Flame

I dont think this is ace asking bid. partner isnt sure what is the right contract and he want me to choose the suit.

I would doube, the vulnarabilty is teriable for this bid, but i still far from sure about our slam (on this vul partner might even have 2 small spades), and also not sure wather i should bid 5c or 5d. 5sp rates to go down 4 down, with 3 hearts, and 3 tricks in minor which would be better then game score (in mp thats pretty good, in imp ill have to live with it). Anyway my double is far from ending the aution and partner can still bid if he find a good resson to do that.

My partners signal here is clear, he doesnt want a heart switch , this should be ovious whether we play ovious shift or simple signaling. with this said the worse return is heart, this cant win, and will be a disaster if for example declerar's hand is : x AQx AQ109xxxx A a spade continuation is better then heart but will still lose to ben's example with declearer having x Ax AQ109xxxx Ax or even x Axx AQ109xxx Ax The best imo is switch to the J of club, this will lose only when declarer has exactly A9x in club and A sgl in heart (with a small sgl heart or with Ax heart and only 7 diamonds it wont matter since my partner would have been squezed anyway) , this is very unlickly because it will leave partner with a good 6 card heart which he would bid and might have play high on my spade.

Its time to ask the simple question, which system is the best ? I cosider ability to play offline turnaments and simplicity important factors for a good sysem, but what is considered "fun system" isnt not importent (the fun part is temporary and a subjective factor, most of us have fun when we win). This question is a practicle question for me and im sure for others who consider partnerships for serious bridge , so pls give practicle responses.

How do you bid 5M 4m 7-12 ? (1M and then 2M ?)

I'm curios to know, does forcing pass systems are supirior to "normal" system ? Are there world class players who play them, and successed with them ? Do you think they will eventually be allowed in the world regulation ? How long do you think it will take ? Do you think even long time from now, that those systems will be common, more common then "normal" systems ?

"To win at high level tourney you need something more than theoretical evaluation of hand and situation. You need spirit of winer!!! " I totally agree with you. I play alot with my mother, she doesnt know the thorey too well, she never read bidding books, but she get good result, maybe better then my results by bidding agressively and confidenty, im sure my mom would double this without a question, she does it without asitation, this many time lead to her oppoenents overbiding themself and she will ofcourse double them. Being tehoreticly right is good for one thing, your partner wont be angry at you, this is importent, but maybe not good for the results.

Not saying that pass isnt right, but hear this, if east has 2 or less spades, then his partner has atleast Axxxx and if he also has 2 heart then 4sp has a good chance to go down. so lets hope east has 3 spades now , west and partner have 10 spades together, i think KQJ10xx is too much to expect from partner, remember any less like KQJXXX doesnt make it. my point is 4sp will seldom be the right contract. so we know what to do over 4d-4sp we dont want to pass, and the way i play it 4nt will show exactly what i have 6-4 because with 5-5 or 6-5 or even bad 6 and good 4 i would bid 5c, partner will know what to do now. If i pass and partner bid 3sp you said to bid 4d and then 5d over 4sp, im not that sure that this bet is much better. if partner bid his suit twice doesnt it give him a better suit then if he only bid 4sp once over our 4d ?

What i like about this forum is i get to learn new stuff even after many years of bridge . I would never think of passing this before.

I would bid 3nt (unless this shows 18-19), there is a good chance that this is the right contract.

I would bid 4D. If west continue with 4h i will bid 4nt to show my 6-4.

"North's opening discard shows an odd number of ♠" > The first card played by partner unless agreed otherwise is attitude and not count signal. "By the way, is it just I or do others think the usual convention is the other way around ie. that playing low signifies an odd number of cards in the suit?? Your comments are most welcome here, especially, Moderator}." > the count signaling is high for even and low for odd, and when attitude high for incarage, low for discarage. The opposite way is called UDCA= upside down count and attitude and in need to be alerted. "1NT bid shows at least 2 of each suit" > a normal 1NT is one of : 5332, 4432,4333, and not any hand with atleast doubleton in each suit like 7222

I gave it 25 for double 75 for pass. double is only good if we can get to 4h and make it, even if we have 4h its far from sure that we will get there , or stay at 3h when 4h is too high, there are many problems with bidding on , starting with what im going to do over partner expected 3c call. As for the ODR it doesnt seem high, my Q10 of spade is a negative total trick factor. having most of my high card in my short suit is also lowering the ODR. another importent fact is the 2sp bid, with this vulnerability most players would bid atleast 3sp with 4 card support, and might even bid it with a nice 3 card supprt, so the 2sp also tells us of the low total trick potential of the hand. The chances to go down doubled are very high after this bid when both opponents discribed their hands to each other and they know they dont have to look for game.

