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im pretty sure you are wrong. but since you dont have enough entries for the ruff, the diamond finnese is best.

Scrambling, 100%. If you have a true game invite hand, either bid 3NT or pass. however, there are a lot of hands where you are in trouble after partners double, and you don't know where to land safely. Using 2NT scrambling on these hands will save you time and time again, especially if you play with a partner who will reopen anytime he is short in hearts, even with an absolute minimum. Ben Im not saying nat is better then scrabling , im only saying the idea of my partner and i sitting at the table each one trying to think what make more sense scrambling or natural, and hoping partner will think the same is imo not the right way. I prefer to have specific guidlines, and for me when we didnt discuss a bid it is a natual if possible. thats why i say there is a big different between what right and what i would think at the table.

I mark them as enemy unless then say sorry and really leave BBO. From time to time we have a message about this when we enter BBO. I guess there isnt much you can do about it.

I would just bid the natural 3c, yes this is max for the bid, i have good points, but i also have a single in partners suit, i think any other bid is much worse.

Does any of you really play this scrambling, or you just say its smart ? I would not expect partner to guess this, and we didnt discussed it just as we didnt discuss million other sequences. Also i think there is some logic in playign this nat, partner can still hold 7 or even 8 hcp with K10xx of heart, if opener has 14 hcp 2nt is a good contract. Not saying scambling isnt good just that i dont think i wouldnt guess it at the table, unless discussed first.

What was your plan ? why didnt you draw trumps when you were in hand ? (just asking not saying it was wrong.

What would you bid if you play with Ben (who think double of 3h is penalty) ? I thought like Ben that we must have a way to expose this kind of psychs, bidding 3h at these situations is free when you have a diamond fit.

Have you notice the change at the kibitzer change of good tables lately ? Till not long ago , the chats looked more or less like a normal vugraph game, some real experts gave their comments, weaker players, talked only where they had something importent to say, now this is changed , the kibitzers chat is flood with nonsense, mostly not about bridge, but even the comments ragarding the cards are shallow given by weak players(avarage BBO expert is still weak when comentatoring is concern) without much thought, or need. It looks like a football game. As you understand i really dont like it.

Ok thxs so far, now what do you bid with my hand 1. [hv=s=sqxxxxhxdkjxxxcjx]133|100|[/hv] THinking partner will have a heart suit i decided it is better to bid 2d over 2c and not 2s , is that good ? anyway what do i bid over 4NT? (Partner is known to be a bit agressive with his NT bids) 2. [hv=s=sqxxxxhxdkjxxxcjx]133|100|[/hv] I decided to double 3D, do you think it was a right decision ? and what do you bid over partner's double of 3H ? (all vul)

Had a triable match vs very good players, we lost 25-1 B) We had two misunderstandings. The first 2♣ -2♦(weak, or wait) 2NT -3♥(trans) 3♠-4♦(natural) 4NT what is 4nt here ? the second 1♠ (3♦) D (3♥) D What is this double ?

As i see it, you have to be much better with squeeses inorder to decide there is no squeese, then you should be inorder to find a squeese, because for me it was checking every possible ending ,ofcourse in the process i checked each ending endless number of times, because i was sure im missing something, and also because like at the table i never remmber the lines i already checked (my biggest bridge problem i think). Only someone who really understand squeeses can see why there wont be a squeese here and avoid it with spending only a small amount of time.

Pass. Lets even assume i know pass isnt the best alternative, lets say i know pass will give me 40% score, i would still pass, because if i guess right, lets say 5D i will get 65% but if i guess wrong i will get 20%. (yes i know its imps but easier to explain) This is a tactical resson to pass, when you have one bird in hand , dont dump it and guess where the 2 birds are hiden. In this case i dont even think there is a better alternative to passing. And anyway partner seems to have his mouse stuck on the double button so dont warry he will double this too. :)

Its simple , much simple then you think, add a J to the hand, now do you open ? I hear yes, now what about all the arguments that you have given against opening, is one J change them all ? This isnt a tactical opening, the hand just worth an opening value, 2 aces, 2 10s and good intermidiates make it worth more then the avarage 12 hcp hand.

I am close to opening the first, but wouldnt open the second, i am not impresed with AKQJ suits.

I think 6NT would fail more then make, maybe still worth bidding and maybe depend on vul and scoring. Did everyone gave up on playing heart contract because they think NT would be best or because there will be no way to convice partner that we really mean hearts ?

Dont know where you play bridge, but as far as i can tell opening 1nt with 5 card major is the way most play. I will quete Fred's post from this forum today: With my regular partner I would seriously considering opening 1NT with both of these hands. I thought its obvious from my post but i ment you will rebid your major with a minimum hand.

1M-2♣ what are 2M and 2NT now ? If you dont open 1NT with 5 card major, this is simple, 2NT should be 15-17, and 2M should just show minimum. But today most open 1NT with 5 card major, so how do you use those bids ? imo its still wrong to bid 2nt with 12-14 balance, this bid put partner in a bad possition to judge, he wont know what to do with 11-12 hcp. maybe its still good to play 2nt as 15-17 not suited for 1nt opening (would make more sense over 1H then 1S) but even over 1H this seems not frequent enough. you could use more specific range like 12-13 or 13-14 or just 14, this is simple which is good but maybe there is a better way. Or you could use 2nt artificiall forcing bid for different perposes. What do you think ?

The first is a normal 2sp, the second is less clear i would bid 3H.

I think 6c would be safer then 6nt, it will also go down much less when both contracts fail (vul not givven but getting -100 is still better then -600) At imp i would bid 5H, at mp 6nt.

I bid 2H imps or mp, as long as im non vul.

sure , he takes AKJ of club (with a finnese on me) takes AK of diamond, and since u want to force him to ruff u will give him the needed 4 ruffs for 9 tricks. He had something like KJXX --- AKXXXX A109 and dummy something like Q10XX J1098 xx KJx You can instead try playing diamonds but i think nothing will help if he finnese the club right.

This is a good example of how problematic a rating system can be. I dont think this rating is a complete nonsense, i just think they only check your avarage score , and decide ur level according to it, this is wrong since it will give good rating to someone who play with bad opponents. Now if you think of how you decide someone is a good player in real life, you will see its completely different, you would think the player who get little above avarage in expert turney is much better then the player who won the local club event with 70% score. normally everyone want to play in a field of his level so naturally such a player wont get accurate rating without considering the field.

3D made for -670, there was as far as i could see no diffence to that(need one guess to finnese me for the Q of club), 4H had no chance, heart contract for us would make 8 maybe 9 tricks with some luck.

As you can see i thought you were the one who opened 2nt. The fact that it was ur partner make sense to everything, someone who open 2nt might think you arent adv because he just donsnt know bridge.

Ok if everyone is so sure in passing so lets make this who to blame and show you my parnter's hand. ---- K8xx QJ1087 xxxx If my pass was right, then her double wasnt, is that only because she is weak, i mean give here an extra A of club, is the double right now ?