frank0

Find this hand and discussion from a personal blog. 2/1 or sayc (should be the same in this case) You have ♠K ♥AK87 ♦KJ952 ♣A98 IMP White vs. Red, partner open 1♦ at first seat (a) What's your bid? If I'm at the table I might already bid 1♥ without second thought, but it looks like there are some advantage of raising ♦. People advocate for raising ♦ argue that ♦ fit is almost always better than ♥ and this hand most likely belongs to slam(where the difference bet. major and minor is relatively small in IMP), and opp may enter the auction with ♠(so you want to find your fit as soon as possible). Still, hiding 4 cards major with that quality looks weird to me. Any opinion? (b)Assume your LHO is maniac who can preempt with 6 little cards, if your answer in (a) is below 2♠, your LHO bid 2♠, partner pass, RHO 4♠, what's your next bid?

With this hand you have only one choice, call the director.

If you open partner makes a 2 over 1 forcing bid(in minor suit) and you end up in misfit 23HCP 3NT, if you don't you miss a double fit low HCP 4♥/♠. Personally I still open 1♠ in case on the next round I'm going to describe my hand at 3 level due to opp's bidding, but pass is a very reasonable alternative imo.

I've seen people pass my michael cue bid b/c he has 5 little cards in that suit. Nothing surprise for something like this on BBO if you're playing random partner.

I think it's the reason. :D

It may be, but 50 is not very small though... Hm, I just log in again and notice this is not the problem of this specific condition. The problem is it remembers part of South's hand after you do the editing. Try this, 1. generate a random deal w/o restriction. 2. Switching 2 South's card with 2 East's card. 3. Keep clicking redeal, one of South/East will always have the 2 cards it gains from East/South.

You play 2/1 or sayc, [hv=d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1d1h1s2hd]133|100[/hv] Your agreement is partner's 1♠ shows 5(X shows 4), what do you think you're X mean?

I just tried to create an example deal of "maximal double" for bidding practice, using BBO hand generator. Here is my setting South, 5♠, 1~4 in other 3 suits, 15~19HCP West, no restriction North, 3♠, 2~4 in other 3 suits, 8~9HCP East, 6+♥ and 10+HCP Trying to make the auction become 1♠-P-2♠-3♥-X This is not a problem. However, I just noticed under this condition I cannot generate any hand that South does not have ♥K and ♥J(I've redealed about 50 times). Is there any flaw with the random hand generator?

One possibility, but not the only one. It could be your pick up partner in club game says there are group of 3 people want you to join their team to play some events. You may just find someone with lots of masterpoint on partnership desk of national pair events 3 month before the events.

In this discussion I'm assuming at least one of you and your partner(usually both) is non-expert. You find a partner you're going to cooperate for a period of time(at least 1 or 2 important events) but you have no idea about his/her strength/style/personality right now(beside master point or the skill level he/she claim), what's your general approach/experience setting up detail partnership agreement? The first step is easy, you can fill ACBL convention card, but that's not enough as a regular pair. You and your partner may start to ask some random question(usually you list your favorite conventions and ask partner whether to use or not) to each other, but such a discussion is never systematic or complete. At the table you might still find a lot of things you don't have agreement with partner(usually that's the stuff you and your partner never think is a problem, until you get the hand, after that you discuss the agreement with partner in that situation but such a hand never comes up again :lol: ). Do you have different approach with different players? For example, (a) with players stronger than you/weaker than you (b) with players older than you/younger than you © with players never have any opinion but agree whatever you say, whether he/she understands or not. (d) with players cannot play bridge without using several specific conventions (e) with players love to use lots of conventions, but lacking the knowledge of the detail/like to abuse convention (f) with players much stronger than you, where a lot of stuff you never heard is common sense for him/her(and he/she never bring those things into discussion) (g) opposite of (f) etc. (h)With a player where you think you're better and partner thinks the opposite. (i)opposite of (h)(rare B-) ) etc. anyway just share your experience you have

[hv=d=e&v=0&b=14&a=3d3ndr]133|100[/hv] What's your agreement with your partner(or whatever you think is better approach) on XX? (a)pass=nowhere to run, XX=run, I have weak 3 suiter (b)XX=opp jokes, don't run even if you bid 3NT based on long minor suit instead of HCP, pass=you can run if you have a long minor and weak ©something else

As a general rule X is penalty after partner preempt or after partner fully describes his/her hand.

Double only when North usually makes poor overcall, otherwise 2♥.

