dogsbreath

HI (Uday i guess :D ) .. Any chance of the organiser of a team game being able to see the BBO version of players applying for admission to team games? Old versions cause problems with acceptances .. maybe this would eliminate that .. Rgds Dog

HI .. I'd also recommend Reese's 'The Expert Game' .. it is written in a very clear style that i find attractive. I'm not sure of it's value as a teaching aid, but it gives examples of various techniques that you dont (or didnt!) see discussed in other books (elopments, advanced avoidance-plays etc) Rgds Dog

Hi Leads, like other aspects of the game are not amenable to a 'formula' that will always produce the desired result. You must use your judgment + the opponents bidding + some basic principles to improve the quality of your leads. There are many excellent books on the topic (Mike Lawrence comes to mind). There are some general principles .. (I'm sure others will have plenty to add!!) .. Passive leads are generally best when opponents have strained to reach a contract .. eg : 1NT p 2NT p 3NT (where 2nt is invite). try NOT to give a trick on the lead, as opps have only marginal values. (so a lead from QJ10 , 109x etc is 'safe') However if i have (eg) only 1 or 2 HCP on this bidding i will be more inclined to try to find p's suit.. possibly leading a short major-suit. Leading from Jxxxx on a hand with no entries is infrequently successful -v- NT contracts. Another source of 'bad' leads is looking for a ruff when you have a trump holding that will cause declarer problems (eg A10xx as an extreme example). The bidding may tell you that dummy has a side-shortage and 3trumps .. a trump lead is indicated even tho it may appear to concede a cheap trick intially. Leading against small slams it often pays to be agressive.. an indication to attack is when you have a poor defensive holding in a side-suit the opps have bid ..something like Jxx .. indicates the suit is favourable for them and you must attack. I dont wish to add more as the subject is as vast as any aspect of the game, and others likely have different opinions :) ..but you mustnt be discouraged when your first 'adventurous' lead goes wrong .. look at the hand again later and try to determine if there were clues to a better lead. You wont improve without some mishaps!! Rgds Dog

Hi good problem Ron. certainly pros &cons to the 1H o'call. H suit not ideal but if you are playing in a free-bidding partnership bidding 1H does discourage P from entering with Spades when opps may be more inclined to take a penalty. (eg converting a neg or competitive x). Until recentlyI'd never have considered an overcall but i am more inclined now. Dont think i could quite stomach it at Red-v-White tho :)) Rgds Dog

Hi.. ..dont worry about poor grammar or spelling .. the x-toed tree-clinger feasts on such posts. :lol: Rgds Dog

Hi nice to see you found yr pen again Alex, or are you writing with toe dipped in badger-blood? ;) Agree with Ron on this ! (Again! .. becoming a nasty habit) .. with my regular p we bid on anything over a strong 1C system .. but of course opps are entitled to know this... y gotta be prepared for it. The approach-forcing players arent going to let y ask each-other where yr 3rd-round controls are these days. Good Luck .. whack them occassionally ..that'll make them think :) Rgds Dog

Hi Thanks for the great coverage anyhow .. i guess most of can live with the sluggishness for a while (esp as Ireland made the 'cut' ) Rgds Dog ;)

Hi .when i'm 'playing slowly' it's generally 'cos i needed a toilet break (or 'comfort break for our 'cousins') ..i'd hate to be penalised for that.. the consequences could be dire ;) Rgds Dog

Agree completely with Chamaco.. In the 1st case p's 2c tells us we dont have 3nt values, in the second case p clearly thinks he has AND didnt try for 4S... so 1) 4C 2) pass Rgds dog

Hi .. the problem is surely caused by playing 1S as forcing. Playing either two-way neg X's (or Misho's Eq style ) y have no problem. If y dony have to rebid there is no problem.. otherwise i bid 2S reluctantly Rgds Dog

Assuing there was no clear hesitation from North (and who is to judge that with players having bad connections in many countries) then what is EW problem? It cant be right to defend 2D with South's hand esp as N is marked with 3+ spades. Why do players think it's 'their' hand just because they have a clear run in the the first round of the auction .. Having said that, N's pass of 1nt is biazarre :) RgdsDog

hi.. .. very naughty of 'Luke warm' to stir up the Flannery-haters :) ..i can smell a long thread on this ..must be one of the most loved/hated of conventions . Rgds Dog

