wuudturner

Because possum likes to post there, and possum plays mainly bots games as I recall. Is it a beginner hand? I don't think it a complex one. All it requires is you count points, and there were only 3 honors to be found.

Count the points. West has made a weak 2 overcall in hearts. So I would expect West to have nominally the AK of hearts. But then East shows up with the king and jack of hearts. So West has only the ace in that suit. But we will expect West to have something like 7-9 points, maybe 10, I doubt as few as 6, since they are vulnerable. What honors are missing outside of hearts? There are no diamond honors missing. The opps have the AK in spades, and the club king. That is all. So since I am pretty sure West has one of the missing honors just for the overcall, it is either the ace or king of spades, or the club king. What does East have in points? East surely has at least one of the spade honors. And East is likely to have 5 and more likely 6 spades for the free bid in spades, the odds are better that East has both spade honors, than that East has the club king for the free bid taken. However, in all of this analysis there is a second HIGHLY important fact you all need to remember about bot BEST HAND games. And this completely overrides everything else. Remember that you ALWAYS have the best hand at the table. No other hand can have more points than you, but they may have the same count. And this is something adhered to by BBO. It is not a bidding decision for the bots to make. What does this imply? 1. When you have 10 points, the distribution of points is EXACTLY 10-10-10-10. 2. When you have 11 points, If two of the other hands have 11 also, then the 4th hand has 7 points. This allows you to conclude that the other three hands have between 7 and 11 points. ALWAYS. 3. When you have 12 points, If two of the other hands have 12 also, then the 4th hand has 4 points. This allows you to conclude that the other three hands have between 4 and 12 points. ALWAYS. 4. When you have 13 points, If two of the other hands have 13 also, then the 4th hand has 1 point. This allows you to conclude that the other three hands have between 1 and 13 points. ALWAYS. 5. If you have 14+ points, then each of the other hands has between 0 and the count you hold. The above applies to HCP, not total points, and it is a rule strictly adhered to in best hand games. What does that tell you? South has 11 points. Therefore West has between 7 and 11 points, as do East and North. Since West has only the heart ace on the play of the first two tricks, you absolutely, 100% know that West has one other top honor. That leaves West as the most likely person to hold the club king. But if West does have the club king, you cannot afford to take a club finesse since West has running hearts. And so that drives you to the conclusion that the only play for game it to just cash the club ace and pray. If the king does not drop stiff, then you cash your 8 tricks and go home. If the field did not find this play, that just suggests the field is a normal field in these games. The normal fields playing bot games do not count points, and they likely do not appreciate the rules I stated above.

I play in a regular team game with some friends. But today, none of the people I usually play with as partners were available. So I offered to play with a bot partner, as otherwise the game was not going to fly today, and I dislike playing with random center-hand opponents. I'd rather play with a bot, since I've played a million bot games. I certainly know the bot bidding style compared to a random person. How do we set it up? Do I pay for a bot partner for the day? Does the person setting the game need to do that?

Playing in a challenge set, best hand. Yes, my 3♣ bid was a little pushy, but it pushed them up a level. [hv=pc=n&s=s87hqtdq7caqjt942&w=saq94h754dt985ck3&n=st653hak932dkc876&e=skj2hj86daj6432c5&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=p2d3c4dppp&p=s8s9stsjdad7d5dksks7s4s6s2dqsqs5hqh7h2h8cac3c6c5hth4h3]399|300[/hv] A spade lead seems the least risky, so I tried that. Of course it fared poorly. My partners know I always find the worst lead on every hand. But when East cashes the diamond ace to drop the king, and then the spade king and a third spade, I know partner has the AK in hearts. Just ruff the spade, then cash the heart queen and the club ace. A second heart to partner's AK will still take our 5 defensive tricks to set the contract by 2 tricks. Partner ducked the second heart, apparently under the firm impression that I had the jack, because I led the queen. But it can NEVER cost for partner to overtake the heart. Surely the defensive simulations should have made that clear. Instead of down 2 tricks, East made 4♢. I'm still crying. :(

Percentage? For me, all invites seem to be forcing. ;-) At least at IMPs. Seriously, a good rule (certainly at IMPs) is to invite game slightly heavy, but accept often. The idea is you don't want to be in 3 of a major or 2NT, and then go down 1 when partner has a min. But if you are already in 3 of a major or 2NT, then going down 2 is not much worse than down 1. That changes a little at matchpoints, when down 2 could be the kiss of death. Of course vulnerability factors in too. All of that is also subject to your skill at declarer play too, and the strength of your opponents at defense. State of the match should be a factor, at IMPs. At matchpoints, your current estimate of your game should be a factor. You will rarely win with a 53% game, so you might decide to push more, or less. The point is, there are many factors worth considering, not just fraction of game tries accepted.

