jerdonald

So the director can somehow decide what the player was thinking when making the insufficient bid or the replacement bid?

BBO forum, Playing in an ACBL club game today my RHO opened 1D and I bid 1S. LHO also bid 1S and the director was called. LHO admitted she didn't see my 1S bid so didn't accidentally pull out the wrong bidding card. The director first gave my partner the option of accepting or not accepting the bid. She didn't accept. The director then allowed my LHO to put the 1S card back in the box and make another bid. She bid 1NT and he let it stand. I asked if the rule had changed and he said yes the director can now decide if the second bid is one that LHO could also make. So is there no such thing as an insufficient bid any more? He never looked at her hand so I asked how he knew what she might bid in this situation? He said that is now the rule. I asked if he knew how many points my LHO had or how good a player she was. He said no and this new rule put a lot of pressure on directors. Looks like the director is now participating in the bidding. Does ACBl expect directors to be clairvoyant in this situation? Jerryd

BBO forum, If I bid 4C it would show 16-17 HCP and 4+ trump support. But with 5 of my points coming from a void I'm wasn't sure it was appropriate since my hand has trick taking potential but not real strength. As per our partnership agreement 3C would show 13-15, first round control in clubs and 4+ trump support. I didn't suggest 4H because any bid I made below game was a chance to investigate for free. Although the only really good thing I could hear would be 3S so I could bid 4D and kick it back to partner. I eventually bid 3C leaving the next decision to partner who didn't like his quacks so shut us off at 4H. He held: S Axx H QJxxx D JTx C Qx If the diamond king and heart distribution were right we had a chance at slam and in team play slam it would be a winner. The king was off side. Jerryd

BBO forum, 2/1 ACBL Recently I held: S Kxxx H KTxx D AQxxx C - RHO opened 1C and I doubled looking for a fit or possible game in majors. LHO passed and my partner jumped to 2 hearts showing 9-11 HCP and RHO passed. Now I have a large selection of bids including 2S, 3C, 3D, 3H or ? My hand is worth up to 17 points and my partner would know what the 3C bid shows. What's my best bid here?? Jerryd

BBO forum, In the second instance the LHO pulled a card out of her hand and was about to put it on the table when her partner told her not to play it. The partner warning prevented her from making a mistaken lead but it also prevented declarer from seeing another card in LHO's hand and creating another penalty card. Is her partner allowed to warn about this. Seems like there shouldn't be any table talk between partners during the play. Jerryd

BBO forum, Today my partner was declarer and her LHO accidentally led a card with another one under it and exposed. The exposed card became a minor penalty card and she led the other card. Fine. Later in the hand she took a trick and led a card out of her hand when she should have led the penalty card so that card from her hand became a minor penalty card. The same thing happened later in the hand but this time her partner spoke up to stop her from playing a card from her hand. I contend that her partner shouldn't have interfered because another one of LHO's cards could have been disclosed to declarer. Is her partner allowed to direct partner's action when it could be an advantage to declarer? Jerryd

BBO forum, My partner and I use an ace/king asking convention that doesn't have a name. We have penciled in "Please Ask" in the section of the convention card about Gerber, Blackwood, 1430 etc. All the ace and king asking and showing bids are made at the 3 level and above so do we have to alert every bid? I know we could announce it but it's quite complicated. jerry

BBO forum, I posted a question on how profitable is to double a 1NT opener by RHO for penalty and got several good answers. If my double always requested partner to assume systems on what percentage of the time would we make a positive score? I realize this depends on many, many factors but someone may have a program that can take it all into account. Thanks, jerryd

BBO forum, RHO opens 1NT and I have a 1NT hand. Playing Cappelletti I double for penalty. Does anyone have any statistics on what percentage of the time I can set the opener? jerryd

BBO forum, My partner opened 2 clubs(21+) today and I responded 2NT showing 5+ hearts with 3 of the 4 honors. This bid is shown on our contention card which is generated by the ACBL "Bridge Convention Card Program". The program didn't show this bid in red so we don't alert it but should it be? Jerry D.

BBO forum, This is probably a much discussed problem here. With me as north, the bidding starts: N E S W 1D P 1H P ? North holds 3H and 12-14 HCP. My partner(S) only wants support for the major if I hold 4 cards. I think distribution may play a part in my rebid. With 3,3,4,3 I would bid 1NT With 2,3,4,4 I would bid 2H I know there are a lot of other distributions that would affect my response. How do you handle this situation? Jerry D.

