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hi Roland, the last session of the world mind games is coming up and your last as VG coordinator, so i wanted to say: thank you for all you have done these many years to make VG into what it is and thank you for bringing me into it as well. you have done an amazing job and VG would certainly not be the same without you bye for now :) Hedy

Say you have AK987 in dummy, Jx in your hand. This is a side suit and you need 4 tricks and no losers in a trump contract. If you play AK, and the ten or queen drops on your left, you are in a restricted choice situation obviously. Stronger is to play the ace, cross to your hand and lead the jack. Now if you are playing against 99.9 % of the bridge population, they will play the Q with QT. Of course, this is still restricted choice, but most people cannot psychologically play the ten under the jack in that spot. So, if they play the ten you ruffing finesse and it's 100 %. If they play the queen, you play for QTx as a specific 3-3 is more liekly than a specific 4-2. Of course, this is only a very tiny edge you're gaining from all of this. The real edge is if they play the ten you know what to do, and if they play the queen you can use other factors in the hand to decide. Typically other factors would not outweigh restricted choice if you had played AK even if theyre strong, but in this case you can use the other factors on the Q and maybe gain a bigger edge. Now, some people are so bad that under AK they would never play the Q with QT when you play the jack so you also gain nothing against them, but they would have to be very weak.

Sounds like it's working as it should. You've told them with your alert that it's not a takeout double, and they ask you to explain exactly what it is.

Yes, to all of this. The "delay unusual" was made for this hand. Not to be confused with GB (when you have opened and partner has shown a response) or Leben (where it is your first response to an opening NT or t/o double) --- the delay unusual 2NT applies when you have opened or overcalled and a raise has come back to you without any action by partner. It shows a 2-card disparity in two suits, with 6 of your first suit.

I have not talked to him about it but I will tell you 100 %: He knew diamonds were 5-4 (one guy overcalled, another guy jump raised). He knew the spade count Ergo, the club count would give you a full count. The opp was nice enough to give honest count in clubs when he played a club up. Yes, the guy might play the 8 at trick 3 with 4 (udca), but far more likely by probably 10:1 is the guy gave honest club count. Therefore, he knew he was 1345. Had the guy gave false club count, he probably would have won the event. Take that for what it's worth. There was another hand that bluecalm was asking me about, hemant had AQJTxxx in hand opp xx. He lost a ruff already. He then dropped the HK. How did he know? Pretty simple, the opponent ruffed with the 9. Good play with 9x, but not something people do very often, so K9 was indicated. Bridge is this simple for good declarers if you do not randomize well enough. Conversely, most people even if they are good are not willing to take inferences like this and make anti percentage plays because they are suspicious. Just believe in these things until you have reason not to verse any opp.

Game try: I bid 3♥ or I stretch to bid game. To me 3♥ is something extra but not like a 20 count inviting game, with that just bid game. Hand I was planning to rebid notrump: Rebid (2) notrump. Extras without four hearts or a spade stopper or a long minor: Double Extras with a long minor: Bid the minor

I seem to recall a balanced budget during the Clinton administration. It is amazing what can be accomplished if one does not reduce tax rates for the very rich while at the same time conducting multiple wars halfway around the world.

Yes it promises a fit. I dont think it is common here, but I definitely fell that fit showing is the better agreement. The fact that I happen to play a strong club makes it even more attractive, but even in a 2/1 system, I think fit showing is clearly superior. Even if I am not passed hand and bidding goes (1S)-2h-(2S) 3m would be fit-showing

you are not taking into consideration that x followed by 3c shows a very strong hand. Not at all dissimilar from the hand you are holding. If p cannot move over your 3c follow up your sides chances of missing game are remote. If your dia K were the Dia A then a belated 3s would be ok because all you need is a spade stop for 3n. The dia K means not only do you need a spade stop from p but dia help as well that is a lot to wish for. Bid 3c and trust that with a reasonable 6 count p will be able to find 3n.

Personally, I think this whole discussion of taxes is cart before the horse. The first thing to do is trim (not balance, trim, although the budget should imo be balanced) the budget. Government is spending money on too many things it should not be spending money on at all, or at least should be spending at much reduced levels. Trimming the budget is of course much harder politically than raising taxes. :(

Agree with the last sentence, but with three keycards, I bid 7♣. Rik

It may be less clear when you double their third suit at a lower level but here it is just lead-directing, says nothing about clubs.

