HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jaffray@sunkist.berkeley.edu (Alan Jaffray)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Missing Slam
Date: 15 Aug 1992 18:44:46 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley Math. Department.
NNTP-Posting-Host: sunkist.berkeley.edu

In article <9208150805.aa01574@Paris.ics.uci.edu> kibler@turing.ICS.UCI.EDU (Dennis Kibler) writes:
>
> North: xxx, Jxx, xxx, AQxx
>
> South: Ax, AKQxxxx, Kx, Kx
>
>   East   South    West    North
>    1d     x        p       2c
>    2d     3d       p       3h*
>    p      4h**     p       p***
>    p

I try to be concise, and my server rewards me by rejecting
the article.  Thus this line.  :-)

I disagree that 3D is routine.  South could bid 3H instead, 
which expresses his game-forcing 1-suiter well.  It's difficult
to imagine how 3D would work out better.  After 3H, North would
cuebid 4D to show support and extra values, and South is off to
the races.  North could hold his actual hand, or one ace and one
king, or the club A and spade QJ...

-- Alan

Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: bs@gauss.mitre.org (Robert D. Silverman)
Subject: Re: Bid this monster
Organization: Research Computer Facility, MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 18:00:04 GMT

In article <1992Aug18.150114.28928@rayssd.ssd.ray.com> sgm@sgfb.ssd.ray.com (Myerson) writes:
:My partner and I were on the receiving end of this gift.
:
:Matchpoints. North. EW Vul.
:
:  N:  xx, T98xx,   KQxx, Kx
:  S:  Ax, AKQJxxx, ---,  Axxx
:
:The bidding at our table:
:West   North  East   South
:       pass   1D-1   1H       1. Precision, < 17 HCP, 3+ diamonds
:pass   4H     pass   4N
:pass   5C     pass   5H
:pass   pass   pass
:
:The ace of diamonds, as expected, is over the KQ, so NS scored +510.
:After the hand, South admitted not knowing what to do with her monster.
:She said she knew Blackwood was silly, so no flames about that.
:She asked us how it should be bid (sure, like we're the local experts - NOT),
 
The possibility of bidding [and making 7] is remote.

I would simply bid a pedestrian 6H. I would also have contented myself
with a 3H call by North, rather than 4H, [partner overcalled and did not
OPEN 1H].  

Bidding 7 is out of the question. Reverse South's black suits and 7 has
no play. South needs to find out that partner has:

(1) 2nd and 3rd round club control
(2) A card to cover the losing spade.

Simply put, South has a 3 loser hand. Partner should be able to cover 2 of
them for the leap to 4H. South should simply bid 6H over 4H.
--
Bob Silverman
These are my opinions and not MITRE's.
Mitre Corporation, Bedford, MA 01730
"You can lead a horse's ass to knowledge, but you can't make him think"
From: willner@cfa.harvard.edu (Steve Willner)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: you be the judge
Date: 12 Aug 92 15:51:45 GMT
Organization: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA,  USA


[How to bid 98xxx AQTx QT Qx after partner opens 1S]

In article <matthew.713381429@base.cs.ucla.edu>,
matthew@base.cs.ucla.edu (Matthew Merzbacher) writes: 
> I got 4 e-mail answers, and perhaps not surprisingly, 4 different answers 
> to my question.

If you remove the variations due to system, there were actually only
two answers.  Two people made a limit raise, while other two raised
to game but did NOT bid 4S directly.  Presumably they were showing a
semi-balanced near-opener with good spade support.

For what it's worth, I agree with the limit raisers (8 losers), but
opener can certainly have minimum hands that make game good.  The
important point is not to bid 4S directly because that shows an
entirely different kind of hand.

-- 
Steve Willner            Phone 617-495-7123         Bitnet:   willner@cfa
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA                 Internet: willner@cfa.harvard.edu
  member, League for Programming Freedom; contact league@prep.ai.mit.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: bs@faron.mitre.org (Robert D. Silverman)
Subject: Re: Bidding problems..
Organization: Research Computer Facility, MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 22:26:34 GMT

In article <VARIS.92Aug13124337@zoyd.ae.utexas.edu> varis@zoyd.ae.utexas.edu (Varis (Carey)) writes:
 
stuff deleted.....

