SelfGovern

Hello. I've been teaching bridge both online groups and (before Covid) in person, with a great deal of success, and I'd be interested in talking with you and your group to see if we'd be a good fit for each other. If you'd like, I'd be happy to sit with you for an hour at no charge as you played some hands and we discussed them in a safe, non-critical way. My philosophy includes -- - The key areas of bridge are hand evaluation, defense, and declarer play, so those are what I focus on. You don't need a lot of conventions to play good bridge, and in fact, if you learn too many conventions too early, you may never learn how to evaluate your hand well. (learn a solid 2/1 system for duplicate players, or Standard American for social players) - Our partners are trying their best -- they don't need us to criticize them about the last hand and distract them from the new hand in front of them. During a game, we don't discuss errors, but save the discussion for after the session. - We're all here to have fun. To the extent you help your partner have fun, the better your game will be. To the extent that you make things pleasant for your opponents, the more choice of partners you'll have. You can email me at PlayBridgeWithThomas@gmail.com or contact me here.

If you know someone who played in the tournament, I believe you can. From bridgebase.com select "hand records", and then enter the person's BBO login (someone who played in the event), and a time period that covers it (probably one week will cover most of your requests). Find the tournament, and click on the link (it will look something like, "#20442 Pairs ACBL Sun 11am Speedball") to get the overalls and section rank summary. Note: bridgebase.com/myhands will also get you to the hand record link.

Profiles mean nothing. Anybody who calls themselves 'advanced' should have a complete system card available to share with a partner, and post an agreed card for the benefit of the opponents. I am fine if people want to use the GIB 2/1 card -- a workable system -- for this purpose.

If you grouse about cheating on BridgeBase Forums or to your partners or friends or anywhere else... nothing happens. It's a waste of your breath, your keystrokes, electrons. Instead, _report_ the cheaters to people who can do something about it. On BBO, you can export the hand, and Send Abuse Report from the history context. If you see someone cheating in an ACBL game (whether on BBO or live) , fill out a "Player Memo" to have BBO investigate possible cheating or ethics violations. The links (one for ACBL games held on BBO, one for non-BBO ACBL games) and explanation about the process are at https://www.acbl.org/conduct-and-ethics/ There do seem to be many people taking advantage of the online environment to cheat. Talking about it won't help. Taking the appropriate action will. (note: Many players have been banned or suspended from BBO for cheating. The ACBL has held disciplinary hearings based on reports of cheating and has suspended players in the last six months. Nobody will know that you saw someone you believe to be cheating unless you report it.)

Let me make a few suggestions that might improve your bidding a bit. 3!D: Has to be essentially opening bid strength, since it's forcing and therefore you're willing to play at the 4-level. 6+? Not on your life. With that you pass, and hope partner can re-open with a double and let you show "suit, but not enough values for an immediate bid". 3!H: Unknown, forcing, extras; typically shows a partial heart stopper, asking responder if he can provide enough in hearts to bid 3NT (if opener had hearts well stopped, he'd bid 3NT himself in this kind of auction). This "can you help with a diamond stop?" is often called the Western Cue (or WQ for short). In any case, this is how opener sets a game force and finds out more about responder's hand; it's 100% forcing after all. 3NT: If you were looking for heart values (your 3!H was Western Cue), I have 'em. 4!D: This is where the inferences come in. If opener simply wanted to raise diamonds, he'd have bid 4!D or 5!D (rarely) over 3!D. But he didn't. One thing he is not doing is offering responder a choice of playing in 3NT (the WQ 3!D above) and then changing his mind, pulling 3NT to 4!D. This auction shows a very good hand in support of diamonds, too good to raise to 4!D immediately. Many pairs would interpret this as minorwoodI, setting diamonds as trump and asking responder to show key cards. ("Minorwood" is in the style of Blackwood, but is the key card ask for the minors, and allows you to stop at 5m, while Blackwood will often bypass five of our minor). What happens after that, we don't know. A lot of people don't know that 4!D should be key card ask on this auction, so I wouldn't expect anyone but an expert or high advanced to treat it that way (and only with discussion!). I would expect GIB to treat it as a forcing bid and probably bid 6!D or similar. Yes, it's possible for responder to show Hx secondary support for spades here (Qx or better). Without looking at responder's hand, it's impossible to know what calls are logical -- or illogical -- at this juncture. I hope that some of my comments above will help you clarify auctions in the future.

