A) 4H. If I try a 5C cuebid, pard will pick 5S and we’ll have to correct. 5NT Unusual? I don’t think so.
B) 3H. If both 3H & 3D make, this is higher scoring. Too rich to pass, I think.
C) 3NT for now. Hopefully pard doesn’t have x, Qxxx AQxx, AKxxx
D) 2H. My hand and my spots are just good enough to keep the bidding alive.
E) 2NT. Showing hand type. If partner next bids 3S, I’ll raise.
F) 3H. Too good to pass. Can’t bid 3NT.
G) 2H. “Intermediate”, which I define as 14-17. Ok, so I’m a maximum.
H) H3. Process of elimination.
February guesses:
A. 4H
B. 3H
C. 3N
D. pass
E. 3H
F. 3H
G. double
H. heart 3
Feb guesses:
A 4H. Other things may get us too high.
B Pass. Both vul matchpts thinking. Second choice 3S.
C 3N. If partner can’t pull this we probably don’t have slam. 4N may not make and 4C is misdirected.
D 2H. Second choice 2S. Can’t pass at matchpts
E 3H. My diamonds look more like a five-bagger than my clubs look like half a stopper.
F 3H or 4D. It’s close. 3H may get us to 3N opposite Qx (or opposite Kx and no heart lead).
G 2D. Classic problem. Partner is too likely to pass a double, so it’s 2H or 2D. 2D is less distorting with these spades.
H C9 to start unblocking (and because partner may need to shift to hearts to put me back in for another club). If partner had five hearts he probably could have bid. He may well have five clubs.
A) 4H. Maybe we have more, but maybe we don’t, and I want to suggest hearts.
B) 3H. He suggested I bid. I will.
C) 3N. Again concerned we may make more, but we might not.
D) 2H. Matchpoints
E) 2N. Clubs not ideal, but better than a spade raise on Jx (or a heart bid with only 4 diamonds)
F) P. Hoping he doesn’t have a heart stopper
G) Double.
H) D10. Nothing else appealing either.
A) 4H
B) 3H
C) 4S
D) Pass
E) 2N
F) 3H
G) 1H
H) Club 9 – ugh, twelve worse leads
A B C D E F G H
procrastinator
oirg 4H 3H 3N P 3H 3H Dbl H3
SW 4H 3H 3N 2H 2N P Dbl D10
ST
BTDT 4H 3H 4S P 2N 3H 1H C9
NN 4H 3H 3N 2H 2N 3H 2H H3
veni vidi vici 4H P 3N 2H 3H ? 2D C9
Leading 4H 3H 3N 2H 2N 3H
Leaders on 6 of 8. 3 days to go.
A. 4H, seems obvious, what am I missing?
B. 3 hearts. Tough one.
C. 3NT. if I was sure 4NT was natural, might try that.
D. 2 spades, 8 of hearts makes 2H tempting, but still too many work to do if we hit a stiff opposite IMO.
E. 2NT, clear to me.
F. 3H. Too big of a position to pass, though definitely possible no game makes.
G. Double.
H. Diamond ten. Second choice spade 2.
A B C D E F G H
procrastinator 4H 3H 3N 2S 2N 3H Dbl D10
oirg 4H 3H 3N P 3H 3H Dbl H3
SW 4H 3H 3N 2H 2N P Dbl D10
ST 4H 3H 4S 2S 3H 3H 2D S2
BTDT 4H 3H 4S P 2N 3H 1H C9
NN 4H 3H 3N 2H 2N 3H 2H H3
veni vidi vici 4H P 3N 2H 3H ? 2D C9
Leading 4H 3H 3N 2H 2N 3H Dbl ??
All frequent voters have already voted, and H is a real mess. Since ST is currently the 1 in the 2-2-2-1 split, I e-mailed him to get a second choice. Anyone else is free to provide further thoughts as well. Mainly, I think we all agree we hate all the leads. For myself, I rate them all as Hippogriph > D10 > C9 > H3 > S2.
spoilertext
ACBL Bridge Beat #20 – Hippogriffs... • American Contract Bridge League
I had heard the story before, googled to see if I could find the source. All I found was the ACBL reference.
FYI my second choice on H would be the CJ, if that matters. And my third choice would be the C2.
Sweet Tooth’s second choice on H is the H3.
I’m going with 3H on F.
I’m also changing my vote on B to 3H. While I like to seek out +200, clubs being a raised suit gives me pause. They may well be able to pick up my CQ, and I wasn’t a lock to set this even if they didn’t. 3S is tempting, but we can always run there if they try to penalize 3H. 3D is also tempting, given the better suit quality…, but hearts scores higher.
I’ve also been convinced by 2N on E. I might try 3C if you reversed my hearts and clubs, but 3H takes up so much space. The C10 may mean this doesn’t wrong-side 3N, and the hearts may be happier in the closed hand opposite a void rather than guessing which round to cover when the Q is led.
I’m changing my vote on G to 2H. I’d go with 3H but BWS doesn’t define the bid, so I’m afraid it might be taken as something else. For some reason I thought the spades were AKJ10 when I chose 2D. I’m not so thrilled about treating AKJx as a five-bagger when I have a decent six-bagger in hearts.
