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What do I gain/lose using the 2 schemes? Misiry: 1. I lose a natural 2NT opening bid 2. I lose a natural 3♣ pre-empt 3. I lose a natural 3♦ pre-empt 4. I retain a natural 3♥ pre-empt 5. I retain a natural 3♠ pre-empt 6. The 2NT, 3♣ and 3♦ opening bids are all susceptible for X or allowing the opponents to bid the suit not promised on level 3, possibly opening the door for a sacrifice at favourable vulnerability. That amounts to a fourth loss. 7. The continuation structure of Misiry is more complex, a fifth loss. My scheme: 1. I retain a natural 2NT opening bid. On this one my scheme gains. 2. I retain a natural 3♣ pre-empt. On this one my scheme gains again. 3. I lose a natural 3♦ pre-empt. On this one there is no gain/loss playing either scheme. However… 4. My scheme does not lose a ♦ pre-empt altogether but it does lose some of its effectiveness. A hand that would normally pre-empt with 3♦ is now forced to pre-empt with 2♦. Depending on how the bidding continues, I get another opportunity to bid 3♦ showing the 7-card suit and pushing the opponents out of a comfortable 2M contract. Granted Misiry can adopt this approach as well which would mean that there is no gain/loss playing either scheme. But until Misiry adopts it, I will chalk it up as a gain for my scheme. 5. I lose a natural 3♥ pre-empt. So here Misiry gains. However… 6. My scheme does not lose the 3♥ pre-empt altogether as I can transfer into ♥ and pass. Also… 7. My 3♥ bid as a transfer to ♠ announces the big 2-suiter in ♠/m. More often than not our side will still be able to bid 4♠ over the opponents 4♥. 8. I retain a natural 3♠ pre-empt. On this one there is no gain/loss playing either scheme. 9. Misiry has the 2NT, 3♣ and 3♦ bids which allow the opponents to X or bid the suit not promised on level 3, possibly opening the door for a sacrifice. My scheme has the 3♦ and 3♥ bids (one less) susceptible to X etc. by the opponents. So I will chalk that up as another gain for my scheme. 10. Sacrificing on level 5 for either scheme should be on par once the opponents know what the 2-suits are, favourable vulnerability, etc. So there is no gain/loss playing either scheme should the opponents choose to sacrifice. 11. The continuation structure of my scheme is simple requiring almost no memory load, another gain for my scheme. Almost without exception any new bridge idea/convention undergoes some sort of modification by someone else other than the creator thereof. Misiry is not one of those exceptions. Which scheme do you want to play? The choice is still yours, which obviously includes the option of “Neither, thank you. I will stick to opening these hand types with 1M or 2♣.”

Next bubble is securitised car loans.

If you want to save space on the key-card ask and there is an unbid suit(s) between openers 2-suits (♥ in this example hand), you can bid the in-between suit or the lower of the in-between suits if openers 2-suits are ♠ and ♣, as the key-card ask.

You're kidding, right? If this is your probability of being dealt a big 2-suiter, NO ONE is going to do the memory overload for the Misiry continuation bidding structure. Quote: "It attempts to use all bids and not waste a bunch of extra space." Go and read some of the other replies to this thread. Some want to open 1♠ and then keep on repeating ♦ until partner gets the picture of your big 2-suiter. The same goes for those who want to open with 2♣. So yes, I think I have simplified Misiry to the point that it needs little or no memory load. Once opener has intoduced the second suit and partner is interested in slam, I suggest introducing 4NT as 6-card Blackwood. Once opener has made the applicable reply, partner can place the final contract. Nearly all average club players play some form of Blackwood. To include 6-card Blackwood into their bidding agreements should require very little effort.

Misiry is way too complicated and so will never gain popularity with the average club player. Big 2-suiters have a very low frequency of occurrence. The memory load required to remember the continuation bidding structure is just too much for the average club player who is content to play a system that not only is effective, but also easy to remember. I think this suggestion of mine takes a giant step forward in simplifying Misiry to something more palatable for the average club player.

Quote: "The business model of banks and brokers is not designed to make finance safe or sound. Too often it allows investors to maintain greedy fantasies. The industry’s high pay is a reward for nurturing those fantasies."

I've been thinking about this and accordingly decided to adjust the original idea as follows - 1. With a 7-card single suiter in ♠, open with a normal 3♠ pre-empt. Both partner and the opponents now know you have a normal pre-empt, but you have cut out some of the opponents opportunities, forcing them to enter the auction on level 4. 2. With a big ♠/m 2-suiter, transfer into the ♠ suit first. Again both partner and the opponents now know that you have a big 2-suiter. How would your defence change knowing about the big 2-suiter? Vulnerability will surely be a factor. Thanks for your reply above.

