chalks

I'm specifically looking for advice on how to tell if a double is takeout, negative, or penalties (or lead directing?). Are there any general rules of thumb? Obviously this is something that has to be discussed in depth in a partnership, but for general online play when with random people, I'd like to be able to get it right most of the time. I imagine this varies somewhat depending on system, so let's just stick with SAYC for now.

Ran into this hand at a tournament on Saturday, I was south. [hv=pc=n&s=s64hat52dqcqt6532&w=sakq8hkqjdak72ckj&n=sj972h98djt865ca4&e=st53h7643d943c987&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=2cp2dp3nppp&p=djd3dqd2c6cjcac9c4c8cqck]399|300[/hv] West eventually was forced to lead hearts, allowing me to run my remaining clubs. 3nt down 3 for a top board. Should west have bid 2nt? If west takes the first diamond trick, does he do better? Also, it was tremendously fun to play this hand. :D edit: for two of us, anyways.

I hate 18 and 19 point not-quite-balanced hands. I don't know how to bid them. I haven't played with this partner more than once, I'm east. We also had no mention of what 4th suit meant. [hv=d=n&v=0&b=1&a=p1sp2cp3dp3hp3nppp]133|100[/hv] I'd like to go through the bidding and give my thoughts at each bid, please tell me where I'm wrong. 1♠ - 5+ spades, 13+ hcp 2♣ - 5+ clubs, 6+ hcp 3♦ - I think I would interpret this as 5-5 diamonds/spades and more hcp... how much more? 3♥ - game force... but with a new partner, probably just rejecting my suits. 5-4 in clubs/hearts? 3n - We don't have a fit, signing off at cheapest game here are the hands: [hv=pc=n&w=s86hkq43d3cj97642&e=sakj74h86da985cak]266|100[/hv] I'd love to hear feedback about this hand specifically, but also any general tips/advice you have for bidding strong hands that can't be described with a nt bid. Thanks.

I'm south: [hv=d=s&v=b&b=7&a=p2sd2nppp]133|100[/hv] I expected north to have weak spades, values in hearts, and opening count. Is that wrong? As it happens, we got a very nice score for crushing their 2nt (down 3), so I'm certainly not upset about the result. Actual hands: [hv=pc=n&s=sq7hkt96d862ct963&n=sa863h52daq5cak72]133|200[/hv] How would you have bid it?

Sorry, I was at work and couldn't access BBO without IT getting a little peeved. Here are the hands (and I mis-remembered them a tad): 1st hand: [hv=pc=n&s=sk64h6dq43ckq8432]133|100[/hv] Actual bidding: [hv=d=s&v=b&b=7&a=3c3s5cppp]133|100[/hv] made 2nd hand: [hv=pc=n&s=skqjhj8dq97ckqj92]133|100[/hv] We were not playing 2/1, it would have made things much easier if we were. If your curious, my partners hand: [hv=pc=n&n=st8haqt754dak53c5]133|100[/hv] I'm particularly unhappy with the bidding on the second hand. I didn't want to jump to 3nt, but I didn't know how to force my (unfamiliar) partner to continue bidding. We were ostensibly playing SAYC, but... I'm still a little shaky on a few things, so there may be a bid that I missed here.

I'm south. In a recent game, two separate auctions caused some discussion at our virtual table. Here they are: [hv=d=s&v=0&b=11&a=3cppp]133|100[/hv] EDIT: my hand posted below. I had KJxxxx♣ and a relatively balanced hand (no singletons/voids) with 5 more hcp (for 9hcp total) scattered throughout. We made the contract, got a significant IMP score for it (~8.5) and I explained my bid to my partner: "I'll bid 3c with only six if I'm in first seat and relatively decent clubs." My LHO immediately said that I would find very little support for that in the bridge community at large. So: Is he right? In what situation would you consider a 3c opening with that hand to be "right" (if ever)? If never, is there a 6 card club suit that you would open at the 3 level? When/why? [hv=d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1hp2cp2hp3nppp]133|100[/hv] EDIT: my hand posted below. I had AQJxx♣, xx♥, and 8 more hcp scattered (15hcp total) through my hand shape 5332. My partner was incensed at my bid of 3nt, and insisted I should have explored slam with a bid of 4♣ and clarified that "it's like blackwood, but at a lower level". I'm assuming he meant Gerber. When I argued about the appropriateness of that bid, he continued to insist that at the very least I had underbid. 4♣ is only Gerber over a nt bid, right? 4♣ is never Gerber when clubs has previously been bid by our side, right? I'm inclined to agree that I was underbid (though we could not have made 6 of anything). Is there a good way for me to show my partner my values? Thanks. :)

perfect. It does exactly what I'm looking for, thank you so much! It helps to see just how poorly I bid all in one place. :D

[hv=pc=n&e=sa73ha73dcaq98654&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=1c]133|200[/hv] You're in an individuals tournament, and you have no idea how your partner bids beyond SAYC. Now what? Here's the full hand: I am not really happy with the auction that ensued:

I love keeping track of cards. It's difficult at times, sure... but if you can make that perfect finesse because you know beyond a shadow of a doubt where that king is... it's marvelous. Here's my advice: Start off by only remembering one suit. Trump. You can count to 13 even while worrying about other things. Once you have no problem doing this (shouldn't take long), add in the honors for the other suits (not the full count). I find it to remember this by what hasn't been played. Often, you'll see Q-K-A-x on a trick. When this happens, you should only remember the J is still out (probably in the Q leader's hand). Once you can keep track of honors AND trump count without breaking a sweat, try to remember two suits and honors. I find that needing to remember more than that doesn't happen very often, and when it does happen, you generally have at least a strong sense of where cards are thanks to your knowledge of honors and at least two suits. Even more interesting is when you start to predict shape based on bidding and one or two rounds of play (or less!). This is especially easy with imbalanced hands (e.g. preempts occurring), but even in the most balanced you will find yourself predicting where things are with a high degree of accuracy.