I like Wirgren & Lawrence's Short Suit Total approach outlined in their book "I Fought the Law of Total Tricks". Andrew Gumperz offers a distillation here: Gumps Tips Short Suit Total-1 and continued here: gumps Tips Short Suit Total-2 or see details on Wirgren's Website Separately, before trying MLTC, be sure to internalize Jeff Ruben's In and Out Valuation - A, K, and Q differ in the likelihood they will win tricks based on whether they are working together or separately, in long or short suits, and on which is in partner's suit or in a side suit. Opposite partner's 1♠ opening bid, Qxxx AKxx xxx xx > Axxx KQxx xxx xx > Axxx Kxxx Qxx xx > xxxx Axxx Kxx Qx... the Q is more likely to win a trick when in partner's suit, and less likely in an outside suit. The A is less valuable in partner's suit as a lesser honor is in on outside suit. Honors working together are more valuable. Qx, QJ, KQ, AK combinations are highly overrated.

North's 6♠ bid.

Prefer 5C and not X.

I agree. I think we have it absolutely correct here in the EBU, but of course you can't please everybody.

I am fond of LTC. The textbook version is imperfect, of course -- but it makes you think about counting tricks rather than counting points. When the outcome of the deal isnt what you expected, you ask yourself "which of my cards did I think would be a loser but wasnt" or vice versa, and refine your judgment accordingly in future.

That should be bid and hope they get too high. I agree that it's close just not close in my partnership style where we cater to any auction that might be a bump and run to defend 3♥ (or whatever) instead of 2. I understand that the freebid will propel others to 3♠ when they don't want to be there depending on your agreements/style but not selling out cheap works over the long haul for us.

I agree that South's double wasn't good. 3NT is better but 3♣ is best. I can appreciate that 3NT may be a safer bid when playing with a stranger but wouldn't you prefer your partner (even a stranger) to show you a little bit of trust? I wouldn't pass the double with you hand. 2NT looks normal. You shouldn't assume that partner's double is for penalty and it's not like you have a difficult hand to bid. Balanced with a spade stopper. So 2NT it is.

I think he didn't make a negative double because he lacks the strength. 3♥ woke him up though. To me this means good offense in hearts, and with few hcp that must mean distribution. Something like 3541, 4540, 3550. Six hearts might also be possible. Although if I think this all the way out, it means the ♣K is probably working on defense and 4♠ is down if their hearts are 2-2. Ho hum, maybe it's all nonsense anyway.

If this is not a 2♥ overcall, then i am Angelina Jolie.

A takeout bid showing the black suits, couldn't bid first time. Something like ♠KQxx ♥xx ♦xx ♣ AQxxx

take-out. four spades and 4 clubs (or 5 bad ones). Presumably not three hearts due to the failure to make a t/o double on first round, hence usually three diamonds but could be two. I don't think it should be a hand too weak for a t/o double in first round.

For notrump I use HCP and then add or subtract up to one (rarely one-and-a-half) point for length, fitting honours etc. For suit contracts I imagine some possible layouts and try to figure out if we have more than three losers.

Not saying it's badly treated, just that the system in place hinders the development of some drugs that are worthwhile from a "general good" perspective but uneconomic to develop because of the way the laws are. And bear in mind I only know anything about the UK situation. Big pharma makes money off the drugs it develops because it chooses which to proceed with, I'm not sure the priority should be "which drug makes me most $$$" rather than "which will alleviate most suffering". One case in point. There is a treatment for certain sarcomas which has been known for more than 100 years and basically involves giving the patient a cocktail of bacteria to provoke an immune response which then attacks the tumor. It has proved effective in some patients in various trials, but none of them has been the really serious sort of trial that would get it licensed as a medicine. There is no incentive on any of the pharmaceutical companies to take this on as they couldn't patent it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coley%27s_toxins

If that is not a 2H overcall, then we are using the bid for some other gadget. Perhaps your resulting partner would have rather had a nice slow revealing auction ---either stopping rightly in 3H, or wrongly in 4H and telling the opponents how to defend.

Come on now, this is nonsensical. If South has AI that he was playing Precision, South also has AI that he holds J64 Q7 T87 AKQ65 and that he opened 1♣ and therefore when choosing a rebid he will notice that he has misbid his opening. So any UI that South has is already AI to South, and so South's second-round action is unconstrained. Put another way, in this scenario North's alert of 1♣ was not unexpected by South, so there is no UI at all!

I would have bid 2N (4 of a higher ranking suit), not double and certainly not 3♥. A forcing pass boggles me mind. I pass. I don't think 5♥ is going to be very profitable, but partner might.

If partner can't overcall or bid 3♥ to a pretty good hand despite the initial pass, and bid 4♥ missing 3 of top 4 honors, why should we be making a move? Let's give partner 9 Hearts, and we STILL might not be able to make it. I pass, it's not close.

As it happens, I was just discussing this method yesterday. The problem, of course, is when you meet a pair who are playing the same system as you.