BBO is not doing Edgar. This is under the ACBL umbrella. BBO is only involved in the sense that all ACBL online games are run on BBO. Then Edgar takes the data from BBO, which can be gotten by others too, and then Edgar does its stuff, looking for signs of cheating using various filters. So there is no reason for BBO to be talking about Edgar. Anyway, Edgar does not look at any of the games played on BBO that are not under the ACBL umbrella. Edgar does not look at BBO speedballs. It does not look at bot games, at non-ACBL daylongs, at challenges, at games played on casual tables, at private team games. I'm not even sure that Edgar would be looking at the ACBL daylong bot games.

My own Gerber story from recently? The bidding goes 1♠ - pass - 4♣ Yes indeed, Gerber! It looks like all bids of 4♣ are Gerber by that pair.

As dummy the other day, I was watching this hand unfold. Too late for the holidays, but still a fun hand. The play was at match points in an ACBL speedball game on BBO. [hv=pc=n&w=saq64haqt7dkcakt4&e=st93h83daq982cj32&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=2cp2dp2np3cp3dp3hp3sp3nppp]266|200[/hv] Partner opened 2♣, She plans on showing a 22-24 point balanced hand. 2♢ by me shows some values, sufficient to force to game over her 2♣ opener. By agreement, I have either an ace, a king, or some pair of queens. 2NT by partner was as described, and since she may have a 5 card spade suit, I went into our version of Puppet Stayman. 3♢ by her merely denied having a 5 card major. It did not promise any 4 card major though. (The standard puppet systems tell your opponents far too much about your hand. On at least two occasions I have been able to defeat a contract when they told me too much about their hands in a puppet sequence.) For me now, once she has denied a 5 card major, I need to get her into 3NT. We do this by bidding 3♡, which merely denies a heart suit. I may have spades. When partner bids 3♠ now, it says that if I really do have spades, she wants to be in the spade game. As you can see, she has not denied a heart suit, since I already denied one. When I correct to 3NT however, she can pass. The opponents have been told a little less about our hands though. Anyway, what is interesting about the hand is how to play it. North led a 4th best club, the 6. Partner chose to let it run to her hand, winning the 10. Seeing the need to set up two winners in dummy, she cashed the diamond king, then led the spade queen. Well done partner. She sees the need to establish an entry to dummy in spades. South wins the spade king, then exits with the heart 4. Partner inserts the 10 from her hand, but it loses to the jack from North. Both opponents see what declarer wants to do, and hearts are the only suit they can play now. So North returns another heart, the 6. The 8 from dummy sees the king appear from South, as partner wins the ace. All is going according to plan now. She exits with another low spade, as South wins the jack, and continues yet another heart, won by partner's queen. But partner has it completely under control now, since the spade 9 is now an entry to dummy. She gets those two diamond winners. I thought at the time, WELL DONE partner. She made her 11 tricks by being generous, giving away two spade tricks, to then reap the rewards for her generosity. [hv=pc=n&s=skj8hk954djt543c7&w=saq64haqt7dkcakt4&n=s752hj62d76cq9865&e=st93h83daq982cj32&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=2cp2dp2np3cp3dp3hp3sp3nppp&p=c6c2c7ctdkd6d2d3sqs2s3skh4hthjh3h6h8hkhas4s5stsjh5hqh2c3s6s7s9s8dad4h7d7dqd5c4c5cjdtckc8sac9d8h9cacqd9]399|300[/hv] But do you see what could have made the hand more interesting? Suppose South also decided to try being generous? Suppose South chose to DUCK the spade queen? After all, South knows exactly what the problem is. Declarer had a stiff diamond king, and so her shape was very likely 4414. Now things become more difficult to play, but since the spades do split 3-3, she can still succeed. In fact, because the opponents can never touch either minor suit, declarer will make 10 tricks, but not 11 tricks now. And that seems interesting. But, could partner have done better? Could she have insured 11 tricks, despite the duck by South? Well, yes, though this is a bit of a double dummy line. She needed to be more generous yet! At trick 1, partner had to win the first club with the ace or king. Winning the trick cheaply with the 10 cost her a dummy entry. The idea here is when South does not play the queen, she sees that North has the club queen. So by winning trick 1 with say the king, now she insures a late club entry to dummy. So declarer will now cash the diamond king, then exit with a LOW spade towards the 10. That forces the Jack from South, who cannot afford to duck this trick. South now must exit with a heart, as declarer inserts the queen from her hand. Now the coup de grâce is a low club towards the jack. She has the late entry to dummy in clubs due to her early use of a top honor, and by taking the later spade finesse through South, she insures 11 tricks. Yes, this line is a double dummy thing. I'm not sure I would have found it. The line she did follow was what I would have done. Being giving can yield rewards!

