phoenix214

I was wondering, can anyone suggest me how to play the following hand [hv=pc=n&s=sak2haq8da52cjt85&n=sjt75hj762dqj43c4]133|200[/hv] The contract is 1NT by S, lead was 6♦, which is 2nd/4th according to opps methods if i recall.

Hello, i do not know which is the appropriate forum, so i guess this might be the one, anyhow. Can anyone suggest a good opening lead system. For me, i willing to learn anything, simple or complex. At the moment im playing "Moscow style" with my pard and most people i play. Which would 2nd/4th, hi from xx, Direct from honor sequences. Well but this week our bridge group was suggested to switch to 3/5th, because it improves our game. I have been looking into Slavinsky lead systems as well. But for me i don't know which is better to learn - slavinsky or 3rd/5th, although what i looked up with the modern 3rd/5th looked quite similar.

Well i know, i have acepted my parts invites some time when i had a 5332 shape with minimum points, just because i felt it was needed. But with these type of hands i think its good, if you have a diamond stopper because you have a source of tricks. Like there is a difference between your hand and the same point count with a 3334 shape for example.

Well i think the 2 easy to bid slams were prolly bad judgment or something like that. I know i was afraid of bidding one because of bad spade quality, the other one was also like hmm. But i know we had some problems with slams in a recent tournament where we were loosing lots of match points on mis biding some slams although we did quite reasonable neverthe less. I dont know much about the game at the start because that was my pards doing, not mine and im not responsible for that.

Thanks for the match today, we finished -27, which does not seem to bad, taking into account that we were -46 after the first 5 boards. For me personally the key board was board 9 in the match. [hv=pc=n&s=sq4ht842dtcqjt952&w=sk32haj9765dq84c7&n=st86hk3dk975cak86&e=saj975hqdaj632c43&d=n&v=e&b=9&a=1d1s3c(Weak)4s5cdppp]399|300[/hv] I did the 4♠, hoping to put pressure on the opps, because now N doesnt know, if we can make 4♠, is 5♣ a good defense and so on. Under the pressure North bid 5♣, which assured we got a + score. After some mistakes by both sides it went down 3 for +500 for us. At the other table. S bid X and W bid 2♥, with their hand and played there for -1, giving our team 12 imps. This seemed like the turning point and gave us(at least me :D) some psychological comfort

For 26 of october - phoenix214 with NeaosPsy

If im not too active in the BBF, can i still participate in the BBF vs JEC match? I do have a partner(s) i play with regularly so that is not an issue although they are not active in BBF.

I have some problems understanding the position, HHT9x opposite Hx(H=A/K/Q), How should the suit be played for the better result, should i play for the drop or for the finesse because checking online tables didnt help, two sources gave different opinions, and doing my math im maybe missing something. It seems that if im finessing, then im wining if Jxxx is in front, and loosing if Jxx or Jx is behind. Looking at percentages online i get that 4-2 split is 48,5 and a 3-3 split is something around 35%, so it looks like finessing is worse. On the other hand how does the problem change if i remove the 9 Can anyone explain me this position, cause im a bit confused about it

Well with 1435 Still you can bid 1NT over 1D-1S, Nothing bad with that. Id say you should have a read on some precision systems online maybe. Id suggest reading revision club. It has some good ideas, may help you with your 2C and 1D oppenings

I think you can do the same as after someone has opened 1M and competition has began after you have found a fit. That is, that One under 3M is Inviting to game, and 3M is competitive. In case opp bids one under 3M, then X is the invite bid

I would suggest playing 2/1 GF, cause that is quite good. A must is to play 1M-2M as constructive. You can even extend to bidding 2M as an invite with 3 card, and when playing 1NT as forcing also allows you to find double fits for game, without surpassing 2M Playing 2M as basic 6-9, especially in 1♥-2♥, your saying to opps- Please bid! Another positive thing to do is to make so that responding 1/1 is from 0 hcp not 6 or any other point count. It doesnt hurt for limited openings because pard has a maximum of 16, so they might have game.

