LEARNING CENTER

3. Holding a five-card suit is a big advantage in response to a takeout double. Partner isn't guaranteed to have four spades, but you have at least an 8-card fit. 

Pass. You might have a game, but if you do, you will almost certainly be beating this by at least 2. 

6. Everything about your hand is great: working values outside of hearts and a heart singleton. Partner must have some useful values (like a missing ace) to give you a chance at 6. You might make 7 on some days, and you might only make 5 on bad days which is why 6 feels like the right level. 

4. This cuebid is "pick a major". You should only do this with game forcing values. With a weak hand with both majors, we would just bid our better major. 

Dbl. This is a form of "responsive double". Really, this double just means, "I have the values to compete and I don't know what to do."

If we had a lot of hearts, we would bid 4. If we had values to compete and a stopper, we would bid 3NT. This isn't a "penalty" double, but partner can pass with no good place to go. 

4NT. This promises two places to play. Your partner is under a lot of pressure here and may not have picture perfect shape. What would you bid over 4 with: K98 K5 AK98 AJ43? 4NT keeps diamonds and hearts in the picture. We might belong in slam, but will content ourselves to the 5-level unless partner surprises us.