gszes

We are not making this hand if trumps break 30, so our LOP should be looking for the best way to cope with 2/1 trump splits. There is little problem if rho has 2 dia but there can be a big problem if LHO started with Jx. We need the spade finesse but there is no hurry we can always return to dummy later via the trump suit. There is ONE holding in the trump suit that can scuttle our plans (if we are not careful) and that is RHO having the singleton dia A. If we win trick 1 and immediately lead a low dia we defang the singleton dia A because when RHO wins the A if they return a heart they can no longer set up LHO Jx via uppercut because we can ruff with the Q and pull trumps with the K. After we pull trumps it is a small matter to return to dummy via the dia K to take the spade finesse and ruff the third round and cash the top heart.

searching this wonderful collection of defenses (ty for the link) the basic set up is indeed called WONT. NOW for another question? The original design is that the x is designed to show a one suited hand only and not for penalty (and that is how I propose to use it in PO seat). I propose to expand/change the definition to x (in direct seat) to include not just 1 suited hands (on lead) but also strong balanced hands near or above the range of the nt opener???? I looked and could not find this application anywhere. Is that sufficient to rename a convention or should it be called wont modified??? anyone know ??????

I am concerned to see so many defenses based on whim vs the beauty of the science presented by the defenders signalling methods. In this case RHM has the clear cut best position BECAUSE p failed to signal holding the heart J by the order they played their spades. If p had signalled the heart J we need to see it and defend differently and NOT just guess:)))))))))))))))))))))))

There is no such thing as ALWAYS in bridge because there are too many situations where deviating from the "norm" is mandatory. IMO the "NORM" should be playing the lowest from any sequence. While this is not always telling p what is going on it starts to limit what cards declarer has and has an extra advantage of giving p much more accurate information when you have to play a high card from a non sequence. !S KQJ sequence p leads a low !S dummy has a singleton if you insert the K p is still at a total guess as to declarers holding. There is no reason to assume declarer doesnt hold the AQJ. If you always play low you will gain when you dont have a sequence. IE Kxx p leads low dummy plays small and you play the K and declarer wins. In this instance p knows declarer has the AQ and can start to count them out. NOT so if you play high from a 3 card sequence. Your p may need to guess what to do at trick 2 and playing high from a 3 card sequence gives them a lot less informaton to work with. P leads low from Txxx and you with KQJ insert the K. P wins next trick and has to decide how to proceed. If you are playing high from 3 card sequence they know nothing since the play of the K could have been forced. At least if you play the J there is a decent chance it is the lowest from a sequence and continuing your original attack might be advisable. Do not confuse this with pitching where the TOP of a SEQUENCE is the norm.

I have tried exploring dont, brozel, lots of forms of astro, forms of landy, forms of cappeletti and no matches so far. Any other ideas???? I tried looking up WONT and couldnt get anything from the internet.

doesn't matter opps nt range 2c relay showing clubs and a major a weak partner can pass the 2c bid after 2d relay 2h = hearts (and clubs) 2s = spades (and clubs) 2d red suits 2h majors 2s spades and diamonds 2n minors Direct seat x generally a one suited hand but can also be a strong balanced hand roughly near the top of opps 1n range (or stronger) and asks p to leave the x in with as little as an A or K and Q (and a generally balanced hand) If p cant stand the x they run to 2c (pass or correct) OR bid their own suit. PO seat suit bids the same x = 1 suited hand relay to 2c for pass or correct if not I would like to christen it zeldon (variation of bro(zel) and (don)t

the way it looks to me declarer started with one of six hand types if they have any play for contract (with 1 more heart and 1 less dia possible). 1. AKxx Jxx Qxxx Ax 2. AKxx Jxx QJxx Ax 3. AKxx Txx QJxx Ax 4. AKxx Txx Qxxx Ax 5. AKxx JTx Qxxx Ax 6. AKxx JTx QJxx Ax we can ignore hand 2 and 6 since there is no way to set the hand RHM has the position nailed perfectly and this defense handles hands 1/4/5) IMO because P did not try to signal they had the heart J by the way they played their trumps. With hand 3 declarer was worried you might be 1543 and was afraid to try for a 2nd dia trick for fear a third round would get ruffed. They then ruffed out the club suit hoping it would eliminate clubs from your hand and they could guess how to play by your discards (knowing they were dead if you started with DIA A and KQJ hearts). If p had played trumps 732 then we would have had to play declarer for hand 3 or 4 and hold void Qx A Q (this defense handles hands 3 and 4) if declarer leads a heart P will win the J and we claim. if declarer lead a dia we win lead small heart to p J and win club return and claim. Yet another triumph for suit preference when following to trumps (or the run of a suit in nt <unless p needs to know count to know when to take their ace>) vs count.

