zasanya

Can anybody give an example from a top level international tournament where a slam was defeated after Italian style cue bidding because 2 aces were missing? I know at least one example where in a Eauropean championship match Blackwood was used ,Grandslam was reached and 4 aces were missing. :(

The responses merely confirm that sayc or 2/1 opening bids and responses are interpreted differently by different people.They also confirm that responses depend more on ones nature rather than point count / playing tricks / losing tricks. In such situations there cannot be a 'correct' answer.There can be a 'most likely to be correct answer' if one can apply statistical methods.Good project for a computer programmer !

Others viz 5♠ Since they will not allow me to play in 4♠ and I will not allow them to play in 5♣ or 5♥ why not 5 ♠ informing P about 6 card ♠ and making it too difficult for ops?

1)WJS if that is the understanding.Otherwise pass initially and then bid 2♠ if i get another chance to bid. Pass if ops bid ♠ :-) 2) Would certainly bid 3♣ not only to check on other major but also to check on 3 card support for ♥

I voted other because I think there is nothing unfortunate about this hand from E/W point of view. E/W have bid well and if they show the same expertise in defending they should get 200, an excellent score at match points.

The following comments although regarding a different game and in a defferent context seem appropriate here. When former world chess champion Emannuel Laskar was asked to comment about the evolution of a chess player He said," A youngster plays chess because he loves to play and if he has raw talent and analytical ability he wins but then he comes across better players and he discovers that there is something called chess theory.If he is sufficiently interested he learns the theory, applies it and becomes a chess expert.Then he comes across still better players and discovers that to beat them one must not only play according to theory but on occasions play seemingly antitheoretical moves.Thus he becomes a chess master." When former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov was asked whether he always played according to theory he replied," It is true that I know basic chess theory but when I play I am not worried about theory.I find moves to increase my advantage and build a winning position.The theoreticians study my games and make theory out of them." Coming to bridge and signals, count or others, a beginner relies on instinct and reasoning without signals ,the intermediate/ advanced use signals,the experts knows when NOT to use them and world champions contribute and enrich theory by their practical play.

In a different thread I came across many comments regarding the Gerber convention.All of them insinuated that Gerber is not a good convention. Could somebody explain why are so many players against Gerber? Apart from Gerber and SA Texas is 1 NT- 4♣ sequence used in any other sequence? BTW my idea of Gerber is 1NT-4♣ and 2NT-4♣ sequences.

What it boils down to is bid game if you are an optimist dont bid game if you are a pessimist invite if you are in between . Lotsa emotion but no real science :lol:

I am intermediate-advanced player.The topic I would like to learn about are (1) Competitive auctions.(I know about the Law of Total Tricks.) (2) Overcalls and subsequent action by advancer. (3) Handling preempts especially 4 level preempts. (4)The action after responder of a weak 2 opener psyches in your suit. I would like to attend the session but will be satisfied with lecture notes.The reason I may not be able to attend is that the sessions are generally held at time unsuitable to players from India.

The main reason for playing texas at 4 level or SA texas is that opponents find it difficult to disturb your nt .So it should be used only on those hands where there is a possibility that opponents may compete. This should logically mean unbalanced hands, with no slam ambition are suitable for texas at 4 level or SA texas.

Pass at any form of scoring.Once in a blue moon there could be a game but you will gain far more often by passing.

An observation related to all bidding problems. When one answers a bidding problem , one must assume p is regular p and not a pick up p. I dont see any point in discussing a bidding sequence if P may or may not understand ones bids.

Definitions Expert:Counts visualises and concentrates all the time Advanced:Counts and concentrates most of the time.Tries hard to visualise. Intermediate:Tries to count but often doesnt.Has frequent lapses of concentration. Finds it very difficult to visualise. Knowledge of bidding system is immaterial.

In the version which I heard the boy wanted to be adopted by Indian Cricket Team.The reason of course was same .Some of you may not have heard of Cricket but it is almost a religion in India.

The bbo league is most welcome . Different leagues for different time zones could be a workble idea.The improvement whereby you can assign a seat to a player by a single click has made it very easy to set up matches on bbo.You need to type fewer names and your flock stays together. :)

I wanna hold your hand -Beatles Popular song of unlucky rubber bridge players Strawberry Fields Nothing is real-Beatles Popular among psychmasters

This appears to be a situation which mcphee encountered in real life.Could he enlighten us about what happened at the table. I have voted for the idiotic 2!c and not the obvious text book dbl on the assumption that when a problem is posed disregard the obvious and vote for the obscure.The queen sac syndrome as some chess players turned bridge players would call it. :D Please disclose the last chapter, Sir.

Card Play Technique by Victor Mollo-Nico Gardner

I play precision regularly.My vote is for 2 NT because on majority of the hands if 2!d makes 2 NT will also make.Its invitational of course.

It seemed to me that the original poster was referring to holding good or bad cards and not playing or bidding those cards.It also seeed to me that he was concerned with rubber bridge or chicago where success is measured by money won or lost and not with duplicate bridge. So many of the responders answered a different question than the question asked. My response is that "Yes.Good and bad streaks do exist."If a strong but unlucky player plays bridge for money against a weak but lucky player the strong unlucky player is not going to win. However these streaks follow the laws of probability and when the strong player holds good cards he wins much more than the weak player could have, had he held those same cards. P.S. : Please sort out the clauses in the last sentence :D

Correction Wherever I said 9 ever read 9 never :-)

The rationale behind '9 ever rule' is as follows. When everybody follows to first trick you know the split is not 4-0.So the odds of 10% in favour of 4-0 are meaningless.Next trick one opponent follows so you know if the break is 3-1 the one who followed did not have the singleton .Now the only question is 'who has the missing queen?'. The opponent who is yet to play has one extra unknown card than the opponent who has followed.Hence the odds that the missing Queen will be in the hand of the opponent who is yet to play is more than 50%.Therefore play for the drop. The additional information you get with every card played is the rationale behind 9 ever rule.

Requirements for 4 card overcalls 1)4-3-3-3 or 4-4-3-2 distribution with 3 cards in opponents suit and dbltn in unbid major or 4rags in opponents suit. 2)At unfavourable vulnerability 7 loser hand or better.At unfavourable vulmerability 9 loser hand or better. 3)Suit should be headed 3 of the top 4 honors. 4)Advantages are : i)Lead direction ii)keep them out of a makable 3nt iii)competing for part scores or better. 5) A sympathetic and understanding Partner. :)

if P does not bid ♥ :P

dbl and then bid appropriate number of ♦