Well if everybody seems to dislike the hand i wanted to show, then i apologize, and know not to post any hands like this on this forum, cause people seem not to need them

Last weekend there was an internation tournament in Latvia - Riga invites to Jurmala, during this tournament i got to play vs Billy Eisenberg. During the teams tournament we had one interesting board that shows good bidding judgement by him. Im sitting N [hv=pc=n&s=sjt9ha9876dkj52c4&w=saq54hdaq98cat765&n=sk632hkjt542d76c9&e=s87hq3dt43ckqj832&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1c(Sayc)1h2h(Limit+%20in%20%21C)3c(I%20have%20no%20idea)4h(Cue)p5c(Limit)5h6c6hpp7c(%21)ppp]399|300|A decision between 1H and 2H and pass. I decided that i want to bid 1H, because i have 4♠[/hv] Probably my decision of 6♥ is the one that allowed him to bid 7. I thought it would be a good save. I dont know who has to bid 7♥, but that is not too important. Hope you can enjoy the art :)

The thing i used to play here is something that is not garbage stayman. I dont recall having a problem with that hand playing strong NT(although we did 16-18) We used these positions for smolen type of hands. Thr bid 2M promises 5 in OM and inv+ values. Usually 4 in the bid M. But we bid like this with 5332 hands and 5-5 hands

Playing a pair tournament, Red vs Red, you pick up the following cards ♠:X ♥:Kxxxxx ♦:AJxxx ♣:x One opp is expert one is advanced(you can say that) The bidding goes - (3♠)-p-(4♠). The question, is should you bid 4NT with this hand or not(As a defense to 4♠, or as a try to make something) I think you should bid green vs red, pass red vs green, but im not too sure about equal, so maybe someone can share their thoughts on this. Thanks in advance

Well the structure seems quite similar to the one have played which is 1♦ - both majors 1♥ - ♥+♣/♠+♦ 1♠ - ♥+♦/♠+♣ 1NT - ♣ or ♦ 2♣ - Minors 2♦ - Multi 2♥/♠ - Muidberg, The problem is, i dont know which of these is more troublesome for the opps. That is the main reason why did i start this thread :)

Well but technically you can use all the nasty stuff that you want, for example Multi 2♥. Polish 2♦, Canape overcalls on level 1, if im correct. Im just wondering, why there arent lots of people on the top who do that

Opening 1♣/♦ as 2+ is not a natural opening, if it contains specific NT ranges. The opening gives an advantage to you because you can play 1♦ as unbalanced or adjust your notrump range. Another gain of the opening is that it makes confusion as of the cue bid is natural or not if a partnership has not discussed it. Although there is a problem with these openings. Since they are not natural(Does not promise 3 cards in the bid minor), you can use brown stickers vs these openings. Does someone use a strategy like this. I have played CRASH style defense vs these nebulous openings, it is kinda annoying for opps who dont expect it. Has anybody else tried some sort of defense vs these kinds of openings

I was wondering, what counts as a encrypted signal. Does it only count when defender posses a key that declarer doesnt have and therefore he cannot use the information. The problem is, if "Combine" signals counts as a encrypted or not, where you singal partner the number of small cards in a suit, or you signal that you have xx or Hxx Lo/Hi and xxx/Hxxx Hi/Lo?

All i have is hearts, nothing much else. I want to play 2H if partner doesnt have an excelent card. I think 2H shows that the best. If opps bid after, i have told p i have 6H(The upside of 2h), and nothing much extra

If we now look at the N hand, he knows you 6-7 points. If opener doesnt have 9 quick tricks then a passive lead is the best. From the biding you can tell that he doesnt have a good suit to set up tricks. Spades can be set up if he has AKx(x)(If partner has something in spades, declerar will have problems for 9 tricks). That means partner has a something in hearts, clubs or both. If he has something in hearts(more then Q), then leading the suit might cost a trick, so it`s not a good idea. On the other hand leading a club is safe, and doesn`t cost anything. On the other hand you yourself can do something similar(After pard has shown AKJ of diamonds, you know he doesn`t have much else left). Again spades look like the best source of tricks. But if that is the case, then opps are playing the wrong contract. 4♠ shouold be the normal one and not 3NT. 4♠ has 9 tricks, and if you misdefened then it makes, so if you cash the A♣, then at worse you should get 50%, but normally more. As regarding the lead. I like the !♦ lead, cause it does not give up a trick. A club lead might give it up because most of the times declarer will have the K♣. If you lead a diamond you don't make a finesse he cannot do for himself. Although i might have made a ♥ lead because they did not use stayman, but obviously that would be bad.

I think using Gazzilli you can quite easily bid 5♦. 1♠-1NT 2♣(Clubs or strong)-3♦(Weak with 6+♦) 5♦

In Latvia you can open all of the following hands, we do not have much restriction to non-brown stickers. I know a pair that has played Ekren 2♦(Both majors from 4+;4+).

I dont know if this is the best, but i play that 1M-2NT is INV or ST in precison, in nat INV+, If opps bid something in between then 2NT becomes natural, and a direct cue bid is INV+ with 3+support

Well, lets put it like this. If you could learn and play any NT structure, which one would you play? P.S. - I am thinking more on the range of strong NT if it matters, and it can be off-shape as well if it matters(I don`t think a full relay is the best idea anyway)