Another team match with Ken tonight.  Had a 1 IMP lead going into the last board and ended up tied.  I made a post in the BBO Forums on that board here.

Here's a bidding problem that Ken faced.

Red vs white

J9 / A732 / KQ9763 / 3

He opened 1 Diamond in 3rd.  LHO bid 2 Clubs.  I doubled.  Righty bid 2 Diamonds.  He trotted out 2 Hearts.  LHO bid 3 Clubs.  I bid 3 Diamonds.  Righty bid 4 Clubs.

P - P - 1D - 2C
X - 2D - 2H - 3C
3D - 4C - ?

Rest of this story is at the very end of the article.

So on another hand I picked up a moose in 1st at favorable:

9 / A874 / AKT986 / AQ

I opened 1 Diamond and Ken responded 1 Heart.

Wow.

Slam is at least fair opposite any hand with KQxx of Hearts.  I wanted to bid Keycard right now, but I'm not sure what a direct 4NT asks/shows and I figured Ken wouldn't be sure either.  I was really reluctant to splinter because I plan to take over the auction anyway, but I'll save my Zia impersonation for a more dramatic setting.  I bid 3 Spades.

Now Ken went into the tank.  Sigh.  He's gonna agonize for 30 seconds and then bid 4 Hearts.  Again, I was going to take the position that I knew he had no cuebids available below game anyway, and was always planning to bid on, but I'm a little sick of these close UI calls.

Lucky for me, Ken trotted out 4 Diamonds.  Hmmm.  I hope he's not cuebidding a void in my first suit .

I bid 4NT.  He responded 5 Clubs, showing 1 or 4 (a victory for 1430, if 5 Diamonds had showed 1 or 4 I'd have no Q ask available.)

I bid 5 Diamonds as a Q ask.  I was ready for him to pass that, since he seems to be confused already, but I've got to bid my hand.

He raised to 6 Diamonds.  Oh, you have the Queen of Hearts and the King of Diamonds?  Really ...

Whatever.  I bid 6 Hearts.

Whatever objections I had to his bidding were more than offset by my partner's line of play.

Ten of Clubs was led.

9 / A874 / AKT986 / AQ

AK3 / QT932 / J743 / 8

Plan the play.

The Heart suit looks like you have to lose a trick if you misguess which opp started with KJx.  If you're sure that LHO doesn't have KJx or KJxx you bang down the Ace.  If you're sure that Righty doesn't have both honors, you can run an honor from your hand. 

Ken gave himself a small extra chance.  He played a Spade to his hand and led the Ten of Hearts.  I assume he was going to fly Ace and play a Heart back if LHO ducked smoothly.

However, LHO (a self-described 'PRO who only plays PRO or with PROS',) who had KJx of Hearts and had seen his partner encourage on the Club opening lead, decided to cover with the Jack so that he could get in before the Club loser went away.  It was simple enough to draw trumps and claim from that point.

+980 was win 11 when my counterpart not only didn't drive to slam, but only raised to 3 Hearts with my hand.  Yikes!

http://online.bridgebase.com/myhands/fetchlin.php?id=1802620&when_played=1194576144

On the first hand, Ken made the sick bid of 4 Hearts.

A negative double in the auction 1 Diamond - 2 Clubs does NOT guarantee 4-4 in the majors.  I'd subsequently heard him bid Hearts and I raised his original suit.  Even if I have 4 Hearts and meant 3 Diamonds purely as a game try, I will always correct 4 Diamonds to 4 Hearts in that case.  His Hearts aren't nearly good enough to suggest a Moyse.

I passed 4 Hearts with

QT872 / Q64 / AT54 / 8

Now my LHO doubled.  Ken then compounded his error by breaking tempo and passing.

Sorry Ken, you got yourself into this mess, I'm not pulling at this point.

Sticks and wheels was lose 14.

http://online.bridgebase.com/myhands/fetchlin.php?id=1802612&when_played=1194576144