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More congratulations to Frances' team (with Peter Lee instead of Jon Cooke) who yesterday won the Four Stars Teams at Brighton.

I don't understand this hostility to immigrants. Virtually all Americans have ancestors who were immigrants. Most of these immigrants were not well educated, were from ethnic groups which people discriminated against at the time they came over, were accused of being criminals or taking jobs from "real Americans" -- and nonetheless they turned out okay. Many of our greatest citizens (in all fields of accomplishment) were immigrants or the children of immigrants. The words on the statue of liberty are "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" -- not "give me your best and brightest, all others need not apply." The vast majority of people crossing the US border are here to make a better life for themselves or their families. They come because there's work here, or because they have relatives here, or because they are oppressed or mistreated in their home country. This is the reason my great grandparents came, and the reason most Americans' ancestors came. Recently illegal immigration has been net zero for a number of years. Nonetheless we have cases where parents of American-born children are deported -- having a US citizen baby does not prevent deportation, and one of my wife's (US citizen) students recently had her mom threatened with deportation. The unemployment rate has been falling for a long time now, and Americans don't want jobs picking vegetables in the fields for minimum wage anyway. Immigrants do the awful jobs that need to be done to maintain standard of living for the rest of us, and they do them because it's better than what they had in their home country, and because they want a better life for their children. For the most part they are hard-working people that we should respect and help out where we can. Yes, there are a few criminals in every group, but we catch them and punish them... and some of the petty crime would be reduced if we let these folks out of the shadows to make a living legitimately. Further, "welfare" has not existed in this country since the nineties. We have one of the stingiest welfare states of any major nation on earth. If people wanted to immigrate so they could "live on welfare" they would go to Canada (or Europe, or heck, Cuba... virtually every major country has a stronger welfare state than us). Sure, we have SNAP benefits but do we really want to be in the business of starving children to death? Even if they are children with Mexican parents? Seriously? The other major "welfare" program is the earned income tax credit, which of course undocumented people are ineligible for (because they lack a taxpayer ID). As for world population, this has not been a real issue for a long time, since the population growth rate has gone down and our ability to grow crops efficiently has gone up. China has near-zero growth, the US is slightly positive, Europe and Japan are negative. The best way to reduce population growth is to improve education (especially for women) and availability of birth control -- the lack of such things is why population in India and Africa is still increasing rapidly. Guess which politician's party is opposed to planned parenthood? Our country faces many problems. We need to do something about climate change. We need to make education more affordable. We need to make it easier to start a business, and stop writing different rules for big companies than apply to small startups. We need to make sure the benefits of increased automation and international trade are shared by all, instead of just a few at the top. We need to make sure there isn't another big economic crash. We need to do something about police forces that shoot unarmed African Americans while letting the bankers who almost crashed the world economy walk free. We need to cut trillions in military spending that the armed forces don't want, for weapons systems that won't work in a modern war... while making sure not to crater the economy in small towns built around a military base or plant. We need to do something about our infrastructure. Immigration is pretty far down the list, and if we do want to address it, why not create more legal visas so people with jobs and relatives waiting for them in the US can walk over instead of sneaking over a wall that the Mexican government isn't really going to pay for?

Sorry - it was a foolish mistake on my part. When Wombatica said, "I am hoping for some more diverse opinions", I took that to mean he/she wanted some more diverse opinions. It is quite probable that Wombatica does not play RKCB, but if one plays on BBO or in a random club in Australia, there is a non-zero chance that they mean it as RKCB, so it behooves one to respond accordingly. Anyway, it's probably best to leave the sarcasm to those that are still part of the Commonwealth. :P

I did compute the IMP expectation between x/3NT for two scenarios, partner has 5-8 with seven diamonds and partner has 2-5 with six or seven diamonds. The gains were given as 5.88 IMPs and 7.74 IMPs respectively. The gains over pass would be greater in the first case and less in the second case, but I did not run those. I agree the auto x, and was astonished that anyone would consider anything else.

