Lorne50

Surely 5♥ shows all 3 side suit first round controls. I do not see how he can bid that opposite a partner who may have been pressured into bidding 4♠ with no sensible cue in a minor. I would have bid 7♠ last round. And with the hand others have suggested for opener missing three aces I would have bid 5♣, not 5♥.

4♠ for me. 6♠ is less that 50% to make so I do not see why I should be forced to bid it and the UI does not help much as you know from the bidding partner is very likely to be weak anyway, and you only want to be in slam if he has the K♥ or A♣ (I know you might make with other holding but spades is the only suit likely to come in with one finesse).

Maybe a better way to convince him is to ask how many top players refuse to open 1N with a small doubleton. I think the answer is none which strongly suggests he is on the wrong wavelength here. As far as a simulation goes you need to factor in how often you reach a better spot or worse spot opening a suit and how often the oppo do not cash when they could which are both difficult to do in simulations.

Here is s 1000 deal simulation for spade leads after pass 1N(12-14) all pass with 3rd hand fixed and 4th hand having 1-4 cards in each suit and 0-10 points: ticks <=5 6 7 8 9 10+ Ace 53 142 328 296 161 20 small 26 102 266 335 240 31 Looks like ace is a winner but DD you find the right switch 100% of the time so may not be clearcut at the table.

For me it shows 4 hearts or 3 spades (or both).

There are a number of reasons given for this connection: 1. It was the playing card used by Sir John Dalrymple, the Earl of Stair, to cryptically authorise the Glencoe Massacre. Certainly there is a resemblance between the nine of diamonds and his coat of arms. 2. The Duke of Cumberland is supposed to have scribbled the order for "no quarter" to be given after the Battle of Culloden on a nine of diamonds playing card. 3. It has also been suggested that it is a misreading of the "Corse of Scotland" ie the "Cross of Scotland" or St Andrew's Saltire. There is a resemblance between the pattern of the nine of diamonds and the Saltire. 4. Nine diamonds were at one time stolen from the crown of Scotland and a tax was levied on the Scottish people to pay for them - the tax got the nickname "The Curse of Scotland".

Without discussion it is forcing, but if you run simulations you can show that playing it NF and guessing the right game when you are stronger will win more often than it loses. However there are other methods that are better - Rubinsohl (basically transfers with a few twists) is one worth looking at (http://www.bridgeguys.com/Conventions/Rubinsohl.html).

For me xx=first round control, 4♠ = minimum, 4♦/♥= controls, pass is a hand that is too good for 4♠ but may still have a red suit control if they are particularly interested in hearing opener xx to show a void.

4♣ is some kind of natural game try for me so it is up to south to pick the final contract. Given his club values I would bid 5♣ and let North choose between pass and 5♦. North is not close to another bid over 4♦.

Not a comment but certainly a pretty stupid play. My partner got locked in dummy with 6 tricks left playing NT, dummy had: ♦AKQJ5 ♥8 RHO had: ♣A ♦xxx ♥J10 The other hearts had gone so a normal person would claim their diamonds and give up a heart (and maybe a diamond) but my partner knew the oppo better than me. He cashed his 5 diamonds and RHO kept the ♣A !!!

There is no one answer. 1. The odds are different for IMP scoring vs MPs 2. You have to distinguish between contracts you bid to make with competitive auctions where going off may be a great score 3. Even if it is an uncompetitive auction it may not be clear. Suppose your outstanding relay bidding system tells you 7♠ is a 60% contract with your combined 24 count. If only half the field bid 6♠ with the rest in game you would be silly to bid it since you lose 75% of the available MP's 40% of the time but only gain 25% for the 60% of the time it makes.

Since nobody has replied I suggest you contact the EBU - they have some info about it on their website here: http://www.ebu.co.uk/newsletters/?id=1&page=8 so although there is no IMP table I could find they do presumably have one somewhere. Another place with an IMP table is here: http://www.sportinfodesk.nl/vraagbaak/Wat-is-bridge-via-Patton-systeem but you may need to translate the page and it looks like it conflicts slightly with the EBU page.

Its a bug in the computer program. As to the best way to bid it I like stayman intending to play in hearts if partners has 4 but spades if he does not. I know I may play a 5-4 fit when there is a 6-4 one but I doubt that will matter much a lot of the time whereas a heart ruff might be your downfall if you play in spades when there is a 9 card heart fit.

