spadebaby

Playing in a social game this week, one party mentioned the rule of 7 and 17. But didn't elaborate since play was necessary. does anyone know what they are and how to use them? Thanks,

[hv=pc=n&s=skj4hk6daqj432c54&w=st2h52dk65cakjt63&n=sq97653hqj743dcq2&e=sa8hat98dt987c987&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=1cd1h2d3c3s4c4s5cppp]399|300[/hv] Learned how to do this todat!!! Thanks for telling me to do it.... Was a lot easier than trying to type in.

Thanks again to everyone for their input. Lots of studying for me to do in my future...I can see that!!! I have all the books written in a list. But will stick to one at a time so I grasp that author's info...before getting another book and wind up reading just portions of each. Was in my first tournament on sunday...and we came in 1st in our "c" class.... everyone under 300 points. So I was thrilled. I made a slam contract, and 2 4H contratcts and 2 3NT. so felt good about that. But I had this one hand: 5C....that I don't think I played well. ( cause I saw my partner "wince" as I was playing it) We were definitely "competing" and willing to sacrifice cause felt they would make their game and they were vul. and we were not. Here is the hand: North: S Q97653 H QJ743 D C Q2 EAST S A8 H A1098 D 10987 C 987 South SKJ4 H K6 D AQJ432 C 54 East S 102 H 52 D K65 C AKJ432 I went down 2. Now seeing the hands records, I am not sure 5 was ever makeable...but not sure. Any comments or suggestions? North lead the 6S. Thanks again everyone. You are all apprreeciated.

Thank you so much for your answers. Definitely helping. Makes it clearer to me. Just ordered Kantar's play of the hand book.... PLUS...I called a bridge friend who has a ton of points...and asked...and here is what she advised: If you are leading thru the dummy....then lead thru the dummies strength.... when you are leading thru the declarer...lead to the weakness in the dummy. Makes sense to me...when I heard it......Plus it gives me a quick little guideline to have in my head so I can make a better decision at the table. Am playing this afternoon...will let y ou know how it worked out for me. And will post that hand when I have time to find it. Thanks again to everyone.

I seem to be having trouble with my playing of the hands. Sometimes I do fairly well, others I wonder what happened and why things went wrong. I am looking for advice on where I can go to learn how to play the hands better. specifically: When playing against a suit contract, how do you know when to keep leading a suit? If you lead diamonds twice, and you see that the dummy is out of diamonds and will ruff the next trick....do you keep leading diamonds anyway? Seems like I always make the wrong choice. Help Thanks in advance

Thanks

Today, our table was Passed Out. The director was called over, and he came around and looked at everyone's hand..... Yep...you guessed it....I was in 3rd seat...with only 10 points....and figured I would pass and let the 4th seat make a bid and go from there. I had 2 red kings and 2 black queens....a good support hand. and then the 4th seat passed! Yikes.... I was told by a very experienced player that in duplicate... the 4th seat must bid. That is why I thought I was ok. Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks for your input. I never even thought of doubling. And I am not sure why even after reading your replies. I don't have an diamond stoppers. Yes, A club and AK spades, but they are probably void in those or maybe ruff. OOOHHHH now i see it.....I would be the lead....and go for it before they had a chance to ruff them.... The light bulb just came on !!!

Why would they think 3D is a "weak " bid.... It's a jump shift showing a strong hand with 13 + hcp

I blew the bidding with this hand at a home game. I am looking for help on what I should have done. The other players are Not duplicate players and are "old school"....so they said I should have gone 4 or 5 clubs right away. My partner bids 3 clubs ( I now know she has 7) I hold: S: AK10xxx H: KJ10xx D: void C: A9 LHO bids 3 diamonds Since I had a 6 card MAJOR.....I felt that I HAD to mention it. So I bid 3 spades. Partner comes back with 4 clubs LHO: 5 diamonds Me: ?????? Here is where I believe I did wrong....... Since my partner didn't support the spades.... I should have gone to 6 clubs, YES????? What I did: went 5 spades. I went down cause I couldn't get the transportation back to the clubs..... Can You guys help enlighten me to what I should have done? I for sure did not want to let the opponent go in 5 diamonds...cause they would have made it. Even viewing my bid as an interference.

Thank you very much. That has cleared up my confusion.

For some reason, I get confused when its ok to bid with a 4 card major. With Standard American, you open with 13 points and a 5 card major. 1. But if your partner opens with 1 heart....can you bid 1 spade only having 4 of them? or is that a no no? 2. If your opponent opens 1 heart....can you bid 1 spade with only 4 of them? Thanks... I know this is really elementary....but it confuses me for some reason. Thanks

WOW Thanks to everyone for all your input and advice. I greatly appreciate your sharing your time and knowledge. My mentor recently said that keeping it simple and getting good at the basics is more important than learning each and every new convention out there Can only get you more confused...and that was happening for me. Glad to see it reinforced here. Is there any specific book that teaches the intricacies of the takeout double?

Thanks for the input. If I remember correctly his void was in clubs....which suited me just fine. Couldn't have worked out better. And yes, I could not figure out how I could have known that. No, I have not come across splinters yet. Will look them up.