jamegumb

Bid a fourth suit forcing bid as a passed hand (I wouldn't have chosen it, but the description specifically mentioned 'forcing'); ended up passed there and going down a bunch in a 1-3 fit.

Yes. Of course, those pauses are frequently followed by rapid-fire playing of the rest of the hand. Since I only play duplicate games, not races, the pause is not long enough to bother me, but I'd say that 15-20 seconds is not uncommon. I've always thought that the pause was to determine how the rest of the hand was played. That is, the long pause is almost like a 15-second switch to "auto pilot" for all of the robots.

Seems dangerous for 5-5. Maybe some weak 6-6? ♠JTxxxx ♥x ♦ ♣JTxxxx

GIB also makes a number of frustrating "4 or 6" decisions on minor suit hands; he raises your minor to 4, but when you place the contract in game he decides that you're better off in slam. Thankfully, he doesn't get angry if you bid RKCB and pass his response.

And I'm reading here about people playing 30+ hands. Isn't there a 25-hand limit to Robot Reward tournaments?

A helpful partner would block the heart suit by pitching the ♥8 + 6 which would force a diamond shift I think. I suppose letting the 5 win would work as well. Man, this is a game of inches.

Assuming a (far from obvious) heart lead, is there anyone willing to play the diamond jack after taking the AKT of hearts?

Oh, and can it keep from bidding a Kxxxxx suit three times? When I set a 3NT contract, it's because I know how lousy your rebids can be. Don't take me out into your major.

Yep. And they tried to send in beer to those 33 guys trapped in Chile. But then the government stopped it, as it's illegal to distribute alcohol to miners.

FWIW, I would have considered you passing that double (with 2♥ and "only 3 HCP") more of a psyche.

1) GIB sucks at Moysian fits. (Always remember SJ Simon's line, "The best result possible. Not the best possible result.") 2) GIB covers honors much more than it should. Same with playing high from 3rd position.

Led ♠K, angling for opposing hands like: ♠Axxx ♥Kx ♦Qxxx ♣KJx ♠Jx ♥AQTxx ♦ATx ♣Qxx Trying to find partner's ♠Txx. Yes, he's not going to have much on this auction. Question to club leaders: if you lead the ten, is your partner always going to duck from Kxxx? If dummy has Qxx and rises, might partner not think that the T is from T9x, and a cover is necessary?

Well, I already referred to the double as dubious. The general idea was to get information from GIB prior to setting the contract. We see how well that worked. Pretty much, I got what I deserved. (Well, maybe I deserved off four doubled.)

Gib's bidding over takeout doubles is very messy. I think the constraint is very wrong for now. Basically, when you make a takeout double, gib thinks that you must hold at least 3 cards in unbid suits and bids according to that. So when you hold a very strong one suiter and double first, be prepared to find gib bid another suit all the way to 5 or 6 levels. Found this out tonight. I made a dubious double of 1 club holding something like: ♠ AQJT9xx ♥ - ♦ KQJ ♣ Kxx You can guess where this is going. The following bidding ensues: 1♣ X P 4♥ P 4♠ P 5♥ P 5♠ P 6♥ P 6♠ P 7♥ P 7♠ P P P Dummy had KTxxx in hearts. As well as having Kx in spades, the diamond ace, and QJx in clubs. 7♠ was off one.

After we crown a winner, we will have an ongoing challenge the winner, and if you upset them, then you get challenged. The problem with this is there are so many pairs, and you have to find someone to administer the hands who are on at the same time... So stick around you will eventually get a shot at the winners... Will do. I suppose at this point I could request to join a waiting list of anyone who loses a partner.

Is it too late to join this?

No need for trumps right now. RHO has at least two diamonds (so no ruff coming), so duck a diamond. 1) If spade returned, ruff that, cross to ace of diamonds. If diamonds are 3-2, play two rounds of trumps (winning queen if offered), then duck another diamond (preserving the beer card). Win return (with club king or by ruffing with smallest trump), cross in clubs to master trump if necessary, draw trump and claim. 2) If club returned, win. Then cash ace of diamonds; if diamonds are 3-2, draw trumps and duck a diamond (preserving the beer card) and claim. Don't see how I'm making it with diamonds 4-1.

Rofl! :lol: Dbl is pretty obvious imo, whatever opps I have. We agree. Right. What's the story? Did double turn out poorly?

First, excellent thread. Second, I haven't seen a review for any of these: St. Titus Monks Bridge Series Miracles of Card Play (1982) - David Bird / Terrence Reese Unholy Tricks: More Miraculous Card Play (1984) - David Bird / Terrence Reese Doubled and Venerable: Further Miracles of Card Play (1987) - David Bird / Terrence Reese Cardinal Sins (1991) - David Bird / Terrence Reese Divine Intervention (1995) - David Bird / Terrence Reese The Abbot and the Sensational Squeeze (1999) - David Bird Saints and Sinners: The St. Titus Bridge Challenge (2000) - David Bird The Abbot's Great Sacrifice (2003) - David Bird Heavenly Contracts (2007) - David Bird Celestial Cardplay (2009) - David Bird All dates refer to the original publication (so far as I could determine it). The earlier ones have been reprinted. Apologies if I missed any books here, please let me know. After Mollo's menagerie, the wonderful St. Titus Monks bridge series is the best collection of bridge humor in print. The blend here is fairly similar to Mollo's - entertaining stories with hands thrown in every other page or so. The hands range from intermediate to expert, but can be enjoyed by all levels. The books in collaboration with Reese all deserve solid A's. IMO, the offerings have slipped a bit since then, but are still entertaining and worthy B's. It appears that Bird's attitude toward the Abbot (the main character) has changed over the years - in the original days, the Abbot seemed to win a fair bit and was someone the reader rooted for, even if he was a bit over the top at times. Since then, the Abbot has grown more curmudgeonly, loses more often (despite being an obviously good player) and only seems to serve as the butt of jokes. Also, while extremely witty, the whole series is not entirely sanitized and politically correct (esp. the Reese/Bird offerings). Caustic, if dry, humor, which is undoubtedly more of a draw to readers than a deterrent.