Yesterday we played in a friendly team game, just among people we have known for many years. [hv=pc=n&w=s62hjt2dkq542cak7&e=skqt853hk53da3cjt&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=1sp2dp2np4sppp]266|200[/hv] The bidding was nothing special. East opens a precision 1♠, showing 11 to a bad 16 count, with 5+ spades. 2♢ is a 2/1, so is game forcing. 2NT shows by our agreement 6+ cards or more in spades, and 4♠ denied interest in slam opposite a precision 1♠ opener. South leads the club 6, won by the king in dummy, as North plays an upside down 3, so she surely has the queen. Now declarer leads a spade towards his hand. North plays low, the king by declarer, and South plays the jack in tempo. To me as dummy, it seems clear. You need to return to dummy in clubs, lead another spade, and if North again plays low, insert the 8, finessing against the original A974 in the North hand. This is necessary if spades were split 4-1. Unless... Could South have been the devious type who would falsecard the jack from J9 doubleton? This of course is a big part of what I love about bridge. The battle of wits between declarer and an opponent who wants to create a picture in the mind of declarer - a picture that is different from reality. Anyway, partner is of the same mind as me. He returns to dummy with a club to the ace. Now he leads a second spade through North, planning on inserting the 8 if the 7 appears from North. He had decided to pay off to the falsecard if South was good enough to find it. Sadly, today North was also tricked. She flew up with the ace on the second round of trumps, as we all watched the 9 fall impotently underneath. Really, there was no good reason for North to play the ace. She was flat, and would never have the opportunity to use her remaining trump. [hv=pc=n&s=sj9hq987djt8c8652&w=s62hjt2dkq542cak7&n=sa74ha64d976cq943&e=skqt853hk53da3cjt&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=1sp2dp2np4sppp&p=c6ckc3cts2s4sksjcjc5cac4s6sas3]399|300[/hv] Still we all congratulated South on finding a nice play. I'd have enjoyed it so much more had it worked though, even against us.

Do I adjust? To some extent. I had a hand the other day where I had great spots. all 4 tens, plus some nines in there. As it turned out, three of those tens were useful in developing tricks. Tens in combination with higher honors will contribute to the trick taking potential of your hand. If a suit is KQJT9, you will take 4 tricks, pretty much no matter what as long as you have the necessary entries. Conversely, if the suit us KQJ32, then you will take 2 tricks for sure, and you MAY have a chance at more tricks. And if the suit is KQJ98, you have much better chances at taking 4 tricks compared to the KQJ32 suit, since now the 10 may drop, or partner might even have it. (Every once in a while partners do serve some purpose, but please don't tell my partner I said so.) So yes, spot cards are relevant. And where the spot cards are is as important as what they are. For example, compare these hands: KQT9 A2 AT87 432 Change that to KQ32 AT A742 T98 There is a significant difference. The T9 in spades make the honors above them much better. Even the T87 in diamonds are potentially worth something, and I would slightly rather have AT87 than AT32. MIGHT the club spots in the second hand be worth something? You have no idea in advance, but I won't be adding any values to any hand because of spots in a topless suit. Give me good spot cards in a hand, and I will often be willing to upgrade a 14 count to be a 15-17 1NT. How much ia a 10 worth? I might suggest a simple rule that two USEFUL tens are roughly worth a jack. A pair of useful nines are worth a 10, etc. If you have two spots in sequence, then the lower spot is the equal of the higher spot. A great suit like this, KQJT98 is worth its weight in gold. And while we typically are willing to downgrade a jack in an empty suit like Jxxx, the JT98 are equals there, and each as good as the king or queen since the KQ are also in the suit. You might use the logic that in the suit KQJT98, the 8, 9, and T are all equals with the jack, and the Jack carries full weight in this suit. The point is, spots are useless in a vacuum. They have value only in conjunction with higher honors. Good spots in long suits are useful. But in order to properly evaluate the value of those spots you need to look at the entire hand.

