jahol

First board: [hv=d=w&v=n&n=s72h83daqj9653ck10&w=sa96haqj109742dk10c&e=skq3hk65d74cq9754&s=sj10854hd82caj8632]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Second board: [hv=d=w&v=n&n=s72h83daqj9653ck10&w=sa96haqj109742dk10c&e=skq3hk65d74cq9754&s=sj10854hd82caj8632]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

It was LHO, who had minor suit in addition to spades....

Leading against slam is very responsible job with big consequences. Two boards from last Monday = approximately 50 IMPs in the air.. In the board, our opponents bid and played piecefull game contract, the bidding at some tables was like that (both nonvulnerable) : RHO-------YOU---------LHO----------CHO 2C(1)------3D----------DBL----------PASS 5H---------PAS---------6H-----------PASS... (1) strong What do you lead, having 72---83---AQJ9653---K10? Do you think about leading Ace of diamonds? Do you lead Ace of diamonds? Okay, the first board was just for warming up. The next board is for the fans of hardcore (you vulnerable, your opponents not): LHO----------CHO-----------RHO----------YOU 2D(1)--------PASS----------4S!?(2) ------PASS 6S!!----------PASS (1) 9-15 PC, spades + minor suit, 4-6, 5-5, 6-4 or more cards in these two suits or seven+ spades (2) preventive, no lower limit in strength What do you lead , having J92---K762---K108---AQ3? (Your LHO is young, very skillful and even more aggressive player (as you can see), member of the team winning the first world junior championship this year in Turkey) Do you think about leading Ace of clubs? Do you lead Ace of clubs? By the way, if I can ask - What is your general strategy of the first lead against slam contract as soon as you have ace in some side suit? Do you use some general or more specific rules when to lead ace and when not? Do you always, never, sometimes lead ace in such situations?

Okay. I now, let us suppose that you have Axx---AKJ8xxxx---void---Jx non-vulnerable against vulnerable and the bidding was 1D------Pass------1S------4H Pass----Pass------4S------??? What do you bid? If the bidding was 1D------Pass-----1S-------4H 5D------Pass-----Pass-----??? does it make any difference for you?

Just to understand each other, I put one thing wrong. Of course, the declarer asked my partner, not me!

After simple bidding 1NT - 3NT the first lead is yours. With QJ87xx in clubs, you put the queen on the table (do not persuade me, that I should have led small, I do not believe in that since in 5 occasions from 6, I have met something like K10 --- Axx, 10x---AKx, Kxx --- A10 in declarer´s hand and dummy (yes, I know the argument about blocking the suit, but this happen far less frequently, at least in my bridge matches). But this is not my problem in this board anyway. So, I led CQ and small club doubleton appeared in dummy (no doubleton ten... :-). The declarer asked about the first lead in general manner and then more specifically: "What would you lead from QJ9xx?" After that he played low from the table followed with 10 from my partner and small from the declarer. I continued with the smallest club (I had probable input into my hand in diamonds) and the declarer made trick with club 9 in his hand (my partner had got singleton 10). The questions: Is the declarer allowed to ask intentionally about first lead from card combination, he knows, you can not have (because he is holding some card(s) from that combination)? Is the defender allowed to use the implicit information taken from such declarer question ANYTIME (on his own risk)? What should the tournament director do after being invited to the table in such situation?

IMPs, vulnerable against not, your hand is 7 --- void --- AKJ10875--- K8742 and the bidding is (you bid simple version of 2/1) You --- LHO --- CHO --- RHO 1D-----Pass-----1S-------4H ??? What do you bid?

The board was:[hv=d=e&v=n&n=sa732hk2dkj2cj862&w=s1085h1054d54ca10975&e=sh9763da1098763c43&s=skqj964haqj8dqckq]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] N-S bid Polish club with common competitive and slam bidding conventions. The bidding was: West-------North------East-------South ...............................pass........1C(1) pass..........1S(2)........3D..........4D pass...........5C..........pass........6S pass...........pass........pass (1) - "Polish" club, 12-14 balanced, 15+ with club suit or 18+ all kinds of hands (2) - 4+ spades, 7+ PC One down, -10IMPs. What is your opinion? Did North contribute more to the disaster, or South did?

