Phil352

We had a similar issue on the hand: [hv=d=n&v=0&b=1&a=pp2dp2hp3d4d5dppp]133|100[/hv] Lacking a both majors bid in our agreements (in hindsight a pretty big hole) i think what partner did was fair enough. the 5D bidder was concerned about her aceless hand and the 2D opener wished they'd opened something else i think.

Assuming the list chase made doesn't count boards since 1996. Given that this was 17 years ago, that's quite a lot of time for bridge to move on/partnerships to decay. The results will be slightly loaded to the present just because of more vugraph probably but still not enough to correct.

mea culpa :) but i think it should be called that from now on.

Valid points gnasher, I think playing pretty constructive weak 2s (8+ to 11) tips it slightly back towards being slightly more frequent and useful since overall strength is already defined. If playing constructive style I'm not convinced feature ask is any more useful than shortage ask (i actually quite like the Svar convention which covers both shortages/6-4s and maximum/minimum. I ripped this from an old Brogeland card: Svar: 2♠ = Natural, forcing one round (2NT, 3♥ and 3♠ is passable) 2NT = Asks for shortage and another suit 3♣ = Natural, GF 3♦ = Natural, GF 3♥ = Natural, GF (preempt over 2♥, which may be raised to game with at least 6-4) 3♠ = Preempt which may be raised to game with at least 6-4/Splinter over 2♥ 3NT = To play (2NT followed by 3NT suggests to play) 4♣ = Splinter 4♦ = Splinter 4M = To play, no forcing pass. 2♥ – 2NT 3♣=6-4, 3♦ ask 3♥=♣, 3♠ = ♦, 3NT = ♠ 3♦ = Shortage in a minor 3♥ ask 3♥ = Min with no shortage 3♠ = Shortage 3NT = Max with no shortage 4♣= Void 4♦= Void 4♥= Void in ♠ 2♠ – 2NT 3♣= 6-4, 3♦ ask 3♥= ♣, 3♠ = ♦, 3NT = ♥ 3♦ = Shortage in a minor 3♥ ask 3♥ = Shortage in ♥ 3♠ = Min with no shortage 3NT = Max with no shortage 4♣= Void 4♦= Void 4♥= Void 4♠ = Void in ♥, min

This may be true, but personally I have found the real value of shortage ask is when partner (the 2nt bidder) holds something like xxx in a suit - opposite a shortage a thin game can be bid because we know our values are concentrated with the longer suits. If I show a feature in a different suit over his 2NT bid he is still left wondering about his xxx.

I currently play shortage ask over disciplined 2M weak 2s, and feature ask over a wider ranging 2D - where the focus is more often finding 3NT than 5D. As mentioned above I don't find Ogust much use once you trust partner to take suit quality and vulnerability/position into account when opening 2x.

This may be deliberate but I can't set up or play at a vugraph table set up by my partner. Is there an obvious reason for this?

Not necessarily true in normal duplicate movements: If you bring a smartphone you get first dibs on sitting North-South (or given the stereotypical nature of smartphone users being younger maybe all EW should do the scoring and move around the room. Still a pretty poor idea atm though.

When you say no system, was weak jump shifts discussed? ie. is 3S going to be forcing? If it is that seems logical. If not I'll need to think some more.

[hv=pc=n&s=sajt76hk9753d4caq&n=sq9843hat62dkq3c2&d=s&v=n&b=15&a=1sp4cp4dp4hp4np5dp5sppp]266|200[/hv] Q♥ lead. How do you plan to play? (see second spoiler for ultimate decision you'll all come down to). My line was as follows

Playing matchpoints against 2 of the best players in the club last night: [hv=pc=n&n=sk64haj52dqj8ca86&d=w&v=e&b=16&a=p1n2np3dppp]133|200[/hv] 2NT showed both minors. What would you choose to lead? I'll reveal my choice afterwards although the full hand isn't particularly relevant.

Playing in the club last night the following hand came up: [hv=pc=n&s=sk5hak963dkj875c7&n=s987hjt54dqtcaqt8&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1hp2np3dp3hp4hppp]266|200[/hv] Matchpoints, Spots in hearts/diamonds are approximate West leads the 5♣ Now you're already in a thin game by club standards but I'd anticipate about 1/2 to 2/3 the room will be in it. Was it unreasonable to put the Q in at trick one? Playing for an overtrick if the club finesse is right and trumps are 2-2 or for my 10 if trumps do break badly? Am I missing something really obvious?

Justin how does playing weak nt make it worse? If anything surely it makes it easier for partner to know what to do since some hand types are automatically discounted?

Fair enough this seems pretty conclusive. I probably should have mentioned that we were playing a weak NT and so 2353 hands are automatically discounted. When I play strong NT with another partner we frequently bid 2M with 3 card support and a small doubleton as gnasher suggested. Am I right in thinking most people are looking at playing in the best/safest partscore rather than trying to help partner make a decision about borderline games where we have a double fit? For example would you expect partner to move again on eg. xxx KQxxxx Ax Qx? I guess he could bid 3♦?

