EarlPurple

You also lose the ability to play BOTH weak 2h/2s weak 5-5 hands. But if you followed my advice of "multying" your 2-bids then you would play: 2♣: strong as you play it OR weak 2 in diamonds (I guess that means Acol 2 in any suit (rebid the suit) or 20-22 balanced (rebid NT) or weak 2 in diamonds (pass 2♦ response). Of course partner may make a "strong" response) If you don't have a weak 2 in diamonds you'll have to discuss how to continue from there but certainly you should be thinking about slam. 2♦: strong as you play it OR weak 2 in either major Partner will usually respond 2♥ and then if you have a weak 2 in hearts you pass, with a weak 2 in spades you bid 2♠, with a 23-24 balanced you rebid 2NT and with any other bid you now have to go to the 3-level, which means you've actually pre-empted yourselves, but then all you've really lost is the game-force with spades as you can no longer rebid 2♠ on such a hand. 2♥: weak 5 hearts + 5 card minor 2♠: weak 5 spades + 5 card other suit. Simple enough: if partner bids 2NT you show your minor. New suit by partner is forcing, including 2♠ over your 2♥ (non-forcing if your bid were doubled). 2NT could be played as 5-5 in minors as the 20-22 balanced hands will be covered by 2♣ = 2♦ = 2NT

Would anyone by-pass 1S on this hand? It was a totally different hand where we suggested passing by the spade suit: holding: ♠xxxx ♥x ♦AKJxxx ♣xx you have a plan to show a weak hand with diamonds, so your first step is to bid 1NT. The theory here is that if partner has a very strong hand with 4 spades he can reverse anyway and you won't lose the suit. With the hand above I agree with EricK's auction.

It would seem that a good line would be not to draw any trumps at all but to start with 4 rounds of spades, throwing both your diamonds. One of them ruffs the 4th spade but assuming that the player who ruffs started with either 2 hearts or 3, the remaining trumps will now be 2-1. If they lead a trump you can win, take DA and ruff a diamond, cross to other trump and ruff diamond then ruff club to get back to diamonds. We can also make when either player has stiff DK. If it's West we ruff the first diamond (after the ace) with the queen, then going back to dummy draws his last trump so we can ruff another diamond low. If our 3rd spade were ruffed (spades 5-2) all is not lost. If we're forced in clubs (probably best defence) ruff high and try HA and low heart to the queen (likely to draw all the trumps) and try the diamond finesse. The last club goes on dummy's remaining spade. If instead after the 3rd spade were ruffed we got a trump lead we draw trumps in 2 rounds finishing in hand, finesse diamonds, ruff them out and ruff a club to get back to them. Note: here we don't have the entries to set up the diamonds by ruffing them out unless the king falls in 2 rounds - less likely than the finesse. We will go down on this line when spades are 5-2 and hearts 2-2 if the diamond finesse fails, whereas ruffing then immediately drawing 2 rounds of trumps works whenever trumps are 2-2. We'll also lose out on 4-1 diamond breaks even when trumps are 2-2 except when the king is singleton.

Yes but you lose out on the chance to pre-empt more. Maybe you don't realise the power of being to pre-empt more, but you'll gain more in the long run. And as I explained, you can have your cake and eat it too if you play multi-meanings for the bids. Check they are licensed first though where you are playing.

I agree it is better to super-accept with a weak NT opener than a strong one if you do not have a maximum. I see little point pre-empting with a good hand. If there is a slight disadvantage of bidding the doubleton, it's that the opps may be able to double it to convey some message (ability to bid the suit etc). You may therefore wish to bid the suit below the doubleton thus: 1NT=2♦ 2♥ normal transfer 2♠ doubleton club 2NT 4-3-3-3 3♣ doubleton diamond 3♥ doubleton spade or if you want to include the pre-emptive raise then: 2NT doubleton diamond 3♣ doubleton spade 3♦ 4-3-3-3 3♥ pre-emptive raise. 1NT-2♥ 2♠ normal transfer 2NT doubleton club 3♣ doubleton diamond 3♦ doubleton heart 3♥ 4-3-3-3 3♠ pre-emptive if you don't play pre-emptive super-accept than make 3♠ the 4-3-3-3 maximum raise.

