gszes

interesting that you chose hours the JEC matches are normally played:)))))))))))))))

This is a guess but under normal circumstances we should be very close to slam. Our heart holding makes it hugely probable p is short in hearts and that increases our slam chances. What I would fear the most about x is whn p feels they have to leave it in with say xxxxxxx x AKx KQ or some such where we might easily miss 7s (we may well bid it) and trade it in for a paltry 300-500. I will go with my gut and use 4n and then ask for the spade Q. If p can produce both of those cards I will bid 6 and leave it to partner to bid 7 with exceptional spade length. If I try and sign off in 5s p might still be able to bid 6 with extra spade length (realizing we fear a spade loser). The 5 level rates to be fairly safe so slam exploration this way is anything but unreasonable with huge upside potential while hoping x gets left in has not so much.

A direct 3n or (even worse) 3N after 3M may actually work on occasion so they deserve a solid 2 to 3 rating (I have seen worse bids). Our hand structure and the bidding appear to make our combined assets a huge favorite to be in a suit contract. The fact that p is a passed hand does not mean they are broke and even slam is still possible at this point. Even worse would you not feel a TON better if P could bid 3n? Well that is a possibility if we start with x It looks reasonable to convert 3M to 4C since that is probably a safer contract and this is MP and -200 can be hugely bad for us. I am willing to gamble on 4M (knowing we might miss slam) and raise 4c to 5c. The main reason I like X so much is for the times P can bid 4d. While this is a nebulous bid this is where slam becomes a real possibility. A 5d bid here should adequately point out a lack of 4 card major (else 4n or 5M) and slam in sight asking p to pick a slam. NONE of the above is possible when starting with the hugely iffy 3n. Just a thought

There are times when one must reevaluate depending on the bidding. Your dia Q has significantly less value than it did when you first opened. If your p feels that a immediate 2c bid shows 11-12 merely apologize and say you erroneously discounted the dia Q and then they are happy to have won the argument and you can move on to more significant problems. Who knows? maybe they will look at what you did and learn something. 2c All day long all vul no matter imps or MP. I am much closer to bidding 3c (preempt) than I am of anything else just too darn flat and since there is still a chance at 44 spades I will not go any higher at this time.

I was one of those that wanted to search for game but with those 2 unsupported queens I would not consider your partner to have a max:)

last as usual 4d Not only does it show the 2 suited nature of your hand but it also clues responder in to the fact you intended to reverse. I feel this is a stronger sequence than 5d (which should be quite strong but potentially more losers (x void AKQJx AQxxxx) a hand willing to gamble on 6c if p prefers that suit. If responder cannot envision 7n after a 4d bid there is something wrong. 2140 MP is probably worth 15 in a normal field (too much fear about bidding at 7 level) but rates about 4 in a stronger field. I doubt I will often lose a match for 2140 vs 2220 at IMPS.

4h splinter Yes indeed it may be possible for 4h to be a self splinter for spades but that makes no difference because the spade suit needs to be no loser and opener can correct any minor to spades. It is a ton more flexible to assume there is a club fit (opener can correct to dia/spa if needed) and go from there. Opener also had a 3s (forcing) bid available if they had doubts about the spade suit.

The analysis is sort of correct but dia is NOT a new suit. Responder has already implied dia and a 3d bid is taking a mere preference with a sort of min hand and nothing better to do. 3d does not even guarantee dia support for ex you hold KJxxx xxx AKx Qx. What can you do besides bid 3d over the x?

p weak 2 spades and your dia void means the opps are huge favorites to have a ten+ card dia fit (that they have not found as of yet). Instead of taking the road less travelled (ie 3n with no reason to assume you will not get hammered even w/o x) let's try to take a tactical bid that takes advantage of the bidding. 5c This bid has a number of advantages. First there is no way to practically search for slam with our hand. Second there is essentially zero chance 4s is our best contract so 5c represents our best shot at making game. third this bid takes up huge room which will make it very tough for the opps to do anything intelligent. They might compete to 5h but they probably have almost no chance to bid dia. This is IMPS so we have given our side the best shot at game and even down the loss should be small. We may very well have caused the opps to miss game and probably kept them out of their best suit. That's a lot of reward for not much risk.

cruddy spade spots means I should be doing my best to try and score my little ones. It could be right to try for a forcing defense but getting club ruffs seems like the most sure fire way of collecting the tricks needed to set 4s.

