gszes

I would go with 2h reverse. This leaves about as much space as possible for exploration and that can be crucial since we have no clue where we are headed. The reverse shows almost the same values as a jump shift and creates a force (unless p lied over 1d in which case 2h might work well (Kxxxxx xxxx void xxx) if they pass our 2h (which I normally would hate to see) bid.

I see no strong reason why it is only east that might have Kx in spades especially (but this is not a precondition) if lho has a singleton heart. Ducking the first dia is ok but after winning the club. draw trumps ending up in south hand then low spade toward A If lho began with QJ9 of spades and the play of the 9 convinces their p to jettison the K sobeit. Except for this unlikely circumstance I think the chances of the opps NOT unblocking for Kx are higher this way. Especially if LHO began with Kx because they can make their spade play AFTER their p signals under the spade A (depending on carding system that is).

My hand cannot be much better. A pass here will put incredible pressure on partner. A neg x will actually paint a realistic picture of our hand given our original pass. P will not be able to count on us for 2 aces so their ability to judge will be partially impaired. It just seems too risky to allow for a double game swing; Preempts work sometimes. Another consideration, If it goes 1c 4h p p 4s will we not feel compelled to make a slam try? The neg x now relieves us of this potential problem.

My bad,,, simplest (not most efficient but at these speeds who cares) is the lottery method. spades 1 thru 13 hearts 14 thru 26 dia 27 thru 39 club 40 thru 52 Pick a number btn 1-52 or 0-51 if you cannot stomach leaving 0 out of your programming. that is card 1 now pick another 1 - 52 and compare it to the one(s) already picked and keep doing that until a unused number is picked and keep that up until 51 of the 52 possible are picked then assign the last card (checking the deck starting from 1 up to 52 and if a number is missing that is our last card. This is "dating" me but the randomizer in any decent software is based on using the internal clock so the results will vary depending on the processing speed of each individual computer. This factor alone would make predicting the next deal nearly impossible (I suppose a quantum computer might someday accomplish this task).

Instead of "defending" the results over time of your method of dealing, why not simply reveal the method. For EX: my method is simply to create a randomized 52 card deck then deal :from the top: NESW. Just so happens this coincides with the recommended dealing method for FTF play. There can always be slight wrinkles, for EX: always give the first card to the dealer and then deal clockwise for the remainder of the hand. Stop using boards that have previously been played. They are great for teaching but totally unnecessary in these days of faster than light computers (ok so technically maybe a tad slower than that). IF a tournament is going to be NOT random, the exact reason for the lack of randomness must be revealed prior to a person committing to play in it.

Opposite 12 - 14 the opps might very easily (read probably) have a game and rarely a slam. Our side might not be able to make even 1s but might make 6 xx KQJx KQJ xxxx (spades 30) OR Axx xxxx Axx AQxx (spades 11). Since there is no rational reason to assume anything about opener's hand the fact that the opps probably have a game means our best bet is to take away as much bidding space as possible. Getting up to 4s as quickly as the partnerships will allow seems to be the best bet. It is like an insurance bid, it might pay off big time (making 4) but going down a few not vulnerable will rarely lose all of the matchpoints. At unfavorable even going down 2 might end up being a zero so maybe offering a fake invite 1n 2h 2s 3s might be enough to win a ton of MP with less risk. Just don't be shocked if the field is in 4s making or the opps find and bid successfully to the 5 level by going slow.

A slight improvement would be to cash 1 trump before leading toward the dia A. Once you see the poor trump split it is not too late to reconsider and take the dia finesse instead --- unless you feel east will have 3+ dia and wont be able to ruff the 3rd round.

GIB merely shows HOW something can be done double dummy. Underleading the !H AK twice with south (inserting the 7 or covering the 9) happens to be the only sure way of forcing an entry to the south hand. Forcing the entry to south is only the first step. When south gets in they must lead the spade J and N must NOT ruff. This will eventually allow the defense to score 1c and 1h 3s OR 1c 2h 2s. It would be highly suspicious for ANY pair to find this ridiculous defense w/o the benefit of UI.

1n 2c 2d 3h (smolen) 3s spade support not a terrible hand for slam (else 4s or even 3n) 3n at least mild slam try no splinter need more info 4c cue 4h cue still unable to take control 4n rkc spades bidding assures no minor losers and hand is max 5s 2 with trump Q 5n asking for kings shows all 5 keys not enough to bid 7 yet 6h showing king not enough to go to 7 (with !HKQ would hazard 7) 6s having spade J should mean 6 is no worse than 32 trumps and 42 hearts but see no way to avoid heart loser so 7 seems out of the picture the main key is realizing the ability to ruff the 4th round of hearts with the spade J for trick 12 and only the 1n opener can know this.

I know I know this is the time P has 55 in the pointed suits and we have a great sac. Tooo bad. When p does NOT have such a miraculous hand, taking any action will most assuredly aid the opps in whatever contract they end up in. IMHO PASS

ARGHHHHH I knew I was in trouble MIKEH beat me to it

my usual garbage and 2c is by far the least encouraging bid of all. I would consider pass ONLY if we have an agreement that it says I have nothing worth bidding. A treatment I like a lot but it also loses out on some large penalties.

my highly boring sequence 2c 2d waiting 2s 3s natural -- 3+ spades and at least something useful besides a bust 4d 5d natural -- 4+ dia but probably not more than one useful card and no cue bid available 6d p hard to imagine partner not having the spade Q with no cue bid and dia might be the only way to make 6

