Chamaco

are you talking about after a 2nd seat double? I think he was referring to uncontested auction, and the inflkuence of responder's style to the risks associated to balancing: Hotshot's point is that if 3rd seat passes often with lots of hcp, then a balancing X with a balanced 12 can be dangerous.

Ty all folks for the suggestions ! :-) On the specific issue, I think (but I might be too optimistic) that, when you know one defender has all the hcp (the weak NT opener), a lot of the times 3NT is on even with 23-24 hcp, because you know which finesse will work and there are plenty of throw-in and squeeze possibilities. In order to keep open these possibilities, I think it is important to handle balanced hands without necessarily counting on shape. But I understand the associated risks.

In the balancing seat the system is more or less the same except for the range of balanced hands. X = a good 11-15/20+ 2D = 16-19 This is the tentative range I came up with to protect from pard having a 13-14 balanced. Obviously, there is the risk of playing 2NT with 16-19 vs a weak pard. In the latter case I am thinking of using a Wolff signoff scheme. All this (the balancing seat ranges and the Wolff signoff) are experimental, and I will be grateful for any suggestions :-)

That's why I pass with 13-14 hcp balanced,and leave it up to balancer to reopen if he has an opening hand. From this viewpoint, it seems more dangerous the Lionel scheme (doubling or bidding at the 2 level with a balanced 12). In the scheme I chose you bid with unbalanced opening hands, and if you take some action with balanced hands in the direct seat, you guarantee a 15-17 notrump. Now, partner can decide to leave in the double if he has 8-9 hcp, or scramble for a 4-3 fit. Scrambling here is no worse than scrambling in the Lionel scheme. On the other hand, many times the 1NT 12-14 steals games: many examples from the last Matches played by Fantoni-Nunes (who use 12-14 1NT) were a proof for this. The target is to: 1- be safe 2- keep open constructive bidding and not just concentrate on partscores. 12-14 NT does steal often. In order to have this benefits I am will to play an occasional moysian fit. Pass. In the balancing seat pard will double with a weak NT hand (hcp requirements are reduced in the bal seat) My 2D bid shows EITHER a 18-20 balanced OR a minimum single suiter (say 10-15). A singlesuiter with 18 hcp wd double and rebid 3 of his suit.

Hi all, I'd appreciate comments on the following defense vs weak NT. I'd appreciate any comments specific to what does work and what does not work with this specific defense and possible improvements :D Basically I modified Woolsey's defense, in order to: 1- include into double ONLY 1 specific hand type (balanced). I hate to include in the double BOTH strong balanced and Raptor(*) hands or single suited minors. (*) Raptor = hand with 4M and longer minor The reason is that the ambiguity puts too much pressure on weak responders when they want to scramble for safety 2- allows to discriminate the hcp range type of strong balanced. Double includes 15-17 or 21+; 18-20 are included in 2D = Multi. One thing that is not great is the use of the 2C overcall. It is used to show 2 types of hands: - 54 or better in majors - Raptor-type hand (4M + longer minor) Weak advancer loses the ability to ask the longer major with 2D: 2D is simply a weak ask, and overcaller will have to bid 2H even with 4H and 5S, because higher ranking bids show the Raptor hand (2S = 4S + longer minor). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE STRUCTURE 1NT(weak):? Double = balanced hand, 15-17/21+, or (rare), a singlesuiter battleship. Advancer bids as if pard had opened a 15-17 NT: .....pass = for penalty .....2C = Stayman, usually scrambling; overcaller responds 2NT/3 of a suit if he has the balanced or single suiter battleship .....2D/H= xfers, weak/strong; overcaller responds 2NT/3 of a suit if he has the balanced or single suiter battleship .....2S = requires overcaller to bid 2NT with a minimum 1NT, 3C with a max; can be a transfer to clubs .....2NT = xfer to diamonds In competition, Lebensohl applies 2C = 54 or better in majors or Raptor hand.Advancer bids: .....2D= weak relay, overcaller rebids ............2H = hand with majors(even with 4H and 5S) ............2S = Raptor with spades ............3m =Raptor with hearts and the minor bid .....2M/3m= to play, selfsufficient suit .....2NT = positive relay, overcaller rebids ............3C = majors with uneven length, 3D asks longest ............3D = majors with equal ............3M = Raptor with the major bid NO AGREEMENTS SO FAR IN COMPETION, ANY SUGGESTION IS WELCOME ! 2D = Multi 18-20 bal or any singlesuiter with limited opener: .....2M = Paradox responses .....2NT = positive relay: in this scheme i find awkward to find a 44M fit if overcaller bids 3NT to show the strong balanced 2M = 5M + a minor, occasionally 5332: followup like in Capp 2NT = Minors 3 of a suit = natural single suiter, Reverse (16-18 or 5 losers hand). Stronger single suiters will double first and bid the suit at the 3 level if advancer bids.