::> AK
::> Jxx
:: > AKxx
:: > KQxx
:
 
stuff deleted...

:
:         Here is what happened at the table, with Ron Rubin, member of
:the Spingold winning team, holding the disputed hand.
:
:1H-DBL-P-1S-2C!
:
:A great bid by a champion.  This avoided the distortion of the 1Nt
 
Bull. A terrible bid by someone who should know better. Rubin simply
made a "double and pray" bid, hoping partner would respond in a minor
or that partner had a rebiddable spade suit. Double then bid a new
suit on KQxx???  He is VERY lucky that partner did not pass 2C.

:rebid, and allowed his partener to make a descriptive call, (like show
:a diamond side suit, or bid NT with a 5-7 count, or hell, even raise clubs)
:
:Mike Becker held Jxxxx xxx Qxx xx and rebid 2S.  Rubin tanked, and passed.
 
How can Becker justify this call? Partner might have held something like:

A Kx Axxx AKJxxx

for his 2C club.  This is much more in keeping with doubling then bidding
clubs than the actual hand.

I think the actual auction is ridiculous......

unless they had some special agreements about takeout doubles of which
we are not aware, e.g. they are playing quasi power doubles.

--
Bob Silverman
These are my opinions and not MITRE's.
Mitre Corporation, Bedford, MA 01730
"You can lead a horse's ass to knowledge, but you can't make him think"
From: doug@cm.deakin.OZ.AU (Douglas Newlands)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Play 6H (corrected version)
Date: 15 Aug 92 10:30:39 GMT
Organization: Deakin University, Geelong, Australia

In article <mlg.713713464@volvo: mlg@siemens.com. (Michael Greenberg) writes:
:IMPS
: 
:N: -,AKJTxx,Qxx,Axxx
: 
:S: KJ8x,xx,AKx,KQT9
: 
:1N - 2D* - 2H - 6H
: 
:Lead 2s

Since it's cold if trumps are 3-2 or 4-1, you want to guard against a
5-0 split so ruff, AD and finesse the trumps. If they are 5-0, repeat
the dose.
But there is a problem, at least in theory. You risk going off on a 7-0
diamond split (0.52%) when trumps are harmless and if the heart
finesse loses and diamonds are 1-6 you can also go down(0.5*0.5*6.78%)
which seems to come to a total of 2.2% which is rather more than the
risk you are trying to accommodate, hearts 5-0 onside (1.95%).
So perhaps the above is all crap and the simple line first mentioned
is the way to go!

doug.
From: bpwing@phoenix.princeton.edu (Ben Wing)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Date: 19 Aug 92 23:21:44 GMT
Subject: Re: Defenses to artificial bids
Organization: Princeton University
X-Subliminal-Message: You can quit reading news anytime you want.

In article <3623@sol.deakin.OZ.AU> doug@cm.deakin.OZ.AU (Douglas Newlands) writes:
|
|The obvious question which you didn't ask is how to defend against
|ferts like 1H is 0-9 any shape.
|Play 1S,1N,2C as normal precision. Play 2D like a 2C opener with
|diamonds(2H = relay and 2N response shows hearts). Play 2H as a heart
|opener. Use double as all 16+ hands. If they don't bid again then 1S
|is a negative and positives in the major are a level up.
|It's simple but seems to work.
|

Of course, this defense essentially guarantees that the fert bidders will
get away for free, i.e. it's hard to double them for penalty in this system.
I think something like this might make them sweat more (of course, it's
more complicated):

(assuming a 1H fert)

X = balanced or semi-balanced 16+ or any hand with 12+ points and 4+ hearts.
    Partner can leave in the double if he wants.  However, the ferters are
    likely to run.
1S = 12-15, 4+ spades.
1N = 12-15 balanced.
2C, 2D = as suggested above.
2H, 2S, 2N = some sort of strong, offensively-oriented hands.
3C+ = very sound pre-empts (these aren't really pre-empts at all, so much as a
      particular sort of limited bid)


|It's also a good idea to ask these guys exactly how high you have to
|go to kill their relays. Even if it's not actually useful on the day,
|it annoys the hell out of them and you can usually call the director
|over the matter to get the psychological upper hand when they won't
|tell you. :-)
|
|doug.