Hi my system design on the assumption, that we should consider our ODR in the context of a major contract, that is for 3 ressons a. we rate to win the contested aution more times when in a spade contract then in a diamond contract because of its higher rank, b. the scoring and c. the game level of the major suit . i had my own share of thoughts about bididng 5-4 and 4-5s with the same bid, but i think this way is better.

I just read inside Ben's post about Tsar and found out that "my" relay is a known relay style called skip relay.

1.The biding is not ok, you are playing 2c with 6 card fit and you have a nice 4H to make. if xx showed clubs and said nothing about the majors then south must continue with only 2 clubs, maybe 2d should show both majors now , but if not then 2h is te alternative. About the play, its hard to give a plan to something like that, to many variable, in general my plan is to try and play trumps, you want the trumps out so you can enjoy you heart suit , and the rest of your high cards without being ruffed, you need to take 3 to 4 round of trumps out and then play hearts (you dont mind getting ruffed by the last high trump) i think the best is to take the K of heart and lead trump to the Q. hope they will help you play diamonds or spade.

Good point.

Penalty. Ocourse partner can still bid with hte right hand.

Yes you are right, it wont win QJ8(x) so its only 4/32 not 7/32 like i said before, still twice better then Ben's 1/16 line.

I think it is a good idea but it makes the development after 1♣/1♦ openings pretty complex. Any useful idea? Should after the 1♦ opening the bidding be natural or relay-oriented? Maybe this way: 1♥= 4+♥, natural 1♠= Relay, 10+ 1NT= natural, no 4H 2m= 5+m, 6-11, non forcing 2♥= TRF, invitational with 4+♠, 9-11 2♠= to play, 6-9 eith 3+♠ Hi Poky. I'm glad you liked it. Im currently writing a site for the system and will post here when its on, i only began it yesterday and its far from full now, but if you are curious about the responde structure look at the page on the relay link, I realy like this realy i wonder if its my invention or its a common relay type. The major contest

I don't know who will win but i know who i want to win. GO fred GO

To make your life a little bit harder, i will remaind you that in a sequence like 1c-1h-2c the main focus should be on getting to the right game rather then on getting to slams, this mean you should usually invest for stopers and when those are missed run to 4h or 5c.

First there is another possiblity if someone has 4 card diamonds and also the QJ of heart, but thats too rare. If i had the 8 of heart I would play A of heart,playing west for QJ or HXXX (meaning i will finesse if an honor is droped from east on the first round.) but as it is now you cant finnese west with H8XX, so you need to choose between QJ doublton on either hand, and QJX(X) in west. the first is about 2/(2^5) = 1/16, the second is about (2^3-1)/(2^5) = 7/32 which is alot better.

I don't think you can know the exact distribution.

Hi I am in the same path for system designed for last few months At the begining i really liked the 2 under transfer idea, but i found there is a problem with opening 1h/1s with the kind of hands you mentioned or any other 2 under systems that use them for clubs and diamonds (Tarane, and utopia are two nice examples) the problem is you let the opponents an easy way into the bidding when they got the major suits , they can double you. This problem lead me to look at one under transfers where this problem is minimize because when you bid 1h with spade or 1 diamond with heart , they can double but you know you got the higher ranking suit ao you have an advance over them in the, and will win most of the comatitve contests. After some work i found that those arent so good either for example, i found out that making all your openings forcing is a big problem, because you lose the ability to cut off all the really weak hands like you do after a normal opening bids. I have finnaly manage to get a system i like, im still writing it, i hope to publish a site with this system and get help from everyone in making it the best system, and maybe form a club of the system players. Hope to get your help with it.