Many play 2♥ as a "double negative" after a 2♣ opening. So now the bidding has gone - P-P-P-2♣ P-2♥-P-2♠ P-? How does the bidding continue now when partner does not have a fit in the ♠ suit? The odds must surely favour a fit in the second suit now. So how does the bidding continue after 2♥ as a "double negative" and no fit in the first suit?

Microsoft is not alone in feeling the heat, read this.

I am toying with the idea of playing transfer pre-empts (into the majors only) with these sorts of hands. With a genuine 1-suiter 7-card suit pre-empt, you transfer into your major and then pass. But with big 2-suiters (like here), you transfer into the major on level 3 and then bid the minor suit on level 4. Partner is expected to bid game in one of your 2-suits. Only with a really bad hand/misfit is partner allowed to pass the minor suit on level 4 with preference for the minor. This is the full idea that I am toying with - 3♥ = transfer to ♠ and then pass with a normal 1-suiter pre-empt. Partners hand strength and holding in ♠ will determine his bid i.e. 4♠ and not 3♠ with a decent hand and something in ♠. Same goes for ♥ where 3♦ is a transfer to 3♥. With big 2-suiters (minimum = 6/5 holding) introduce the minor suit on level 4 giving partner a choice of games. 3♣ is a natural 7-card pre-empt. The downside to this scheme is that I lose a natural 3♦ pre-empt. The 7-card ♦ suit pre-empts end up with the 2♦ pre-empt losing some of their effectiveness. Any thoughts?

This was the full hand: [hv=pc=n&s=sq2hak9dq98642c74&w=sk654hq743dct9832&n=sat97hj85dkj3cakq&e=sj83ht62dat75cj65&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1dp]399|300[/hv] Only 4/21 tables got to the slam, 1 in 6♦ and 3 in 6NT. This was a nice example hand of a squeeze where poor West had no chance. Declarer ran all the ♦ with West first ditching all his ♣ and a ♥. Then declarer ran the 3 top clubs and it was game over for West.

So where do politicians fit into the labour market? I’m not convinced that they actually add anything of value. Tensions within the ruling ANC government in my own country are at an all time high because of the steady decline in support for the party. For the politicians, getting elected or not is literally the difference between having your snout in the feeding trough (taxpayers money) or falling back into abject poverty. Assassination of rival politicians happens quite often here in order to set up a by-election for the hopeful “next-in-line.”

No poll on this one. Sitting North you get dealt this massive 2-suiter. This was the bidding so far - [hv=pc=n&n=sakj543h7dakqt97c&d=e&v=e&b=6&a=ppp]133|200[/hv] At an absolute minimum you want to drive to game in one of your two suits. How would you go about achieving that?

[hv=pc=n&s=sq2hak9dq98642c74&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p]133|200[/hv] This hand is from a club game where 21 tables were participating. Your system can loosely be described as 5-card majors with some gadgets. What would your first call be with this hand?

Ok, so I got this one wrong. The ORIGINAL name of Jesus is actually Yehoshua which means Yahweh-is-Salvation. You can read the article and this one to find out more.

This guy disagrees with you, "How Windows 8 is smashing laptop, desktop sales." Quote 1: "In some ways, the most interesting thing about Threshold is how it recasts Windows 8 as the next Vista. It's an acknowledgment that what came before didn't work, and didn't resonate with customers. And though Microsoft will always be able to claim that Windows 9 wouldn't have been possible without the important foundational work they had done first with Windows 8—just as was the case with Windows 7 and Windows Vista—there's no way to sugarcoat this. Windows 8 has set back Microsoft, and Windows, by years, and possibly for good." Quote 2: "Threshold will target this new world. It could very well be a make or break release." Quote 3: “Windows 8.1, which is a substantial and free upgrade with major improvements over the original release, is in use on less than 25-million PCs at the moment. That's a disaster, and Threshold needs to strike a better balance between meeting the needs of over a billion traditional PC users while enticing users to adopt this new Windows on new types of personal computing devices. In short, it needs to be everything that Windows 8 is not.”

From a club game: [hv=pc=n&s=sjt42ha852d5caj43&w=s53hj764dkj3c9875&n=sak976hkqtda872ck&e=sq8h93dqt964cqt62&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=ppp]399|300[/hv] 2/17 tables bid a small slam, 0/17 tables bid the grand, all 17 tables made 13 tricks. Suggest an auction to at least get to a small slam.