Hey, no fair!!! :-)

ben
--

Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: eerke@cs.kun.nl (Eerke Boiten)
Subject: Re: How to bid this one?
Organization: University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 13:13:48 GMT

In article <karel.713612854@galaxy> karel@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (Karel Strasters) writes:
>AT9 AKJ92 - AKQ75
>How to open this one?
What's your strongest opener? Ours is 2C. Except for 5D, I am willing to play
game of partner's choice (I'll show my suits, if he bids spades (twice)
we'll play 4S, diamonds twice (can he?) it's 3NT) opposite *any* minimal hand.

(partner:)
>QJ3 Q QJ95 T8643
>It is a clear 7C, but how to get there?
There are many probable bidding sequences that get you to 6, but it
seems one needs to find out about QH to reach 7.
2C - 2D (weak)
2H - 2NT (no hearts, somewhat timid)
3C - 4C (suit accepted, because of game forcing stronger than 5C rightaway)
4D - 4H (cues)
4S - 5C (cue, that's all)
6C;
Or 2C - 2D - 2H - 3C - 4C - 4H and as above;
Or 2C - 2D - 2H - 3C - 4C - 4D (suit, not a cue ?!?) - 4H - 5C - 6C
(respondent can't cue spades so no grand).
Maybe artificial system with bids that ask for (specific) honors in
specific side suits can do the job here?
--
Eerke Boiten (eerke@cs.kun.nl)
Dept. of Informatics (STOP Project)
University of Nijmegen, NL
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: No-trump indicates stopper, but--!
From: avir@chen.bgu.ac.il (Avi Roy Shapira)
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 05:08:56 GMT
Organization: Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel


The problem:  AK/Jxx/AKxx/KQT9 after RHO's 1H at RED (unfavorable colours)]
at IMP's.

I do not wish to reiterate all the previous discussion, but I want to add
one further point to the reason why the dbl - 1S -1NT sequence is not so
terrible, as Bob makes it appear. First of all, if 1NT is going to be
the final contract, the lack of stopper hardly matters. You are not going to
make it anyhow, unless you score 3C tricks. In that case, you can afford to
lose 5 hearts and the A of clubs. Second, all it takes for 3NT to be a
a favorite to make is the Qx in hearts and the Axx of clubs. Partner will
certainly raise 1NT to 3NT on that holding, but will not balance.  With a
singleton heart, partner may bid again.

Finally, by passing our side may miss not only a game, but also a slam, if
partner has something like xxx, x, xxxxxx, Axx.  or QJxx, x, xxx, Axxxx.

At imps, vulenrable game and slam swings often decide the outcome of the
match, and one cannot risk them.  At match points, or board-a-match, the pass
is clear, but vulnerable at imps or total points, I am not so sure.

In the Isreali Team Championship last year, I held xxx, AKQx, xxx, xxx.
It went (all red) 1H on my right, pass, 1S on my left, double by partner,
pass. I bid 1NT, which parnter raised to 3, and I scored 9 easy tricks.
At the other table, my counterpart bid 2C, LHO bid 2S which was passed all
around, for -100. That swing decided the match. The hands were played at
six tables (the event is a 12 team round robin with 32 board matches), and
at least one other player bid 1NT - an ex-Bermuda bowl contestant, whose team
ended up winning the event.

Avi
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: matthew@base.cs.ucla.edu (Matthew Merzbacher)
Subject: Re: Bid this one for me
Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department
Date: 22 Aug 92 18:06:36 GMT

tnh@sw.stratus.com (Tim Hill) writes:

>> North dealing
>> 
>> N:	A K Q J 9 6 5 3 2
>> 	4
>> 	J 9
>> 	4
>> 
>> S:	T
>> 	A K 8 3
>> 	A 7 6 5
>> 	A K Q T

>As Bob pointed out, this is the hand Namyats was invented for.  But, if we
>don't happen to be playing Namyats, the opening alternatives are 1S, 2C, and
>4NT (Blackwood).

No No No.  A thousand times no.  4NT is not Blackwood.  Don't bid Blackwood
before agreeing on a suit.  You're just asking for trouble.