In an ACBL IMP tournament, I recently had a friend get masterpoints for placing in strat B with a -3.x IMP score. It can easily happen if all the As beat every B.

There are several ways to get points in the tournaments on BBO. There are first of all overall awards -- the best score out of everyone gets the most monster points. The second-best score out of everyone gets the second most monster points. Then there are section awards. When the game starts, people are somewhat randomly assigned to "sections" of (typically) 12 - 15 tables. The sections are given letters (A, B, C, ...). People in section A only play against others in section A. After finding the overall awards, players in each direction (N/S or E/W) of each section are then ranked. The top scoring pair of section A N/S is given the better of the section 1st award or their overall place., and so on for each section and each direction, until all the places have been awarded. It is certainly possible that in your event, your score was not good enough to place in your section. Or, the pair that won points could have been in a lower flight than you were (it takes a better score to place in flight A than in flight C, see below). All of the ACBL events on BBO, and most of the non-ACBL BBO tournaments then stratify the game -- putting players into groups based on the number of points each pair has. Let's say that the top 1/3 (5) of a 15-table section are classed as Flight A. Then the remaining (10) pairs are ranked 1st through n for the "best in flight (or strat) B" award. Finally, those who have too many points for flight C are removed, and the remaining five pairs are awarded the highest monster point award they qualify for. Note that a Flight C pair can win 1st overall, or second in their section for flight A or B, and they would get the highest award they qualify for (not the sum of possible awards). A C pair can win a C award or a B award or an A award or an overall award. A B or A pair cannot win a C award. I hope this helps.

Let me suggest you post an actual auction an hand next time. Your question as phrased seems to have led people to respond to at least two different questions, which means the quality of the answers is highly subject to how closely the question they were answering tracks the question you were asking. It's also important to tell us what bidding system you're using. The answer will be different for Standard American vs. 2/1 vs. Acol vs. whatever. What I think you were asking is, "In Standard American, if partner opens one of a major. I have a good five-card minor, four card support for partner's suit, and 11 points. What should I bid?" And even that question is ambiguous, because there are bad 11-point hands (Jxxx, QJ, QJ, KJxxx), good 11-point hands (Kxxx, xx, xx, AKJxx), and incredible 11-point hands (KTxx, x, Kxxx, KQTxx). Part of the reason you should post your hand and the auction is so that people can help you understand why your 11-point hand is better or worse than another, or an average 11-point hand. NOW -- with that out of the way: 0. When you have a hand worth a single bid (i.e., 6-9) or invite (10-bad 12), it's important that you show partner the fit as soon as possible in your bidding structure. 1. It's important to have in your system a bid to show a limit raise (that is, invitational) hand with four-card trump support. In Standard American, that's 1!H - 3!H, or 1!S - 3!S. Alternately, many 2/1 players use Bergen raises, where 3!D shows 4-card support and an invitational hand. 2. If you only have three-card support, you make a temporizing bid and then support partner's suit (in standard American that could be 1!H - 1!S; (whatever) - 3!H, or, 1!H - 2!C; 2!H - 3!H, for instance. 3. If your 4-card support hand has 11 HCP and evaluates to an opening hand in support of partner's suit (say, KTxx, x, Kxx, KQTxx), then you need to have a bid to show that. Even Standard American has adopted the 2NT forcing raise bid often called Jacoby 2NT. You should too, regardless of whether you're 2/1 or Standard American. Make sure you read a complete discussion of the convention, so that you know what opener's rebid is supposed to be, and how you have sensible auctions both ending in game, as well as exploring slam. (Note: Many players use splinters (double jump shift) to show a singleton in a side suit, four-card support, and an opening hand in support like the example hand in this paragraph. If you don't use splinters, then Jacoby 2NT is a reasonable substitute.) An additional note: a partnership needs to be in agreement on what kind of hands are opening hands. If your partner regularly opens 1H on a 3532 11-count, then you will need to make sure you increase your requirements for a limit raise and game-forcing sequence by about a queen -- that is, make sure that you have a good 13 or 14 before you force to game unless partner shows extras.

