HighLow21

:) Should be an extra x in either minor.

Would you feel better if he opened it on Ax AQx KQJTx Axx? I guess there is the 1-round holdup value in spades, and the chance to try Q from Qxx in dummy at trick 1, but... could easily miss a game opposite QJT JTx 9x xxxx. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Exactly my point... I would never bid a solid suit over any number of NT unless I was so strong that I knew 1NT would be passed out. I will, however, double 2NT or 3NT if it comes back to me, because at that point it's usually very difficult for them to find a safe spot to land.

Just to follow up on what Dave was saying: 1. Law of Total Tricks is a startling revelation to a beginner or early intermediate who learns it. It has big implications for competitive bidding. For early users of it, it is a very effective weapon in making bidding decisions on "normal" competitive hands. 2. Early-mid intermediates should have it mastered, including all the adjustments. (There are many and a lot of them involve guesswork.) 3. Mid-late intermediates will realize that the Law is full of flaws and doesn't work a lot of the time. A LOT of the time. And thus, will use it as only one of a handful of tools for analyzing competitive bidding sequences. (In fact, the LAW is only exactly accurate about 40% of the time, and even being off by 1 trick can change the correct bidding decision in many cases.) For instance, I just played a hand in which the opponents bid 6♠ in a competitive sequence. I had jumped to 5♣ over 1♠ holding: ♠ 6 ♥ JT76 ♦ -- ♣ AKT76432 Left Hand Opponent bid 5♠ and partner supported me, to 6♣. Opener bid 6♠ and I sacrificed in 7♣. It was the right call and I knew it. LOTT would rarely tell you to bid 7 over 6, even though I could tell this deal had at least 20 trumps! Now, the vulnerability was: we were not Vulnerable, they were. I therefore knew that if their slam makes (very likely since I have no defense), they make 750 + 500 + 180 = 1430. If it goes down (unlikely, looking at my hand), we make 100. But the most I could possibly go down was 5, losing 1 spade and 4 hearts (incredibly unlikely), for 1100. It can also gain if one of the opponents shoots 7♠ and that goes down 1. Since LHO had a void in clubs, that was not unlikely, but barring a defensive error they would have to lose a heart or a diamond. It should be noted that my partner left in anger when I bid 7♣, thinking it was a terrible mistake. It was not; 6♠ was unbeatable and 7♣ was only -3, or -500. That is an even better result for us than them bidding and making GAME. It should be noted that the opponents held 10 spades and we held 12 clubs, so there were 10 + 12 = 22 trumps. The opponents had 12 tricks in spades and we had 10 tricks in clubs. 12 + 10 = 22. This time, the LAW was dead accurate, but many times it's not, and even if you practiced it, you might not believe that it's right to bid 7 over 6!

If p doesn't have a spade stop, why would RHO bid spades? let 3NT get back to him and double it.

I'm simply stating what the double means in Standard American, and/or Bridge Base Basic.

Nice, and the end position is symmetrical. Good hand.

Many excellent decisions in this game are anti-LOTT, because a lot of hands violate LOTT.

Thanks Bill, some positive feedback here for a change. I needed it today. But it's more than a few and I'm tired of defending my posts from people who, at this point, seem to just have a desire to stick it to me. They win. Good luck folks.

Alright, the consensus seems to be that I'm not adding any value to the BBO forums, so I'm done here. Thanks everyone.

...Then he has at most 2 clubs and can be thrown in on the 3rd round of diamonds if he doesn't dump KD.

Not if the trumps suggest that RHO might have the long diamonds and a singleton in clubs and hearts (see above discussion with MrAce).

I suggest you read your signature quote to yourself, Michael. But here's one, since you asked: http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/topic/52126-21-responders-rebid/page__st__40

Agreed, since 5H in this situation is at best ambiguous; I would have read it as a heart mandate combined with an inquiry as to trump (heart) quality. Forgive me for passing 5H with my robust 4♥ singleton support... This hand is actually a classic ace-asking hand with the one small twist: a desire to know whether one of the aces held is a club. Very simple. If you have Exclusion use it; if you don't, bid 6H over 1 or two aces and 7H over 3. The slam will be ice cold over 2 or 3 aces; 6H simply requires that the one ace not be in clubs (or that a club not be led), roughly a 65% chance; 6H making 7 is unfortunate when the two aces are not including the AC, but them's the breaks if you cannot ask which aces are held. (When 2 aces are held, the odds that the ace of clubs is not held is closer to 35%.)

When you live strictly by rules and don't exercise any judgment whatsoever, then you can be an expert!

A series of different threads in the forums prompted me to start this thread. Is anyone else as tired as I am of the psychological bloodletting that's happening in these forums, particularly whenever people here disagree or misunderstand? I could point out a series of threads that demonstrates this to be true, but I don't want to single anyone out. Here's a call to stop the nonsense. This is a place to discuss and learn about bridge, not to be attacked for disagreeing or using bad style or perhaps stating something that comes across as pompous under a certain reading of the typed text. Anyone else in agreement?

Bazinga?

My answer above gives the full explanation. *Absent a partnership agreement*, the double is for blood. End of discussion.

Says it all.

NV/NV is the perfect time to bid. I open 1D, intending to bid 1NT over 1H and 2C over 1S.

Yeah, I'm clearly missing something. The opening bid is 1S, not 1NT.

I'm saying all else being equal, it's much higher than 55%. This is clearly a distributional slam. Declarer clearly is ready for a heart lead. Just something to think about.

This is a tough one, but I tend to ATB North the most. He's hyperstrong in clubs, and has 3 small red cards. Whatever partner's holding in clubs, North should assume no club losers and at most one spade loser. South cannot know any of this. I actually think a 4♦ splinter is far better than 2♠. Then South cues 4♥, North bids 4NT, RKCB, finds out they have 4 keys, and bids 6♣. Edit: or would 3♦ be a splinter?

The double in this case is absolutely for penalty, barring special partnership agreement. Partner has something like ♠KQJT ♥T3 ♦T974 ♣KT3. They aren't making 2 spades. Remember, Partner bid 1NT voluntarily. He will not be minimum with a single stopper. Spades is his best suit and he should have at least 8 HCP.

You play that in the auction 1S-1NT-2C, the 2C is Stayman? Doesn't sound like a natural bidding discussion to me.