PhilKing

Ouch.

South's final pass. Obviously 3NT is crazy, but we can get away with such things against soft opponents, since they don't double enough and underdefend.

Was that the only constraint? I would expect 4♠ to make a lot more than that.

I'm going to guess Andy plays it as an 79, where that reflects the percentage of the time partner will leave it in.

The latter - they use the time as a seed at exactly 6PM.

Who is righty? What methods do they play? 5♦ is a lot of diamonds. Righty is likely to have a partial spade fit otherwise it makes no sense - maybe 3?8? distribution. If lefty has 4♠ bidding is no bargain, but if he has 5 spades, partner is likely 1624 or 1633 (this one could lead to an overruff in diamonds), which could mean that BOTH contracts could make opposite the ♥AK and the ♣Q. I've talked myself into 5♥.

Double - FOUR places to play. ;)

You can afford to. Just agree it doesn't promise a stop.

6♥. It's not hard to construct hands where both 5♠ and 6♥ make with everyone having bid sensibly. Since my guess is that neither contract is likely to go more than one off, bidding is going to show a large profit if you faced this position multiple times. Sorry, just seen that this is pairs. That makes it much closer. I still bid, because I have an appalling track record when I take an action just because it is pairs. :(

My eyes are bleeding.

I have a cold and my brain has shut down. :(

2NT. Meh.

-

But then how is the mediocre player supposed to get masterpoints? :( It would be even worse if they were punished for not living up to Deep Finesse though .....

Lol, changed queens to jacks. My post is an advert for multi-tasking.

OK thanks, will change my examples before I get flamed. ;)

4♥. Stop and think before it's too late. Driving to the five level is not safe in a couple of ways: 1. Partner will accept with ♠Ax ♥AQxxx♦AXxxx ♣x, yet slam is very poor. 2. Five is not safe opposite ♠Ax ♥KJxxx ♦AJxx ♣xx. Playing in 5M is considered bad for a reason. We need partner to have a pretty big hand for slam to be good (eg Ax AQxxx AQxx xx), in which case he will not pass 4♥.

It's not an anomaly - it's just part of the game ("In order for us to do well, it is necessary for our opponent's to do badly.") There are four players at the table, and the cards are rarely evenly divided, so we are not always the masters of our own destiny. And bridge is a game of imperfect information, so the best play is not always rewarded. If you don't like it, play teams, where at least your teammates have the chance to bid slam. Alternatively, you can take up chess, where virtue is always rewarded. And if you want Deep Finesse to give you a free pass every time you get a bottom, forget it. Sometimes they make slam because you made it easy for them in the bidding or made it obvious for them to find the winning line, and Deep Finesse is no King Solomon when it comes to matters of judgment.

I just think a club lead is the equivalent of just conceding, since it it almost inconceivable that we can run the suit (have to be 7321 round the table with dummy holding Kx). I guess 7222 round the table with the ♥K as an entry is possible, but super-specific. Prospects that any lead works are really poor, but the ♥K has a puncher's chance of landing a knock-out.

Truth in advertising requires one to confess that one now has no method to show an invitational 3♣ response.

A club lead on hand one is beyond wooden. I don't think it's right to open 3NT with 8 solid, particularly if 83 or with 7411. 2,3,6,7 and 11 sound like 5♦ openings. Holding a void is also bad, but hand #10 is fine. PKgen would assign partner a 7-carder then deal him 6 cards from the non-diamond non-AK deck and reject if he gets two queens of a 4-card suit. That may be a bit tight - perhaps 8221 is OK, so I might put 2 of the remaining six diamonds in the live deck.

Phil also missed it, and he has 8000 posts. :blink:

1. Frequency of psyching against 2♣ is very high. 2. I have no need of a cue bid, as I can pass with a take-out double. 3. Passing is more space efficient - if partner doubles (which is his default action in my methods lacking very good shape) then pulling shows a flexible hand whilst bidding immediately show more extreme shape. Even if there are only a few clowns out there who would psyche, bidding 4♠ as take-out makes zero sense.

Strangest Merrimac ever.

I've seen worse, but it is bad. Did the players who advocated pass and 4♠ know the full hand?