gszes

Partner "borrows" 7 HCP from your hand when they bid/make a tox well guess what! we don't have anything close to the 7 they borrowed. This bodes ill for our side and damage control at imps is a heck of a lot more important (this means don't get slaughtered) than worrying about possibly scoring a tiny amount of imps hoping to set 3h. In this case 4c is the way to go. We have zero reason to suspect we can beat 3h and 4c is a fair warning to p we do not want to defend. Whatever P wants to do at this point we will be happy to let them do it but our hand is just plain too putrid to take a chnce on getting slaughtered. we are chooing 4c not because the suit is slightly better but because 4c is the most flexible bid in dangerous circumstances. At MP its only 1 board go for it and pass the x if you want but IMPS letting the opps score up an easy game bonus is bad for partnership morale and it takes a lot to make up for it.

It wasn't pretty 5/25 featured 4 valiant bbo forum poster warriors that came back looking like the Persian army had run over them with elephants. Yet despite the forum posters getting hammered (again sigh) they want us to field another team for NEXT SATURDAY thats right ONE WEEK ackkkkkkkkkkkkkk. Can we do it--can we find 4 more intrepid warriors to take up the bbo forum poster banner and risk becoming elephant toe j*m (ickkk)?? The recruiting office is now open for business-----------------------------------

at MP (where its only 1 board) I have no trouble with x. at IMPS opposite a passed partner the risk vs reward ratio seems to tilt in favor of pass. We need p to be close to max for a passed hand to make game and looming to our left is a still unlimited opponent who may just be waiting to use the biggest hammer ever invented to x whatever we do. I do not see the benefit of x here at IMPS distribution is too boring.

P P 3h Even though there are only 17 HCP left out there I see no reason to assume p has less than their fair share (6-8) x seems wrong when we are practically forcing p to bid 4 of a minor. The practical call here is 3n and we would not be even the tiniest bit upset if p were to pull that to 4s:))) I completely do not understand the 4c bid when 3n for the minors is a complete standout and may allow us to play in what may be our best spot. Showing only 1 suit here makes no sense.

Commenting on W bidding is useless we are more concerned with the N hand. When we bid 4S was it to make or as a sac?? Opposite any minimum overcall 4s is a sac that means the opps are guessing what to do. Since we are unsure our side has any defensive tricks outside the heart A and we are certain any "tricks" p has in spades are worthless) I see no reason to assume 5s is the right thing to do since we are unsure about setting 6h. The opps are guessing 5h is the right spot let's hope they are wrong.

opposite a passed partner vulnerable our 8 count and good distribution offers us some protection but lets face it the opps have the majority of the power it is just a question of how much more they have. Our best chance to "win" this auction is to get our major suits in and this means 2d is probably goingto work the best overall. It allows us to play at the 2 level almost all the time and since we are already a passed hand p will not go overly crazy with raising w/o a really well fitting hand. The double is indeed mroe flexible but do we really want to risk playing in a 43 club fit (or p passing 1dx) when we might all too easily have a 53 major suit fit? That is the biggest hang up I have with x is that the majors are not given their proper due. 5404 4504 4405 x would look a lot better (even if the result would not be any better). Pass is the only reasonable alternative and vulnerable it may be a reasonable choice but I can't keep my grimy fingers off the 2d card sigh.

preempts work p has shown very good hearts and even though my douleton is not a detriment p was under some pressure after the 3c bid. It is entirely possible that p has a ton of decent hearts and not much else and making any move past 4h is turning a postive into a negative. The risk vs reward for moving beyond 4h seems unreasonable when looked at that way PASS

2c same bid i would make if the spade Q was small too much potential to gamble a 1d opener even though these minor suit hands are tough to de well after a 2c opener.

using splinter in a quantitative fashion with my own little twist 1s 2d overcall 3d limit+ spades no more opp bidding 4d splinter singleton or void 5h 12-13 outside diamonds (not including jacks) + a "ruffing" holding Ax or Kx Jx or xx in hearts (with Qx you can't count the Q as part of the 12/13) 7s

It's wed night and unless we have some further objection the foursome for this match looks like gszeszycki/Abcxl TylerE/TheArb. My plan is to turn this lineup in around 10am eastern tomorrow. According to the system I set up we are in first come first served and the system no longer matters so anyone that wishes to step forward at this late date will have to convince the pairs chosen to let them take their place. JEC is very understanding about last minute changes to our lineup and they are ok with us bringing new players at the half way point. Keep this in mind if a pair still wishes to play we can probably arrange for my p and I to leave after the 14th board (my p is aware that posters have priority for this match).

