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I think that the K+R point count is a quite accurate form of hand evaluation. In this case, I think that the K+R total (11 points) is much more accurate than the Work HCP measure. This hand has a lot of minueses: Its 4333 in shape Its HCP at disproportionately concentrated in Quacks It has two unsupported Queens Over half the HCP are concentrated in a 3 card suit The only control is in a 3 card suit. From my perspective, the only saving grace in the hand is that you have QT9x in clubs, rather than Qxxx. [Note that the K+R point count would degrade to 10.35 if you take away the 10/9 of clubs while the Work HCP total remains unchanged] I believe that players can and should excercise judgement. I would have no problem if a partner chose to pass this hand rather than opening a weak HCP 1NT. [Actually, I hope that I would have the discipline to do the same] If you beleive that Work style HCP are the best way to evaluate balanced hands AND your agreement is to open hands with 12-14 HCP then you should open this hand. If you prefer a different evaluation technique (for example, you think that the K+R adjusted point count is a better measure) then feel free to pass. Y can't open 1 hand with 1 NT and not another especially not without opps knowing. Same reason why y can't psych an artificial bid. It's just part of a set of rules we have to play by, like it or not that's the case. ;) With regular 1 or 2 level openers y can adjust all y want, but not with NT, since that is based on HCP. And y have 13 which is almost a maximum for r NT range. Maybe if r pd asks y later in auction if y have min or max y can downgrade or upgrade. So it sounds like y wanna play a variable NT based on losers and not HCP and that is brown sticker I think. So either don't do it or get director called at table all the time and have no case. Maybe weak NT just not for you :huh: Mike :o

Thinking ahead helps almost always :huh: If y have a second suit bid it, that's very big part of the Forcing NT response ;) And for the 6-6 hands, how come I never get any of them :o , I think it mostly depends on the SP quality, 1098765 is a lot better then 765432. But it is very hard to show 6-6 hands since they hardly ever happen, so y kinda have to wing it. That said I will open hand 4) 1H and hand 5) 1 SP if spade suit looks something like A109xxx. Mike :D

I don't think it's only with a novice but with a failry new pdship or just a pickup game y will bid what y think y can make. And that is 6 Cl. :D But if y bid this with good pdship or somewhat discussed system . I won't X if my life was depending on it, my pd mite just pass, opps didn't support the spades. So I wud bid 4 SP, a 2 suited TO . On this hand y actually will get to Grandslam, since pd respond 5 H and y bid 5 Sp, which still shud be exclusion RKC. But if pd wud respond 5 D, generally my pd's :D , y just have to settle for 6 Cl and live with the fact that preempts sometimes work :lol: Mike ;)

First I wanna know how y can play RKC when there is no suit agreed upon on ? Second Why take away all this usefull space by jumping to 4 NT ? Bid 3 Cl first so maybe pd can help y out ? Still a pdship game :D And when pd supports y start cuebidding. That's why I always say support with support and now pd can bid 3 Cl y know after H cuebid the worse thing that can happen is y have to take sp finesse, and if y play against me I mite just lead a SP :lol: Mike :D

Sorry wrong Quote Mike :D

So with other words y play weak NT, but only if y have many tricks ? Why even bother playing weak NT? I play myself 10-12 NV and 12-14 Vul, and I open any of them as long as they r within my range. I am not sure, but I actaully think if y play weak NT and y decide not to open it on numerous occasions, y r violating all kinds of rules. Since r pd knows and opps don't. I played a few times with a pd who played 11-14 NT, but when we opened 1 NT we alerted that if pd had 11 count he had to HAVE 2 Aces and a King. So opps know, but that took a lot away from opening 11-14 nt, since after few tricks y can see what declarer has. Not ideal when y r trying to make a shaky hand. :D Mike :lol:

Both minors with a fairly weak hand, and I don't think who is Vul has anything to do with it hehehe. And I am still waiting for my Free(e) Beer :lol: I actually play that after pd opened and opps overcall 1 NT 2 CL = Singlesuited hand 2 D = Both majors 2 H = Hearts and a minor 2 S = Spades and a minor 2 NT = Minors X = Penalty Where of course pd did open one of these suits, so use r judgement on how to handle certain bids. If pd opens 1 H and they overcall 1 NT and y bid 2 SP, y better be 5-5 :D and only have 1 H. And when y support pd's suit that is just natural, except for 1 D - 1 NT - 2 D is majors, y can use 2 Cl to have pd bid 2 D which is forced and when y pass pd knows y had D. Mike :D

AHH, good a natural system kinda question, shud get this rite :lol: First of all the 2D rebid is horrible, just rebid 2 CL, if pd can't do anything over 2 Cl y are in a very nice spot. But with this hand pd bids 3 CL and after that y bid 3 D showing a max hand for a minimum hand. And now pd bids 3 NT, showing good sp cards for NT, he can bid 3 Sp saying he has some but needs some help in spades, and with actual hand y bid 4 Cl and let pd decide where to go. So on this hand we get to a very nice 3 NT played from the rite side, and all that in a very nice controlled way. Easy game that bridge, just think ahead and try to keep lies to a minimum especially when y have a much better alternative available. :D Mike :D

:D Y really have to bid on everything and misguide r pd ? First of all, this auction is almost never going to get passed out, and in the very few cases it does be very happy, cause the % of y making anything is about nil. Overcalling 3 Cl :D , yr pd mite actually expect more then 1/2 a trick. And after any bid from either opps or pd, somebody gotta bid spades, y have a very nice bid avalaible. 3 CL ;) now pd knows what y have and after opps compete to some # of D y bid Hearts. :lol: The part about come alive with 6-5 doesn't mean y have to do it direct. Again people just don't think ahead :D Mike :D