BBO forum, Thanks for all the replies but I'm back to my original question. Since 4 suit transfers is noted on our convention card we used to have to alert "may or may not have a 4 card major" after the 2 club bid following a 1NT opener. I have heard recently that this has been changed so that only an announcement is required before the opening lead, irregardless of the final contract. Jerry D.

kenberg, Thanks for the reply. I am speaking about the sequence that goes 1NT-2C. The 2C may or may not be asking for a four card major. Responder then may bid 2NT no matter what the opener bids. This is the way we get to and stop at 2NT. When do we have to alert/announce? Jerry D.

My partner and I play 4 suit transfers and I know at one time you had to alert that the responder may or may not have a 4 card major. Now I understand that it's only required that an announcement must be made before the opening bid. What are all the acbl alerts/announcements for this bid? Jerry D.

BBO forum, My partner and I open a strong 2 clubs with 21+ points or 4 losers or 8 1/2 quick tricks. On the convention card I can enter the 21 points but all the other space in the DESCRIBE and RESPONSES/REBIDS blocks is used for explaining responses. Do I need to put 4 losers or 8 1/2 quick tricks somewhere on the card? Jerry D

BBO forum, Maybe there shouldn't be a score adjustment but certainly, to quote blackshoe, "the Standard in the ACBL is 25% of a top" should be applied. But declarer could have done several things. Not noticed the jack, forgetting about the king and queen already played or just getting confused he could have said "spade" or "play" or "spade ten". We'll never know because of the action of dummy. Jerry D.

BBO forum, Playing in a club open game we were defending and with 2 tricks left declarer led a spade. The spade king and queen had been played earlier and the ace and ten were on the board. I played the jack and before the declarer said anything the dummy picked up the ace and placed it in front of him. What should be the directors call for this infraction? Jerry D.

BBO forum, Playing pairs at a local club today we passed and the Ops bidding went: 1C 1H 1S 2D at which point the opener said alert. I asked and he said I think she thinks that's new minor forcing. He then bid 3D which looked like a shut off warning. Passed out. His alert was really telling his partner that he wasn't taking her 2D bid as new suit forcing. Actually it looked more like 4th suit forcing which was on their card. Does this look like UI? Jerry D.

Having never played with N(partner) before it's tough to read his hand. I doubt he has the BIG double since he didn't bid a suit on his second bid unless his pass was forcing. At this point you would think he has 11-17 and seemingly could have supported any suit you bid but that doesn't work because he can't have more than 1 or 2 hearts. He almost has to have a stack of clubs and some good spades. East is the culprit here trying to show 5/6 or 4/6 in the majors which he may or may not have. I would bid 5 clubs. The other possibility is he has all the missing diamonds. All guesses on my part but you can't guess at bridge.

BBO forum, Yes, I've just read law 42b2 which states that dummy may "try to prevent any irregularity by declarer". This seems to indicate that declarer must be in the act of or about to make an irregularity. So forewarning declarer seems to be against this law. Jerry D.

BBO forum, Many good points have been made on this subject and it's true that duplicate isn't and can't ever be completely fair. Sometimes it's just "the luck of the draw" as to which table you at when you play which boards. I've always thought that "eight is enough" is about as fair as it can get because your team gets both north/south and east/west and there is by definition some control of the overall strength of the teams. Jerry D.

BBO forum, This subject must have come up here before. One dummy at our club is always telling declarer which hand is on lead....you're in your hand partner". If declarer does lead from the wrong hand the defense has the option of accepting or rejecting the lead. If the dummy tells declarer which hand is on lead isn't dummy participating in the play of the hand? Jerry D.

BBO forum, Playing west in an open game today my partner opened 1C and my RHO bid 1D. We both continued bidding our minors to the point where my partner bid 5 clubs. My RHO paused and then reached into the bidding box, pulled the pass card half way out and dropped it back in the box. This was repeated 2 more times and then the 5D card was pulled out and played. My holding and the vulnerability were such that I was able to bid 6C. Now my LHO paused and finally just doubled. It was pretty obvious that the action by my LHO had alerted his partner to the fact that it he wasn't even sure about his 5D bid and 6D was probably out of the queation. That seemed like UI to me so I called the director who said he saw nothing wrong a with it. If this is legal why wouldn't I use it at every opportunity? Jerry D.

BBO forum, Most definitions of HSGT suggest 15+ HCP by the major opener but don't mention anything about favorable distribution. If opener has the minimum and responder bids 2M with only 6 points 3M may not make. Should distribution be part of the opener's decision to use HSGT with the minimum? Jerry

BBO forum, Playing in an open game this week when the opponents got the bid and the dummy came down the declarer would always say "WOW THANKS PARTNER" in a very enthusiastic voice. It didn't matter what the dummy had and this was obviously intended to intimidate the defenders. I've read books that suggested this tactic but I would like to know if there's a rule against this kind of thing or it's just accepted behavior. Jerry D.