Not a 'fancy' solution, but in general: - You can create an account on BBO for free. - You can add BB$ to your account from the browser (i.e., not an app downloaded to your phone) dollar for dollar (BB$ purchased through the app have to pay commission to apple or android, so you have to pay an extra 30% or so). - You can transfer BB$ from your account to any other account with zero transaction cost (no "commission" or "handling fee"). Click the "BB$" icon upper right, and then "Transfer BB$". All you need is the user name of the recipient I don't know if BBO sends a nice note if you contact the accounting department, but you can always email a nice note yourself. Alternately, the friend could give you the cash, you could buy the BB$, and you could make the transfer, with a phone call from friend to let the mother know of the generous gift. Note: If anyone wants to try this out, my account is gladly and graciously accepting all trial transfers. :)

Here's the meta-answer: what you need to know for not just this hand, but for all your future hands. :) First -- you need to agree with your partner on a system. Since finding games and slams (and the *right* ones!) is so important, one of the most important things you can do is agree on how you can create a game force, and then what bids mean in that context -- what's a move toward slam? What's a signoff in game? etc. The current winner of the bidding popularity poll in the US is called "2/1 game forcing". It has a few 'flavors', and it has some conventional bids you'll have to learn, like 1NT over a major suit bid is forcing for one round, and may not be a balanced shape. But it's a sound system, and if you learn it, your bidding accuracy will greatly improve (and your ability to hang on to the good partners will also increase). "Standard Bridge Bidding for the 21st Century" by Hardy is a good book to bring you and a partner up to speed. If you love that, he's got an advanced book too "Advanced bidding ... Century" Second, Losing Trick Count (LTC) is an important tool in hand evaluation. The hand you posted had eight or more losers; a typical opening bid will have seven. If you've got a hand that's light in HCP but has good honor structure and seven or fewer losers by LTC, you can consider opening it. But if it's below normal in HCP and more losers than normal in LTC, and poor honor structure to boot... well, nobody says you have to open that hand. I do recommend you spend some time online researching LTC, it is a very useful supplemental tool to High Card Points. Third is care and feeding of partner. sometimes you realize you have done something you should not have done. Passing in the middle of a forcing auction is rarely a good way out. If, as in this case, you pass leaving partner in a terrible contract, or miss a game or slam, well, that's what they call a "Partner Asking Bid" (as in, they'll be asking for a different partner next time you want to play). Sometimes you just have to keep bidding until partner stops forcing, and hope it works out (keep bidding while making the weakest possible calls). Plus, carefully analyzed what went wrong from your side, and remember to not make that mistake again. Fourth, there are certain treatments or agreements that nearly all good bridge players have found to be extremely useful/important. You need to have some way to learn those. One of them, for instance, is that immediate forcing raises of a major suit must show at least four trump (1!S - 3!S, if you play that forcing, or 1!S - 2NT in the modern style). I encourage you to do some reading on whatever system you do agree to adopt to make sure you and your partner are on the same page. Fifth-ish: there are lots of auctions where there is no "standard" agreement. You and your partner need to develop understandings for what those sequences mean. Among them are: - Jump Shifts by responder: Strong (forcing to game and slam interest), weak (like an opening weak 2 bid, but even weaker!), or intermediate (just forcing to game, which is terrible in my opinion). - How do you create a game force when partner opens a major? When he opens a minor? - What do your bids mean when the opps interfere with your 1NT opening? - How do you interfere with their 1NT opening? There's more - I encourage you to spend time going over a standard ACBL convention card with your partner and use it as a springboard to reaching agreement and pushing your understanding of the auction phase of bridge. I believe there was a series in the ACBL Bulletin starting about a year ago that covered the different sections of the convention card and helped explain what the options mean. If you're an ACBL member, you can reference back issues for free, and it would be well worth your time to go over it with a regular partner... but very worthwhile for you to do it yourself if you don't have a regular partner, so you'll know what all the pickup partners are talking about! Best of luck to you. It's great that you're here and asking questions! Thomas.