NO. You don't understand what random means. Almost ALWAYS, one side will be favored by some amount. Sometimes it is us, sometimes them. Sometimes more than others. The odds of an exactly equal spread of points WOULD be surprisingly low. And the code to do that would be nasty to write. For example, board 1, E-W get lucky, and pick up 35 points between them. Now, in order to even things out, the code needs to give N-S 35 points on the very next hand. And the code needs to remember who got how many points on all previous hands. And what if someone sits into a game midway through? The code needs to now figure out how to equitably distribute points to everyone so they are all perfectly happy they got an equitable distribution of points? Or, suppose NS gets 35 points on board 1. Is it ok if EW now average 21 points over the next 15 boards? If the algorithm did try to distribute cards perfectly evenly, then that WOULD be non-random. And it would be way harder to do well, whereas random sets of cards are trivially easy to generate. And BBO would have no reason to favor some people over others. OK, I take that back. I do think there is a trap in the code, that looks something like if user = tadyan generate hard hands. watch'em sweat, while the devs laugh and laugh and laugh. end Not true of course. Does it seem like the odds are always against you? YEP. You remember the bad days. They stick out. Do you complain about the good days? Of course not. You won! You are happy. Sadly, this is an argument nobody will ever win, because those who think they see a pattern against them will always remember those bad days more than the good days.

Defending one hand after another is really hard on your mind. Far easier to declare every board if I could, as then I usually have control of what happens to whatever extent possible. Defending when I have one weak hand after another means I need to stay focused, even if I can see what I do may have no impact on the result. A good thing to do there to maintain focus is to make it into a mental exercise. Even on a hand where absolutely nothing will change the result, I'd suggest seeing how quickly you can completely place the cards in declarer's hand. A virtue of that is IF there is some possibility of setting the contract, then you will be able to find the best chance. And practice at counting out a hidden hand is a hugely valuable thing. My point is to make a hand a success in your eyes, even if you get an unhappy result on a board where you have no control over the result. That makes it into a positive thing for you, and if you feel positive about what you are doing, then you will be more confidant and more able to perform well on the rest of the set. On the boards that feel bad, consider if that contract and the result was actually almost certainly duplicated at other tables. (This becomes more difficult in small, weak fields, where anything can happen.) If so, then just shrug your shoulders and go on to the next board. Even if it was something you did wrong, just shrug your shoulders anyway. Don't worry about results in the past.