Hi all !. I'd like to know , either in "standard" meaning or in your pships agreements, what does a 5M opening mean when pard is unpassed hand. Basically, 1- what are the requirements 2- what are responder's obligation: e.g. which kind of hand should be looking for slam IMPORTANT: PLAYING A STRONG CLUB SYSTEM, WHAT MEANING DO YOU RECOMMEND FOR 5M OPENINGS ? DOES IT CHANGE FROM 2/1 ? Thanks all! :P

I posted my idea here: http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?sho...=15entry59903 Basically, I'd much prefer to keep the Main Lobby in a single BBO, and move everything else on separate servers.

I do not know the details of the BBO code implementation and problems. However, here is my view on scaling: I like the idea of having on a separate server the activities external to the "Main LobbY". So, basically, moving to separate servers: - the Vugraph Broadcasts, - all the Tourneys - Team Matches - Private Club Activities - Partnership Bidding - Access to Library - Online BB Sample products. BUT, my personal wish is that the Main Lobby stays as a single BBO. As far as i can see, for example in this moment, out of a total of 5200 players logged in, only 1700 are in the main lobby, about 80s are in Clubs, and about 1950 in the tourney/team matches. The remaining are in the "explore bridge" section (Chat/Pship bidding, etc). So, if we consider this 1/3 ratio of people in the main lobby vs total logged, even if the case 10000 of total BBO member logged in, theat would mean about 3300 players in the main lobby, which I guess (maybe wrongly?) that would be manageable ? Just my 2 cents :-)

One question about the strip squeeze suggestion. Let's assume west has indeed a 1-suiter. But I think that the best line should be the one that is not strictly based on west having the club King. If he has 3-3-6-1 (stiff club), and I playoff my 6 top tricks in the major, and everyone follows suit, how do I decide whether to throw in west in diamonds ? He shall cash 5 diamond tricks and I will be down ! I cannot just hope that the stiff club is the K ! :) If I cash the Ace and no club honor drops, I shall have to lead away from clubs, losing (besides the diamond trick), 2 clubs and 1 trick in each major to east. On the other hand, if I play off the 6 major top tricks ending in dummy, I cannot switch plan to the double finesse in clubs, since have exhausted the entries to repeat the club finesse when East has KJxx, or even Kxxx. What am I missing ? :unsure: --------------------

West had: Jxxx xxx AK87x J I would have made the hand by going to dummy and running the queen. Instead, I played for a likely 6-1 diamond break and cashed A of clubs right away to cater for singleton K in west's hand :D

[hv=d=e&v=e&n=skxxhaqxdxxxcq9xx&s=saqxhkxxdqj9cat8x]133|200|Scoring: MP E.....S.....W.....N p....1NT...X(1).3NT all pass[/hv] I was playing with my friend, a bright beginner. The double by West (an elder very strong national player) showed a 1-suiter. When dummy came down I regretted pard did not decide to look for a penalty at favourable vuln, but my pard was not used to handle conventional bidding, so he preferred a practical bid rather than look for something fancy (e.g. he did not know what a redouble or pass then double would mean). The lead was small diamond (attitude lead, says nothing of suit length), and East played the Ten. How do you play to make ?

I would double and accept the occasional 2C bid. Most of the times, 2C will be a 5 card suit in pard's hand, so that should not be a disaster. The advantage of bidding right away is to be "in-quick, out quick" at a low level, and is right on values. It is indeed offshape, but oh well... :-) taking a chance here has 2 chances out of 3 that pard likes our suit. a. pass does not llok right even playing Precision b. if they do play Prec, they should alert Agree. Too much of a balanced hand. However, if playing Precision, at matchpoints, it is not unreasonable to resolve the shape of the nebulous diamond in order to be able to contest the partscore. At IMPS, a clear pass. In my view, yes. I think 2S should show an overcall with slightly less than an opening bid but not completely broke. Ideally, something like the following hand, with extra length: QJxxxx-Axx-x-Qxx or so Instead, RDBL would be semibal with full opening hand, jump to 3S = full opening hand playing strength with length in spades, jump to 3m = fuill opening hand, 2 suiter. If pard bids 2S, promising what I showed above, then 4S looks right. Nope, he has terrible minimum hand, forced to balance to protect you.

I think 3m strongly suggests we'll play best in a suit, and tends to deny S values. I would bid 3m holding the Spade Ace, the only honor not wasted in a suit opposite pard's shortness..