Check this out - NYSE Euronext. Here is an extract from the article: "For the first time in its 213 year history, the New York Stock Exchange became a for-profit company, and began trading publicly on its own stock exchange under the NYX ticker. Owners of the 1,366 NYSE seats received 80,177 shares of NYSE Group stock plus $300,000 in cash and $70,571 in dividends for each seat. The completion of this deal created two new branches of the NYSE Group: NYSE Arca and NYSE Arca Europe, which launched after the acquisition of Euronext." Does anyone have a link to the shareregister of NYSE Euronext so that we can find out who these 1,366 shareholders are? Whoever they are they are making a lot of money out of your daily trades.

Does playing the stock market add any actual value to the overall economy? The original purpose (the issuing of shares to raise capital to float a business or to raise new capital to expand a growing business) has long been buried underneath the rampant speculation seen today. A classic example here is the recent listing of Facebook and Twitter. Neither have an actual revenue stream or a projected revenue stream to warrant their market capitalization values. Investors have zero chance of ever receiving a dividend on either of these two shares, yet speculators are buying and selling them every day hoping to make money without doing a days honest work in their lives.

Would you change your mind to allow legitimate refugees fleeing from their war-torn countries to enter your country?

This is something I only recently found out in my own country. Ever since the ANC took over governing the country, many local governments/municipalities have been placed under administration (controlled by our Inland Revenue Services) because they were declared bankrupt and so unable to provide even the most basic services. All of them had managed to run up huge bank overdrafts before the IRS stepped in. Now as a private individual, my bank has limited my bank overdraft to the risk level that the bank deemed me worthy. So I asked myself, “Why does the same overdraft criteria not apply to all these bankrupt local governments/municipalities? How were they able to run up these huge overdrafts?” Answer: Apparently our IRS has given security to the banks, guaranteeing that any overdraft by a defaulting local government/municipality would be paid for by them. This policy has led to an increase in corruption never seen before. Tax payers money is being siphoned off left, right and centre. Our print media is exposing the level of corruption and those involved (including our president) every day in the newspapers. Only now that the most recent polls indicate that the ANC support in our upcoming elections is likely to drop to 53% (from a high of nearly 70% in 2004), are they making hollow promises to stem the tide. Only now that the black middle class is starting to desert them are they promising to put in more effective measures to stop the corruption. We will see. Maybe Illinois is doing the same, knowing that a higher authority in your country will stand in for any untoward debt?

How many of you follow The Sovereign Risk Index?

How many of you have heard of "The Fragile Five", Turkey, South Africa, India, Indonesia and Brazil, the emerging economies with the biggest overseas financing needs. How much money have you got invested there?

Ever figured out how much your government siphons off of your hard earned money? Here is but a short list of the obvious areas where you keep contributing to the government coffers – 1. During the month you contribute via: a. VAT or GST (whichever is applicable in your country) on most of what you buy b. Sin tax on booze and cigarettes c. Fuel tax/ levy every time you fill up d. Toll fees every time you pass through a toll-gate (Excuse me, but why must I pay a third time for the use of public roads? Is that not supposed to be covered by the fuel levy and my monthly/annual tax?) e. (Tax on luxury items/imports are normally larger items and not something we buy every month) 2. At the end of the month, PAYE gets withheld from your salary and handed over to the tax authorities. 3. Annually you need to submit your tax return. The lucky ones get a tiny refund. The unlucky ones end up making another substantial contribution to the government coffers. But that is only part of the story. 4. Every month a portion of your salary gets paid over to your retirement funding administrator who invests it on your behalf (after taking a substantial commission for themselves to do so). In my own country it is compulsory for these retirement funds to invest a % of what they administer into some or other government bond. So there the government gets use of some more of your money. 5. Many of you who still have some surplus money left over after meeting all your other obligations “dutifully” buy more of these government bonds. What is the VAT/GST rate in your country? In my own country the rate is currently 14%. How much of the pump price you pay for fuel is loaded with all sorts of government levies? In my own country well over a third of the price is tax. The government fleeces us around every corner and still they somehow manage to run up a national debt, for the USA in excess of USD 17 trillion. Somehow we manage. Somehow we survive. If we don’t we get liquidated by our creditors. Check out this list again List of Countries by External Debt. Worldwide governments are effectively bankrupt. A fresh trigger that sparks a collapse/recession/depression does not leave many of them with any wriggle room to stimulate their economies again. I fear the consequences.

[hv=pc=n&s=st954hj983dt875ct&w=sq763ht4daj96cj86&n=skj82hakq2d43ck43&e=sah765dkq2caq9752&d=n&v=b&b=13&a=1n(15-17%20HCP)]399|300[/hv] How good are your methods over the opponents 1NT opening bid?