In an attempt to show people that you CAN play well against the bots, if you but take your time and think about what they have, what they are showing by their leads and play. So I'll post another hand from a recent game I played. We are playing in a bot game, but as a challenge match with 3 good friends from my past when we would play face to face. This set is IMP scoring. North deals, nobody is vulnerable. [hv=pc=n&s=sa73hq6dkj8ckj875]133|100[/hv] There are two passes to me, and I have a nice 14 count. 1NT would show 15-17, but in my book, a very good rule is to always at least consider upgrading a 14 point hand when I see one. I'll also consider if a 17 point hand as too good to show as 1NT. I am very close to an upgrade to 1NT here. In my eyes, this hand is probably near the line. 14 points, but a decent 5 card suit. Some may open 1NT, some may choose to open 1♣. A problem is though, if I open 1♣ and partner responds in 1 of a suit, do I have a convenient rebid? In this case a 1NT rebid, which while it would show 11-14, will not really show a hand that was very close to a 1NT opener. And I dislike rebidding 2♣ on a 5 card suit. I'd rather make a small lie on my first bid, and just call this a 15 point hand. Since 1NT also has preemptive value against them getting into the bidding, it is 1NT for me. I would probably do the same with a human partner and human opps, but there it would be more dangerous, since West would then be unlimited in strength. The bot game changes things, since I know West cannot be TOO strong here. So 1NT carries slightly less risk against the bots. Of course, 1NT could go really badly, but I use the Alfred E. Neumann excuse - What, me worry? Over 1NT, partner blasts into 3NT. So I may have some worries, since partner has at most 11 points as a passed hand. West leads the heart jack. I see we are in 3NT at IMPs, with a combined 24 points, so not a terrible 3NT at IMPs. If I can find the club queen it will have chances. [hv=pc=n&s=sa73hq6dkj8ckj875&n=sj86hk52dqt72cat3&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=pp1np3nppp]266|200[/hv] What does West have? The bots can lead the jack against 3NT away from the AJTx(x). But this might also be a lead from say JT9(x), or even from shortness. I am hoping West has led away from the ace. In that case I wil have two heart stoppers, as long as I win the heart queen in my hand. I cannot gain by going up with the king in second seat, since I have only a doubleton queen in my hand, so I duck from dummy. But it is East who makes me stop and think, when he plays the 10. The bots play standard attitude at trick 1. So the 10 is either a stiff heart, or it indicates that East likes the lead. Can the 10 be a short card? If so, then West led the Jack from AJ98743? That would be impossible. So the jack lead is surely from shortness, and the bots do that when they lack a better lead. In turn, that means East has something like AT9xxx in hearts. But East has already passed in the bidding. East did not make a weak two bid when he had the chance in second seat. So now I need to consider what hand East has to have passed on a decent 6 card heart suit. I know he had the ace of hearts. And West would not likely lead the jack from a broken holding in hearts, like J8x. West would surely have chosen some other lad then. Was the jack a singleton? That is less likely than a doubleton. As well, then East would have not preempted with a nice 7 card heart suit. So I am pretty certain East has 6 hearts. But still, East passed. There are several scenarios where East would not have bid. With 11 points or more and a decent suit, the bots will open on 12 total points, but only 11 high card points. And I already know East had a decent suit. So East has no more than 10 points. But East may have just too weak of a hand to open a weak 2. Or East may have 4 spades. I think I've seen the bots pass up a weak 2 on hands where they were 6-5, with a void too. Anyway, the hands I am considering that East MAY hold look something like these: Hand 1 xxx AT98xx xx xx Hand 2 Kxxx AT98xx xx x Hand 3 xx AT98xx Axx Qxx Hand 1 is too weak to open a weak 2. Hand 2 has a 4 card spade suit, so the bot might choose not to open 2♡. And hand 3 might be just good enough to not open the bidding but also not open a weak 2. I doubt the bots have the judgment to make that last call. My guess is hands 1 or 2 are most likely. But if I think West is likely to have a second heart and the ace of diamonds, I cannot make the contract by winning the queen at trick 1. Even if I can find the club queen, I'll take one heart, 5 clubs, and the spade ace. Then I'll need to break the diamonds and West will get in and lead a heart through the king. That means I need to duck the first trick. This will work if West has the diamond ace, but fail if East has the diamond ace. Since my judgement is that hand type 3 was less likely, then I need to play for West to have the ace. The logic seems good. Once I decide the most probable hands for my opponents to hold, then I need to find a way to play the hands to make on that distribution if possible. And I very much need to make this contract, since it is possible that others may not be in game on this hand. I did stretch to open 1NT, if you recall. So other tables are likely going to go plus on part scores. Anyway, standing with the courage of my convictions, I duck the heart completely, not taking the queen. With the jack winning, West continues a second heart, the 4, as East flies up with the ace. But East does not play a third heart, but switches instead to a spade - the deuce. This is a telling thing. If East has a sure entry, they would clear the hearts out. Give East the ace of diamonds, and I would see him continue with a third heart to the king. Not doing so tells me I was correct in my assessment. East does have a weak hand. That does not rule out a spare queen of course, since East may still have 4 spades. And the switch to a spade itself might be a clue there. I duck the spade to West's queen, knowing that West cannot continue a heart. But now West switches to a club, duck that to the queen from East, and my king. Now I am cold for 9 tricks. Exit with a high diamond, as West has the ace, so I claim 9 tricks. I was correct that East had 6 hearts, but a hand that he did not wish to open a weak 2 on, so weak hand with also 4 spades. To make this contract required working out what the East and West hands were, based on seeing only the jack and ten of hearts at trick 1. [hv=pc=n&s=sa73hq6dkj8ckj875&w=skq9hj4da9653c964&n=sj86hk52dqt72cat3&e=st542hat9873d4cq2&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=pp1np3nppp&p=hjh2hth6h4h5hahqs2s3sqs6c6c3cqckdkd3d2d4djdad7]399|300[/hv] At the other tables, my friends who were playing this hand surprisingly also were upgrading this hand to 1NT. But then they won trick 1 with the heart queen. They all went down after that start. The trick to playing well against the bots is simple. Look at what your bids mean to the bots, and how the bot describes their hand. Always mouse over their bid, as it does tell you what the bots THINK that are showing. Take your time. Work out what the bot has from the bidding and the play. Watch the cards as they come down. The bots don't just play random cards, even though sometimes it feels that way. Then find a line to make your contract, and overtricks where possible. Overtricks can be useful even at IMP scoring. Don't just throw away those +1 scores, as they can add up.