3NT. K in pard's singleton does not get me excited. Pard has a max of 14 hcp. We could play for the perfect hand: KQxxx in clubs + AK in H + Q of diamonds. But IMO, this means hoping for too much. Pard could miss the Q of diamonds, or a club honor or have the Ace of spades (when our SK becomes even more useless than it is now) and miss honors in the other suits.

happy bday hannie :huh:

Thanks Roland, I was not advertising my view as the only one, just "thinking aloud", asking the opinion of better players. :huh: I like this forum becuse it is an invaluable chance for players like me to get feedback from you sttrong players (this will arrely occur in most real life clubs). So thanks a lot for taking your time to comment my "thinking aloud" ! :)

I am only a small fish here (not even advanced :huh: ) among these stars and expert, so I would like to ask the strong players to comment the following reasonings. As far I can tell, it seems that *prudence* is the primary factor in the reasoning here. QUESTION TO THE PASSERS I understand the prudence of passers. However, I think that the expectation that "pard will reopen bidding our values" is expecting too much, bacause of the shape. If this hand screams prudence, balancer with 8-9 hcp and xxx in their suit should pass anyways, in the same name of prudence (xxx in opps suit usually spells trouble). If any action can be taken, it can be taken only by us. So, IMO, it is the last chance to compete. So I think that passers should accept that if they pass, the auction is more than likely to end. Here I disagree with the possibility outlined by Ben that both 2H and 2S will be down: I am not a LOTT-bot :) but usually at this low level, the Law of total tricks rarely fails, and that possibility (2H and 2S down) is definitely not LOTT-compliant. QUESTION TO THE DOUBLERS My understanding is that doublers acknowledge this is the last train to compete. Double is more flexible, but I wonder in the cost -benefit anaklysis, and in the frequency, how often one bid will work better than the other. However, it seems to me that paradoxically, double may be more dangerous than 2S. The reasons: 1- we would like to be declarer in the final contract, so that our unsupported Ks and AJ of D are not led through 2- double gives up most hopes for a 5-3 (or even 5-2) fit unless pard has 4+ spades. With 4 cards in the minor, pard is likely to bid the minor. Even if pard bids spades, the contract is wrong sided. 3- the increased likelihood that pard bids a minor means an increased likelihood of playing for 9 tricks instead of 8 4- this is an OBAR situation, where i should bid as balancing, basically bidding as if I had a K more: if I were in the REAL balancing seat, would I bid 2S or double ? Personally I'd bid 2S. On balance, it seems to me that 2S would avoid major disasters and end up with a positive choice in most hands whare pard's support is at least xx, because it keeps bidding lower and rightside the contract. As fa as frequency, I think most of the times pard will have support for spades, the more so in these sequence. It is also true that, in the rare case where this assumption fails, we can go down a lot (assuming opps settle for doubling at the 2-level when they have a fit, even rarer case). So it seems a matter of magnitude-frequency analysis and form of scoring.

What is an ODF? ... distribution.. thanks oops that was a typo :huh: , I meant ODR = Offense/Defense Ratio

My understanding is that some pros teachers also use it as a more "private" place where to lecture/mentor their students groups.

I think reopening is clear, to preserve pship harmony, but not necessarily with a double. However, I expect a good pd to accept that some hands have a ODR too high to reopen with double, and for thse kind of hands, settling for penalty shd be less rewarding than buying the hand. I would also like to know the full hand.

If I reopen with a void, I want to have extra hcp more than if I were balancing with a singleton, not only 12 hcp of which clubs values are suspect in defemse (too much lenght, easily could be ruffed). In order to double with a void, I must have at least 15-16 hcp. Here I am not worried of missing 3NT, so I do not fear bypassing it. Bidding 4C will lose when pard has a trump stack and 3S goes down, but more often than not, these penalties with one defender void in trumps does not payoff as expected, so I give up the chances for penalty and settle for 4m. I am torn between 4C and 4D, probably I rebid 4C.

Ty Nuno, so in the method you suggest, how do you respond to 1S-X-p-? in the following 4 cases? you are 4432 with 3 cards in H and 2 in S (opps opened 1S) and no stoppers ? ....3.1 = with a weak hand (0-7) ....3.2 = with constructive hand (8-10-) ....3.3 = with invitational hand (10+/bad12) ....3.4 = with GF hand according to your method, I can bid 3S for the GF hand, but I have trouble identifying the best sequences for weak, constructive and invitational hand.

I use 1NT as Raptor.

Yes, that was my feeling... So I'd like to get access to a complete coverage of xfer response schemes to t/o double.

Hi all, I'd be very interested inthe development of transfer advances to t/o doubles. I already had a look at Misho+Ben's Equality", but I found only development to 1m-X-p, when bidding room is not a problem. Instead, I am especially interested in the auction starting: 1S-X-p- ? If using xfer advances: 1. do you use 1NT as xfer to 2C (giving up the often safe 1NT spot) ? 2. do you use 1NT as natural (giving up the natural, safe 2C response when u have long clubs) ? 3. what suit do you transfer to if you are 4432 with 3 cards in H and 2 in S (opps opened 1S) and no stoppers ? ....3.1 = with a weak hand ....3.2 = with constructive hand ....3.3 = with invitational hand ....3.4 = with GF hand Any suggestions, links and references are greatly appreciated !! Thanks ! Mauro