I disagree. I have played both 13-15 NT and 11-13 (my preference). 13-15 is played with precision club being 16+ and with 11-12 balanced you open 1D which enables you to also raise partner's 4-card major. You also have the option of nmf when responder has a better hand after the bidding starts 1D=1M=1NT. 11-13 is a "mini+" NT and works well when I play strong opening as 17+ and the other minor for balanced hands of 14-16. When I used to play 12-14 I was always tempted to open 1NT on 11-point hands. Playing 11-13 I can. I'm also allowed to promote a very good 10-point hand without it being considered a "psych". But playing 10-12 NT I am never allowed to open 1NT on 9 points. 16-18 1NT is used in "variable 1♣" systems like Polish club, where a 1♣ opening can be a powerful hand or one of many weaker options. I've never played it myself.

Weak NT is not conventional in the sense of "artificial" as you bid it intending to play there. (Shouldn't artificial bids therefore be called unconventional?) Take-out doubles are artificial as you do not intend partner to pass them. But they are the most common convention and I think even the naturalists were allowed to use them against the scientists in their contests (which were played around 1990 I think). For bidding conventions, I think I would like to add good-bad 2NT (Lebensohl, but extends to more situations). Smith peters (echos) are occasionally useful for example if West leads against NT from an ace and it goes to jack and king. (Reverse-smith is an alternative and I guess it's a matter of taste). It's useful for opening leader to know who has the queen. When it is obvious not to continue the suit, or it is irrelevant, you can often play suit-preference signals on opponent's suit (especially trumps) and it can be more useful.

Negative free bids are great when that's what you hold, but are bad when you have a stronger hand if that means you have to start with a double. Even if the stronger hand has to cue-bid I don't think it's as good as showing your suit. example: 1♣ (1♠) X or 2♠ (3♠) And 3rd player has a decent hand with 6 hearts. What to do now? What does 3rd player do with: x AKxxxx Kxx Jxx and with x AKxxxx Axx Kxx

I don't think it is that difficult to teach anyone the rule that: - If in doubt alert.

With North's hand I don't know what partner's fit is for clubs, but I know he should be relatively short in hearts. Anyway the hand is far too strong for 2♠ so I should probably bid 3♠.

I would have opened 2♥. It's tempting to bid just because it's matchpoints and nobody's vulnerable. If partner has a trap-pass then he may have some values, but then we may be beating 3♣ with 3♥ going down. In that case I'd better double but I'm not going to. Not today.

I like to super-accept by showing my doubleton but it doesn't have to be a weak one. No reason why my doubleton should be the best lead against a heart (or spade) contract. Using 2NT to show the doubleton of the suit below trumps allows partner to re-transfer, so it can be superior to bidding 3♦/3♥ but you should probably have some meaning for 3♦/3♥ as well? Maybe 1NT-2♦-3♦ could show the (relatively rare) hands where you have opened with 2-4-5-2 distribution? Otherwise you can use 3♦ to show the 4-3-3-3 hands and 3♥ to show 4 card support but not a maximum (thus pre-emptive). That is good in my opinion playing weak NT but not so good with strong NT. Pre-empting like that spades is virtually pointless. (You can bid 3♠ if you really have to later but are they really going to come in?)

In standard Acol, minimum rebids of NT always show 15-17. (Some play 15-16 for 1NT). I don't subscribe to this myself, as it means that with a balanced 12-14 you must ALWAYS open 1NT, even with a 5-card major. Actually in standard Acol you are playing 4-card majors, and a 5-card major is supposed to be rebiddable, thus you would have an auction like 1H pass 1S pass 2H showing a weak balanced hand because you can't bid the natural 1NT. Eric Crowhurst also didn't subscribe fully to this either and came up with alternatives, with the 1NT rebid being a wide range. Responder can pass with a weak hand but may otherwise bid 2♣ articifically. He introduced this, I think, with all such rebids of 1NT although many use it only after 1♥-1♠-1NT. I think it is natural when playing 5 card majors and a weak NT to treat the 1NT rebid as wide-range but the 2NT rebid as always weak, and to find another bid if stronger (even a 3-card minor). You can raise partner's minor with 3 card support and make that bid forcing in your system. And a 3NT rebid would show 15-17 points with 5-3-3-2 and usually the doubleton in partner's suit, though you might sometimes do it with 3. Playing 4-card majors and a weak NT (i.e. Acol) I think the best set of responses after 1H-1S-1NT (12-16) - 2C (asking) is: 2D: strong (15-17) 2H: 5 hearts, weak 2S: 3 spades, weak 2NT: 4 hearts, 2 spades, weak. 14 points is generally considered weak holding only 4 hearts but strong with 5. (5-3-3-2 being better than 4-4-3-2 or 4-3-3-3). 2C can be bid only on hands where responder is looking for a major suit fit. On other hands he can use 2NT to invite.

