snowdragen

I don't see a way to reliably deal with their 3♥ bid. [hv=pc=n&s=sakj2hk8da853ca84&w=sq97653hjtdq972c5&n=s84hq54dkjt64cj62&e=stha97632dckqt973&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=p1cdp1d1h2d2sp3c3dpp3h]399|300[/hv] Correct me if I'm wrong, but 3NT appears to lose to a club lead. 4♦ I'm not so sure about, but having to draw trumps 4 times seems to cripple to rest of the hand. In the actual game, South passed, and the contract became 3♥, which made. Is there any hope? Or is this just one of those gimmick hands with whack distribution that's set up to fail?

Hm, well if what people are saying is true (most likely), then I learned something. I didn't know that 2♦ by North should be considered a signoff bid in this case. I'll keep that in mind for the future. Actually, this game wasn't played on this site. I used a separate card game program; it has a pretty nice interface and other games as well (though I mostly play bridge anyway). I've mostly gotten used to the limitations of the AI bidding by now, but sometimes it'll throw a curveball at me.

Frequently I get the urge to play a stress-free game with the AI while listening to relaxing music. It's a great way to unwind. Sometimes though... you get this. [hv=pc=n&s=skqj87h97dakcq872&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1sp1np2cp2dp]133|200[/hv] Opening 1♠ seemed appropriate, although I could have bid 1NT I suppose, which might have precluded a few possibilities... At this point I thought "Well, my AI partner has just denied support for spades and clubs. I don't think I have enough support to raise diamonds. I don't have any heart stoppers, but partner should have some length given his responses." So I settled with 2NT, which was passed out. Fairly standard auction, right? Or so I thought. Behold, the North hand. [hv=pc=n&s=skqj87h97dakcq872&n=s6h3dqjt765432cat&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1sp1np2cp2dp2nppp]266|200[/hv] At which point we were brutally ♥'d to death by the opponents.

Wow, I wasn't even aware that acronym existed. Thanks for letting me know!

Only North was a CPU I believe, so my side. Hmm, I hadn't thought about the possibility of a sacrifice, but it didn't happen in my game. 7♥ doubled -3 is 600 points, which is substantially less than what a grand slam makes. Still, one can hope

Obviously the topic description is an exaggeration :) I was South in this game. The question is, do you think you could have reached 7♦? If so, how? [hv=pc=n&s=sajh9dkq9875ck986&w=s7hakqt76432dcqjt&n=skq963hdaj32ca432&e=st8542hj85dt64c75&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=p1d4h]399|300[/hv] I deliberately didn't include North's response, because it was a CPU in my game. Suffice to say that the final contract was 5♦, which I thought was an aggressive gamble, but in retrospect was actually too conservative!

Thanks for the responses everyone! After reading all your posts, I agree with the 3NT rebid more in retrospect. It seems to be the most consistent way of showing this kind of hand strength and long clubs as was mentioned. Yeah, the idea behind 4♣ was to convey strength, but it really doesn't leave responder with many options, so I forgive my partner for passing. Aside from that, the advantages of having a bidding system in place prior to the hand are clear especially with unusual hands like these. The problem is that I don't really have a single partner I play with all the time, like I said, I enjoy reading about Bridge but when I play it's usually a matter of opportunity. Anyway, thanks again to everyone for bearing with me. (I wasn't sure to what extent my self-analyses were correct, from a more advanced player's perspective).

Hi everyone, first post! A short introduction: I'm a very casual player; bridge often being a "go-to" card game for me at parties. I think it's very fun, but I've never advanced past the novice level. Recently though I came upon this hand that I'm not exactly sure how to bid. I'm not really knowledgeable about bidding systems except for the really common ones like Stayman, etc (from reading newspaper bridge columns). I also get that minor suit openings tend to be artificial. Will all that in mind, here's the hand in question. [hv=pc=n&s=sk6h9da5cakqt9752&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=pp]133|200[/hv] I skimmed the web for common bidding examples, but none of them seemed to match this deal. It's definitely too strong for a preemptive bid, but with only 16HCP it's not a 2♣ bid either. The actual auction went like this: [hv=pc=n&s=sk6h9da5cakqt9752&n=sthkq875dkqt987c6&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=pp1cp1hp4cppp]266|200[/hv] I think there was a missed opportunity in there somewhere. I guess a secondary question of mine is, is there some (more or less) universal way to convey this sort of hand/distribution? Thanks in advance, o wise bridge gurus!