ok good PASSION thats a start now for the brass tacks--WHAT exact measure should be used any given week to choose the player that are to represent BBO FORUM POSTERS--I made up a system and if everyone hates it great we still need a concrete method of decision making. What would happen if ackk too many players suddenly volunteered? On what basis should the team be chosen first come first served? most masterpoints? most popular? A vote (what qualifications does one need to vote)? a playoff? Mgoetze had a ton of problems getting volunteers and he was upset at many times having to field advanced players---I have no such problem. The experience of playing JEC is great I have made ten new bridge friends since I played in the match we won and still play casually sometimes with my p from that match. We are in a unique situation where posters get some extra exposure to some top notch competition and we don't have to travel the world to do so. Let's try to enjoy it while we can and give everyone a fair chance.

even though we are close to max for a passed hand we are probably not missing game unless p can act over 3s. X here to show values might leave a weak partner in an untenable position and we can all too easily be turning a small plus into a minus. If p can act over 3s then we have to act depending on what p does. We will sometimes lose a part score but the bidding has already told p I have some values so let's see what they come up with and be happy with a small plus if they pass

IMPS BOTH VUL FIRST HAND stayman jacoby/texas smolen North hand T8 K86543 85 KT8 South opens 1n no interference how should n approach the bidding?

Things look like they are stacking up poorly for our opponents. It looks like p is practically drooling in anticipation of you making a tox so they can pass. Is this the right hand for it???? Convert those stupid quacks to another A and x will be automatic. AT MP the current hand x is a reasonable gameble since you will be right maybe 70% of the time. At IMPS that ratio is generally not worth it overall unless you are making a state of the match x needing some imps badly.

TOP dia not even sure what any other lead is trying to accomplish-- heart Q is just plain asking for trouble and needs luck to be worthwhile at all. Most of the time it will nothing more than lose tempo for the defense. Low club seems safer than hugely speculative heart Q but are we really expecting our lead from a 6 card suit to be effective. Our singleton trump does not mean a forcing defense will work since the bidding has given us no clue how long the opps trumps are. Top dia at least this gives us a great chance to lead through strength and with our heart A maybe even time to do so again (if needed) and set up defensive tricks. This lead can also work if we manage to find p with AQ with K to our left and we get a dia ruff. trump?? why all that will probably do is solve any trump suit problem declarer might have and almost assuedly loses tempo for forming defensive tricks. IMO !DT = 10 low !C = 7 !HA = 4 !S = 2 anything else but !HQ = 1 !HQ = -2

First note that past winners lose their elite status as soon as they lose (what have you done for me lately). When you lose you go to the back of the line (not that the line is overly long). Winning means winning against JEC during the bbo forum posters match. That means you have to play to win and gasp risk losing like our 1-36 record oh wait we are starting over 0-3 record would seem to indicate is a high degreee of probability. Think of it as a make it take it (from street basketball) type of situation or the winners on a public tennis court yelling NEXT to the players waiting to play while the losers go sit and wait for another chance. As long as one continues to win that player can come back every session and play with a new partner (not from the same team) or sit out a session and play with anyone they want. Winning IMO is how one proves strong. Credentials are important but take a back seat to actually winning. If there is ever enough interest we could strongly consider some sort of mini match between those that want to play and eliminate this entire system. The system is designed to reward success and act as a reward system for posters in general as well as trying to get people to commit to playing early. LET"S be honest we are hung up on a part of a system that could have only been used ONCE in the entire time JEC has been letting the posters play. Ignoring the majority opinion BTW is meaningless if we do not have ANY volunteers to play. Are one's chances of winning stronger if your teammates are 2 world class partners vs two advanced posters from bbo forums? ABSOLUTELY but unless we have any volunteers the point is moot. I also think that if 2 advanced bbo posters are scheduled to play and two WORLD CLASS players suddenly come up with an opening to play -- all it would take is a quick question and almost any sane advanced/expert player will be more than happy to wait their turn (since that player/pair would be high on the "seniority" list and could probably play in the next session.

since things are looking kind of grim I have asked one of my regular partners to pair with me. He is aware posters have priority but just in case gszeszycki-abcxl are signing up on a first come first served basis. So that means we have one pair and possibly tylere does anyone else want to step up????

