Yu18772

Thanks, I am not convinced it matters in which bin you put the 0.2% probability of having 22points...(and that is with any distribution, not necessarily balanced). Also, I assume you opened 2NT with 19 at least once or twice, so it is not about the 1 point http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif For me: 2NT=20-22 2♣-2♦ 2NT=23-24 2♣-2♦ 2♥*-2♠*(relay) 2NT=25+ I dont like the hand enough to open 2♣ - for us 22 is part of the regular range, 2NT will cause more interference for LHO not to bid anything even with a good suit - I am not worried about it being passed or left to play at 3 level and making more....but it is a matter of attitude. My partner would probably open 1♣ and rebid ♠.

On the first round it looks +/- 20-20 for us and them. So, at MP I would bid 2♠ the first round - it will either push them to 3♦, or I may go down 1 or 2, but -100 is generally a good score in MP, and 2♠ is not going to be doubled (I am not sure they are going down in 2♦ by the way, the opener may hold a decent hand). 3♥ seems forcing, 16-20 and good hearts, so 3NT, but its a guess and 4♥ may be just as good of a contract or better. I am just describing my hand at this point because partner took control and hope for the best ....... I am not convinced my stopper is a double stopper and in 3NT there are no entrances to my hand to make finesses, so it is not going to be an easy contract unless partner has running suit. At IMP pass the first round (the ops are less likely to compte for partscore, and it is not as important. Also, if partner happens to have a good hand, I dont want him to get excited, as he will be pushing for games). After 2♥, assuming partner is 18-20 and you are allowed to pass with lousy hand, I will start with 2NT the second which is exactly my hand - I dont think p will pass 2NT - I just want to let him bid again, if he has extra hearts or 4 spades - may be 4major would be better. If partner passes 2NT or signs off in 3♥ in IMP NV vs vul he knows what he is doing and we probably shouldn't be any higher..... http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

Sorry, but I have seen plenty of expert+ players who dont play it. The first time I encountered this is when I came to US less than a year ago, in ACBL and upon agreement. I agree that from time to time it would make your life easier on a partscore, but I would rather make sure to get to the right game/slam than optimise 1NT or 2♥, with devoting a whole level of bidding to finding out if the support is true. With this logic you might argue it is good to support partner's major opening with a doubleton, or open 4 card major (which still works for some people, but it is far from standard)....:-) Obviously if you have a regular partner and that works for you, great, but I think that experts generally have no problem showing 3 card support later on (unless they always want to be the captain in the bidding) or asking for it. About balancing - it also goes for your partner, she/he also have no idea to what level to compete to, and having 5 card will end up bidding 3 level, just to show that the fit is guaranteed, or an opener with 4 card will bid again just to show 4 card..... I never "end up having to invert", or rebid 5 card suit. My partner is intelligent enough to know that her bidding limits my and to what extent. I do know - just find it wasteful. For me long and short trial bids a much more useful conventions to get to right difficult games and avoid wrong slams. Having another level of bidding - does wonders for the invitational + hands without the need to jump anywhere.....http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif

I think that 3NT is a bad bid. In 2/1 North would have showed Hx in ♥, so North has weak hand with long spades (6+), single or xx in hearts and not very useful ♣. I dont see how 3NT can have a chance when 4♠ wouldn't make, and I easily imagine no entrances to dummy and problems in controlling ♣.... That pends particular partnership understandings. For me this is 1♠ NV if I am 1st/2nd seat, and 3♠ in 3rd or any Vul, but I know plenty of good players who would disagree and open 1 always or 3 always. Why? Because it would work this time? With a bad suit, that you already showed 6/7 cards and Qxxx in the 4th suit - North knows that this is a misfit, and probably regrets opening, but the ♠ suit is not good enough to play 4 versus x, or void..... it has 3 losers alone. Pulling partners 3NT would say - I dont think you know what you are doing....and if you held a hand that makes 3NT ( ♠- ♥AJTxxx ♦KQJT ♣KJT) you wouldn't be too happy about it (rightfully so). http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

for some people it is http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif, but if its not an option I would open 1♣ and jumpshift to 2♠.

Why not open 2NT (20-22) ?

90% South 10% North Assuming natural bidding more or less,. First problem is South overcall instead of double. While its true that south has 5 card ♥, he also has support for all other suits, 4 card other major, 14 points and shortness in declarers suit. Dbl would accurately describe 11 of south cards, his distribution and his values, while overcall shows 7+points and 5 card decent hearts. Dbl would suggest to compete in either major overcall does not. At this vulnerability doubling with North hand, with lousy ♠ and no support for ♥ is risky to say the least (next time partner will be holding Qxx,AQTxxx,xx,xx, will say 2♥, get doubled and go down fo 500). Second problem is the 3♥ bid, 3♦ denies heart support. North has points (thats fairly obvious) and did not bid after 2♦. He also did not leave the dbl in. So, it must mean choose ♠ or ♣- so CHOOSE ♠ or ♣! There is nothing in ♥ to add to the 1♥ overcall. In North place I would think that south is something like: Axx, AKJTxx, x, Axxx (and I am generous, doubleton spades is absolutely a possibility). Frankly, if North thought that 3♦ was understood correctly I dont get the 3♠ bid. The 10% of the blame is only for not leaving the dbl, when not sure about what partner might or might not understand from your cuebid. Once I was given a great advise by an exceptional player - "when in doubt first make sure the score is on your side. Only then start worrying how much that score would be."

