=4=3=2 4 count, and 2♠ is just in or -1, and the 6-card fit plays slightly worse...If you refuse to play Garbage Stayman, "faking" a 3=3 has more merit.

As for 6NT, my guess is that this is a "best hand" event as well, so partner will have 16 at best. That chance is very small. As it turns out, of course, on this hand 6NT is the ♠10 away from being cold, and even without it, all it needs is 3=2 spades. And you might find it after 1NT-2♣; 2♠-3♦ (or 3♥ "spade slam invite", if you play that, then 4♦). Or at least, you might find it if your partner wasn't a robot...