AS USUAL if you need me call me=ill be online about 15 min before game time just in case (gszeszycki)

our "speculative" 2c bid has turned on us big time. Why we didnt start with a forcing 1n with our balanced min game forcing hand ill never know. There is no way to gather any useful information from this point we just have to bid 5h (showing our ace) and not much extra and hope and pray p didnt start with Axxxxx x AQ Axxx where spades has a whole ton of extra chance and 6c not so much. If p bids 5s (extra length) we should just bid 6s and hope it works.

I agree with the michaels bid. I have a tendency to use michaels when I want to emphasize that I have a minor suit. For ex with KQJTxx xx JT8xx void I am never going to bid michaels because I want to emphasize the spades (ie i'll bid 1s). As long as p is aware of this concept we will rarely end up in the wrong suit and a lot of the "danger" of using michaels with the current hand is eliminated.

hand one Our 2n was underbid because of the singleton K but now that we have found a large spade fit the k is probably useless and irrelevant but our hand has improved. First p is virtually NEVER going slamming missing the AK(Q) in ALL of the side suits. Our hand is so good after p bids 3h the 5 level is almost certain to be safe unless p manages to have xxxxx xx xxx xxx and I mean ALL x's. Bridge is an exercise in probability and opener should bid 4n over 3h not merely show a max because this hand is a super max. When p shows 1 bid 6s and expect it to be close to a lay down. VERDICT blame N HAND TWO Responder is showing at least 6 spades and has denied having as much as an A or K. Once again an exercise in probability. The 5 level is a huge favorite to be safe opposite any 6 spades so all we need to know is how good are responders spades (both sides know QJTxxx is the best the suit can be). After p bids 4h opener should bid 5s asking for good spades. Responder has no trouble TRUSTING P and bidding 6s. VERDICT blame N HAND THREE This one is a bit of a quandary since my understanding of the wolff 3d is a checkback. The wolff systme I learned a 3s bid (promising 5+ and slam interest) seems like a better bid than 3d because it will allow opener to better appreciate honors in your 5 card spade suit. However we chose a nebulous 3d bid and learned little from the exercise aside from the fact opener has at most 5 cards in the major suits (2s 3h but it could be less ex hand 1 a stiff K in the majors). Are we now doomed becasue our side has shown around 31-32 hcp and no runnable long suit??? I think not-- the bidding makes it possible that opener has a 5+ card club suit (if I had Kxxx AKJx in minors I am opening 1c). If p has a 5 card club suit we might be able to make a slam via ruffing spades and setting up the 5th spade OR maybe even ruff a heart with our 3rd club. I would hazard a 4n quantitative bid and in this case opener will gladly bid 5c and you can cue bid 5d they bid 5h you bid 5s and they bid 6c. So for cowardice above and beyond and possibly misusing wolff---- VERDICT blame S

team game going to start in around 50 min my partner and i diana_eva cannot register and the message received is this is a private' tournament and your name (gszes or gszeszycki) do not appear on the list. My partners name is on the list but she cannot register with me. Can someone please check for spelling????

apparently this post began 2 WEEKS AGO and I just found it-- I am available if anyone is short a partner. If noone responds by say 4pm est tomorrow I will try to convince a bbo friend of mine to play.

spade A heart to A club to Q dia A pitch spade dia K pitch heart heart toward hand and here is where play diverges if rho follows play K and (if it holds) try to ruff low heart if opps win this trick they have only 2 trump left and with any luck we win return draw trumps and claim if rho ruffs 2nd heart we follow small again opps have only 2 trumps hopefully we win return pull trumps and claim if rho follows play K and if lho ruffs we now have to hope lho started with only 2 trumps win return and try to ruff low heart if that works win return draw trumps and claim if rho discards on 2nd heart we win then lead low heart and ruff if/when rho ruffs opps have only 2 trumps left and with any luck we win the return pull trumps and claim.

p has passed and was unable to raise spades over 4h or even offer a neg x. I dont like my p to pull my po seat x at 4 level with weak hands. If p has a weak hand we are probably not setting 4h. I feel there is a good chance we might make something or (more likley go down 2 or less) in a contract but it is just plain unsafe to x here not enough defense. I would bid 4s and xx if rho x (warning p that 4s might not be best place to play not that I underbid with 4s).