A B C D E F G H
procrastinator 4H 3H 3N 2S 2N 3H Dbl D10
oirg 4H 3H 3N P 3H 3H Dbl H3
SW 4H 3H 3N 2H 2N P Dbl D10
ST 4H 3H 4S 2S 3H 3H 2D S2
BTDT 4H 3H 4S P 2N 3H 1H C9
NN 4H 3H 3N 2H 2N 3H 2H H3
veni vidi vici 4H 3H 3N 2H 2N 3H 2H C9
Submitted 4H 3H 3N 2H 2N 3H Dbl H3
Letting ST’s 2nd choice become the tie-breaker on H, since otherwise it was 2-2-2.
A B C D E F G H Total
procrastinator 4H 100 3H 70 3N 100 2S 50 2N 100 3H 100 Dbl 100 D10 80 700
oirg 4H 100 3H 70 3N 100 P 80 3H 80 3H 100 Dbl 100 H3 60 690
SW 4H 100 3H 70 3N 100 2H 100 2N 100 P 10 Dbl 100 D10 80 660
ST 4H 100 3H 70 4S 70 2S 50 3H 80 3H 100 2D 80 S2 80 630
BTDT 4H 100 3H 70 4S 70 P 80 2N 100 3H 100 1H 30 C9 20 570
NN 4H 100 3H 70 3N 100 2H 100 2N 100 3H 100 2H 20 H3 60 650
veni vidi vici 4H 100 3H 70 3N 100 2H 100 2N 100 3H 100 2H 20 C9 20 610
Submitted 4H 100 3H 70 3N 100 2H 100 2N 100 3H 100 Dbl 100 H3 60 730
4H 100 3D 100 3N 100 2H 100 2N 100 3H 100 Dbl 100 CJ 100
3H 70 4S 70 P 80 3H 80 P 10 2D 80 D10 80
2S 50 1H 30 S2 80
2H 20 H3 60
C9 20 Our Submitted entry tied for 12-17 on the Honor Roll. procrastinator’s 700, high score among us, would have tied for 35-41. org’s 690 was the lowest score to make the honor roll, where it would have tied for 42-61.
Initial reaction:
A. 2 spades; will bid 3H if partner bids 3C
B. 2 spades. Pass is only alternative IMO.
C. 2 spades. Stick with the 2 spade streak? 3 hearts also possible
D. 2NT. Maybe double is better, but probably only if partner has 4 spades, and he didn’t make a negative double.
E. 5C. We shouldn’t force to slam, but this should get us to 6 if partner has Qxx or xxxx of clubs and an ace.
F. 4S. Not sure how we can bid 7 intelligently. I expect not to stop short of 6.
G. 3H? Bridge World Standard gives almost no guidance that I see. Bots would take this as forcing with slam interest, which is fairly accurate. Or maybe we should bid 3C now, or even 2D now. 2H should get 0, and 4H very little.
H. Spade 2. Hope to get lucky. Alternatives look worse.
A 2S. That’s enough with so many values wasted in diamonds. Second choice, 2N, to show so many values wasted in diamonds. 
B 3D We may yet have game, and I don’t think we want to defend 3H. I can see pass, but 2S showing a minimum when I am a passed hand (not everyone would have passed this) is nuts.
C 3H If partner bids 3S we have double agreement, yeah! If we belong in 6C, we need a way to unagree hearts, which we may not have, so I can see 3C here, and I think it’s close between 3C and 3H.
D Pass. 1N seems right with the double stop. There’s a case for 1S in case partner is broke with four spades. I can’t see any reason to double…We’d rather be in 1N than in diamonds, probably than in clubs, and partner doesn’t have a penalty pass. However, at both at matchpoints, why not let them take their lumps in 1H? This looks like a hand where nothing makes. Doubling is not good because partner wouldn’t pass.
E 5C. It’s tempting to try to bail in 4S, but that might be worse as partner rates to have a small singleton there for 4D.
F 4S Enough to be interested in slam, not enough to bid it. If partner can ask for aces now, great. Otherwise no more forward-going moves from me.
G 3S. Since 2S is a strength-showing natural bid, 3S is a splinter. We need diamond help for slam.
H DQ. I’d lead a spade at matchpoints, but this lead just needs Jxxxx and an entry from partner (or declarer has to knock out my CJ…)
March guesses:
A. pass hoping for the magic 200
B. 2S
C. 4H
D. 1N
E. 6C
F. 4S
G. 4H pessimistic with those 3 little diamonds
H. diamond queen
From ST by e-mail
A B C D E F G H
procrastinator
oirg P 2S 4H 1N 6C 4S 4H DQ
SW 2S 2S 2S 2N 5C 4S 3H S2
ST P 3D 3H 1N 6C 4S 3S DA
BTDT
NN
veni vidi vici 2S 3D 3H P 5C 4S 3S DQ
Leading 4S
4 voters so far, and only on E do as many as 3 agree (with all 4 agreeing on E).
But nothing with 4 different answers.
A. 2 spades, yuck
B. Pass. Game still possible opposite right passed hand; though not really giving partner any clues to valuation.
C. 3 hearts.
D. 1NT. Waffled between this and double.
E. 6 clubs.
F. 4 spades. Tough, with all the first round controls, might be hard to get any cooperation from partner, but not ready to bid 7 yet.
G. 3 spades, don’t like splintering with an ace, but seems like it will get partner to like the right hands here.
H. 2 of spades. Kind of wanted to make the “sexy” diamond queen lead, but in real life, think it is hard for partner to read, so will not get useful signal from her.