antonylee

Sorry to immediately derail the topic but can you detail why you only complete transfers with a fit? This approach is also fairly common in France, but if you want to help you slam bidding by identifying major fits quickly, it seems clearly better to only complete transfers without a fit, thus allowing you to transfer even with very weak hands with a 5-card major (as it is more likely that game will at least have some play with a fit).

In a "normal" 2/1 context (in particular, assume that 1M-2below-3M sets trumps)... any good agreements about what a 4M rebid after 1M-2below shows? Obviously, it should be some sort of very shapely hand, but do you have agreements about what partner needs to make a move towards slam?

How would you bid these hands? Neither table found the top spot. Our auction: [hv=pc=n&s=sakhajt73d3ckqj87&n=sq9754hq5dqt8c432&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1hp1s2d3cppp]266|200[/hv] 3♣ suggests some extras (we play good-bad 2N). The other table went 1♣[16+] (P) 1♦[0-8] (X) P[19+] (3♦) 3♠ (P) 4♣ (P) 5♣ (AP) so that was 5imps in.

Let's pretend we didn't field a team? :)

Minor additions for me: 2N=D or weak D+C; 3H=31(54) or 4144 (the additional step makes this easy to unwind) but 3S=13(54) :-)

I'm in with my regular partner, gqc6.

Romex Stayman works reasonably fine, although I used to play something slightly different that the version posted by Trick13. 2N-3C... ...3D: 2-3H, 2-4S ...3H: 4-5H ...3S: 5S ...3N: 44Ms 2N-3C; 3D... ... 3H: 4S ... 3S: puppet to 3N (at least here opener could still be XX'ing it...), signoff ... 3N: 5S=4N, nf 2N-3C; 3H... ... 3S: how many hearts? (3N=4, higher ad lib.=5), possibly some slam hands ... 3N: to play 3N-3C; 3S... ... standard. together with 2N-3D; 3H... ... 3S: how many hearts? (3N=2, higher ad lib.=3+) ... 3N: 4S=5H and whatever scheme you like for single and two-suited minors (I like the simple and efficient 3S=C or C+D, 4C=D). In other words, after either player bids 3D, the 3S and 3N bids are swapped, so it's not too hard on the memory side. There's quite a lot of room to squeeze in 4M6m slam hands although to be honest I forgot all of it :-)

Indeed, more detailed follow-ups would be useful. It has become not so rare, though, to see 1M-3m played as invitational, but I haven't see much about auctions such as 1S-3D(inv); 4C(=?)-4H(=?) either. At the table my assumption was that after the JS, 4♣ is a priori a cue rather than length, and that the only way to play in clubs is by jumping to 6♣ or via a pick-a-slam 5N.

If, over your 1NT(F) partner rebids 2♣/♦ then you are fine, if he rebids 2♥ then you are obviously happy, and if he rebids 2♠ you can suppress hearts and support spades. I would say the case of opener jump-shifting is rare enough to be ignored (and it's not as if the hand becomes unbiddable). A weak hand will just bid hearts without jumping at the next opportunity, as in standard. Certainly this is a bit vulnerable to preemption, although again you have jumps and non-jumps in hearts available (over moderate preemption), and partner can always correct if he knows to expect two-card support. As mentioned above: Partner probably has an OK suit, but he doesn't have another way to show this shape & strength.

I can play.

Yes. Like in most non-relay approaches we don't differentiate between 6 and 7 card suits on the first round of a (constructive) auction :-) Why would it be total BS? You have two jumps to 3♥ available, one directly over 1♠ and one via 1NT (F). If you decided to play JS as intermediate (which may or may not be optimal but is probably not total BS), you may as well use that to indicate spade tolerance or lack thereof (especially as 3♥ does take away a lot of space). Now as I noticed above, due to the possibility of a 2♠ rebid over 1N, it may be better to play the other way round (direct 3♥ = 0-1♠) though.

I don't have any firm agreements here but I would assume that bidding 3♥ then 4♥ implies doubt about strain whereas a direct 4♥ implies wanting to play there even opposite a stiff (which is what partner had, in this case). Ah, the advantages of opening 1♣ with 5-5 in the blacks. Oh well.