Sitting on south, playing IMP teams against very good opponents, both vulnerable, you have this nice garbage Jxxx---x---109x---9xxxx. Still, you have chance to get or loose about 14 IMPs after the following auction west--------north--------east--------south 1S(1).........pass...........2H(2)........pass 2NT(3).......pass...........3C(4)........pass 3H(5).........pass.......... 3NT(6)......pass 4C(7).........pass...........4D(7)........pass 4S(7).........pass...........4NT(8).......pass 5C(9).........pass...........6H............pass pass...........pass (1) Acol related system, mostly 5 spades, 12-21 PC (2) 5+ hearts, 10+ PC (3) Extra values, something like 15-18 PC (4) Asking about number of hearts (5) Exactly three hearts (6) Forcing! (7) Cue-bid (8) Asking about five key values for heart contract (9) Three values + queen of hearts Answering the following questions may be immediate, before reading the next ones (independent on them), because the next nones may be "lead directing" for the previous ones 1) What is your first lead provided that the auction was as described? 2) What is your first lead, if the first club cue was doubled by partner? 3) What is your first lead, if the first club cue was not doubled, but the second one was? 4) What is your first lead, if neither the first club cue, nor the second one was doubled, but the final contract was?

In the newest Polish club version (Jassem, WJ2005 manual), jump in new suit is defined as fulfilling several conditions -- natural -- very good color, typicaly at least six cards, a color that can be run with minimum partner support - just singleton Q, K, A (i.e. KQJ10xx, AQJ10xx etc.) -- fairly strong game forcing hand with reasonable slam chances. All the examples given in Jassem's book represent pretty nice hands of something like 16 points equivalent etc. I had the following hand a couple of days ago xxx---AKJxxxx---Ax---x and bid 2H after my partner's opening 1D. Do you think that it is a correct call in WJ2005? My partner rebid was 3 clubs and I bid 4H then. Do you think that it is a correct call?

I led club ace, what appeared to be disaster. The board looked approximately lile that: [hv=n=saj8754h9dkq2c984&w=shq1086d653ckq10765&e=s10hakj7532daj104c3&s=skq9632h4d987caj2]399|300|[/hv] As it can be seen, "normal" spade lead leads to disaster too. So, I could hardly blame partner for the double prohibiting spade lead, but I am not sure, he can blame me for leading club ace....

If my problem is too simple, sorry for that. Anyway, my error(?) inhere caused loss of 23 IMPs. IMPs, good aggressive opponents, only opponents vulnerable, you have KQxxxx---x---xxx---AJx and the auction was LHO--------partner---------RHO-----------you ......................................1H-------------1S 2S............4S..................5H.................5S pass..........pass...............6H................pass pass..........dbl.................pass... 1H - Acol, may be four cards in H only 2S - at least invitation to game, support in H. What do you lead?

I used to play in the far best bridge club in my small (bridge country). Far best opponents, good competitions, nice atmosphere.. But there is one point, I have become a bit suspicious over years... random generator used for cards shuffling. In general, I hate the idea of some average bridge players, that it is fine, when the card distributions are very unbalanced, with some portion of goulash, because the play in not very much interesting, when the boards are "normal". I think, in general, that bridge player should master just the "normal" boards to be good or best. What do you think about the following statistics from yesterday competition in my club: 40 singletons 11 voids 1 x 8 cards in one suit hand 8 x 7 cards in one suit hand 22 x 6 cards in one suit hand 1 x 7-5 distribution 2 x 6-6 distribution 3 x 7-4 distribution 4 x 5-5 distribution and all that in 28 boards! In addition, the three most unbalanced freaks were real freaks also from other points of view 7-5 distribution: AKQ8732---AKQ4---void---9 6-6 distribution No.1: Q---AK7542---void---AKQJ53 6-6 distribution No.2: void---AQJ1097---A---AK9876 I have been working for 25 years as mathematical statistician, but I am not sure what to think about this. Can the random generator get sick?

Just for info, I misbid the hand. After the 2 diam call passed, I bid 2H only, that was passed back to my RHO, who doubled. After that, LHO jumped to 4 spades making +1. Although my partner was void in H, we could have made 4H, what was actually the contract bid and made at the other table (after 4H opening).

IMP teams, vulnerable against not vulnerable, good opponents (representing country in worldwide events), even better pair of opponents at the other table on your line, you are the dealer and have: xx---AKQJxxx---void---QJxx what would you open in American Standard? OK, let us suppose, you bid 1 heart (may be, it was the best bid, may be not). What would you do after two diamonds from the left and two passes back to you?