Careful play is important. I'd suggest playing the hands slowly. After all, do you care if your bot partner gets bored with the hand? Look carefully at all of your options in the bidding and in the play. Make sure you are not missing inferences you can use, based on the best hand rule, where South gets the best hand at the table. These are often hugely valuable. Here is a hand I had today, at matchpoints. I was playing a challenge match with 4 friends. We do that at least once a week. I'll write up every hand I play, then send out mail showing what I did on the boards. I'll also compare what everyone did on all boards, so it is interesting for all. I'm sitting South of course, and I hold [hv=pc=n&s=skjt52hjda76ckt73&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1d1hp1sppp]133|200[/hv] West deals, nobody is vulnerable. West opens 1♢ in first seat. Partner overcalls 1♡. 1♠ seems spot on by me, but the bidding dies immediately in 1♠. UGH. Here I was drooling at the thought of making game, yet I'll be playing it at the 1 level. Against my 1♠ contract, West leads the club ace, East playing the 5. [hv=pc=n&s=skjt52hjda76ckt73&n=sqhqt9542dkj9cq62&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1d1hp1sppp]266|200[/hv] Who has what? I'll guess West has the stiif ace of clubs, or mybe Ax. As well, West seems likely to have the diamond queen. West might have rebid 2♢ with a 6 card suit. So possible hand shapes for West might be 4441, or 4351, or 3451, as perhaps the most likely. How many points does West have? He opened the bidding, but I have a 12 count. So West has no more than 12 since this is a bot game with South having the best and at the table. If I give West 6 points in the minors, then West has 6 points, and no more, in the majors. So East has at least one of the major suit aces. When I play low in clubs at trick 1, West continues a second round of clubs. Ok, so West had a near certain doubleton. (KNOW HOW THE BOTS PLAY! They do sometimes lead the ace from Ax, when no other lead seems better.) This means West will be getting a club ruff later on if I am not careful. I want to guess which major suit ace West has, but maybe it does not matter. West may have one of them, and East the other. East pops up with the club jack at trick 2, so I win the king. Now I exit with a low spade towards the queen. West plays low, and it wins. So West has the spade ace. With the club ace, and the presumed diamond queen, that adds up to 10. But I know West has no more than 2 more points, unless he does not have the diamond queen. And that means if West has the diamond queen, then East has both the AK in hearts. But then West would have opened the bidding on exactly 10 points, IF he does have the diamond queen. The bots generally won't do that. Strange. I think my initial perception, that West has the diamond queen must be wrong. I recount my points again, then recount West's points. Interesting, I'm beginning to be pretty sure that East has the diamond queen, and so West has one of the heart honors, either the ace of the king. Potential hands for West are looking like this: Axxx Kxx xxxx Ax but then West will not open the bidding. The bots require 12 points when they are flat, and I doubt that will qualify. So this next hand makes some sense, and fits with everything I know so far. Maybe swap the major suit lengths around. But I'm now sure that West has the three missing aces, and no more. Axxx Axx xxxx Ax Another possibility is this hand: Axxx Axxx xxx Ax where West had to open the bidding in a crappy 3 card suit. But then East might have decided to raise to 2♢. So I'm going to bet on a 4342 or 3442 shape as the most likely shapes for West. It will be interesting to see how close I came at the end of this hand. But if East does have Qxx or longer in diamonds, I might have a hard time picking the suit up. One idea might be to lead the diamond jack from dummy, finessing East, then finesse West for the 10 later on. Hmm! That sounds interesting. Are the conclusions I've drawn so far good ones? I think so, and since I need to get back to my hand anyway, I lead the diamond jack. East COVERS with the queen. Win the ace now. I need to draw trumps still, so I lead the 10. West ducks, as I discard a low heart from dummy. The 10 wins the trick. Now I lead another high spade, West wins the ace, then switches to a low heart. East wins, then finally is able to lead a third club, as West ruffs with the 9. At the end, I do finesse West for the diamond 10, so I make 9 tricks. I'm quite happy to have gotten the diamond queen right as well as the 10. West had 4252 shape, one I did not really consider, but quite close to the 4342 shape I was considering. On this board, one person in our group tied me, making 9 tricks also, but it is easy to just play automatically and take the diamond finesse on a hand like this. [hv=pc=n&s=skjt52hjda76ckt73&w=sa963ha8dt5432ca4&n=sqhqt9542dkj9cq62&e=s874hk763dq8cj985&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1d1hp1sppp&p=cac2c5c3c4c6cjcks2s3sqs4djdqdad2sts6h2s7sksah4s8h8h5hkhjc8c7s9cqhah9h3s5ctd3htc9d6d4d9d8dkh6d7d5hqh7sj]399|300[/hv] In the end, it usually just comes down to playing good solid bridge, where you watch everything that happens and remember the cards as they fell. I have a several friends who are capable of playing quite well when playing in games where they care, but when playing against the bots, they consistently seem to score in the 45% range. Mainly, they are just clicking on the cards, not focused on the game. Click, click, click, next board.

