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I am in complete agreement with this. All of these polling numbers, breaking us all into demographic groups that we may or may not wish to identify with, is a really bad feature of modern life. Kathryn Hepburn had many good lines during her career. One was in the 1948 movie State of the Union. Spencer Tracy is running for president and a campaign stgrategist is speaking of the Polish-American vote. Hepburn, as Tracy's wife, sweetly asks "Oh. Can you be both?". So the problem has always been with us, but like many things we are getting to good at this dicing and slicing, and it is to our disadvantage.

[hv=pc=n&s=sthakq3daqj932ca8&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp2hp4d(undiscussed)p]133|200[/hv] What do you take 4♦ to be, and what do you do next?

[hv=pc=n&s=sj9ha4dakj6ckj864&w=s75hq9dq943cqt753&n=skqt86hkt87532d8c&e=sa432hj6dt752ca92]399|300[/hv] South dealer

Are these system popular at the high level? In the world Championship may be used ? What are the most famous players that use them in their convention card ?

[hv=pc=n&s=skj864haq8dj4ca82&w=saqt952hjt3dq763c&n=s3h9754dk9ckqj743&e=s7hk62dat852ct965&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=1sp1np2sppp]399|300[/hv] E/W play precision and therefore open fairly light, the 1♠ opening would be a bit sub-minimum. 1NT was forcing. N/S play 2/1. 3♣ was laydown if the ♦A or ♥K were placed correctly, and 3NT in the south turned out to be cold as the cards lay. 2♠= was a bottom. Assign the blame to N/S.

Matchpoints, you are vul, RHO is dealer, you play SAYC with michaels (no special agreement as to strength) you hold: ♠- ♥T742 ♦AJ64 ♣KQJ73 and pass. LHO opens with 1♦ and P bids 1♠ :( after pass by RHO you bid 2♣ (nonforcing) praying that you dont hear 2♠ from P :angry: after pass by RHO P bids 2♥ :) do you go on or are you happy to have found a fit? P did not bid michaels 2♦, he therefore has only 4 cards in ♥ P did not dble, he therefore does not have an opening bid or lacks ♣ or most likely both ♠ is P´s primary suit, his values there are doubtful opposite shortage in ♣ my values are doubtful any ♦ finesse will fail, ♦ will be led do all these thoughts convince you to pass or do you go on (you have a maximum and a fit)? remember, it is matchpoints and you are vul!

[hv=pc=n&s=sq8752ha764dktcj7&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=1c1s2c]133|200[/hv] What's your call?

[hv=pc=n&s=saq932h7d93c87632&d=e&v=e&b=6&a=pp1h2c2d]133|200[/hv] What's your call?

[hv=pc=n&s=st8652h86d2cakq94&e=s74hat52dak54c852&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=1n(15-17)p2cdpp3cp3dp4dp4hppp]266|200[/hv] Partner leads the ♣7, and follows to the second high club with the ♣6. On the third high club partner pitches ♦6. Discards are upside down attitude. Now what?

What I really want to say is every reverse of responder must show 65 suits with invitation hcp and nf,It's completely different with the traditional usage,but It's more resonable for space. Becouse 1 Responder with invitation hcp must complete describtion of 65 suits exactly under 2nt.So only this way can complete this requirements. 2 with xyz style you always have chance to checback to find 4 cards of ♥ or ♠,so no need to reverse when responder has only 4 cards of ♥ or ♠ for exampl: [hv=pc=n&s=skj974h8daqj742c8&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1cp]133|200[/hv] which one will you choice 1♦ or 1♠ 1、if 1♣-1♦-1♥ how will you go on？and if 1♣-1♦-1♥-1♠-openner bid-2♠ then you showed your shape but this sequence is gf or nf? 2、if 1♣-1♦-1♥-2♠ and you must bid 3s to show your ♦6♠5 shape,but you maybe overbid with just invitating hcp 3、if 1♣-1♠-1nt after this sequence you can't describe your shape exactly,then both of you maybe miss 5/6♦.which one do you choice with xyz style if you 1♣-1♠-1n-2♣-2♦-2♠,you showed your hcp but your shape can't be shown enough so how do you describe your ♦6♠5 with invitating hcp？ Responder must describe ♦6♠5 with invitating hcp under 2nt,becouse both of you maybe haven't fitting suit,but how do you realize it? Maybe this way is ok,with xyz style 1、1♣-1♦-1♥-2♠=d6s5 invitation and nf 2、1♣-1♦-1♥-2♣-2♦-2♠=♦5♠4 invitation 3、1♣-1♦-1♥-2♦=gameforce checkback responder maybe with ♥4+ or ♠4+ Is it ok?

[hv=pc=n&w=s72hqj9542djt8cj9&e=sat63hkdaq7cakt72]266|100[/hv] You reach 3NT in the east on an auction that marks east with a strong 4-1-3-5 or 4-2-2-5 distribution and west with weak hand containing a heart suit. South leads the ♦3 (fourth best) and North plays the 4.