Consider the following auction:

4NT(1)  -  5D(2)	(1) Blackwood?  (2) 1 Ace
5S(3)   -  ?            (3) see below

Is 5S to play?  Or is it a relay to 5NT (which is what it usually would be).
How can partner distinguish the hand above from, say:

KQJ
KQJ
KQJ
AKQJ

or some equally repulsive hand (admittedly, this one's a bit strong, but
you get the idea)?

Worse, if partner tells you 2 Aces, what're you gonna do then?  Play the
"67%" chance that it's not the AD that he's missing?

If you don't have NAMYATS (and I'm not a big fan of it), cases can be made for
1S, 2S (gross underbid), or 4S.

I prefer 1S followed by 4S at the next opportunity.  And I'll have none of
this "what if partner passes 1S?"  If partner passes 1S, then you'll make 3
(exactly).
--

Matthew Merzbacher	ARPA:	matthew@CS.UCLA.EDU
Moo - Moo Moo  		UUCP:	...!{uunet|rutgers|ucbvax}!cs.ucla.edu!matthew
               		This time, *with* the oys
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Bidding problems..
From: avir@chen.bgu.ac.il (Avi Roy Shapira)
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 03:35:31 GMT
Organization: Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel

varis@zoyd.ae.utexas.edu (Varis (Carey)) writes:
:
:          Here is what happened at the table, with Ron Rubin, member of
: the Spingold winning team, holding the disputed hand.
:
: 1H-DBL-P-1S-2C!
: Mike Becker held Jxxxx xxx Qxx xx and rebid 2S.  Rubin tanked, and passed.
: made 2.
: --
What happened at the other table?

Avi
From: desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Appeals Committee ruling
Date: 17 Aug 92 18:33:55 GMT
Organization: IDA Center for Communications Research, Princeton

Ted Ying <ted@sage0.gsfc.nasa.gov> writes:
>The director agreed with North-South and rolled the contract back to 3NT-X
>down 5 (5 hearts and 4 spades off the top) for +1100.  East-West protested
>that this was a totally impossible result and appealed.

I have to agree that this is an impossible result.  West clearly should
have passed, since West holds exactly what he thought his bid had
showed, and East is clearly the one in a position to make the decision.
(The statement that West "had intended to bid 4D at his next opportunity
if possible" is self-serving and irrelevant.)  However East obviously
would have pulled; it's hard to imagine why East bid 3NT in the first
place, with not much of a stopper, except perhaps to muddy the waters.

Meanwhile, the N-S bidding is not very good, or at least not very
effective.  Why didn't North enter the auction with that six-loser hand?
Would North have still doubled after P-P-4D-P-P, or made some useful
call to get N-S to their cold game?

It seems clearly impossible to determine a result.  Since the inability
to determine a result is due to West's infraction, I would give N-S
average-plus and E-W average-minus, although this is more than I think
N-S really deserve.

                                        David desJardins
From: h75@nikhefh.nikhef.nl (Henk Uijterwaal)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Appeals Committee ruling
Date: 18 Aug 92 18:41:03 GMT
Reply-To: h75@nikhefh.nikhef.nl (Henk Uijterwaal)
Followup-To: rec.games.bridge
Distribution: world
Organization: Nikhef-H, Amsterdam (the Netherlands).

In Ted Ying posted this hand:

>          S: -
>          H: KQJT6
>          D: T82                      Board 11
>          C: Q9432                    None Vul
>                                      Dealer South
>S: 85                S: T9642
>H: 8                 H: 742           South  West   North  East
>D: AKQJ9764          D: 3             ----------------------------
>C: 87                C: AJT6          1S     3S     P      3NT
>                                      X      4D     X      P
>          S: AKQJ73                   P      P
>          H: A953
>          D: 5
>          C: K5

>After the 3NT call, the South player asked what the 3S bid meant.  East
>stated that they didn't play too often and that he assumed that it meant bid 
>NT with a spade stopper and probably held a long running minor.  He bid 3NT.
>South was looking at 5 sure tricks and decided to make a penalty double.  o
>West ran.