I think you will find that your slam bidding improves if you cuebid to show first or second round controls. On this hand that leads to this very nice auction: 1!H 2NT 3!C 3!D / shortage in clubs, excites N / diamond control is music to South's ears 3!S 4!C / Spade control / club control; opposite a singleton, must be showing the Ace 4NT / S thinks: I have AKQ of trump, partner is still interested in slam. He has the ace of clubs and what else to get to an opening hand? If you want an interesting fillip, North could bid 4!D at his second turn (jumps in game-forcing auctions are never natural, and once we've found a major suit fit, we don't go looking for a minor-suit fit). This would be of great interest to S, knowing that partner has an opening hand in support of hearts with no wasted values in diamonds or clubs! Also of note: A splinter (1!H - 3!S, for instance) should show a minimum opening hand in support of partner's major -- that is, a max of 16 support points. If you are stronger than that, you lose far too much bidding space, and a better plan is to create a game force then start cuebidding. If you play mini-splinters, you can add a bit of fun to them, as well by playing mini-splinters. A mini-splinter is defined as 4-card support with an invitational hand and a singleton, shown by a simple jump-shift over partner's one-of-a-major opening (1S - 3C or 1H - 2S, for instance). Then you still have the normal splinter for hands up to 16 support points. THE TWIST: you can mini-splinter on a hand too strong to make a normal splinter, and then take further action if partner signs off at 3M. THE CAVEAT: You need some way of accepting the game try other than jumping to game, in case responder has the maxi splinter. So I would want an agreement that in the auction 1!H - 3!C, opener's rebids have the following meanings: 3!D: How good is your mini-splinter? With aces and kings, bid 4; otherwise bid 3!H (Any bid inbetween the mini-splinter and game is a help-suit game try; the fewer suits available, the more general it is) 3!H: to play 3!S: Cuebid with at least some slam interest 3NT: Reeeeely Beeeeg hand -- expecting a cuebid if responder has any control other than shown so far (a void in clubs would be shown with 4!C, if not that 4!D with the !DA or K, 4!S with the !S A or K, 4!H with neither f those holdings) 4!C/!D: Cuebid *in case* responder has the maxi splinter. If not, responder just bids 4!H 4!H: To play, but not a slam-interested hand unless responder has a really good maxi-splinter If you only play mini-splinters (and not the mini-maxi), then opener's rebids are a bit simpler; 3 or 4 of the trump suit are to play; suits below 3M are help suit game tries (or rarely slam tries), and bids above 3M are cuebids asking how good responder's mini-splinter is.

You can accrue ACBL masterpoints even if you are not a member of the ACBL -- but neither you nor anyone else will be able to see them until you join the ACBL (with the minor exception that the link https://www.bridgebase.com/points/ will show your pending ACBL points even if you are not a member). When you join the ACBL and add your ACBL number to your BBO profile, BBO shoots a notification to the ACBL and your points get recorded and visible on the ACBL site. You must be a member of the ACBL to play in some games, like the ACBL regional held at the end of June. Other clubs and organizations have their own rules. If you live in the US and want to improve your game, the ACBL magazine you get with your membership is well worth the cost of joining. There are numerous columns by experts who are excellent writers that are tailored for players from beginners up through advanced. Most of the columnists are regulars, so they can take a topic and explore it in depth over several issues (not just a simple "after 1NT opening, 2!H asks opener to bid 2!S", but what happens after that, why play Texas transfers, how to show slam interest, how to find the right game, how to deal with interference, etc.). There is a special introductory rate of $8 for one month for new members to get a feel for how useful the magazine would be to you (and, I suppose, to let you enter a particular event that required you be a member). If you are under 26 years of age, the ACBL 1-year membership is only $5/year. THAT is a STEAL. (access to the ACBL magazine at this rate is online only, but I believe you have all other benefits of membership) Let me know by BBO email if you have more questions about joining the ACBL.

It would be nice if there were a "rewind" button to take you back to trick 1 as there is in the BridgeMaster hands.

Let's hope the opponents are in a six level contract. Your Lightner Slam Double against a suit will prevent the club lead. A diamond gets ruffed, and a heart gets cashed. It's more problematic if partner is on lead against 6NT -- but then again, half the time you will be. (PRO TIP: Your double of a slam contract when you are on lead is never Lightner.)

I understand that there is a way to link to a Bridgewinners.com convention card -- by posting the URL somewhere in the header of the BBO card. If that is true, then have one card for the group on BridgeWinners, and use it will the partners you want on BBO.

I agree with Vampyr. Play ceases when a claim is made. When a claim is made, call the director if: 1. You disagree with the clam, and reject it 2. Declarer claimed, and the claim is rejected. The laws say that play ceases when a claim is made. In ACBL games, the declarer will advance to the next board and adjudicate when he has a moment to look at the board in contention.

This is a minimum hand. It's only gotten worse with the opps bidding spades (the !SQ is now worth much less than the 2HCP you originally gave it. The diamonds are weak. You have only two cards in partner's suit. There is a call for "my hand is minimum and we have no fit" when you are not forced to bid. It's that green card with "pass" written on it. Had there been no call by RHO, you have to decide between 1!N and 2!C -- which is a more difficult decision (I lean toward 1NT, but either call might work on any particular hand). But when you don't have to bid? Don't bid when you have nothing to say.