Hello wombatica and welcome to the BBO forums. First of all, 4♦ is a poor choice here. Game is not at all unlikely after RHO passes and your most likely game is 3NT. Having begun with 4♦, 4NT is Blackwood of some form without discussion. Which form is going to depend on general agreements and some possible rebids would be 5♦ (one ace); 5♠ (2 key cards + ♦Q, regular RKCB) or 5NT (2 key cards + ♦Q, modified RKCB). That 4NT in this spot would be Blackwood by default does not mean that 4NT is always Blackwood though. For an obvious example, a 4NT response to a 1NT opening is not Blackwood of any form. Over preempts, a common agreement is for 4♦ to be Blackwood after a 3♣ or 4♣ opening and 4♣ to be the ask after a 3♦, 3♥ or 3♠ opening. That might be something to discuss with a regular partner once you feel confident enough to add some additional complexity. At novice level, a decent, if sub-optimal, rule is that 4NT is always natural after a natural NT bid from partner and always Blackwood after partner's natural suit bid (unless this obviously makes no sense). As you progress you will encounter many more situations where you will want to use 4NT as something other than Blackwood - again, this is something to discuss with a regular partner at some point.

The thing to say is that directors give average club players far too much credit a lot of the time and that we should not be giving such players the benefit of the doubt in cases where the Laws explicitly say that they should not get it.

Hi all I run the U15 squad in England and we are just kicking off the new cycle following the European Championships in Tromso. I'm about to take part in a 3 day residential event for young players (up to about age 20), where I will be running sessions for players aspiring to join the u15 squad. Many will be very inexperienced but none will be beginners. Apart from playing bridge, discussing hands and running teaches I also hope to have a session in which I help players to understand what they must do if they want to be in contention for future selection and how they can go about improving their game if that is their wish (I fully support young players who want to play socially and not compete in this sort of thing but that is a separate topic). What, in your opinion, can a young and inexperienced player do to improve their game? Please consider that suggestions must be appropriate for young teenagers (so forum use is out and evening games at clubs can be hard for players to arrange, as many run late) and also interesting to them (I will recommend some interesting books and am happy to hear any ideas here but realistically most of them are not going to want to sit down and read lots of bridge literature, especially if it is dry or technical). Quite a few of our young players are also geographically isolated from each other and obviously don't have the same flexibility of travel that older juniors do. My ideas so far - Bridgemaster hands, attendance at a regular BBO session for U15s (which is already in place), use of dropbox to access tailored material, use of email to discuss hands with a small group of experts who are carefully selected to work with this age group. Anyone have any thoughts?

So, the secretary bird wants to have his snake and eat it too? Rik

Even with no carry-over, it's still important for your NGS rating. ;)

How did noone notice this before?? THIS THREAD TITLE NEEDS TO BE CHANGED - IT'S A Trump coup

I doubled on this hand and, of course, conceded -730. Partner said I should have opted for 3NT as doubling partscores at teams is risky business (and even if we do beat it, it might only go for 200) while 3NT was almost certainly cold - a valid point, but I felt rather unlucky having hit one of the very small number of layouts where 3SX makes. (Declarer was void in diamonds, had a 5-4 club fit with the CK onside for him, and dummy showed up with two spades and two hearts opposite declarer's AKx so the heart loser was ruffed away immediately) After the event partner and I identified 3 calls I'd made which were particularly suboptimal (to put it politely). He rated this the worst of the three so it was a (pleasant?) surprise to see people and even a simulation agreeing with my X. I'll e-mail partner this link and see if he changes his mind :) ahydra

