SimonFa

EBU jurisdiction. My partner has a bad habit of of forgetting to use the Stop card at higher levels or if he goes in to deep thought about his bid. One opponent, who happens to be a Director, has twice picked up out his own Stop card and thrown it in front of my partner. This is in a club where hardly anyone follows the guidelines on its usage, not that that is an excuse for not using the Stop card, but to my mind shows some double standards. Anyway, I know it flusters partner and I get annoyed and am not sure I think clearly afterwards. So, are his actions acceptable and if not can I do something about it or do I have to leave it to partner? As a first action I am thinking about having a quiet word with the club officials so as not to cause any trouble as this is is a regular club night in a friendly club. Thanks in advance, Simon

To be clear, we only bid NT at the 2-level if the 1-level had been taken away.

Thanks for the explanation, georgi. Regards, Simon

I've only just started playing with (dumb) bots so maybe mine wasn't the wisest bid, but I find it hard to believe this sequence is worthy of a jump to 7♥? Regards, Simon

Not sure about the method, I'd just started playing and he supplied some system notes that said it was mandatory to bid NT at the lowest available level with 12-14 after opening. Obviously not too high. I don't play it now as he has moved on, but it seemed to work, although we got caught a couple of times.

Again, very interesting but as I said above, too much load at this stage. I will be filing it for future use though. Many thanks, Simon

You're right, very interesting but far too much load on our new partnership which still gets the odd advanced Stayman wrong. Thanks anyway, Simon

This is why I wondered about the alert. As it happens we played SJS twice, in the first half when it went wroing and the 2nd when we had agreed it and I did alert, much to the surprise of ops until they asked. Regards, Simon

I read some now play it as semi-forcing. I don't want to complicate matter anymore than they need to be so we are sticking to a forcing 1NT. Thanks, Simon

Not in that sequence for us. Thanks all for the comments, another lesson leaned. Regards, Simon

With my old partner we played that 2NT with flat 12-14 was mandatory IF we had a stopper in ops bid suit. Yes it might mean playing 1NT with 18HCP but it seemed to pay off more often than not, especially at MPs. With 18/19 its time for a thin 3NT. I wouldn't do it without prior agreement though.

My new partner learned SAYC when he worked in Bermuda and we are building our partnership on that basis. I am really keen and partner is a good follower who is happy to let me do the leg work. We have also just started playing 2/1 based on Marty Bergen's pamphlet. Occasionally though I'm finding that we have differing understandings of SAYC and last night another one came up in which partner made a WJS to my 1C opening that caught me out as I expected a SJS. When the dust had cleared and ops had written down their telephone number partner claimed that WJS were part of SAYC. This isn't about whether or not WJS is part of SAYC, I was just setting the scene, but about the merits of each and which one we should settle on. This morning I read this article on Bridge Guys which makes a good case for weak jump shifts then I saw this article via BBO in which Andrew Gumperz advocates strong jump shifts. I appreciate there are no right answers but was wondering what the thoughts are on this subject regarding a new B/I partnership? As always, thanks in advance, Simon PS Is a WJS alertable in EBU land where the majority play strong or intermediate?

MPs Both Vul I had something like: ♠ AKxx ♥ Txx ♦ xxxx ♣ 96 1C - (1D) - 1S - (2D) 3C - (3D) - P - (P) 3H - (P ) - ? Partners' 3C promises 6 and the 3H promises 4. I passed on the basis that: 1. Nine tricks easier than 10 2. Partner might be able to ruff a Club in my hand for an extra trick, whereas he has no chance of ruffing in clubs. It turned out that 3H-1, 4C a mixed back and 3D goes off -1 once and -3 twice for a top :( Was my thinking sound or should I have just gone for the "golden fit" that partner always likes and made clear when he saw dummy? In hindsight perhaps I should have doubled 3D with 2 quick tricks and four of them as partner is showing 16HCP? As always, thanks in advance, Simon

Thanks everyone, not conclusive and something I need to make sure real world partner and I are in agreement. Simon

Thanks, Jeremy. Does this mean just the next time or that partner is banned from bidding throughout the auction? Regards, Simon

This sequence came up this evening and flummoxed our Director who spent 10 minutes reading up and couldn't come up with a solution so just told us to withdraw the bid and warned against UI. EBU (1C) - 1D - (P)- X What should have been the correct ruling, please? Thanks in advance, Simon