I can tell you one problem with this solution: People are often not careful in their typing. I predict you'd have an avalanche of people who couldn't get in because their name was mistyped. Oh well.

There is a lot to be said for opening 55 black hands with 1!C. If that is your agreement, it works very well here; partner knows that you have 6-5 or better because you opened 1!S. Other hands where you are 5-5, you might even be able to play at 4!S instead of at the five level.

With balanced hands, point count becomes very important. Think of it this way: So you've got all the aces and kings. That's eight tricks. If the opps have all the queens, you need four(!) finesses to take 13 tricks. That's so far from remote to be next to impossible. When you have 32 and nobody's got a long suit, just take your plus at six. Seven is odds-on to be a zero (or 15-IMP loss).

There are several things in BBO that are against the rules. Among them are: The auction is not to be visible after a player has played to trick 1Undos are not allowed, or if they were, there would be exposed card penalties and possibly penalties in the auction (and then on opening lead)The partner of the player is responsible for alerting and explaining his partner's bids Personally, while it may be strictly against the rules of the ACBL, I can't see the harm in suggesting a claim when only declarer has trump, and declarer has all the trump (or an equivalent condition).. In any case, no need to be agressive with your "what part did you not understand". I bet you didn't get selected for BBO Prime with an attitude like that.

One very useful rule I have when thinking about sacrificing is this: If I can't set their game contract, I'm never bidding to the level where game is advancer's only bid (I don't bid 3!S or 4!D if they are bidding hearts, nor 4!H if they're bidding spades, for instance). I'll either bid 4S or 5C/D/H immediately, or I'll pass and take my fix. This is assuming I don't think they can make six, and on hands where I don't have enough prime values to think that we can make game in our strain.

There are a large number of possibilities -- it depends on how your bidding system is structured. Start with this thought: When partner opens 1NT, almost everyone has a way to show a weak hand with a major suit (transfer, then pass), an invitational hand with a major (transfer, then bid 2NT with five or 3M with six), a game-going hand with a major (transfer then bid 3NT with 5, or Texas transfer with six), and slam interest (transfer and bid a new suit, or transfer and splinter, or Texas transfer and then use key card) In comparison, many partnerships don't have each of these situations covered. Your first step is to analyze your agreements, and figure out which hands you can show, and which you can't. Then you think about unused sequences and figure out if you can define some of those undefined sequences as a previously unshowable hand. One structure that might work for you: Over 1NT: 1N - 2C 2any - 2N : invitational to 3NT; does not have 44 fit with opener's shown major 1N - 2S - transfer to clubs 2N bad support for clubs P Responder willing to play 2NT 3C - Weak hand with clubs, opener passes 3D/H/S - Slam interest in clubs, showing a singleton or void in the bid suit 3N Balanced slam try in clubs, non-forcing 4C Minorwood (key card ask in clubs) 1N - 2S - transfer to clubs or range ask. 3C Hxx or better in clubs P Weak hand with 6(+) clubs 3D/H/S - Slam interest in clubs, showing a singleton or void in the bid suit 3N Balanced slam try in clubs, non-forcing 4C Minorwood (key card ask in clubs) 1N - 2N Transfer to diamonds Opener's rebids: 3C - Bad support for diamonds 3D - Good support for diamonds (Hxx or better; some reverse this and 3C) Over opener's 3C bid, 3D is to play. Over opener's 3C or 3D, 3N = balanced slam try in diamonds 3H/3S/4C = unbalanced slam try in diamonds 4D: Minorwood (Key card ask in diamonds) 1N - 3D 55 minors; game forcing. Opener's rebids: 3H: Agrees clubs with desire to play in a suit 3S: Agrees diamonds with desire to play in a suit 3N: Major suits well covered, desire to play 3NT Now that scheme doesn't give you invitational hands with a minor, but it does give you the rest -- and often, knowing that opener has primary support for your minor is enough to let you bid 3NT on less than 25HCP. Others play that 2C is nominally Stayman, but if responder then bids 3C or 3D, it's game forcing with slam interest in the bid minor.

> Please note, I was looking at auctions that ended with pp, followed by a third p Forgive me for being dense, but doesn't every auction end with pass, pass, followed by a third pass?

My 'system' for this kind of auction after 1N 2D 2H 3D ?? is: 3H: Agrees hearts as trump, allows responder to bid game or cue or use serious 3NT 3N: No good support for either suit, or support for one but a hand suited for NT 3S: Agrees diamonds, allows for 3NT to play, or cue or 4D minorwood, or cuebids.