No. And this is not a test for citizenship. It is a test for residency. So, if you want to be an alien resident in the Netherlands you have to pass the test before you enter the Netherlands. (Nationals of certain countries, like EU countries, etc., do not need to take the test. Refugees do not need to take the test either.) This test is a result of the influence of xenophobic politicians in the Dutch government. The reasoning goes like this: - We need to help foreigners to integrate into Dutch society. - We give them a course about the Netherlands and the Dutch language. (So far, so good) - We make the course mandatory. (It starts to get difficult.) - You need to pass the test before you come to the Netherlands. After all, if you don't pass the test, you are not serious about integrating. - You can take the test at selected locations abroad. You need to pay a large amount of money to take the test. - The test is so difficult, and filled with useless trivia, that most Dutch citizens will not pass it and it has little to do with every day life in the Netherlands. - The integration course is not available. I find this sickening and it makes me ashamed that I am Dutch. (My brother is married to a woman from Madagascar. She will not be able to get any resident status in the Netherlands. She would probably need to travel to the Dutch Embassy in South-Africa if she wanted to take the test. They are living happily on Madagascar, but when they are visiting the Netherlands, their time here is limited by her visa.) Compare this to what I got when I came to Sweden. - After a few weeks, I got a booklet in the mailbox: "Welcome to Sweden! Sweden explained to foreigners". I think mine was in English, but it was available in 20 languages or so (Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Serbian, ...). I guess it was about 60 pages thick. It explained the whole Swedish system, from the parliamentary democracy to christian holidays, from banking to food and from the Swedish attitude and culture to their legal philosophy. - One of the things it mentioned was that there was a course "Swedish for immigrants". If you would like to, you could take that course. - I took the course, two mornings a week. The course was free. It was also adjusted to the student's level. (I was well educated and from the Netherlands, and Dutch and Swedish are fairly similar. There were also illiterate people from China. They needed to start with the alphabet. My course took half a year. Others take 7 years or more.) - This course didn't just teach the Swedish language. It also taught the Swedish culture and attitude to things. (One of the most important words in the Swedish language is "lagom", which is impossible to translate, but it roughly means "sufficient" or "moderate". Swedes are happy with "lagom": enough is enough.) - After the course, you do the test. You do need to take the course, or take the test, but it obviously is a nice addition to your resume when you are applying for jobs in Sweden. - There are follow-up courses that you, again, could take for free.

What can you do with such a talented and handsome player sitting West? Jokes aside, I might have tried 5♥ with the North hand. You did get kind of fixed by us on this board though.

Well. I don't think it is "auto" to double with four tricks when you need five, especially when you know that partner is considerably less likely than normal to produce a defensive trick. But perhaps I am not looking at this hand objectively, since I was seriously annoyed at the time.

The harm is that when Stayman was alertable people didn't bother to ask about an alerted 2♣, because it was virtually always Stayman. This caused a problem on the rare occasions it was actually Keri.

Firing squad first; comments later. 2nd position is the worst to deviate from the tried and true well defined preempts with strong offense-defense ratio(ODR). After the execution, read the comments, and drag yourself back to the beginner-novice area. Do not post another question up here for a week, or being shot will be the least of your worries. As far as I can recall all the ACBL Encyclopedias and all my books on preempts define 4NT as an asking bid, either for aces or key cards. Use whichever you normally use. Even my British preempt book agrees, so this treatment is probably common in acol land as well as ACBL land, the opinion of the previous Briton notwithstanding.

How could I disagree more. This hand is even much better for 3 NT when LHO doubled and pd bid 1♠ freely. Your worry should be ♥ suit however LHO did not bid 1♥, he doubled. RHO did not bid 2♥. At worst, even if your pd has xx ♥ the odds are that they are split 4-4 is extremely high. Never EVER trash the whole value if a single honor. You would be amazed about the capabilities of singleton honors in your hand that opponents bid and I listed that in the past. For example just look at all 4 hands. That stiff Q disables them from cashing their 4 winners in spade suit. But even if you trash totally the value of stiff Q, I would still bid 3♦. After this post of yours, I decided to check the value of the hand in KnR with and without the spade Queen. With the stiff Queen =17.55 Without the queen=17.35 http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

Usually when you must decide in competitive bidding how 1♥-(1♠)-3♥-(3♠)-? if to continue bidding or double there is a rule called "of 7" and referred about number of your trumps (here 4) at which to add level getting :if it makes 7 or more tells double. [in the italian version of whikipedia is told that :"the film is than based on 3 roles arlecchino(=arlecquin or ♦) picaro(=picche or ♠) and cattivo (=bad or double)"].(Lovera)

I hope there is some middle way. Two beliefs: 1. Anyone who cannot recall with gratitude some help he has received along the way has a serious problem with his memory. 2. All the help in the world is useless unless the person being helped is prepared to make some good decisions and carry them out. I suppose belief 1 is mostly associated with liberals and belief 2 is mostly associated with conservatives. It is actually possible to hold both beliefs simultaneously without suffering a psychotic break.