If you consider that auction and ask yourself how often you want to bid a slam based only on number of key cards vs how often you want to differentiate between a weak or strong 5H bid I think you will find the latter is more common. Note you also have 5♣ and 5♦ available for a serious slam try so I think 4N is more useful if it is not RKCB.

Clearly the best in my opinion. The trouble with many other systems is that every discard suggests partner does something when most of the time you want to discard something you do not need without suggesting anything and partner can then work out from his own hand what to do.

1♠ (2♣) 2♥ (P) 3♣ (P) 3♥ (P) 5♥ ? Does 5♥ show 2 losing clubs or does the fact you bid 3♣ first mean you have 2 losing diamonds or is it a trump ask? The agreements you do have are that 2♥ is 10+ points, not GF, and that a jump to 5♥ would have been a slam try with 2 losing clubs if bid immediately.

Not sure this is correct. Assuming you have 3 small and the oppo have 5 cards including the KJ then playing low to the 10 and then the nine produces: 5 tricks: 22.04% 4 trick: 53.96% 3 tricks: 22.04% 2 tricks 1.96% If you play the ace first you gain a fourth trick only for KJ offside but lose a second trick to either Kx or Jx offside (depending on whether you play the 10 or Q second time). There are 3 Kx combinations (or 3 Jx) but only one KJ. Obviously in a weak field they will rise from Kxx second time but assuming a strong player on your left you are better not to play the ace first. The best play changes when the oppo have fewer cards however, and I am assuming entries to pick up Kxxx or Jxxx on your left.

You should double when you have trump tricks and a misfit or when you have a big surprise for declarer (ie their trumps are 5-0 and at least one of them made a non-forcing bid) or sometimes in MP pairs when there is a competitive auction where you are pretty sure you would have made your contract and the opponents bid one more but you do not want to be pushed higher. In the first two cases nearly all your doubles should get a positive score, in the last you can stand the oppo making a few as you were getting a bad score anyway so the double may turn a 20 % board into a zero or 100%. Also playing weak jump overcalls helps since most hands with little defense start with a jump which will warn you not to be trigger happy.

I would always raise 1♥ to 2♥ with 3 card support and a side suit singleton, and often I would do it with a doubleton outside unless the suit I opened was particularly good. The logic is that partner often has 5 and even if he has 4 the 4-3 fit often plays better than 1N or 2 of your minor. You can easily find hand where this is not true but Bridge is a game of odds and the odds favour showing 3 card support when it is sensible (ie you expect to ruff something in the short trump hand to gain a trick). If your post was prompted by the hand TylerE posted then 2♥ shows a 5 card suit (you double with 4 of them) and your hand is not minimum - rebid 4♥. This will fail but that is because your partner is nowhere near good enough to bid 2♥ - he should have bid 1N.

Double looks OK to me. Firstly N should bid a round earlier if he thinks it is clear to declare the hand, but having passed and seen S pass (which is very likely to be a weak NT hand) N is looking at a reasonable 10 count but only an 8 card fit with a singleton in partners suit and 70% of his points in an oppo suit. Chances for game can't be that good but 2♦ 2 or 3 off is a reasonable gamble.

Another possible thing to consider is opener raising 3N to 4N (which must be natural). It is a bit aggressive but it would be unlucky if 9 tricks was the limit and he knows that partner will be under pressure with few options to invite a slam and stop at a sensible spot if he has a balanced 16/17 count.

I would say that if you could have made a strong jump overcall then dble followed by a new suit suggests two places to play but if no strong jump was available then it shows a strong single suiter. Hence in your examples they all show strong single suited hands but if the opening bid had been 3♣ then you are offering a choice of places to play.

I got similar results but there is one thing missing from the analysis. If you pass it is not certain the other two will pass. It may not be possible to simulate but I guess that a lot of the time partner will double if you pass so the bidding gain is smaller than you think. Also some of the time you double and they make 12 or 13 they may have been bidding it so some of your redouble results should be compared to them bidding 6♦. It is interesting though.

Do not agree with these numbers. You have a 2D overcall and a raise so diamonds are likely to be 6-4 (unlikely to be 7-3 or 5-5 given no jump raise or rebid by the overcaller). Ignoring whether the 2D bid shows enough values to affect who has the heart K, if the diamonds are 6-4 the odds of a doubleton K are 16.2% with W and 11.5% with E and are not affected by both following to trick one. However as other say the overcall affects the position of the heart K since W can't have more than 6 points in his suit and must have more of the remaining values than his partner.

I find that with 5 trumps it is usually better to pass although it is easy to create deals where it is wrong (especially if the oppo are not vul).