SimonFa

But don't the two tens count as we'll? If they were twos I would definitely downgrade but would probably go down the 1D 2NT route on this one.

As you can tell I've been reading Eddie's books. This came up on my iBridge programme on my iPad and I reckon it would appear in one of his books. Its probably on the easy side for this forum but a bit tough for B/I. I'm sure it will get moved if appropriate. IMPS. Contract 6NT. LHO leads small Spade. ♠T9 ♥T2 ♦KJ32 ♣AQJ86 ♠AKQ5♥AQJ7 ♦Q65 ♣K2 What's the best line? As always, thanks in advance for your thoughts. Simon

Don, Over your 2H partner bids 3C. As it happens I bid 2H to leave myself space to bid 3D over the expected 2S bid. The 3C bid threw me a bit. Simon

2/1, All red, you deal, opps silent throughout: ♠Void ♥KT62 ♥KJ54 ♣AKQJ3 1C 1S ?? Do you reverse? If so with Diamonds or Hearts and why? If not what are you bidding? Over both partner bids 3 clubs, then what? As always, thanks in advance for your thoughts. Simon

I was beginning to wonder if Garbage Stayman was a misnomer and perhaps should be referred to as something like short club Stayman.

Thanks, Bill, that made sense. When I reflected on afterwards I thought my ♦Q if anything should signal shortage of clubs in West's hand. I have noticed, through great frustration that bots don't get singleton leads when I make them so maybe they're programmed not to make singleton leads so East just didn't believe West had short clubs? Against a human I suspect I would have received a club lead anyway so the false card position wouldn't have arisen.

That's a good point, thanks, Phil.

Thanks, Bill, that made sense. When I reflected on afterwards I thought my ♦Q if anything should signal shortage of clubs in West's hand. I have noticed, through great frustration that bots don't get singleton leads when I make them so maybe they're programmed not to make singleton leads so East just didn't believe West had short clubs? Against a human I suspect I would have received a club lead anyway so the false card position wouldn't have arisen.

I was playing a match point table with three basic robots. [hv=pc=n&s=sqt97hk84dq64cqj2&w=s32hajt765da983c4&n=sak64h9dj75ckt873&e=sj85hq32dkt2ca965&d=e&v=b&b=7&a=pp2hd3h3sppp&p=hah9h2h4dad5d2d4d3d7dkdqcac2c4c3dtd6d8]399|300[/hv] If you follow the play you will see that at trick 3 I played Q♦ (all other tables played the 6) and East robots all switched to A♣. My opponent then switched again to 10♦ rather than playing a second club to defeat the contract, which happened at all the other tables with robots defending defending and 6♦ was played at trick 3. When I made the Q♦ play it was more a reflex to muddy the waters than with any particular plan in mind. I'm not complaining that it worked but am wondering why it worked? Was it one of the robot random plays we get every now and then or did it think it needed to shorten my trumps and if so why? Or maybe there was some other reason? More importantly would it have worked against a human? As always, thanks in advance for your thoughts and comments, Simon

MPs, R v R, 15 - 17NT, opps silent. ♠J87 ♥J972 ♦KJ972 ♣8 The Bridge Guys reckon 0-7pts no matter what NT range you play. It worked out well (68%) this time but I was wondering if the forum thought this was a bit too strong, especially at MPs where being in 1NT with 21HCP has lots going for it? As always, thanks in advance for your thoughts, Simon PS I'm aware that in this case I also risked a poor 4:3 spade fit as well.

They were playing 2/1

Both Vul, AJT82 73 A842 82 Bidding, your side silent, LHO deals and opens: 1S 2S 2NT 4NT 5C 6NT ? 1. IMPS? At the table I wanted to double. Ideally I wanted to point partner to lead one of my Aces but thought that it might be seen as a request to lead something odd. In the end I reckoned there was no way they could make 12 tricks with me holding the the Ace of their suit and a run to 7 wasn't going to help. Was it a sound call? On the face of it I stood to make 100pts against giving them 240pts (I think that's right). 2. MPs As a general rule I understand that when Opps have had this sort of mix up it is right not to risk the double as its likely that most of the field will have stopped in a making game and all I'm doing by tipping them off, giving them a chance of making? However in this case as above it seems they have nowhere safe to run and therefore should I be doubling anyway. As always, thanks in advance for your thoughts, Simon

The decision is moot with my ex partner, he would have has no compuction about bidding 3d.

If you know you're going to play 4S without consulting partner why give opps a chance to get in on the bidding? Why not jus go straight there?

Haha, I get it now. You can only use for tournament results. Thanks, Simon

OK I give in. How do I get this info, I've faffed about with myhands and got the tinyurl but I cant find a way to generate this sort of data. Thanks, Simon

Obviously you can't post links to Solitaire hands as that was what I was plying and I can't find it in my hands and results page. Sorry for the wasted time. Simon

http://tinyurl.com/kwcuxu Wouldn't 3D have been a better bid here? I'm not sure where we would have ended but I was expecting something like 6 good spades and 6+? 4+ ? shape. Simon

Of course, I had forgotten as I don't play much Acol. Anyway, thanks everyone. It looks like I need to go back to basics rather than looking at some of the more advanced stuff :( Simon

So in the sequence 1H 2D 2H 3H, 3H says I have 3 card support and 11+ or 12 HCP? Makes sense in Acol where 1H could be a 4-card suit. I was thinking SAYC in my earlier comment. Thanks, Simon

Aren't you supposed to describe the meaning rather than just saying "[convention name]" to protect yourself from these kinds of problems? Also, given there is so much confusion isn't there some onus on the asking player to ask for clarification to protect themselves?

How do you invite game in hearts then? If we assume 2D shows 10+ - 12 HCP but doesn't deny 3Hs and with, say, a good 13 HCP or poor 14 HCP don't we want to be able to invite? I would take 3H here to be a good 6-card suit or possible a solid 5-carder that could stand a 4-2 break and invite. 3 clubs would be forcing (new suit at new level is always forcing was something I thought was taught to all beginners) and a rebid of Hs then promising a good 6-card Heart suit and probably 4 clubs. I think it was a Marty Bergman piece when he said you should always strive to bid your 6-4 shape, but that may have been in a 2/1 context.

Ooops, thanks for spotting that while its still fresh in my mind because as I didn't complete the hand I've lost it. Any the bidding went: 1 NT 2 S Minor suit stayman 2NT Denying 4 card minor 3C Rebiddable clubs, 4 D and ?? points The hand was (23)44. Simon

http://tinyurl.com/o99m4eu My understanding is that rebiddable at the 3 level is a good five card suit or poor 6 card suit, but certainly not a 4 card suit. Simon

Have you thought about starting a table with you and partner against 2 bots and then using the using the randomly selected vugraph deals feature in the deal source tab? You get to compare your bidding and play against various experts. Simon