The distractions are most likely because you have temporarily mixed up your priorities. Covid 19 has changed most of our daily lives and most of us are not only worried about not dying from covid 19 but from the added stress of non informative and incompetent government distribution of the various vaccines. For ex: i live in a county where the government covid vaccine website says "Please check back periodically as additional vaccines become available." this msessage has been unchanged in about ten days and contains absolutely zero useful information. Once we get this Covid beast under control the distractions will diminish and you will most likely be able to go back to your usual high level of enjoyment playing arguably the best competitive game in the world.

low heart If rho has the 4 controls there is just no way we are ever going to set this BUT if lho has the 4 controls they are heavy favorites to hold the heart ace and a low heart lead (in conjunction with our nasty surprise 4 spades) might be just enough to set them. I am picturing something like AKQ8 AJx AKxxx x opposite JTxxx Q xx AQxxx. Would you take the finesse at trick 1? I am having trouble picturing hands where declarer can go wrong knowing about the poor trump split at trick 1 where they would have succeeded w/o the trump lead.

ouch I am first so I better try to defend myself right away:) neither opp appears to have 4 hears so leading low from J hugely unlikely to give away more than 1 trick (if any). Spade A might score up a trick but also might allow declarer to ruff out a couple of partners spade honors and give up as many as 3 tricks (KTxxx? again hugely unlikely). Club J (I would still hate but much prefer a low club) the ONLY reason I would choose this lead is because it appears as a choice in a lead problem. Rho apparently has zero use for 3n and giving away a possible club trick (or 2) just seems strategically hopeless in light of the fact that clubs and spades are the only suits where dummy might have dangerous length. Let me go put on my armor and feel free to whale away sigh.

We "want" to test clubs and spades and diamonds before we make a final choice. Entries (especially to spades) are a problem if we test everything. IMHO we need to start with the spade A. If the K, Q or 9 falls. We have the time/entries to force trick 9. If nothing good happens in spades I would duck a diamond. The spade A might set up a couple of spade tricks but it will almost always allow us to score enough tricks any time the diamonds break 42 or better. The main purpose of ducking a dia is two fold: 1. They may make a tactical mistake after winning the diamond. 2. We still have diamonds under control in case they break 51 so we can still test clubs (giving up only 2 spades 1 dia and 1 club) Too many variables depending on spots and defense but following this LOP should allow us close to 96% w/o the risk of betting on any one suit until we have more evidence.

Late to the party as usual ASSUMING I have not totally misread the situation My solution is totally boring compared to Nige1 If you block the club suit you deserve to go down HAPPY HOLIDAYS and STAY WELL

FWIW again i doubt it will have any real bearing on outcome but it appears the scores were reversed (i did not have either of these in my history) according to the files it seemed like I won both rather than losing STAY WELL

FWIW the belated 3d bid would be strongly suggestive but also spade discouraging so I would not make that bid with this hand but go to 3h which is primarily asking for a heart stop for 3n purposes (the inference being I have a long suit and a good hand but one that I could not x with nor feel safe to overcall). I admit that will get me too high sometimes but it is worth small losses sometimes to give us the best chance at being in the right strain.

come on surely the SUPER platinum VIP membership grants me at least some edge over merely normal sheeshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh:))))))))

I like these questions that leave room for imps and MP I chose P in survey because That would be my choice at IMPS where I do not wish to lose the match by bidding in this very dangerous position while I still have a partner that will balance with any reasonable semblance of a hand. What I would do if it goes 2h p p x seems like a more interesting question :)))))))))))))))))))))))))) (3H) I expect pass to be unpopular since it goes along with my theory of imagining the best hand p can have and still pass (in the direct seat and acting accordingly in the PO seat. At MP I would hazard a 3d bid mainly because it dangerous to leave the opps in what looks like an easy 2 level spot. If we get clobbered it is only 1 board and we probably will lose only 30 MP while picking up 70 MP is hardly out of the question.

gszes pilowsky probably will make no difference to final standings but I have tried twice to play that round and the challenge was accepted but i have never seen any results

In these positions I try to imagine the BEST hand partner might have and pass. Axxx Axx xx Axxxx seems to be about the best possible holding (afraid to enter at unfavorable opposite a partner that might hold diamonds and zero). If we do NOT balance with these types of hands (where we can make 3 or even 4c) partner will be forced to become more and more aggressive in a rather dangerous position. I do NOT cater to the rare hand where p might hold the AKQ of hearts where p might be tempted to pass (ugh). Having said that, how much LESS do I need in order to NOT balance. I could live without the heart J but without the spade T I would not balance. SOOOOOOOOOOO I really would have little heartache for anyone that chooses to pass.

I need my 2 entries to help me two ways 1. take a dia finesse and 2. take a trump finesse if a heart honor drops from lho on the play of a top heart OR in the tiny chance east has all 4 hearts. Trick 1 win club A and pitch a dia Trick 2 dia finesse (paying off if west has (Kxxx or Kxxxx) or east has Kxxxx) Trick 3 plunk down heart A and see whats going on Q OR J fall from west Trick 4 spade to K Trick 5 heart to T Aside from open spaces I am hoping for Lho to hold 2+ spades (no spade lead) 1 H 3d (hoping for Kx* in east if my heart play is wrong) 7C. if this wins making 6 or 7. If this loses hoping for Kx* in east to make 6. Small from west Trick 4 Heart K hoping for 22 split making 6 or 7 OR if trumps 31 need east to hold Kx* in diamonds west shows out (I am REALLY glad I took that dia finesse early) trick 4 spade to K trick 5 heart toward T this lets me pick up trumps for 1 loser though I still need rho to have begun with Kx* in dia. * sigh with no dia lead if the T or 9 of diamonds falls from west at trick 2 the lack of a dia lead will probably get me to play lho for T9 of diamonds. The only real change will be playing the dia J after going to the spade K pretty much no matter how the play goes.