The mere fact that I pass vs x should suggest some useful values to p (lets say at least 4 at least 2 queens) with less I have to x) That means I can bid 4n with 8-9 6n with 10-11 5n with 12-13 more just bid 7n and blame p if its wrong if we pass and are balanced p knows we are in the 4-7 range and we will pass if p x 4c. All ranges of balanced hands are covered this way and we can use pass and pull or bidding suits to show suit oriented hands and differentiate btn weak vs slam oriented hands. on the given hand over 4c I would just bid 4n

I think this section is fine for match scheduling/reply. Once you know where it is its easy to slide to bottom. I think the interesting hand discussion should be held under the advanced/expert area for a number of reasons. 1. eliminates clutter from this area 2. placing hands in advanced/expert area will allow for more "excitement" within bbo for these matches. 3. the play/bidding problems have a natural "home" in the advanced/expert section (as long as bidding conventions used are clearly explained) and will generally make interesting reading for all.

i would start with 1d gambling 3n weirdly makes it too easy to bid 3n and might cause many slams to be missed. It does have the advantage of being preemptive (but to whom) after 1d p 1s 2h I would gamble a 3h bid. after 1d p 1s 3h I would trot out 4d and hope their preempt didnt kill us

from what I read about system 2s is passable. If this is not true then kindly disregard the remander of ths diatribe. Opener cannot have a good hand period-- some bid other than 2s is required. It is impossible, within the constraints of your system, to gather simple information like current distribution. You may want to at least make a 2/1 bid forcing to 2n and that way opener can make simple distributional calls like 2h with a 64 and not be concerned about gettng passed out or promising extra values. Your 3h bid could either be hearts or merely heart stuff looking for 3n. Since opener cant be sure you have hearts I would suggest that the 4c bid is showing shortness with dia support. this is the type of problem created when a weak hand has too many constraints on how it can describe distribution. good luck.

the presence of the A vastly impoves both the offensive and defensive potential of this hand. If the suit was KQTxxxxx I would have no heartache with 4d but here I would satisfy myself with 3d because it leaves 3n in the picture and maybe the opps will bid and hang themselves. not a clue how 100 experts would bid but you could set up a poll here and ask the posters.

COME ON posters----you have been offering opinions on literally THOUSANDS of issues. Advice I hope you gave to help others improve. Now is the time to step up and take a swing in the major leagues (I know I know many of you already have). Put those thousands of ideas to work and lets try to show the (well in this case the world I guess) that reading the bbo discussion forums is worthwhile. The coordinators (thank them a ton for their time) can only do so much without your help. We apparently have a TON of people playing in a league where one of the main prizes is a chance to represent bbo against the JEC (tell me its not the approx 20 bucks a person to the winners) and we cant get enough volunteers to play every WEEK???? come on throw you hat in the ring and play with a stranger if you have to-------ill be in the bleachers thursday (assuming we can field a team) and ill bring the beer and pretzels and see if we can get the miami heat dancers to do a half time performance. hows THAT for inspiration:))

I have no clue which thread is most relevant so here I go again. I have no bbf partner and I also have no time problems with thur evening or the possibly proposed tue afternoon session. If you need someone to fill in let me know and if you need a pair I can get one of my bbo friends to play (non poster). I will try to watch this thread (I hope this is its new home). I also am interested in the league but I was informed I need to ask captains about that and can find no listing for captains anywhere.

we run across this theme a lot-- opener has already tried to sign off in 3n responder wants more. Opener is in no position to take control of the hand and should be able to bid 4n if they wish to reinforce lots of spade stuff. Given that what do other bids mean? personally I would bid 4n with this hand but otherwise I would bid 5d a nearly self sufficient suit (p must be realy short in spades or realy strong to bypass 3n so either way 5d should be helpful. I really would not have problems with anyone that chose to bid 5d with this hand vs 4n. Since you failed to make any cue bids p should have little trouble imagining your hand (though they might not imagine spade KQ) That leaves 4d 4h 4s as available for cue bids for hands that look slammish. P isnt slamming looking at Kxxxxxx in clubs that is the one suit they should have covered. A mere correction at the 4 level is too small a target and the space is better served for cuebids.

a cruddy hand to be sure but ceritiable come on:) your p chose a 1s overcall that usually occurs when they either have really decent spades or a hand that looks like a poor candidate for a tox (especially in this case where the bidding makes it look like p is short in dia) the x is much more flexible (p might even bid 2h with 3 of them and a non rebiddable spade suit). The x also keeps clubs alive which 2h will usually bury. This is my way of saying WD I agree with the x and they might as well send the butterfly nets after me as well.

I am available for both sessions if you need someone to fill in. I have no forum partner regular or otherwise so maybe a tad of advance notice will allow me to comare some notes with whomever I might play with might help. I do not mind filling in for ten boards or so if someone else can start but cannot finish. sorry for the late reply I just now found this post. If you need a pair I can talk a bbo friend into playing.