>After the hand was played out (4D-X, off 1).  West had thought that his
>bid was just a gambling 3NT type hand with a running minor and not just
>requesting a spade stopper.  North-South thought that West's run to 4D was
>based off an inference taken from the answer given about the 3S bid.  The
>director was called to the table.

 (... stuff deleted...)

>The director agreed with North-South and rolled the contract back to 3NT-X
>down 5 (5 hearts and 4 spades off the top) for +1100.  East-West protested
>that this was a totally impossible result and appealed.

I agree with the director as far as EW are concerned. West assumed that he 
just showed a solid (minor) suit. If no questions had been asked and east 
had just bid 3NT, he would have passed. Only the answer by east to south's 
question tells him that something is wrong but he is not entitled to use 
that. The same applies to east: he has the stopper that west asked for and 
should be happy with +550 in 3NT! vs something like xx, Ax,AKQJxxx,KQ now 
that south has picked the wrong moment to double.

I don't agree with the director on the NS score. If the level of play in
flight A is as good as I think, North should definitely not double 4 D
without any defence but rather pass and wait for partners decision.
Furthermore, I find it a bit strange that a good player does not ask about
3S after 1S-3S (and takes some action immediately). Ok, EW do not know their
system and have made a mess of this hand but this should NOT automatically
give a good result to NS now that they haven't played perfect bridge themselves.

So, (as a member of the appeal committee) I would split the score and give
NS +100 for 4D!,-1, EW -1100 for 3NT!, -5. (As a director I would give
1100 for 3NT! to both sides and wait for EW to go to the committee).

Henk.
From: sinyaw@starbright.smsc.sony.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Bidding sheet in PostScript
Date: 19 Aug 92 18:04:15 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Sony Microsystems


Inflenced by an evil spell, I wrote this PostScript program to print a
bidding sheet.  I guess that I am too cheap to buy some.  You can probably
tell that I do programming for living.  :-)

Anyhow, it is really a simple program.  You may save it in a file and send
it to a postscript printer.  On Unix/SVR4, do "lp -Tpostscript" followed by
filename.  On other Unix systems, ask your local printer experts.


--
Sin-Yaw Wang, sinyaw@smsc.sony.com, 408-944-4076




--------------------CUT HERE------------------
%!-PS
%
% $Header$
% Bridge bidding sheet, by Sin-Yaw Wang
% really nothing fancy, just a small exercise to program in PostScript
%

/size 70 def % slightly smaller than an inch
/thick 2 size div def
/thin 0 size div def

/bidbox {
	1.25 -0.95 moveto
	show
	newpath thick setlinewidth
	1.2 -0.8 moveto
	0 -1.2 rlineto stroke

	newpath thin setlinewidth
	-1.0 -0.2 -2.0 {
		1.2 exch moveto
		0.8 0 rlineto
	} for stroke
} def	

/box {
gsave
	newpath
	thick setlinewidth
    	0 0 moveto
	2 0  rlineto
	0 -2 rlineto
	-2 0 rlineto
	closepath stroke

	(S) bidbox
	-90 rotate 0 2 translate (W) bidbox
	-90 rotate 0 2 translate (N) bidbox
	-90 rotate 0 2 translate (E) bidbox
stroke	
grestore	
} def


size size scale 
/Helvetica findfont 12 size div scalefont setfont

gsave

/first-x 0.275 def
/first-y 10.9 def

first-x 2 sub first-y 2.25 add translate
4 {
	0 -2.25 translate
	gsave
	4 {2 0 translate box} repeat
	grestore
} repeat	
grestore

/handcount ( 0) def
/y-margin 0.025 def

/bump-number {
	handcount 1 get	(9) 0 get ge
	%true
	{handcount 1 (0) 0 get put
	 handcount 0 (1) 0 get put}
	%false
	{handcount 1 handcount 1 get 1 add put} ifelse
} def

0 2 6 {
	first-x 0.25 add add 0 first-y exch sub y-margin add moveto
	bump-number
	handcount
	show
} for
0 2 6 {
	first-x 0.25 add add 2.25 first-y exch sub y-margin add moveto
	bump-number
	handcount
	show
} for
0 2 6 {
	first-x 0.25 add add 4.5 first-y exch sub y-margin add moveto
	bump-number
	handcount
	show
} for
0 2 6 {
	first-x 0.25 add add 6.75 first-y exch sub y-margin add moveto
	bump-number
	handcount
	show
} for

