svengolly

2H is a positive response by GIB with 5+ hearts. 3C would not be a 2nd negative after 2H. It would be a 2nd suit in any system and probably denies support for S.

Was out of town and just got back to this thread. (Yeah, I expected a few "2C bid sucked" replies.) Anyway, I had sent Georgi an IM about this and his reply was "Agree. GIB should bid more slowly. We will work to fix this."

OK, you can disagree all you want with my 2♣ opener. Fine. No problem. I hate hands like these because if I open them 1♠, they often get passed out. If I open it 4♠, they get passed out. What seems to me like GIB insanity though, is when the bidding goes 2♣ (P) 2♥ (P) 2♠, how in the heck can computer OR human come up with a closeout 6NT bid? Diamonds could be wide open. I could have a heart fit. The worst possible bid is 6NT. (Well 7NT or 6♦ would be worse.) Is GIB so stupid it MUST see 20+ HCP? Even then 6NT may not be the right place. Color me confused. Hand

I'm going to have to learn to stop posting late and after having 1 1/2 margaritas lol. You are right that 3NT makes on any lead.

Thanks. I'll ask my other expert partner (and sometime teacher) too. See what he says.

I guess I see that auction as too unilateral. My hand does not look good for NT play with a stiff heart and a doubleton diamond. Believe me I thought about letting it sit at 3NT. If GIB had bid 3D over my clubs, my decision would be let 3D lie (which makes) or bid 3N (which is down one). Either result is better than down 2.

Hmmm my regular partner (1500 MPs) would kill me if I made that free bid. But I'll accept the explanation and move on.

I am struggling with this hand also. Hidden diamonds Hands reversed for play (Allday tournament) Why doesn't GIB bid 3D over my 3C? Why keep going to NT. Maybe my 3C bid was a tad light but not awful. But on that auction I have no idea where the tricks are coming from and neither does the GIB.

Here's the hand. Overcall on 4 rag spades This was in one of the daylong tournaments. I am South (hands reversed due to making me declarer). I just don't know how to recover from something like this. If I think GIB has a real suit (5 cards with something), I bid as I did. But that auction is off the charts misleading. GIB should have passed. 2nd choice is a negative double.

Sorry, yes defense did score a trick. I said that Robot ruffed my good trick and took it returning a low trump. I erred in saying 0 tricks. It was a standard .25 robot tourney.

You're right of course. I searched for it but I played a slew of tournaments the day this happened and really didn't think to record the hand. Couldn't figure out which it was. Regardless, I almost never make weird bids with GIB. I've learned my lesson on that account.

4 card end position declarer in Hearts. As South, I lead the spade J which is known to be high. W (dummy) is irrelevant. Robot pard (N) ruffs my J low. Declarer (E) follows suit. I think OK, N has all trump left. N then returns a low trump, which E takes. E plays a high trump, N follows and I'm like WTH? If N doesn't ruff and simply pitches the D, declarer is off 2 because I get my J of spades AND N gets one trump (tenace). It was like the bot figured out the ONLY way to not score a single trick on the 4-card ending. This is how I remember the position: [hv=pc=n&s=sjhd73ct&w=shdc&n=sht63d2c&e=s7hj94dc]399|300[/hv] Is there a rational reason for GIB to do this? Am I missing something (I'm no expert)?

I've been out of live tournament bridge for at least 25 years. Played in two large club games last week and this week with a pickup partner (same both events). We took 1st overall last week and 2nd overall this week in the NLM bracket. Just had to say something. :)

Interesting. We're not talking robots on this hand. Live bridge. Do you still do it against good opps or not?

Which is why I favor 1 ♦. It's not so unilateral and you have a better chance to place the contract based on what the opponents and pard has/does. What I find ugly about both hands is that Jones presents his bid solutions as absolutes. No shades of gray. And to me that's just wrong for a national / general bridge column. I can just hear Bad Luck Louie saying, "But Jones says OK to open a good 6-card minor as 1 NT." :rolleyes:

Here's another Bob Jones quiz hand: SOUTH ♠ J 10 8 ♥ K 6 4 ♦ 9 4 ♣ A K 9 7 4 No mention of vulnerability or scoring. Bidding goes P-P-P to you. Open or not? ANSWER BELOW WITH SPOILER

Jones and Tannah Hirsch share writing duties on what used to be the old Charles Goren daily newspaper column on bridge. For awhile it was penned by Omar Sharif & Hirsch. More recently Hirsch & Jones. Jones does a weekly bridge bidding quiz in the Saturday column. I'm not keen on a lot of his answers but his hand reports are generally worth reading.

Partially my point in the original post. This does not "look" like a NT hand and for sure if we're going to play it in NT, I'd want the lead coming into pard (where the Q's live).

This seems reasonable to me but like I said, I'm getting back into bridge after a long hiatus: 1♦ - 1♠ - DBL - 3♠ 4♦ - P - 4♠ - P 5/6♦ If they only compete to 2♠ it's easier. In thinking about it, the hand may be easier to bid with some interference. How would you proceed after opening it 1NT? Since we're talking a Bob Jones column, you can't get too fancy with gadgets. If you open 1 NT does pard use Stayman? Pass? 2N? If you end up playing in NT, you probably lose 5 tricks to start. If the opps compete with some sort of spade showing bid (reasonable), what does pard do? What do you do?

If it was a 5-card suit or a weaker 6 bagger, I'd have no issue but 6 cards to AK and A's heading up the other suits? It seems to me 1NT gives up possibilities. The other thing that annoys me is that Jones never specifies a scoring format. Is it MP? IMP? Rubber bridge? I guess it's a percentage play but it seems pretty unilateral. With my luck, bidding 1N, pard would have: ♠ x ♥ x x x x ♦ Q x x ♣ K Q x x x

Is it just me or does Bob Jones seem to be more and more "erratic" in his selection of bids for his weekly bridge quizzes? This hand particularly has me bugged. ♠ 10 7 ♥ A 5 ♦ A K 9 8 3 2 ♣ A 8 5 N-S Vul, you are S dealer. In his latest column from 12/24/16, he says open this 1NT. I'm trying to see the long run logic here but it escapes me. It would seem to be impossible to redescribe this hand in terms of diamonds and suit play once NT has been called. Plus, it's not like you're trying to protect the lead coming into your hand with tenaces. Enlighten me oh wise players! I am getting back into the game after a long absence.

Heck sometimes I win, return the suit and it will still switch.

Thanks. Learning something here. Now if I could only figure out why GIB pards will often lead a suit, strike gold in my hand, then switch if they regain the lead. That drives me crazy.

Double dummy I get but it still doesn't seem logical to me that N would lead a club into West's first bid suit. After all, it could just spear something in South's hand.

Why on this bidding and with this hand would the GIB lead the 3♣? Just about anything else holds the contract to 3 including the normal lead of a spade. The club lead gives them an extra trick. Hopefully the screenshot shows up.