This hand has enormous potential and both suits can usually be shown even in preemptive environments if instead of 1d we choose to open 1H Yes indeed the dia are longer and stronger but this hand while a powerhouse offensively is decidedly weak on defensive values and opening this hand 1d will make describing this hand very difficult at best. Choosing 1h will leave us with a lot of way of bidding this hand. If the bidding goes something like 1h p 1s we need to worry about a misfit and tone down our response with a simple 2d. Pretty much any other bidding sequence and we will have no tribble at all describing this monster. If the opps preempt we can still bid 5d with a pretty good degree of safety all the way to 5d. OK now with the actual bidding stuck with a 1d opener I think we need to be a tad more cautious with our response over 1s due to a possible misfit a simple 2d rebid does not do justice to this hand but we will most likely not miss game and the x to our left makes the hearts a bit less appealing. Stuck with 2h we need to pull the 3c x because p thinks we are strong (reverse). A 3h continuation does indeed show 56 but it aims for a contract (4h) that no longer looks that great at the expense of further emphasizing our wonderful 7 card dia suit. 3d would go a long way toward steering us toward dia or nt and we can even live with 4s once we have gotten our dia emphasis out of the way. Stuck with 3h over p 3s I am in a miserable position. We are afraid to consider 3n since we overbid with our reverse and now we are beginning to fear a misfit. A 4d bid makes it seem like we are slamming in the reds (a good reason to pull 3c x) and we are afraid to bid 5d with a misfit looming. If we cannot force ourselves to bid 3n we are probably best off biting the bullet and bidding 5d now more as a way of really really really emphasizing our diamonds (finally) but also trying our best to preclude a 4s bid from p. We do not want the opps to know we are running from 4s to 5d out of fear and have them x us all over the place. I see on the poll i managed to not check 4d as a bad bid please correct that error for me:)

If you had an 18 count full of quacks something like KQJ QJ4 KQJ QJxx that is a reasonable downgrade to 1n but be very wary of downgrading ANY hand when the power is heavily located in controls most especially strong hands 15+ because p may not want to do anything but issue a mild slam try when they are missing a lot of controls. One of the first steps in hand evaluation is to look and see if p has the max number of controls, for their bidding, is slam reasonable. After hearing p open 1n responder should only search for slam if they hafve a reasonble way of finding a 5 card suit in openers hand. It is too difficult to picture a 17 balanced hand that will give 6 good play. 1c 1s 2n 3d nmf 3s 3 card support 4c cue 4d cue 4s unwilling to go past 4 w/o a heart control 4n hand can't be much better for slamming p rkc and all side suits are controlled. 5h 2 w/o 6s

1c 1h 1s 2d (fsf) 3d 3h 3n 4h mild slam try and self sufficient hearts turn those quacks into the spade A and this hand goes rkc as it is pass 6d is not a very good contract 1 sure spade loser and almost no way to use trumps effectively and still not need a 33 trump break (ick)

X seems to be the way to go here. P will not normally pull w/o good reason to think they will make. Once in a while we will get slaughtered in diamonds or a moderate loss if they make but for the most part we are due a series of moderate gains vs passers. 5C seems like a sensible alternative IF you need a swing. The downside is huge if its wrong. A interesting problem arises after 5c pass if p now bids 5d is it considered natural or a cue bid for slam? Preempts work

this is a pretty darn cruddy spade suit and taking our chances at missing a decent club partial so we can emphasize this spade dreck seems off target. Treat this as a 4 card suit for now and x Listen to what your p bids. If p bids 2s then our 5 carder looks a ton better so we can raise to 3s. Who know p may bid 3c or 3d either of which may be vastly superior to a 2s contact opposite 2 small spades. Save your non forcing 1s bid for hand that have some decent suit quality. AQT9x for instance.

My counter-part will almost assuredly face the same problem I have. We have enough potential to make game or even slam when p was unable to bid at unfavorable over 4s. The down side is p range of possible values is huge and by huge I mean those values can be pretty darn small. Rho may easily have most of the remaining power and are just doing all they can to keep from drooling at the prospect of a match clinching penalty. As aptly put by Clint Eastwood character dirty harry "are you feeling lucky punk?" There is no good reason to assume one way or another what type of hand p holds. We know they do not hold all of the remaining power outside of spades !HAQJ !DAJ !CAKQJ there is no way they would have been quiet over 4s. If RHO was void in spades they very easily might pass with all that stuff (they won't pass whatever OUR side bids however). The odds seem very much stacked against you and sometimes being a hero means doing nothing stupid PASS

Rise with the K If trumps are breaking 4/1 a continued club defense seems completely obvious no matter holding Axxx or AQxx in spades. There are limited dummy entries and playing a club immediately forces declarer to decide how to use this entry before gathering information on the hand. There is a legitimate defense if trumps are breaking 32 and that is rho trying to get a heart ruff for his hopefully Hx partner by leading low from the A.

with xx xxx xxxxx xxx we would lead a diamond since that appears to be the best shot by far to hit p void if they have any. We avoid that lead here becasue if dia is 7s bidder 2nd suit it is just extremely unlikely they can possibly get rid of their dia losers unless maybe we lead one. Since a heart and a spade are totally wrong the process of elimination is a club. While a club is hardly a likely candidate for a ruff from p it appears to be the best shot given the bidding and our cards. I would not bet the morgage on it so 100% is a bit strong (courtesy PhilKing) but I agree that a club is the card we should pull from our hand this time.