/score-y first-y 2.25 4 mul sub def

0 setlinewidth

0.0 0.2 1.8
{newpath
 score-y exch sub first-x exch moveto
 8 0 rlineto stroke} for

newpath
0 4 8 {first-x add score-y moveto 0 -1.6 rlineto } for stroke
 
/Times-Italic findfont 8 size div scalefont setfont

/myself (by Sin-Yaw Wang, 1992) def
8 first-x add myself stringwidth pop sub score-y moveto
myself show

showpage
--

    Sin-Yaw Wang, sinyaw@smsc.sony.com
    
    Sony Microsystems Company
    651 River Oaks Pkwy
    San Jose, CA 95134
    TEL: (408)-944-4076
    FAX: (408)-954-0849
From: doug@cm.deakin.OZ.AU (Douglas Newlands)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: bidding
Date: 20 Aug 92 23:05:01 GMT
Organization: Deakin University, Geelong, Australia

In article <19920820105455ECL4JN2@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU: ECL4JN2@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Jack Newsbaum) writes:
:In article <1992Aug20.015157.19549@ucc.su.OZ.AU>, on 20 Aug 1992 01:51:57 GMT,
:mike@fowler.arch.su.oz.au () writes:
:>At what stage of the bidding does either E or W become aware
:>of each other's strength?
:>
:>      W (Dealer)            E
:>
:>          Kxx                   AJ
:>          K10xxx                Ax
:>          A                     KJ10xxx
:>          AKxx                  Jxx
:>
:My auction would be pretty straightforward:
:
:  1H - 2D - 3C - 3D - 3NT.
:
:It's true that each hand is somewhat better than a minimum for its
:bids. However, without any fit, I think a further bid by West is a
:losing proposition in the long run.
:
With his 3C bid W has shown his values and can bid no more than 3NT
if that's his choice but 3S looks much better. E cannot bid just
3NT in response to this because he knows the partnership is close to 
slam and if W has more than a minimum he will want to be in it; he 
should therefore bid 4NT if that is quantitative. LTC might suggest 
there are sufficient values to go a slam but there is no fit so I am 
happy with a quantitative noise, especially since I have shown my
6 card suit and have no other fit worth showing. I would expect it
to be passed out in 4N.

doug.
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: bs@faron.mitre.org (Robert D. Silverman)
Subject: Re: How to bid this one?
Organization: Research Computer Facility, MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 23:09:19 GMT

In article <l8il9fINNkm6@cypress.cs.utexas.edu> varvel@cs.utexas.edu (Donald A. Varvel) writes:
:In article <karel.713612854@galaxy> karel@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (Karel Strasters) writes:
:>Last night (pairs event) i got the following west hand, N dealer , All:
:
:>AT9
:>AKJ92
:>-
:>AKQ75
:
:>How to open this one (we're playing dutch acol, but i'm 
:>interested in any natural system) ?
:
:In a system that has them, I think an ACOL 2-bid is right.  Reese
 
I wouldn't do it, but it's not unreasonable.

:risk the wrath of the "Never open 2C on a 2- or 3-suited hand" crowd
:and admit that I would open it 2C.  Exchange the red or pointed suits
 
Yech. You are missing 19 HCP and ALL the diamonds. The risk of
being passed out in 1H is non-existent.

:>And how to respond with the following east hand:
:
:>QJ3
:>Q
:>QJ95
:>T8643
:
:>It is a clear 7C, but how to get there? (keep in mind that this hand
 
How about a simple:

1H	1NT(forcing)
3C (GF)	4C (extras; 5C is signoff)
5D (1)	5H
5S	5NT (2)
7C

(1) Void showing splinter [remember 4D would show control as well]
    Implies at least 2nd round spade control since it forces to 6C

5H shows a heart card, 5S is a cuebid, 5NT is trump asking.
--
Bob Silverman
These are my opinions and not MITRE's.
Mitre Corporation, Bedford, MA 01730
"You can lead a horse's ass to knowledge, but you can't make him think"