The opps have at least 8 spades and any attempt to stop in 2h will leave us in the horrible position of having to bid 3h anyway and forfeiting almost any chance at game. This is not just a random 10 count all our values appear to be working and we even have reasonable heart spots in case we face only xx. I would opt for the 2c followed by 3h to show 6 game try. Hoping p has opened a horrid min (thus making 2h right) just seems to be another imaginative way of masterminding.

MP pass 15% Only if I think we need a top. 1c 2% Usually if I no longer care for my current CHO. 3c 85% We have nothing and since it is only 1 board the risk of getting slaughtered is minimized by winning a fair amount of the bidding contest hands when the opps misevaluate. 1N 0% If I really hated my CHO the thought might cross my mind before deciding to open 1c. Other 3% Only if I am virtually certain we need a top and it will probably be 4c. IMPS pass 85% This hand has little good to say about it. Not a good sacrifice hand and slight wins at part score battles seems horribly wrong from a risk vs reward aspect. 1c 2% Usually if I no longer care for my current CHO. 3c 15% Only if we are in trouble. 1N 0% If I really hate my CHO the thought might cross my mind before deciding to open 1c. other Only if we are in deep trouble and it will probably be 4c.

It takes a lot of pessimism to pass with this hand. Your partner knows you are a passed hand and they will have a tendency to be a tad more cautious than usual since there is no slam upside to consider. Your p did open the bidding opposite your passed hand and they probably had a good reason for doing so : Kxx Kxxxx Kx Kxx does not look too appealing opposite a passed hand:(. With the solidity of the spade suit I actually prefer 2s vs passing 1N. There is indeed a risk of ending up in 2n while trying for game but since p will rarely open cruddy minimum hands opposite a passed hand the risk of going down is significantly reduced. IMHO 2c = 10 2s = 6 p = 4.

Working with the tools at my disposal--I think this hand should at least try for slam rather than hoping against hope p has one of the few min type hands that make slam less than desirable. The opps throwing in all of those x makes me strongly believe p does NOT have much extra wasted values in the reds and that in turn vastly increases the chances of expecting some club help. It is still a guess but it seems reasonable. I vote for the 4n route and bid slam once I discover the AQ of spades. STOP reading if you have no interest in alternative treatments. I suggest adding PODI PORI to your rkc responses this can save some needed space. I might suggest considering switching your serious and non serious meaning. Ie opener can bid 3n non serious and cue bid when serious. If opener makes a serious cue bid the 5 level will virtually never be in danger so the bidding has an extra level for exploration. When opener is minimum that is not the case and responder (unlimited) needs to be warned. You can save a jump to 4s to show a min with no cue bid and with no club help (less than stiff Q or 3 small). This rather descriptive bid means the hand looks really really really dirt poor for slam purposes. It is ok to waste that much space with so much information is imparted.

The minority report assigns any blame to east AFTER kudos to reaching 7h. Passing 7h vs bidding 7n seems wooden to me. It is true that east was systemically endplayed throughout the bidding but we need to pause and think about west's actions before deciding to pass. West decided to keycard with no diamond control. This is really only justifiable if they have a truly massive hand and it is inconceivable the east hand would not have a dia control. Once we realize west has to have a massive hand we need to look a bit further. West did not ask for the heart Q meaning they have it or extra length so they do not care. West has NO CLUE we have 4 spades yet we know there are 4 spade tricks. P made no effort to ask for kings so they must have felt they could come to 13 tricks (somehow) in hearts. This fact alone makes those 2 extra spade tricks golden. Another consideration is that if p intended to try and set up your clubs for a 13th trick that is bound to fail. The only reason to pass 7h is if east feels the dia AK is going to be magically worth the 13th trick via a ruff. That seems just too small a probability to me. Hard to quantify the blame though since 7h alone is normally a really good MP spot and 7N more of a gravy train. What little blame there is seems to be about 10% east and (imho) about 20% system for not allowing for more flexibility in the bidding.

