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.

yes. I apologize I was not clear on that. I opened 1S, partner answered 2 s, and I went right to 4s. No interference from opponents

I bid 4s and made 7. Opponent said to me...I should have bid slam. Here is what I had: S:AK10xxx H; A2 D:A C:Q642 Partner bid 2 hearts and I went right to 4. My thinking was he had 3 heart support and 6-10 points. At most we had 27 points. But he had a void in Clubs....which really made the difference. I say that there is no possible way I could have known that. Or is there?? Thanks

Thanks to everyone for your feedback. It was very helpful and enlightening. I have only been playing since May of this year, but LOVE this game. It was only the 2nd time I ever played with this lady, so we don't really have any "agreements". It was a new experience for me. So when she opened 1 c, I cam back with 1NT since I have a balanced hand and 12 points. She came back with 2NT...so I went to 3, thinking we had 25. Only went down 1...so wasnt too bad. But since I am going by the "books" of standard american and she has been playing for 40 years, I was curious if she was going by old rules. Your input helps a lot. I think my playing of the hand is doing pretty well now....practicing counting all the cards has been a challenge...but I am getting much better at it than where I was when I started. But my bidding needs work. I now have a partner for the next 3 months and we are going to play 3 times a week...and see what improvements and progress I can make. I think I will look into that bidding book mentioned: "Mike Lawrence's Passed Hand Bidding". Thanks for that tip also.

I am surprised no one said 4s. If partner has 6 and I have 2, there is the Golden Fit in a major. I have 15 points and he has 8. But with the off distribution....I think I would chance it

My partner opened with only 10 pts in 3rd seat today, and I was thinking she had 13 points. Needless to say we went too high in the contract and went up 1. I have never heard of this. The only thing other than needing 13 points to open that I have ever heard is: in the 4th seat you can open with 11 points. Of course, if you like the shape of your hand....sometimes I have opened with 12...but very rarely. Can anyone help me with this?

I have to admit I am liking the 3H opening. ONly because missing the A and K. Not that I don't think it wont wind up in 4H....

Why wouldn't yo open 2c ....showing a strong point count hand between 21-22 points? That way your partner can tell you what his strong suit is. If he passes you on 2nt... you could be missing a potential baby slam. 2c is a forcing opening bid. So he has to respond. You make your decisions from there.

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. Not being tech savvy....think I will wait til I can get to an apple store and get one of them to help me with it. They have this program called "one-to-one" that you buy for only $99/year and you get one on one sessions with a geek. you need to physically be in the store tho and since I don't have one near my home here, when I go to Florida there is one near by. But I might be well versed by then! lol One can DREAM....

Thank YOu. I bought Bridge for Dummies yesterday, cause I can't download acbl's stuff as it is only for windows based pc's and I have a mac. Appreciate your help.