So, you can use 1N-2♦-2♥-4N as quantitative INV to 6♥/6N with 5♥ balanced because your using Texas for all ace asking

Diagnosing the problem is important. wrong diagnose leads to wrong solutions. North should have rebid 3♦, not 2. I would have rebid 3 NT had my diamonds been 7 cards.

I agree with most but not all of what Adam says. Instead of nibbling at small issues I want to single out his comment on education. He speaks of making it more affordable and I agree, but that suggests to me he is speaking of higher education. The problem is much earlier. There was a recent piece about Ferguson on the PBS Newshour (airing just before the one year anniversary of Michael Brown's death). It was a real puff piece about how wonderful things are going in Ferguson but it did mention the school system which apparently lacks accreditation. It mentioned that for a while the students were going to an accredited, and mostly white, nearby district. Apparently that did not work out but the reasons were not explored. I can guess. You take a ten or twelve year old kid who has been going to a crummy school get him over to a distant school where he knows no one and say "here's your chance, kid". Yes, except his classmates have been going for several years to a good school and are a couple of years, or more, ahead of him in learning. So they can keep him in the grade appropriate for his age, where he has no chance of keeping up, or they can stick him back a couple of grades where he is twice the size of everyone else. Add in racial tensions and class tensions and hey, you say this didn't work out? I can think of nothing more important than making sure every child has an opportunity to get a decent start in life at a decent school. OK, we also have to make sure they eat, got that, and have some place to live. But what can we expect for the future if the schools are hopeless? Not everyone will learn. Some won't, some can't, but almost everyone can and will learn something. With help and guidance some will learn quite a bit. It's a way out, and maybe the only way out, of an awful situation. I don't see how anyone, conservative, liberal, whatever, cannot see that solving the school issue is essential. Not easy, I get that. Still it is essential.

3d

2H. What now?

Preempting style in first seat green ? Not passing unless partner turns up with 7 small and out on a regular basis at these colours, but happy with either of the other two, prob X at these colours.

3H is a generic game force, it can be made with a spade fit, but this the least likely option. The most common hand type, would be semi bal. with 18-19HCP without a spade stopper. So in short: your thinking is correct. With a spade fit, you have 2S, 3S, 4S, 4H to show one. without a spade fit and game forcing values, what bid you can make? In the context of support double, the 3H denies a holding of exactly 3 spades. In case you play good / bad 2NT in this seq. the fit option is even less likely. With kind regards Marlowe

If you do not give a child US citizenship, it does not follow that they become the citizen of another country. To where do you deport the child?

Politicians do a lot of dumb things but this attack on birthright citizenship is among the worst, very worst. Bithright citizenship is a big part of what makes America great. Many countries do not have this. I expect to not agree with all policies a politician may run on but this is a breaking point. I could never and would never support anyone who wanted to even suggest changing this. --- As for the side discussion on the 14th amendment. Keep in mind the main purpose was to overturn Dred/Scott. That decision, the worst in the history of the Supreme Court,said children of Free blacks or any blacks could never be a citizen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford

Interesting. I see that two out of five declarers went down in 4♥ on the singleton spade lead (half of the players that did not make a bum claim). So I think it's fair to say the ruling was questionable.

The fourteenth amendment nowhere mentions slavery or slaves. The relevant (to this discussion) text is: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Are illegal aliens subject to the jurisdiction of the United States? IANAL, but I believe they are. Are the children of illegal aliens, born in the United States, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States? IANAL, but I believe they are. If so, they (the children, not the aliens) are by the quoted sentence above, citizens of the United States and of the State in which they live. The only way to change that is via a Constitutional Amendment. I would not support such an amendment.

The vast majority of players will never look at the Blue Book. Of the rest, I would assume that most are like me - we look at it for clarification on specific points. It seems strange to remove the detail on an issue because someone who is not interested in that detail will probably never read it.