Were it my choice, I'd try a different approach to the bidding. 1♡ - 1♠ That start seems ok. South knows at the beginning he will get to game, but where is an important question. As well, South has a good enough hand that slam is not out of the question. So you don't want to make immediate decisions that the heart suit is correct here. So starting out slowly is a good idea. An important rule in bridge is to bid slowly when you have good hands. Trust that you and partner both know what bids are forcing, but discussion is always a good thing to insure you and partner do know when a bid is forcing. But now, instead of a jump to 3♠, North might decide a splinter raise is a good idea. North has a perfect hand for that. Great 4 card spade support, diamond shortness. While North only counts out to 15 high card points, this is closer to 19 points in support of spades. So the North hand is worth a game forcing response, not just a raise to 3♠. Yes, if South is truly barely able to respond, he might go down in 4♠. But this is surely worth showing that powerful hand. 4♢(splinter raise) - A splinter bid is a picture bid of sorts. It tells partner that you have a great hand, worth forcing to game on. It shows 4 card trump support, and a singleton or void in the splinter suit. With that one bid, North has described his hand as probably 4 spades, 5 hearts, 1 diamond, and therefore 3 clubs. (4612, 4504 or 4603 shapes might also apply here, but they are less common.) North has painted a picture of his hand, in one bid. Now South is excited. South has the perfect hand opposite a short diamond. Axx is the perfect suit there. And South has KQX in hearts, filling in the heart suit. South is the one who can now visualize slam, because South has all of the filler cards. He can ask for keycards. My preference is 1430, but if you like 0314 responses, whatever floats your boat works for me. - 4NT(keycard, in spades) When North shows 1 or 4 keycards, South knows it must be 4 keycards, and South can see how the play will go. As long as hearts split, one can see the necessary club pitch on the long hearts. And South can visualize that two diamond ruffs are available. So South can bid a very comfortable 7♠. Getting to the grand is a little harder if you don't play splinter raises, since then the partnership does not know how well the hands fit together.