I do not think it is a good idea to make 1NT conventional here as it is your most likely game contract when your side has the minors. And if you do not have a heart stop, the lead will come through your partner's hand into that of the overcaller's. You will no longer be able to play in 3NT when the hand is: [hv=d=e&w=sqxhxxxdaxxxcjxxx&e=skxxhkxdkxcakqxxx]266|100|[/hv]

With better hands I can bid 2♣ (not weak) or 2♦, or even cue-bid their suit with 2♥. With a weak hand and a string of clubs I can bid 3♣. I guess you could even agree, in that auction, to make 2♣ a general force without spades and possibly no heart stops and 2♦ as a weak bid showing just long diamonds. With weaker hands I can pass first. It's not much better to double rather than pass holding 7-8 points and 6 diamonds to the KQJ. If the next hand bids 2♥ or 3♥ I have to come in high anyway to show my diamonds. If I can double to guarantee 4 spades then partner will know to compete on the hands in which we hold the suit where we can outbid them at the same level. After 1♦ (1♥) you'd have to decide what 2♣ and 2♦ mean but partner will usually have diamonds here.

Since you are English, may I supose you play Acol? No you may not assume that. I dislike Acol, I dislike 4-card majors. I played 5 card majors with a weak NT for 3 years and it worked very well, in spite of the opinions of many that they do not mix. They do. 5 card majors with a weak NT means that when partner opens 1♣ he guarantees either shape or extra values, and it's nice to know that when the auction becomes competitive.

There are no penalty tricks if no tricks are won after the revoke. If I take the ace and king of a suit against a slam and subsequently one of us revokes while declarer is cashing out his 11 remaining tricks, the result will remain down 1.

You deny support for partner's major if he opened one, but if partner opened a minor you may have support but be looking for a 4-4 major fit. Ideally you would have this hand for a negative double after your partner opened 1♦ and the next hand overcalled 1♠; ♠ xx ♥KQxx ♦ Qxx ♣Qxxx You want to bid but cannot bid anything else. You have 4 cards in both unbid suits, and you even have good support for partner's diamonds if that's all he has. However you can't base all your bidding on ideals or you'll find too many hands unbiddable. (Or: this is what we'd ideally like to hold for the bid, but it's not always what we're dealt). Strengthen the hand to: ♠xx ♥ KQxx ♦ Qxx ♣AQxx a whole ace stronger, so now you have the values to bid 2♣. But just because you have the values for it doesn't mean you should bid it. If the next hand raises his partner's spades, you will struggle to find a 4-4 heart fit. Of course you can possibly bid 3♥ next round and hope partner does the right thing, but a double now makes it a lot easier. Now change it to: ♠xx ♥KQxx ♦QJxx ♣xxx You can double here hoping to find a 4-4 heart fit. You can run back to diamonds if partner bids 2♣. You can bid the same way with the club and spade suits reversed. If your LHO raises his partner to 2♠ and it comes back to you, you have just enough to compete to 3♦. Partner should know this bid is competitive and not take you any higher. (1) ♠xx ♥AQxxx ♦Qxx ♣xxx (2) ♠xx ♥AQxxx ♦Kxx ♣Axx What to do here on (1)? You have 5 hearts but not enough strength to bid 2♥ now. Some pairs use "negative free bids" such that a bid of 2♥ here is merely constructive and non-forcing, showing a good suit. In that case with (2) they would have to start with a double and bid their hearts later to show a good hand with 5. Other pairs (my preference, by the way) would prefer to bid 2♥ on hand (2) to show partner the suit before the opps have a chance to raise the bidding too high. On hand (1) then we would start with a double. Again the opponents may raise the bidding, but we are likely to only be competing anyway, so we don't mind so much giving up if they go as high as 3♠ and partner has a minimum hand.

6NT probably makes as the ♠Q is likely to be onside. I win the expected heart lead, play 4 rounds of clubs, ace of spades, finesse ♠J, ♠K and the other top heart. My problem would be when West showed up with Qx in spades because I will have to guess whether to drop ♦Q or throw him in with the 3rd round of hearts.

I do not understand why, in any case, BBO is so heavily affiliated to ACBL when this is an internet site and has players from all over the world. Can we not affiliate directly with WBF?