I just saw this hand on BBO(played by other people). [hv=pc=n&s=sk84hakqdq93cat93&w=saq92h98652dj87ck&n=sjthjtdt642cj8752&e=s7653h743dak5cq64&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=pp1cp1dp1nppp]399|300[/hv] NS are regular partner, playing precision, 1NT was alerted as 17~19 balanced, may have 5 card major. EW are pick up and is assumed to play standard carding. W led ♥5, won by South's Q. South played ♣AT, West's K was dropped and pitch ♥2(assmue it's discourage), E won the T by Q. After that E returned a ♥, South made 1NT in the end(3♥4♣). I am interested in the ♥ return. When East won with ♣Q declare is marked with 7 tricks and it looked like shifting was necessary. However, the careful analysis by E may end up in the conclusion that the contract is not beatable. From East's perspective, 6 tricks in ♦+♠ is required to defeat the contract and partner, from the bidding, cannot have more than 8HCP on ♠+♦. Partner cannot have 5♠(otherwise why lead weaker ♥?), 5♦(1NT with stiff ♦?), or ♠AKQ so defender can take at most 2 tricks in ♠. Therefore the minimum combination to defeat the contract is ♠AQ♦QJ which added up to 9HCP, impossible. From this analysis it seems a passive ♥ return, even in IMP, is the correct play on this hand. Question: 1. Is the analysis above correct? 2. If you're East, do you trust your analysis and play to reduce overtrick, or you still want to defeat the contract based on the assumption that partner makes a bad lead or declare makes aggressive upgrade in bidding(e.g. treating ♠K984♥AKQ♦93♣AT93 as 17HCP). 3. What's your play, after winning ♣Q, in IMP, if 1NT shows 16~18? 4. What's your play, after winning ♣Q, in MP, if 1NT shows 16~18?

Reasons to Overcall: 1. I have a solid suit and an opening hand. 2. If I pass, west will rebid 1NT very often and will end up in playing NT contract and partner will usually lead a ♦ and make me uncomfortable. Therefore I have to overcall. 3. 2♥ takes a lot of space. If the bidding goes 1♥-pass-1♠-? and I have ♠K742 ♥JT3 ♦9 ♣AKQ53 the overcall is less attractive and I'll pass but here it's a clear 2♥. West may have a 2♦ reverse hand and you disrupt opp to find the ♦ fit. 4. Your length in spade indicate shortness in spade on partner's hand, when you end up in playing the contract you can usually ruff a few spade losers in dummy. 5. Even though overcall is sometime dangerous, but there are plenty to gain and in the long run it's a +EV choice. 6. In quick, out quick. You should put pressure on opponent before they exchange all the information. If the bidding goes 1♣-P-1♠-p-1NT-p-p-? and you balance 2♥ here you're opponent usually have an easy decision to double you because they know the hand is misfit. Reasons to Pass: 1. Having an opening hand does not mean you can overcall at 2 level, especially when you are red and at sandwich position. Usually 2 level overcall promise 6 cards suit and an offensive hand. Your high card strength prevent opponent from bidding a game and by overcall you may transfer a small negative/positive to big penalty. In addition, you're missing J, T, 9 in trump, which increases the chance that you're opponent will punish you by a lot. 2. By overcall with a defensive hand partner may hang you with 5♥ sacrifice over opponent's 4♠. 3. Your spade and club length in opp's suit indicate a misfit hand, you should let opponent struggle when the hand is misfit. 4. Overcall can let your opponent find 5-3 ♠ fit at two level by supportive double. 5. Even though you can gain something by overcall, but there are plenty to lose and in the long run overcall is a -EV choice. 6. Pass does not mean you're out forever, if the bidding goes 1♣-p-1♠-p-2♠-p-p-? you can balance 3♥ because you know when they have fit we must have. I like to bid when I'm actually playing the hand but when someone ask me for opinion or in any type of discussion I say I pass and make the argument like "Weak players are not able to spot the trouble of strong hands." to let other people think I'm expert.

You should post it on Find a Partner/Teacher forum. If you cannot find it here, you should try to find a pick up partner on BBO, more often than not you find an expert partner.

4♥ if I play penalty double, double if I play takeout(negative) double.

2♦ If your agreement is 2♠ promise 2 out of top 3 you had better not violate it. Though not very often, partner may jump to slam without checking key card in some slam try auction because he/she believes you have "two out of top three." If I bid 2♦ I have lots of space to describe my hand later(partner usually bid 2NT, then I can use the 2NT system), there is no point to use 2NT to make a partial description of my hand now.

Someone share this link http://www.bridge.is..._2054397795.pdf to me when I asked question about fit-showing jump before. You may be interested in it. If you are more interested in the actual system than the theory behind it. Jump directly to the end of chapter one(briefly look at the summary) and go to chapter two. Basically the author argues that we should use more bid to describe the hand with support in partner's suit than the hand without support. New suit forcing becomes obviously necessary if you play cue bid response promise support and jump new suit is fit-showing. Otherwise you don't have the bid to show good hand without fit :D . You definetly give up single suit weak hand without fit(which can be shown by NF new suit bid) by doing this, but the advocators will argue the cost is relatively small compare to the gain of showing fit in partner's suit and hand type early in the auction.