Hi.. If Uday really got his finger out he could program BBO to monitor my performance and tell me to get to bed (or log me off auto) when i drop below par :huh: Rgds Dog

as often happens here ..i am bewlidered. :) ..i dont have an opening bid but seem to have opened and partener has launched into an impossible sequence .. is this from a late-night indy tournament? Does my p think we are playing WJ2K? cant pass, cant find a bid and am in danger of Slothy finding a spelling mistake in my post. what's the weakest way to 4C? ..bid 3nt and hope they x so i can run ? :) Rgds Dog

hi .. ..refering to the original post .. 15/18 is too wide a range for 1NT ..y got enough problems already without worrying about 5-card majors. Apart from that, i'm with the 5-card major/1nt openers on this .. Rgds Dog

hi .. there's another sad reason for rating self as 'expert' .. try getting onto a team match with a 'rating' of advanced or less ..you get very few invites :) I prefer to play teams, so i became an expert B) It's pathetic, but it does increase the number of invites. ..wont last long though.. soon all will be experts <_< Rgd Dog

hi all .. I'd like to know what level of player the West player is .. if a good player then the lead is a little unexpected on the bidding .. and we have 8cards missing in both majors..but no major lead. If West is a good player there is an inference that he has AT LEAST 4 diamonds and most of the missing honour cards.. explaining lack of major lead since not expecting p to have an entry. (Also why i suggest maybe 5 diamonds.. no harm in misleading p if he has no entry) ..Or maybe it's board 63 of the match, W is tired and led 4th best robotically. Dogs think of these things you know B) Rgds

hi this is all new to me and sounds very complicated.. In Ireland we have 'hum' AND 'ho-hum' bridge but it only happens after 1C openings B) eg: bidding goes (no interfere) 1C 1S 3C 4C .. now opener goes 'hum' (often audibly) ..is that a min response to a bid that p cant remember wether is forcing or not .. or is it Gerber??? ..ok two aces ..so bid 4S .. now this is a clear 'ho-hum' situation for responder :D ..I dont have an Ace ..is p converting to 4S or is that 2 Aces ?? :rolleyes: :( ..what will he do if i bid 5C? :( ... how will 4S play on the 4-1 fit if i get this wrong ..'ho-hum' (again audible) ..will anyone complain if I bid 5C, place hand face-down on the table, wish p good luck and leg it to the bogs? Rgds Dog B)

Hi .. I'd like to know who MADE the complaint ..looks like a clear case of trying to gain an advantage from playing the 'rules' instead of playing bridge. Another barrister's tourney? ..those sort of appeals really pull my chain. Rgds Dog.

hi ..anyone care to define what a 'slow' pass is on BBO? How many times have you finished a round with 5 or more mins to spare.. then when y are ready to play another 2/3 mins appears ..so you go for a coffee .. when y get back there have been 1 or more bids and its your turn.. is a pass now a 'slow' pass? Rgds Dog :D

hi .. I respect TD's right to organise tourneys as they think best, but barring kibbers means the events cannot be of interest to anyone not playing.. so file them separately. Similarly, ACBL events have no attraction what-so-ever for many of us on BBO .. the system restrictions are dull and the master-points meaningless for us. So why is our 'Tourney' menu now cluttered with these events (4 or more a day, several days in advance)?? This is SERIOUS screen clutter .. it now takes a considerable time to scroll to 'tournaments-in-progress' even for those of us who enjoy a broadband connection. This seems a natural design progression to me ..we started with no Tourney facility at all ..now we have one and teams and other tourneys are on separate sub-menus.. it seems reasonable to consider further sub-division of 'Tourney' menu into (eg) Free-Tourneys, Pay-for Events, Other restricted events. Rgds Dog :D

hi ..thanks for yr interesting replies.. I concurr with many of the comments.. the 'par' score is unlikely to be achieved on many deals, but would possibly provide an interesting comparison against current tourney scoring which is arguably even more erratic. The thought arose when i played a tourney recently where a hand arose where good play is needed to make 9 tricks in a major suit .. 5 pairs made 10 tricks including 2 who bid game. The current scoring encourages gross overbidding because of the generally awful standard of defence ..hence the idea that a 'par' tourney, even with it's occassionally unachievable par results, might be a refreshing change from having the average determined by the worst defenders in the field Rgds Dog

hi I also deprecate the recent tendency to bar kibbers AND am also annoyed by the flood of ACBL tourneys. Please put these 2 tourney types on a separate sub-menu.. they are of no interest to anyone except those who play in them and are undermining the spirit of BBO Rgds Dog

hi nothing is perfect and pass/2s is too risky .hence 2NT .. p is allowed to have 5-4-2-2 with minor card(s) and sh bid 3minor with good 5-4-3/1-1/3 .. I'd prefer more in the minors for this bid but still looks best choice Rgds Dog

Hi.. Pass with a weak p, cos we'll get too high. Pass with a good p, cos it's a partnership game. Rgds Dog