The Forest and the Trees Larry C Lande & Jay Barron In a Bridge context the forest is all of the possible bids and follow-ups that can be made, while the trees are what is immediately in front of you. The more expert a player is, the more often they consider all the trees (bids that can be made at that moment) in the forest. For most purposes if you just considered which auction would be the most embarrassing to you given a particular bid by partner or the opponents you will come up with the right decision. Of course that also means you both know the system you have agreed to. There will always be a hand where you must weigh risk versus gain and decide on making the best bid or subsequently the least lie. The knowledge that you might have a problem also allows you to enhance your system as long as you are willing to expend the time and memory work it will require. The hardest part of doing all of the above correctly often depends on the seat you are in or the vulnerability conditions. Whatever your requirements are for opening a 1-level, 2-suited or preemptive bid are, you should be the most careful in 2nd seat, especially if you are vulnerable versus not. There are hands which are more suited to 1-level or the other possible bids when particular seat and vulnerability conditions exist. One clear example of this is a hand that can be opened with one of a suit or some kind of preemptive bid. Non-vulnerable vs Vulnerable when a hand is light on opening values/controls might better be opened 1 of a suit rather than some preempt, while the opposite is true with the Vulnerability reversed. Of course when in 2nd seat another condition exists since one opponent has already passed you may be preempting your partner so be sure to have at least the minimum for what partner expects. My requirements may not be your requirements but whatever your ranges/suits may be, partner should be able to picture your ideal minimum and know when/what to respond and what any follow-ups might be. Consider this hand: ♠Q9 ♥A76 ♦KQT642 ♣T2. It has 2 Quick Tricks and a re-biddable suit so you might open it 1♦, but you might open it 2 if you play weak 2-bids. The advantage of opening 1 is conserving the available space but this is also more risky if the opponents own the Majors and get high fast enough to embarrass your partner into making the wrong decision. Of course if your 1♦ opening is 5+ cards in an unbalanced hand, it is far less risky. If I open the hand 2♦, the advantage is that partner knows my hand is offense oriented and will be within the guidelines setup above. Therefore, I will open 1 in first position and 2 in 2nd position when I have maximum values for a weak 2 hand. In 3rd seat preempts are more tactical for me and carry the message of please be very careful if you do not have a fit. In 4th seat these 2 bids are light opening hands. Now consider this change: ♠9 ♥Q762 ♦AKQT64 ♣T2. Notice that two things have changed but the HCP are the same. Now another factor enters into the thought process does my system allow for me to do this with a 2-level opening (e.g., if I open 2 and subsequently bid Hearts will partner know I have this kind of hand). If I open it 1 am I better prepared for most auctions with my system. When your system says you cannot open 1 or with some preempt as there will be too many problems, learn to listen (maybe you can enlist the aid of your opponents into helping you figuring it out). One such example might be: ♠92 ♥A62 ♦AJT984 ♣T2 I either pass or open 2♦. If you are undecided that you should open 1 or some preempt, then consider these factors: 1) If you pass and the opponents bid, will you be able to show these values conveniently later. 2) The same holds true if partner opens the bidding and it may also depend upon which suits are bid. 3) If the opponent or partner bids Spades, then you may be deprived of a bid that shows a good hand with a lower ranking suit. This is also true if your suit is lower ranking than your partners suit. Therefore you will need special agreements when you cannot cue bid the opponents suits for fear that you will get too high. The solution that many people use is to make all lower level doubles be non-penalty. Such doubles followed by bidding your suit show that kind of hand. Notice that if partner bids the Spade suit that they should be aware of what system agreements are in place also. My only exception to this rule is an Equal Level Conversion (ELC) double in some cases. Now lets look at partners problems facing the above two hands with: ♠AKT65 ♥Q9 ♦Void ♣AKJ653. Most experts would force to game (or have an auction forcing to the 3-level) but what they open or respond depends on their system and if partner has passed or opened. Also these same experts after receiving a positive response from partner would bid some game. This means that if partner did open they would treat partners hand as worth a response. Both partners should be aware of the consequences facing this opposing kind of hand as misfits generate the most problems and possible disasters. You have to see the whole forest! The partnership must decide how to handle these hands after an initial pass or opening and have the ability to not get to a ridiculous contract. One of the other things that might sway you into one bid or another is the kind of opponent you are playing against. There are opponents that will bid on air if they have the right suit/shape and many that will be stampeded into making an inferior bid over a preempt. Notice what might happen against one of these opponents if they bid over an opening preempt when you hold a very good hand that doesnt fit partners suit. There are also opponents that have higher standards if their partner is not a passed hand. By this I do not mean they passed over an opponents initial bid. Also Yankeedog/Stewball be aware that willy, old veterans and pros know the value of holding the Spade Suit.