From the post "Another trap pass problem" I feel probably we just don't reopen with double enough and let opp's light overcall escape too often. Maybe we can reopen with double a little bit more in order not to upset partner when he/she makes a trap pass, even if our shape is not perfect. To clarify my point, I made up two hands(with random hand generator under some restriction), [hv=pc=n&s=sj8542hakdaj93c97&w=skqhjt3d52ckq6542&n=st7hq6542dq8caj83&e=sa963h987dkt764ct&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1s2c]399|300[/hv] [hv=pc=n&s=sakt954hq6dkt9ct5&w=s862hk2da8cakj843&n=shat85dq532cq9762&e=sqj73hj9743dj764c&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=1s2c]399|300[/hv] On both hands South opens 1♠ and West overcalls 2♣, some of you may not agree the overcall on first hand(I think that is acceptable) but few of you have not seen people overcall with something worse than that. As you can see the best result for NS on both hand is to defend 2CX, but if such a hand occurs in any event, very few pair are going to achieve this result. On the first hand a lot of North may not trap but compete with negative double and end up in playing some partial. On the second hand even North makes a trap pass most South reopen with 2♠. That is, by playing negative double, we do give up some chance punishing opponent. How about trap pass/reopen with double more frequently? Let's restrict the discussion to the following sequence. 1 level open-(simple overcall)-pass-(pass)-? Partner either has a weak hand or a trap hand. Therefore I double whenever (a)I have doubleton or less in opp's suit (b)Want to defense when partner is trapping ©Can accept the potential damage if I reopen with non-standard takeout shape, either I can escape later or it won't be that bad if partner bid my short suit. For example, if the bidding goes 1♠-(2♣)-P-(P)-?, with South's hand in first example, I double and if partner bid 2♥ I accept it. With South's hand in second example, I double in case partner is trapping and bid 2♠ over partner's 2♦/2♥, not announcing I have extra, but saying I only offer two choice, playing 2♠(if you're not setting trap), or defensing 2♣X(if you're setting trap). With this agreement we can reopen with X more often without risk. As responder, we feel more comfortable to trap with 4 mediocre trumps in opp's suit) without risking too much even though 2NT/3NT or negative double(when most strength is in opp's suit!) is an alternative, because partner almost always reopen with X. This approach may have further advantage, that is, your partner is easier to judge when you reopen with something else. Back to "another trap pass problem", if partner would have reopend with X on "defensive 5521 hand"(For example ♠AJxxx ♥KQxxx ♦Qx ♣x, intend to bid 2♥ over 2♦ response), then 2♥ reopen must be highly offensive, with ♠K8 ♥J6 ♦A873 ♣K9863 this hand could be closed to 4♠! Thanks if you're willing to read such a long post, and feel free to comment or to share opinion.

Just saw the post about whether to open 2♦ or 3♦ on a questionable hand. A few people mentioned the fact that we should be more careful at second seat. Not saying this is not true. It's for sure that partner in average has more HCP after your RHO pass so your preemptive is less powerful. The thing I doubt is people include some bridge authors may overemphasize this factor a little bit. I just did a quick and rough simulation by hand generator on web version BBO. I set the following condition Hand 1~100("Second seat") South 7♣, 0~4♦, 0~3♥, 0~3♠, 5~9HCP East 0~11HCP Hand 101~200("First seat") Same for South, release the HCP restriction for East I averaged North's HCP in each condition and got the following result, Hand 1~100: 11.85 Hand 101~200:10.97 They are difference by less than 1 HCP, which makes me doubt whether we should worry too much about the difference between preempt at 1st or 2nd seat. Any opinion or comment?

I think robot automatically double with 18HCP regredless the shape.

I found this hand from a personal blog. This hand was played in an event for high school students in Taiwan. [hv=pc=n&s=sa75hkqt6dak4ct97&w=sqt6h5432dq732ca3&n=sk8haj8dt86ckqj85&e=sj9432h97dj95c642&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=1cp1hp1np3nppp]399|300[/hv] NS has 30HCP total and balance vs. balance but 6NT can be claimed at trick 1 on any opening lead. However I don't see any reasonable way to bid it based on all of the bidding system I know. Any opinion? Is this slam nearly impossible to bid regredless of bidding system?

MP [hv=pc=n&s=st95hjt82d76ct932&w=sk83hak96d8532ca5&n=saj6hq43dat4ckj87&e=sq742h75dkqj9cq64&d=e&v=0&b=14&a=pp1ddrp1hp1sp1nppp]399|300[/hv] I sat N, the defense started with ♣7, my partner's 9 forced out the A. Declare led a small ♦ to dummy and knock out my A on the next round. I led back a ♦ declare cashed all ♦(partner pitch 2 small ♠, I pitch ♣). Now declare led a small♠ to K and my A, after won it I played back ♣K and ♣J. Declare crossed back to the hand and finessed ♠ to pick up that suit. Declare now had 2♣3♦2♥3♠, 1NT+3, 28% for us. There were many wrong plays in defense, but I cannot figure it out why it was wrong(i.e. why should I play/pitch this card instead of that) without looking at all 4 hands. Can anyone help me analyzing the defense? Even a piece of comment is welcome.

In general bridge books authors advise us not to lead singleton trump. Is that still true if trump lead seems necessary based on the bidding? A hand from sectional pair [hv=pc=n&s=s2ha9542dkt2cqj73&w=skt5hkj863d4cakt4&n=saqj87hqt7dq985c6&e=s9643hdaj763c9852&d=w&v=e&b=16&a=1h1sp1n2c2d3cppp]399|300|3C=[/hv] I led a small♦ and declare got ♦A and 8 trumps, gave us 12% on this board.