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Even in my most sophisticated partnership, I doubt we’d reach any slam 1C 1H 1N is our start…1H shows spades, 1N shows 17-19 with 2-3 spades. Unfortunately 1C could be on a doubleton (we like this but undeniably it can create issues) and even be 3352. We’d bid 2H transfer, and over 2S (forced) we’d bid 2N to show gf values with 5S and 4+ clubs but north has no reason to cater to 5=6…if 5=5 or 5=4 we want to be in spades. So north will bid 3S and I think the club train has left the station, with no paying passengers aboard.

This hand came up in the informal beginner practice session (i.e. not a duplicate session). I thought the two beginners I observed did well to go for the slam: [hv=pc=n&s=s7ha32dkjt4cakt62&n=sak643hkq98daqcq7&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1sp2cp2hp3np6nppp]266|200[/hv] They were playing Acol, weak NT. Initially I thought North was strong enough to jump to 3♥ to get the strength across but that consumes a lot of space and 2♥ should be forcing anyway, although somehow North has to find a way to show their extras. As it happened South went straight to 3NT which must show an opening strength hand so North went straight to the slam. Is there a good way to find the grand, it can sometimes be tricky with a lot of power but no fit.

[hv=pc=n&e=skqth5dkj72cakq73&d=s&v=n&b=15&a=pp1hdp2d2h]133|200[/hv] The person sitting East had judged their hand too strong for a club overcall but was unsure what to do now. What would you do?

Googling stonking I found used to emphasize something remarkable, exciting, or very large."a stonking 207 mph maximum speed" Googling stonk: VERB (transitive) 1. to bombard (soldiers, buildings, etc) with artillery NOUN 2. a concentrated bombardment by artillery See https://www.collinsd...y/english/stonk So I suppose aggressive and substantial is about what it means as used in the above post. I had never heard the word before. That's not unusual. The problem as I see it: A fair sized number of Republicans, perhaps 40%, have no problem whatsoever with Trump lying about the election and instigating an attack on the capitol. The other 60% have varied thoughts of whom to support. So 40% might get him the nomination. Many of the 60% who voted for someone other than Trump in the primary still will not vote for Biden, or for any D, in the general election. And then we have the Electoral College to further screw things up. And if this isn't enough, well, there is still election denial and mobs. In short, we are up a serious creek.

I don’t know Acol but in SA I’m pretty sure 2H is a one round force and I suspect, strongly, that’s it’s the same in Acol I may be wrong but I think that 2C promises a rebid unless opener rebids his suit, so 1S 2C 2S is nf. Frankly, I think that is almost unplayable in a serious imp game (because having to jump or use artificiality to force distorts game and, especially, slam bidding too often) but could generate some pickups in a mp event. As for north opening 2N: if any partner or prospective partner said that they thought that was a good idea, that would be the end of the partnership. I’m not joking: 2N is, imo, a piggish hand-hogging distortion. Now, if you’ve perverted your response structure to allow opener to show 5=4=2=2 with strong majors…and didn’t thereby ruin dealing with more common hands, then maybe. I play a complex 2N structure which would have to be thrown in the toilet if we permitted this I don’t see any gain at all Btw for us 1S 1N 3C is gf but expressly may have precisely 4H, and we rarely pass 1S (virtually never with the sort of hand that allows game to make opposite this opener). I doubt I’d reach 7N. It’s a very good contract. Mo far higher than 50%. 3-3 clubs or Jx or stiff J or an unlikely club lead is 13, and hearts 3-3 or doubleton J10 or 5-1 with stiff J or 10 on the right, or a squeeze As for squeezes, there is going to be one most of the time, but one may need to guess we’ll, especially if the opps don’t telegraph their shape. Honest count givers are wonderful to play against This is a hand on which a good forcing club structure would likely shine Edit: my tendency towards hyperbole may be evident here

Its rules for this situation when it's weak and picking a suit, in order: 1: bid 2H if your longest suit is a 5 card minor, and your second longest suit is 4 hearts 2: bid 2x if x is your longest suit, and x isn't spades, and it's at least 5 cards long 3: bid 2x if x is your longest suit, and x isn't spades, and it's exactly 4 cards long 4: bid 2x if your longest suit is spades, and x is your second longest suit, and it's exactly 4 cards long 5: bid 2x for any x other than spades which is exactly 3 cards long Pretty clear logical error in the database, missing the case when you have 5 spades and 5 of something else. And yes, this means if you make North 5125, it will pass the double, not because it wants to penalise, but because now none of these rules match.

Recommend the system alert with a small beep when a chat message arrives during the play of a hand. Invariably, I'm too busy concentrating on the hand to notice a message about failure to alert, lack of time, etc.