If you have not installed these lessons from BBO, here is a condensed situation. Declarer is looking at 6NT with the diamond suit being A,Q,10,9,8,7. Dummy has 4,3,2 in diamonds. The other 3 suits look okay. The brief hint/solution says you can afford to lose one trick here in order to make the 6NT. I tried finesse and favourable distributions, but no luck. This is a robotic game/lesson; when you try finesse, it makes sure you lose. There must be a way of making it. Can you share your knowledge of how to handle this. Thanks!

Thank you very much, HighLow21! It worked and I will play that hand enough times for it to sink in and for me to remember all the time!

This is the textbook reason why the lead of the king asks for count. Rik

I realize that the internet is not all about me, but when it comes to my posts this is simply not true (which is why I feel that I can speak relatively objectively about this topic). I am a citizen of the Netherlands, I was born there and I currently live there which makes me Dutch. I thought I had made it clear that the current Dutch (market based) system is significantly worse than the Scandinavian government run systems that I know. My posts were not of the type "My system is much better". I wrote: Scandinavian government based > Dutch free market with mandatory minimum insurance (my system) > US health care system. When you have lived in a few different countries, you will see that certain things are best in one country and others are best in other countries. Obviously, when things are worse than you know they could be, your thoughts go to the country where that particular thing was best. Don't worry, the USA are at the top of my list in quite a few things, but health care simply isn't one of them... And you can repeat that sentence and replace "USA" by "the Netherlands". So, my posts are not based on misplaced nationalism, but on first hand experience with different systems that shows that neither the US' nor my own system is best. Rik

north was asleep - even if your requirements for a 2c overcall come from the 1930s you have got a 2nd chance over 2s. you know partner has spades and is going to pass.

I would not for even one second consider any invitational sequences for this monster. If partner has a heart-club two-suiter, then I may get us too high on the misfit, but that will not be a first (or last). For much of my life, I would have always chosen to start with diamonds and reverse into spades (but we must be careful about our agreements re 1C-1D-1H-1/2S sequences). I have now switched to a more pragmatic approach to bidding 5M-6m hands. I tend to bid them as if they were 5-5 (i.e. major first even when minor is longer) unless we have some specific agreement. Too many times, the auction has gotten out of hand before I am actually able to convince partner that the major is really a 5 banger. So, I would start with a 1♠ bid intending to make a game-forcing call in diamonds next. If partner rebids 1N (I will be elated as now the misfit is no longer an issue) and we are playing normallish xyz, then a 3D rebid would seem appropriate (5S-5D, GF, values concentrated in long suits).

There are lots of constructs where slam is going to be on though, ignoring partners actual hand, particularly after the preempt on your right shows that he's likely to have 10+ HCP. All you need is two cover cards, but I have no idea how to find out about the situation.

Also I don't know MATH but it seems like you're counting Qx of clubs onside with hearts splitting as a win for pitching a diamond, but that is not true, a club pitch is fine in that case. Also if Qxx of clubs are on and the diamond hook is on, then pitching a club is fine. It seems like you count that also as a win for pitching a diamond. If you did not count those scenarios as wins for pitching a diamond and just misworded it then apologies. If you did count those and still found a club pitch to be superior then hopefully it is obvious how superior a club pitch really is.

if LHO has Qxxx of clubs and the diamond hook is on a club pitch wins also.

Thanks for your input. I never even thought of doubling. And I am not sure why even after reading your replies. I don't have an diamond stoppers. Yes, A club and AK spades, but they are probably void in those or maybe ruff. OOOHHHH now i see it.....I would be the lead....and go for it before they had a chance to ruff them.... The light bulb just came on !!!

We do seem to be having a bit of a problem these days with the e pluribus unum concept.

He can bid a slam over 4H if he has that hand. It seems pretty terrible for grand slam bidding but fine for slams, if partner has a big 1354 we can place the contract pretty intelligently on non grand hands. I would just keycard and bid 6H opposite the right amount with our actual hand.

ten of clubs seems quite normal, it only costs on 4-1 hearts (not stiff J) and Qx of clubs compared to pitching a diamond, and it gives us the chance to cash AK of clubs and fall back on the diamond finesse among other things.

I've got nothing - how can we ask for the spade eight?

Still getting use to the idea of International Matchpoints scoring. Right now I'm gaining about 0.6 IMPS a hand. Is that good or bad? What would be a good average?

After 1♥, you can adopt a similar structure if your initial replies are: 1♥ - 2♠ = Jacoby GF1♥ - 2N = Invitational 0-3 as above,

true, P will know we are short in ♠, but a singleton is a lot better than a void enabling a finesse against opener!!! the void will be a disappointment! consider this hand: ♠AQTxx ♥KQxx ♦xxx ♣x I would be very lucky to make 2♥. Any higher contract has practically no chance! This hand is surely worth an overcall.