Partner cues 4♦, what now? Partner probably has an OK suit, but he doesn't have another way to show this shape & strength. Which makes me realize that I should probably swap the direct 3♥ (currently 2♠6♥) and 3♥ after 1N (currently 0-1♠6♥), because otherwise responder is stuck after 1♠-1N-2♠ (if he has 2♠6♥ at least he can suppress his heart suit and raise spades). I'd be happy to hear about your better alternatives.

Club Swiss [hv=pc=n&s=sakq84hqdj7cakj63&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1sp3h(!)p]133|200[/hv] 3♥=2♠6♥, 8-11 HCP. What's your plan? If you think this agreement is silly, you get to bid after 1♠-1N; 3♣-4♥, which is not necessarily better imo. [hv=pc=n&s=st9863haj95432d5c&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=p1d1sd3h(!)p4sp]133|200[/hv] Do you agree with the initial pass? 3♥=fit showing. Worth an additional move?

[hv=pc=n&s=sajhkqj2dqj9cqt32&w=sk963h985da76cj94&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=1n(11-14%2C%20can%20have%205cM)dppp]266|200[/hv] Matchpoints, club game. The HK goes to to partner's 4 and declarer's ace. Declarer returns a spade and you decide to hop ace, partner playing the 2. 1. What does partner's 2 mean? Count? Attitude? SP? (You have agreed UCDA, usually attitude to partner's leads and count to declarer's). 2. How do you defend?

I have been a bit annoyed when I realized that the deal from Mark Horton's July column in the ACBL Bridge Bulletin, which he describes as having played "in an early round of the Gold Cup against less than formidable opponents" comes in fact from the 15th World Youth Teams (bulletin #5) (spot cards and two variations in the play all identical). I don't think there's much to do about it, so it's just a free rant. (edited to rectify the link)

Quickly :)

[hv=pc=n&s=sj865haqj85d7cat4&n=sqt43ht3dat86543c&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1h2cd3c3s4c4sdppp]266|200[/hv] On the 3rd board of a 7-board sectional Swiss, in then top 3rd of the field (you probably won a couple of overtrick imps in the first two boards), partner aggressively puts you in 4♠. How do you proceed on the ♣K lead? A couple of boards later, you need to find a lead after a spirited auction: [hv=pc=n&s=s874ha654d54cq753&d=n&v=e&b=9&a=1c1d1h1s2c2s3c4d5cpp5ddppp]133|200[/hv]

A funny relay auction: http://usbf.org/docs/vugraphs/USBC2015/html/USBC2015_R16_1_s1.htm#bd13 Dinkin-Tunçok go through every bid between 1C and 3H except for 1N. As a side note the USBF scripts clearly don't handle auctions with more than 9 alerts :)

Would be nice to have some screenshots / no-login area to figure out how it works before registering or e.g. before setting up some common time with your partner to try the website (which sounds like a great idea, certainly).

Even in card play such non-transitivity exists, see e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suit_combination#Mixed_strategies It doesn't really matter; again there is always an optimal (in the sense of non-exploitable) strategy.

X T/O limited to competitive values. 2M to play 2N puppet to 3C then... ... pass to play ... 3D undefined ... 3H/S 5crd invite ... 3N club slam try 3C Stayman (3D=no major, no stopper) 3D/H invitational or better transfer, 6crd if invitational 3S raise to 3N without a stopper (à la fast 3N in Lebensohl) 3N raise with a stopper Perhaps it makes more sense to play transfers as weak or GF (especially against 2M overcalls) and put the invites in 2N, to be less vulnerable against further raises.

Even opposite KQJxxx you can still go for 500 if partner has a mirror distribution; in practice I think the ST makes it more likely that overcaller has {A/K}Jx as a stop. As it turned out, partner had KQxxxx and out so passing was the correct double-dummy decision (although it is not clear whether they could actually have nailed us). ... but mr1303 guessed what happened; the auction continued (3H) P (4H), a spade was led and a diamond trick went away on the solid clubs. -480 was a bottom :-(

I'm pretty sure you'll get to lead one after some transfer auction?

[hv=pc=n&s=st74hj6dakqt5c873&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=2s2n]133|200[/hv] NAP C first qualifying, so very uneven matchpoint field. Do you act?