...so that the hand may be advanced (or even expert) level problem.... Thank you for the analysis Jlall!

No... I know the rules here... (although I made many times less contributions to this forum than you, my friend)... I just tried to make one more point to the discussion... just because there is midnight here and I am going to bed... and I do not know the time, I will be able to continue... Is it necessary to be that offensive?...Okay, my English is also not the best ... I better apologize in advance for it... :-)

I my opinion, heart played in the first round should OBLIGATORY signal the switch. Why? Because HQ may be easily singleton and it is necessary to tell partner what to do in such case. Smallest H should call for club switch, relatively high card in H for diamond, medium card just can show no particular preference. After the 3H call, it is clear that East had been equipped with enough small cards to signal quite unambiguously. Yes, East (that was me) should be aware of throw-in. But it is not that clear either, I think, because the declarer may have easily Qx(x)--K(J)x(x) in the minor suits... in such case, cashing CA would have had fatal consequences whereas playing diamond would have led directly to one down....

This is the board: [hv=d=w&v=b&n=sa764hk7da92cq864&w=sj10hqjd10643ck9732&e=s5ha1086542dj875ca&s=skq9832h93dkqcj105]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] After pass from West side, North opened with 1C and East blocked with 3H, South bid 3S and North 4S, passed all around. West first lead was HQ, the declarer played low from dummy, East H2 and the declarer H3. Second round of H followed, East took the trick and returned diamond. The declarer played high, cashed two rounds of trumphs, eliminated diamonds (discarding one small club in his hand) and played low club from dummy for ruff and discard in the next round. Who is more responsible for 10 IMPs loss - East or West?

I am not trying to blame anybody, in advance... just interested in your opinion. But one comment: I agree that north final pass is a solid bid. But - is not north's hand too nice to bid just 1H? How about double with H bid later? Anyway, north has got SIX hearts, what significantly increases strength of his hand.

This is the board [hv=d=e&v=b&n=s3hkq9743dkq8ca82&w=saj102h86da952cqj7&e=sk95hjdj10763ck963&s=sq8764ha1052d4c1054]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] and this is the bidding W------N------E------S ----------------P------P 1D-----1H----3D-----P.... 1D - natural, at least four diamonds 3D - maximum of pass, diamond support 3D made, -110 for E-W, average score in the room +440 for N-S (game in H made mostly). Who should be blamed? 1) N for chicken-hearted bidding 2) S for chicken hearted bidding 3) E-W for wrong explanation (using) of the 3D bid (director should be called) 4) the other tables for allowing the 4H contract to be made?

The spade queen was in LHO hand and I missed correct play. A least, it was one down only, because LHO had 3 spades....(and 15 points).

Playing very good opponents, IMPs, only you vulnerable, you have ---K82--------10853---7632-------J7 ---AJ1063----A---------KQJ1094--Q and the bidding was YOU-------LHO-------PD-------RHO 1S-1)-----DBL-------2S-2)-----4C-3) 4S---------5C--------pass-----pass 5D---------pass------5S-------pass pass-------DBL------pass 1) - yes, you may not like the opening, but I decided to have chance to show both suits (after 2 clubs opening , it might have been problem after some opponents action), I did not supposed 1S passed in the first round of bidding with this distribution 2) - weak, just 3-spades support, with "normal" 2 spades raise, my partner would have bid 1NT 3) - pre with long clubs. After the first lead of HK, it is all about finding the location of trumph queen. Will you be successful?

IMPs, both vulnerable, aggresive opponents, you have Qx---KQx---xxx---Jxxxx and the bidding (Standard American, 2/1 is 10+) was LHO----P----RHO----YOU ..................1S........P 2H.......P......3D.......P 4S.......P......4NT......P 5H.......P......6S........P P.........P 5H = 2 key values from five for spades, without trumph queen. What is your first lead? (There is NO NEED to think that this is a kind of special problem. I am just interested in your (statistically best) lead at the table).

Problem 1) Opponents vulnerable, IMPs, you have K8---K104---AK9543---62 the bidding LHO----CHO----RHO----YOU ..................................1D 1S------DBL----2S------ 3D 3S------DBL----PASS---??? You may not agree with 3D bid, but what do you bid now? Problem 2) This will be piece of cake ... a very simple piece of bidding.... Opponents vulnerable, IMPs, you have K854---J5---AKQ2---AJ4 the bidding LHO----CHO----RHO----YOU 4S------pass----pass----??? What do you bid?