Which becomes quite bad if we have xxx in spades also:)

HEART T The tactical situation allows us great flexibility since we are in no immediate danger no matter what happens at trick 1. We have 9 tricks and the quest for 10 or even 11 is possible. Playing low at trick 1 looks like it might get us 3 easy heart tricks if rho began with Hx (not the 9). A closer look shows that playing the T (or the J) also slates us for 3 easy heart tricks when rho began with Hx (not the 9). The main difference between the two plays is that when rho began with 9x we are never due more than 2 heart tricks but when playing low, if the 9 appears, suddenly we have only 1 heart trick and while we still have 9 tricks our practical limit is now 10 tricks. If we insert the T (or J) at trick 1 it might hold. We are limited to 2 heart tricks BUT we have gained a valuable tempo we now have 5d 2h 2s in the bag and 1 sure club and the TIME to guess which opp has the club J. who knows what will happen on the run of the diamonds but we may be looking at 11 tricks even though we score only 2 hearts.

Slam prospects are exceedingly poor and there is no reasonable way to determine if opener has the right hand for slam. Once that decision is made we can start hoping lho has read all of the expert articles concerning the automatic acceptance of the "transfer" to 4s:))))) but try and keep the drool to a minimum.

in case of emergency break glass I will try to show up around 130

We have no clue how strong partner is BUT the one thing we know for sure they did NOT bid 3s. That means there is a pretty darn good chance they may be interested in slam but they cannot proceed logically w/o a spade control. The 4d bid not only shows a dia control but ALSO shows a spade control (does not promise first round). Imagine poor p with xxx Kxxx AQJ AQJ what are they to do over 3h? If we fail to cooperate we might easily miss a grand slam because we failed to heed the probably important message of no spade control. While p will rarely have that magical combination there are still plenty of small slam chances and if p is at all interested in slam the 5 level is almost assuredly safe (something p probably does not know).

3NT Partners range of hands is enormous and only they can decide where the contract belongs. You would have strongly considered 4s with a stiff honor so when you bid 3n p should realize the most they can expect in support is x. There is no getting around the fact that your partner has invited game and you are totally at the top even if hobbled by spade void. Choose 3n and see what happens and who knows where you will end up but don't pass it is far too unilateral. Oh 1n forcing is by far the best way to go at 2/1

start time 1pm eh ok I will arrive around 1220 just in case you need someone but want to also get in some practice hands/discussion ---it is not much fun seeing tons of imps getting chucked over simple things.

Fri night with game time in about 32 hours and as far as I can tell we have no team. what is even worse is I have no clue if JEC is still willing to play against the forums (none of the coordinators can be found). SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO here I am stepping into a pile of goo with no clue if there is a game or if DianaEva has already taken care of that and just forgot to post it. BEARING IN MIND THAT THERE MAY BE NO GAME tomorrow, Are there any volunteers to step up and represent the forums against the JEC juggernaut??? I ask this since our combined record against them borders on hilarious (something like 4-115) and none of the 4 have been by more than 10 IMPS while the number of losses over 100 well sheeeeesh. As usual JEC will provide emergency services to any/all BBO FORUM players that feel like they just got run over by a mack truck:)))))))))))))))))))))))))

If you try and find ONE CARD that is BEHIND the defender guarding that suit a squeeze may be possible. If you do not have that information for sure it may be necessary to IMAGINE such a position. Build your squeeze knowledge from that basic beginning and you will be surprised how much more sense Love's technical jargon makes. Applying that logic to this hand it appears RHO is guarding spades and your 4th spade is BEHIND the guard. Rho seems certain to hold the club J BEHIND the KT in dummy but that alone is not enough to save them. In the end after 10 tricks your end position is void x void KT x void x x and poor rho is holding T void void Jx. This is a simple squeeze (a Vienna coupe the opps did to themselves). When you play your last dia you need to realize the heart is useless and discard it. When you reduce the dummy to 2 cards KT clubs and your hand to small spade and small club look at what happens to rho they need to hold 3 cards to guard the 2 black suits but they can only hold onto 2 cards. This requires you to count down the suits since you have to be aware when your spade is good or not so watch ALL of the discards. The opps could have easily broken this squeeze up in many ways but that is not your fault just take advantage to what is given to you (actually tougher than planning it from the start).