I totally agree with this, but I know about none of you play 1 sp as forcing here, since an earlier post. But I am one of the sane :D people that just rebids 1 sp. And after that the auction has no problem at all. 1D- 1H 1Sp- 3 D 4D = RKC for D and still have possibility to sign of in 4 NT That being said, I therefore think of all the bad bids, 2 SP is by far the worse. By rebidding 2 SP y are suggesting an unbalanced hand with long D and better spades. AM I really the only one that plays a natural system, kinda, that actuallu thinks ahead ??? Mike :lol:

Ah, I guess I forgot to say that I look at what is left of the hand and if I can make a reasonable ruling on line of play then I change it to whatever the outcome may be. Most of the time there are only few tricks left so outcome fairly clear, that's why I insist of them calling me at halfway point of round if they r way behind. But if they just started playing the hand and round ends y can not really say which way it was going, and that's when I assign the A+ and A- to nonoffender and offender. Sorry for not being more clear :D Mike :lol:

I a normal game were it is clearly a misclick, I will give an undo. But when playing tourneys I try to go by rules, like ACBL, to have some guidelines. And then a card played is a card played. Thank God y can't lead out of turn here hehehe :D And for newer players it does take a little getting used too, but after few times y shud be ok. Mike :lol:

I have had some problems for a while how certain people run their tourneys, but hey it's a free world :D so they can do whatever they want. I just don't play in their tourneys, and no adjustment during a tourney :lol: why even run one? People slow playing all the time and then try to blame opps or something else. It's becoming a very big problem. So I have people call me as soon as they r at halfway point of round, and if they r still playing first hand I'll watch and see who is slow playing. And then I give the Nonoffenders A+ on next hand and offenders A- if they are no able to finish round in time. They can whine and cry all they want, but that's the way I run my tourney. And people know that now, don't have very many problems anymore :D And making adjustments is best part of tourney, making sure nobody gets away with stuff. And I can run a 40 table tourney by myself clocked and making adjustments. Just takes a little bit of practice ;) Mike :D

I think all directors have right to remove violators. But at least tell them why they getting booted and be civilized about it. Sometimes people just click wrong tourney. But you also have repeat violators that think it is funny, most likely alcohol induced, and I generally bar them from my tourney for a while. And I leave them a message to let them know why. I still believe in the good of people even though it has been tested lately :D But all the happy responses always make it my worth while :lol: Mike :D

So you hold S – K7643 H – A954 D – 4 C – A83 And open 1 Spade in 2nd seat!! Playing 2/1, partner bids 2D holding S – J85 H – K63 D – KQJ98 C – K4 You will end up in 4S, one trick (at least) too high Or partner might bid 2C with S – A82 H – Q3 D – QJ5 C – KT932 Once again, one trick too high. In my 2/1 the hand will respond 1 NT forcing with that crappy hand. And after any response it bids 3 sp showing a Limit raise with 3 Spades. And that will be the end of the bidding. 3 SP making. Mike :D

Almost agree, I think 2 sp rebid with that hand is only bid. Since 2 H is 100% forcing and almost always GF. And after my pd's 3 Cl rebid now y bid 3 D and to show only 2 of them. Law of symmetry strikes again 8) Mike ;D

Yes, on the given auction, I would balance with this hand. S Ben Absolutly, no doubt about it. Mike ;D

I also play 3 of a minor over NT opening as showing GF hand with at least 5-5 in minors. But I am playing around rite now with bidding 1 NT -3 SP as Slamforcing in minors. 3SP forces 3 NT and then y start describing r hand. 3NT- 4CL = single suited CL hand 4 D = single suited D hand 4 H/SP = both minors and short in the bid major. Like I said still working on it, but seems to work very good, since trf to minor now only has to cover all weak and invitational hands. Mike ;D

I almost agree, of course I have to argue ;D. If I bid 1 NT I have at least 9 cards in the 2 unbid suits, 5-4 and most of the time my 5 card is the major. 2 NT, I always have both minors at least 5-5. Mike ;D

See, if y would have given me that Free(e) Beer 8) But if I am online and not busy doing something just ask me and maybe I will be nice enough ;D Een Fries en een Belg die samenspelen, zal wel lachen worden hehehe Mike ;D

this one seems simple to me, so i know i'm missing something.. even not playing 2/1, the bidding above seems right.. after 3C is doubled, i'd expect north to bid 3H and south 3NT.. i honestly don't see any problem and can't understand the strong jump shift I think this hand shows why strong Jumpshift have to have a very good 6 card suit. Like I said earlier just bid 2H and have no problem, Biggest problem, actually one of many, is that people don't use their brain to figure out what to do. Think ahead and y won't have these problems ::) Mike

I agree, if pd wants to go to slam he can bid it slower. Mike ;D

I think after I pass, my pd will bid 4 H with this hand. Normal I think, so it goes down most of the time, but who knows maybe they will bid 5D, or lead the Ace of SP B) But this is normal bidding, and not resulting B) Mike ;D

Cold for 3 NT ? Maybe y see some very starnge squeeze I haven't heard of but otherwise I only see 8 tricks for declarer and that is assuming that they play the clubs for no losers. :-X Mike ;D

Now y really owe me some Beer hehehe :) Mike ;D