IMPS (BIL marathon), both white. P - (1♣) - X - P 1NT - (2♣) - 2♠ - Is partner showing a strong hand and Spades or a simple suit preference and not forcing after my limit bid? I assumed, correctly, suit preference but I don't recall seeing this sequence before and as I had 10HCP and 3 Spades I was concerned we might be missing game. If it is a simple suit preference how would you show a 17+HCP hand with and a forcing bid after my 1NT? As always thanks in advance, Simon

Pick-up partner, self proclaimed Expert. All white, RHO deals. (1♥) - 1♠ - (2♦) - 3♠ (4♦) - 4♠ - (4NT) - P (5♦) - 6♣ - (P) - 6♠ (X) All pass ♠AQ764 ♥ ♦5 ♣AQJT643 4NT announced as Ace ask. My plan was to start with Spades and then do something serious with Clubs. I took partner's 3♠ as pre-emptive but the later bidding made me wonder. By this time 6♣ was a punt that partner had something in one of my suits and I went on to make 13 on the A♥ lead. Would it have been better to start with Clubs or is there some other gadget I could use? How about 5 Clubs over 4 Diamond? On the bidding was 6 Clubs a wise move and I just go lucky? Once you've thought about that what do you think of partner's bid? As always, thanks in advance, Simon

EBU jurisdiction. A little bit of bad blood over an incident last night. I dealt: 1NT - (2♦) - X* - (P) 2♥ - (P) - 4♥ - All pass I alerted partners bid by tapping the alert card on the boards in the middle of the table and muttering I'm alerting that (because its common in this club). At the end of the bidding LHO asked about the double which was explained as Stolen Bid ie partner would have bid 2♦given the chance and that it was a transfer. After I had made a the close contract RHO said, rather accusingly, that I should have alerted partner's double, LHO said that it was to which RHO muttered that she hadn't been aware. Whilst that was the end of the incident the next 2 boards were a bit icy. Anyway, I am aware that I am responsible for making ops aware that I have alerted a bid, but how far should I go? This was the first board of the night and RHO was faffing about organising convention cards and bidding boxes, even though we had been sat there for about 15 minutes waiting to start. Thanks in advance, Simon

Thanks for all the helpful responses. Obviously I didn't fully understand the rule and thought it was just HCP + ♠, as explained at BridgeHands. I was also thinking about a similar hand I had seen in one of Gavin Wolpert's videos when he let the opposition in and ended with a poor score. This was my thinking and I bid 1♥ expecting partner or LHO to bid 1♠. When LHO passed partner bid 2♦ I thought I wouldn't push my luck and passed. Ten tricks were made for a nice score as ops could make 2♠s.

Pick-up partner who seems to be conservative when it come to opening. All red, IMPs. ♠A ♥QJT92 ♦Q95 ♣KT84 (p) p (p) ? So do we push our luck or throw the cards in and move on? As always, thanks in advance for your thoughts, Simon

Good idea, I'll try that, thanks.

Hi, Its really annoying to use help me find a game and land at a table when someone has deserted half way through, especially as declarer. Any chance of being able to see played tricks before starting? Perhaps for 30seconds? Thanks, Simon

Thanks everyone, some interesting thoughts. As it happens something similar came up with a new partner at the club last night and he wasn't sure how to bid, not having played super-accept. Lots of stuff here for us to discuss. Simon

I think I know the answer to this is yes, but I'm a little confused reading the regulations and wanted to check I was right in my understanding. Partner and I are just about to start playing 2/1 and I wanted to check that I understand the alerting regulations correctly. Looking at the Tangerine Book it says: I have had a look at the Orange Book as well and it says: I take this to mean the first 2 rounds? But then it says: By now I'm getting a bit confused, but that's not unusual :). Anyway, I take all this to mean that any 2/1 GF bid, even with 3 cards, should be alerted? Is this correct? On a side note, I have been playing predominantly 5-card majors, better minor, based in SAYC since I started playing just over a year ago and I have noticed that this seems to catch out some of our opponents as it isn't generally played in the clubs that I have joined. By now most regular players know this and some check before we start. Should we, in the interests of equity, pre-alert our SAYC and 2/1 systems? Thanks in advance, Simon