So my partner and I have a severe disagreement over the non-competitive auctions 1m 1M 2M What hand shapes do you raise to 2M with only 3 card support? Does it change depending on relative strength of suits? Does it change depending on MPs vs IMPS? We had the auction 1♦ 1♥ 2♥ 2♠! 3♦? Can this 3 diamond bid show only 3 hearts? is it possible that 3D actually shows only 3H and not 4 or can a x45x hand be possible? I had xx Jxx KQJxxx Ax Should this rebid 2D or 2H? All views welcome!

I played the same line Steve except you can afford to cash the K♠ after ruffing the first heart to check that trumps are 4-1. However as the title of the thread may suggest LHO had AJ10xx and RHO 9x so I went off whereas if I'd just played a spade to the 10 I'd have been home. I think I took too much inference from the opening lead. LHO had led a low diamond so i immediately had assigned her 4 diamonds. However after she turns up with both aces I should have stopped and allowed for only 3 diamonds. Coupled with the lack of spade continuations from the defence I'm convinced I would have been better off allowing for poor defence in clubs (this was just a regular club night), and playing a spade to the 10 straight away. Even if spades are 2-3 i'm 66% (possibly more as would they shift to a spade from Jx?)

One of the best things, which you may already do, is just to switch off whenever you are dummy. This means you avoid thinking about things you have no control over - saving energy on a quarter of the boards. I usually find the best way to do this is to leave the table for a glass of water or a toilet break (when partner plays a lot of hands it quickly turns into a lot of toilet breaks!). Also you mention eating a lot of salads and fish - the light meal in between matches is obviously a good idea but hopefully at the end of the day you eat a large energy-filled meal. Caffeine is also an interesting one - obviously it helps to begin with but once it dies off you feel much worse, in a 20 board match the caffeine can wear off pretty quickly. The following is a quote from Marty Fleisher's interview on bridgewinners: Also, going over the hands during the day can take a lot of energy/create tension - when we played in the Juniors last summer we saved all 40 or 60 boards until our big dinner in the evening. We played 4 handed throughout (although the schedule was reasonably light on some days) and to be honest this worked better than when I'd played in 6-membered teams in the past.

Dealer S Green vs Red [hv=pc=n&s=skqt84h7dat32cq52&n=s763hk9842d65ck74]133|200[/hv] You arrive in 3♠ after the auction 1S (x) 2S (P) 3S AP Play: ♦ 4 5 Q 2 ♦ 7 A 9 6 ♥ 7 A 2 3 ♠ 5 6 A 4 ♣ 9 2 A! 4 ♦ J (♠7) 8 3 So I'm in dummy with 3 K98 - Kx KQ108 - 10 Qx Now I suspected trumps were 1-4 from auction and fact that E hadn't continued them after winning ace/west didn't play another when they won the A♣. Do you bite the bullet and play a spade to the 10 straight away or do you play for the trump coup with RHO having 4333? or is there another line?

[hv=pc=n&n=sha85dakqjt965c63]133|100[/hv] 2nd in hand all white, is this way too much to open 5D? I screwed partner over who held the following: [hv=pc=n&s=saq54h752d4cakt98]133|100[/hv] Basically what is people's general expectation of a 5 minor opening in 1st or 2nd seat? (we don't have a gambling 3nt available) I thought I could run into competitive auction trouble if i opened 1 but I wasn't very happy opening 5. Is it best to open 1 and then try and get doubled in 5?

at our table p bid 2H and I raised him to 3 with Ax and a max if I remember rightly? This was not a great success.

a full stop or two? maybe some commas at a push :D

The ruling was 100% fair, I was so stunned at partner leaving me in a 3-1 fit at the two level that it completely slipped my mind to tell opponents that my bid didn't show real clubs. It was all the other boards that we'd thrown imps on that we were ruing when we'd lost by just 4.

[hv=pc=n&n=sk7ha64dakqj97c98&d=s&v=n&b=15&a=pp1d1s2c3s4sp5cp5dp5hp6dppp]133|200[/hv] The wheels came off in this auction and the opps duly cashed their two aces - a veritable disaster. There was disagreement over the meaning of 4♠ - I can see why partner thought it agreed clubs but I felt when we're squeezed by opps then I run out of options for showing strong hands/slam tries. From my thinking 4D would just be competitive and 4H some sort of natural bid. Do you think 4S agrees clubs and therefore 5D is forcing? How else would you bid this hand (if it helps we were playing weak NT although I think you're too good for a strong nt opener)

Well some insightful comments, some not-so. To simply say all low-level doubles are takeout seems ludicrous to me, there must be some auctions where penalty is clear. Would be nice to have a resource somewhere with a list of competitive auctions that you could print off and discuss with a partner. I see no-one has commented on the teams vs pairs aspect. It seems to me that more doubles could be pens in pairs, but obviously need discussion with partner.

Hi all, couple of sequences to ask about: (1♦) 1♠ (x) 1NT (2♦) X Do most play this double as penalty or takeout? Does it differ in teams events and pairs events? More simply, 1♠ (P) 1NT 2♣ P (P) X 1♠ (P) 1NT 2♣ X These doubles are presumably linked, what do you think each shows?