I dont know about LOT more luck, but definitely much more opportunities to practice playing 4:3 fit when NT is cold, and it is not necessarily standard (at least in my experience)......

For me 3♣ is clear cut bid. At 3 level it just shows fit in spades and too good for 2....4♣ would be shortness and a bit better hand.

I play simple - if we are below 3NT we are looking for the right game....3rd suit shows 4th denies. So 3♥ means I have hearts, but no intention to play NT if p doesn't have a good ♦ stopper. This doesn't mean that I won't bid after his response looking for slam, but I want to know more about his ♦ holding. ( I also play that 1♠-2♣-3♣-4NT is min-max and not RKCB). If I am absolutely sure that I am looking for slam in ♣ , I would bid 4♣ on 3, to set suit and ask for cues. I can still cue it if partner bids 4♣ now, denying a stopper in ♦. If 2♣ wasn't an absolute GF, 4♣ may be passed.

I play it as very weak, but I know quite a few good players who play it as 8-11 HCP and singelton, 2NT singl ask. This seems to work pretty well. :)

True, but I to a human I can try to point out that there might be a better line, or switch a partner. I can't switch GIB, for another GIB...... You should also note that in these tests the human is playing with a partner which is hard to understand, and impossible to discuss with, while the two GIB opponents play with a perfect partner from that point of view. One could only compare the level of GIB in such cases, if the human partner is well adapted to GIB, and as i understand - the better players dont usually play with GIB....so you apriori compairing to weaker audience that has additional challenges. If you want to compare GIB to an average player, put GIB pairs into human tournaments. About the best hand - the human hand has the highest high card point count, which is hardly the only relevant measure for the quality of the hand, and it was my impression that the lack of points is often times well compensated by distribution. Thank you, but as I said in my original post, this doesn't seem to be a compliment for GIB. Yehudit Hasin

I would say that E doesnt have 4 hearts (would double again) and has a bunch of high cards with 5/6+ diamonds and W probably also holds only 4, or if 5 it has with nothing at all in terms of table entrances. So I wouldn't be worried about them playing 4!h. May be 3!c will work I dont mind either, although I dont like concealing support for the highest ranking suit in what looks like partscore competition. But as I said - my main frustration is not with bids.....this is something I can try to adjust to. Its the defense....which is 50% of the time......

I play mostly with partners I know, but our opponents usually are not a regular partnership. At our table, we always ask people to alert to table, because you cant discuss the full system every time someone comes and goes, and your partner is entitled to know at least as much as the opponents (me and my partner). Moreover, while their misunderstandings may occasionally lead to a good result, we use bbo to train, and would generally prefer the best possible opponents. When I play an occasional random game, I also do the same - alert to table and ask if I am not sure about any bid, however quite often this takes time during the deals and some things that seem obvious to me (like transfer to majors over 1NT) are not the same to my p. It would be nice if instead of having very limited space in the profile to describe your favorite conventions, everyone would fill a simplified version of convention card for themselves. (openings, leads, signals and few popular conventions) Then, bbo could: a - try to find you a partner with most similar cc b- could show you the things you and your (new temporary) partner play differently as suggested points for discussion :rolleyes:

I am not an expert, but I am a fairly advanced player with a few top results at serious tournaments. I would gladly pay a few $ to play with a decent partner and against good defense, instead of blindly looking for one at times. Also, I know GIB is not supposed to be perfect, but... it is also supposed to be better than the average player (according to bbo). For example, today I tried it for free (not the first time, a couple of times I even deposited a few dollars to try it out). Just from today - a bidding example, my partners holding (all NV, I am playing south, all other are GIBs): QTx xx x AKQTxxx The bidding: W N E S (me) P 1♣ X 1♠ P 2♣ 2♦ P P P!!! ( I dont know any player who would not bid 2s.....) But the bidding is even not a major issue (one can get used to GIB settings after a while). Throughout the several times I tried to use GIB , its defense was way worse than any common sensed beginners - GIB absolutely and thoroughly ignores human partner bids or defensive signals (I use standard, as written in its cc). I can bid a suit and the robot decides to lead Qx from another suit against trump contract, or not lead Kx of my bid suit against NT contract etc... I can discourage and it will not switch (even if there is another suit I bid), on every defensive hand it seemed that the robot is doing everything in its power to create tricks for the declarer . We all make mistakes from time to time, but this is not a mistake and its not a fluke, its consistent. This is very frustrating and if GIB was human it would show lack of respect for the human partner. In a way it shows lack of respect of GIB designers to the human partner, whats worse the repeating bbo statement that GIB is better than average starts to sound as bad promotion. If GIB is indeed better than an average BBO player (I seriously doubt that), it is my impression that this comparison reflects quite poorly on the average BBO player rather than says anything positive about GIB. If you have any settings I could try the "good" player version with flash bbo - I gladly would, until then I genuinely think that GIB's abilities are overstated, to say the least. I would expect a better and more honest assessment from bbo.

1NT, but this is why some open 1♦ on 4:4 in minors and lack of stopper in the majors :)