I disagree that Dbl showing 4 spades and 1♠ showing 5 is a bad system. On this hand I can double first, and when partner bids 1NT I can bid 2♥ to show a good hand. I would like to be able to bid 4♣ over 3NT by partner and hopefully 6♣ can be reached. I also question whether I can bid clubs lower to show that I have them, and suggest that we might be making slam in them. In clubs, if trumps are 3-2 I can play off ♠K and ♠A and then lead a low one towards the jack, falling back on the diamond finesse if East turns up with QTxx in spades. If trumps are 4-1 with East holding 4 then I should play off top 2 hearts and immediately come to hand with SA and finesse the J. If that succeeds then ♦A to hand and ruff a heart, and if that succeeds too without an overruff, finesse the trumps and I'm home. If the spade finesse loses I win supposed diamond return in hand and attempt to ruff the heart, then finesse trumps and play for either 3-3 spades (or 10 falling) or diamond finesse. If the spade finesse succeeded but my heart is overruffed, I am in more trouble as I have to guess whether to finesse the diamond or play for 3-3 spades or the squeeze. At this point we know West started with 6 hearts, 1 club, 1 diamond and the SQ plus 2 small ones (11 cards). East started with 2 hearts, 4 clubs, 2 diamonds and 2 spades (10 cards). Odds are therefore 3-2 in our favour that the diamond finesse will succeed. However consider the fact that West overcalled - what does he have for it? QJ to 6 hearts and ♠Q but surely must have ♦Q too.

It IS awful because you are taking up 2 bids to show strong hands that will rarely occur. It is far better to have only one hand for the strong bid, and maybe that hand could contain weak options as well. That way you get to pre-empt more often. And if you play that 2♣ is, say, either a game-force or a weak 2♦ bid (partner responds 2♦ on most hands and if you are strong you bid on, otherwise you pass. If partner has a good hand and doesn't want to hear a pass when you have a weak 2♦ then he bids something else and if you happen to be strong, well - hey, we probably have a slam!). Then you can use 2♦ as a weak 2 in either major (possibly with a strong option) ,and use 2♥ and 2♠ as 2-suited hands. With the hand you displayed, (8 card spade suit) you are unlikely to miss game by opening 1♠. Firstly, given that you hold an 8-card suit it is highly unlikely for the bidding to end at the 1-level, and if partner does not have enough to respond you might not be making game anyway. And even if you are the opps are probably cold for 5♣ or 5♦ or can at least save in it for just 1 off such that you don't lose too much from playing in a part-score. If you want to be able to play a system whereby you can use 2♣ for Acol 2-bids and 2♦ for game-forcing two bids, then do so as part of a multi-system. 2♣ would be either an Acol 2-bid in any suit (with diamonds you'd bid 3♦ over partner's 2♦ I guess), or a 22-23 balanced (you rebid 2NT) OR a weak-2 in diamonds (you pass the 2♦ response). If partner makes a positive response you will have to agree how you distinguish between your hand types. 2♦ would be either a game-force or a weak 2 in either major. See my other topic (My Strong Diamond system) where we got into the discussion about the advantages of having all 2 bids weak.

I think the best line to play 7♠ on a club lead is probably to play 2 top spades then 2 top diamonds, then cross to ♠10 and if spades were 3-2 you can try ♦A in case they break 3-3. If they are not you can then ruff a diamond in hand and try the heart finesse now as you'll need it. This line needs either - 3-3 diamonds or - 4-2 diamonds with the ♦J falling or - trumps 3-2, diamonds no worse than 4-2 with the heart finesse working With trumps 4-1 (as they are here) you may decide to simply finish drawing the trumps, then play ♦KQ, hook the ♥J, and then as the cards are now take the ruffing-finesse in diamonds. This line succeeds as the cards lie but lose when the heart finesse fails. The alternative line with trumps 4-1 is to take 4 rounds, now unblock ♦AK and if the jack hasn't dropped, cross to ♥K to lead ♦A and hope they break. If they do not you are quite a few down though. Here you would still succeed though because you would know, when they are 5-1, that you need the heart finesse and would take the line above. So it looks like 7♠ will make because trumps are 4-1. But if they were 3-2 I would be going down with diamonds 5-1.

One of my problems of being a mentor is that although I live in the UK I totally dislike Acol and would not want to mentor anyone to use it. I could never be a bridge teacher here either for the same reason.

I would be more happy mentoring two novices, allowing them to play together regularly and watching them grow. That way I could teach them incrementally, i.e. introducing new conventions for them to play. It would also mean they could practise playing together when I'm not around, and I may even be able to see a log of their results when I do return and go through it with them then.