mr1303

Quick question for someone with a not very solid understanding of the laws. The laws state that a player with UI may not select, from logical alternatives, one demonstrably suggested by the UI. But double isn't a logical alternative here though?

I dislike 2H quite a lot with a 7 card suit. For me it's between 3H and pass, and at these colours I pass.

The laws state that "A player in receipt of unauthorised information may not, from logical alternatives, choose one which is demonstrably suggested by the unauthorised information" In the example you gave, the hesitation suggests that partner had other calls available to him, and probably that he had some extra values for his 2S call, that he wasn't happy about passing 3H. That being said, with 4 card support, it may well be deemed that passing 3H is not a logical alternative, and so the 3S call may stand. It would depend on exactly what the 4 points were, and a few other factors. A singleton heart for example would pretty much (IMO) guarantee that passing 3H was not a logical alternative. The director cannot rule that the 3S should be cancelled. When there is a hesitation, director should instruct the players to play on and call him back at the end of the hand if the non-offending side are damaged by the use of UI, and can adjust the score accordingly.

Really hope I play invitational jump shifts, so I bid 3C. If not, I bid 2C the first time regardless. Been down before...

The director is never called on anyone, the director is called if there is an irregularity or to establish correct procedure.

If it went 1H (2C) X (P) back to me, where X is penalty, would I be happy passing. Maybe I should be, but I'm not completely. Therefore I bid 2D. If I let opponents off their 1100, so be it.

I must... stop.... bidding on these hands. No good can come of it....! I'd probably double and concede -300 against nothing. I do this far too often.

It's stuff like this that makes me pissed off generally with playing in bridge clubs.

The OP suggests that West went an extra one down, which I take to mean probably 2 down in this case, rather than 1. Unless the defence is truly horrible, I can't see any more than 8 tricks. So I adjust to 3S X -1, NS + 200. Other than that, agree with Gnasher.

Very tough to reach 6C here. In your methods I would stop in 4H since it is too risky to chance the 5 level. By the way, being forced to bid 4H on any min semi-balanced hand is not best. The jump to game should show a hand with very poor controls.

I really do hate bidding on this hand. The only time I'd do this is with a partner that I didn't rate.

What are you expecting partner to be able to cue here? I keep it simple, 4NT RKCB

Last night at the local club, we had a playing director who was very busy. As a result of a few director calls, his table ran out of time. He assigned his table Average + for both sides. Is that right?

No, East and West called the director simultaneously as soon as the dummy went down. When the director came over, South kept saying that it was obvious that he didn't have 20+ HCP and that EW were trying to get the maximum result possible when they were already due to get a good score.

[hv=pc=n&s=skt73hk4d73ckqt93&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=1h2c(20+%20Any%20shape%5B%21%5D)d2h(UCB)p2sp3dppdppp]133|200[/hv] This was the rather unusual scenario that occurred tonight. On the previous board, South had opened 2C, which was explained as 20+ HCP any shape. On this hand, North had not noticed the 1H opening bid, and as a result gave the same explanation. East led a club, then when dummy was put down, the director was called. He tells you to play the hand out and to call him back. Table result was 3D X -2, EW +500. Any thoughts? Edit: EBU land if it matters.

I remember playing around with Zar points and teaching them to my university bridge club. It's certainly worthy of mention, but I just prefer to look at a hand and evaluate, rather than count all of these Zar superfit points etc. Too much brain ache.

My instinct is to double to avoid being stolen from, but I think the passers have the better analysis. So I pass.

Occasionally people say things that occasionally come out a little brusque perhaps. It's not the end of the world. Anything that is genuinely offensive, vulgar etc. soon gets pulled by the moderators, as indeed it should be. But if you want any good bridge advice, there's no better place to go for it.

If 3S is constructive but non-forcing, then you might just get away with the call. Obviously, if you hit the right dummy, you may get lucky and 4S could be an excellent game. Without a spade fit however, all games will be horrible to play, and might well get doubled, and that is why a forcing 3S bid is inappropriate with this hand.

Whatever you play, you really need to have pass meaning that you're going to put down the dummy. You have a flat 5 or 6 count fairly large proportion of the time, where 1NT might make, might go 1 off, but you don't really want to be forced into sending it back, or playing a silly 4-3 fit at the 2 level just because you can't play in 1NT.

4S. Agree that 4H is a cue, not a suggestion to play. I prefer a 3NT call to be soft values. This sort of hand is a 4S bid in my book.

I do think that all of these Jacoby 2NT etc responses are pitched rather high for the novice forum. And comments such as "Anyone vaguely competent will know Jacoby 2NT" don't really help novices etc with their confidence, apart from anything else. When I'm teaching term 1, I teach that the OP hand is a raise to 3. If the hand is slightly stronger, then the hand is a raise to 4S. Delayed game raises or Jacoby 2NT etc are definitely 2nd year material.

So, do most "top Acol players" (put in parenthesis as there don't appear to be that many) use strong NT doubles? If so, how do they continue after this? It's always occurred to me that bidding after a strong NT double, it can be quite difficult to successfully evaluate opposite this kind of hand, where presumably there's no mention of a stopper in the suit, or shortage in the overcalled suit or anything similar. A further question: What do you do with [hv=pc=n&n=sakt94ha95d5ck852]133|100[/hv] after the auction 1S 2D if you're playing these light 2/1s?

Sorry, it would appear I accidentally deleted a square bracket.

The death hand for Acol seems to be something like: [hv=pc=n&n=sk4hkq73daj72ck62]133|100[/hv] After the auction 1H 1NT, I presume you're meant to pass here? Supposing the auction proceeds 1H (P) 1S (2C), what do you bid now?