So I've played 14 individual tournaments on BBO now. Adding all the IMPs together, my total is a whopping 3.38. What would be considered "good" for this format? What would be a good target to improve that score to? How 'bout for a pairs tournament? As for my regular gameplay between tourneys, I am mainly playing with people I've played with only a few times before, or random strangers. I can see recent hands, but heaven help me if I'm going to go through all of them and add the scores together manually. What's a good metric for measuring those games on more than just a hand by hand basis? I know these are all subjective questions, so I appreciate even vague answers. Also, to keep the topic a little more appropriate for this particular forum, what do you say to a beginner along the lines of "when this happens, you'll know you're getting better" Thanks. :)

It's exactly what I wanted to hear, and is precisely the reason I'm asking for help. Any resources you could suggest would be greatly appreciated. I love the idea of splinters, and they are high on my list of "things to learn once I get a more solid grounding in bidding" I've been noticing that some of the better players I've come across on BBO have *just* SAYC listed in their profile (or nothing at all). I think my regular partner and I may start over from scratch playing no conventions until we find ourselves really wanting/needing one. Thanks for the advice everyone, it has been extremely helpful. Thanks in part to this thread, I won a tourney the other day! Only 14 players or so, but still... I was excited. :D

sounds like I need to read up on some of the basics. I just yesterday had someone sit down with me and walk me through takeout doubles. I was familiar with them, but had been taught as a kid that it only means opening count (always, regardless of what you're doubling). It's taking some doing to unlearn that. Any books/articles anyone would recommend? Particularly focused on doubles and natural bidding.

Essentially, I think my biggest problems are as responder with a strong hand, or as opener with a very strong hand. I don't know how to show voids/singletons/stoppers. I don't know how to force game, and I certainly don't know how to invite slam. Or, more importantly, I don't know when to invite slam. Here's one hand that really stuck in my craw. I'm west: [hv=pc=n&s=s876hj4da53cqt764&w=sakj543haqd42ckj5&n=sq2h852dkqj97c983&e=st9hkt9763dt86ca2&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=p1sp1np2sppp]399|300[/hv] ugh. I hate that. We made 2sW+3, all three of the other tables made 4sW+1. I'm clearly missing something. I'm sitting west: [hv=pc=n&s=sk83h96dj93cq7532&w=st94hakjt4daktca4&n=saq765hq8dq652ck8&e=sj2h7532d874cjt96&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=1sp2s2nppp]400|300[/hv] I don't think 2nt was right. I debated between 2nt and 3h, and went with my first instinct. We made it (barely), but I think 3h or even 4h is a better contract. 3h is an easy make, 4h might make if clubs go nicely (I think?). There were two other tables playing this hand, one made 3hW, the other made 3cE. So I did OK, but I think I did OK for the wrong reasons. I'm sitting south: [hv=pc=n&s=skt74hjt3dqt5caq6&w=sa96h865d9876ct93&n=s52hakq97dk4cj872&e=sqj83h42daj32ck54&d=e&v=e&b=6&a=1d1sp2hp2np3nppp]399|300[/hv] Does north's 2h bid show 5h? I thought it only promised 4. Again, my 2nt bid I wasn't sure about/happy with. We made 3nt, one other table made 4hN+1, and the other table 2hN+1. 4h should easily make though, all finesses make (somewhat unsurprisingly, especially diamonds).

As I said, I'm by no means qualified to be making up stuff like this. :) I find it very helpful to try, however, as it forces into my head a better appreciation of the wide variety of hands possible. Helps keep me clear headed when bidding out in the wild. Transfer walsh is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for, thank you! Also, luckily for me, there's a very active club less than a few miles from my house that meets 4(!) times a week. I'm sure someone there would be able to help.

I did miss that. I think that shape would be reasonable to leave open to declarer: NT for no clear strong suit, 1♣ or 1♦ otherwise, and correct to 5 card suit (as those both require your partner to respond). This means those two openings are a little more forgiving in their requirements. very good point, the gap there is troublesome. Maybe use a 1♣/1♦ open (for same reason as above) and jump into suit to show strength? I thought about that, and I think there are a few solutions. You could make the openers minor answer be forcing (which would put you into 3 level at minimum, which could be disastrous). You could say that the 1nt bid from responder is stronger than 6-10, and then the previous option would be more palatable. Or maybe if opener has a x6x4 shape, they just bid the major instead of answering. Again, this could be bad, but probably not as bad as getting to the 3 level. I think the best option for that, however, would be to modify a major opening to always mean primary strength in the major. You lose out on being able to easily show strength in a single minor. You could take 2c and 2d to show that, but then you lose a preempt and your strong 2c. hrmm. Thank you for pointing those things out. :) edit: and yes, extreme single suiters seem to be a difficulty. Not sure how I would handle those.