smerriman

Exactly; but she was implying she played it as something other than a long running minor, having contrasted her approach with that in the next sentence. So having ruled out balanced hands and a long minor, I was wondering what she did play it as.. [he->she, sorry!]

I'm confused. The standard definition of 3NT is a hand with a long running minor - it certainly can't be showing a balanced hand, since you would use a normal 1NT/2NT bid/rebid sequence. If you and "most others" don't play it as this, what do you play it as?

If you want to see how well you've done why not just play one of the duplicate games?

Thanks, fixed. (Was the right value/total, just visually rounded when the column was auto-shortened to fit sfi's name!)

1 person played that set of hands; you. The leaderboard is entirely meaningless since everyone else is playing different boards from you. The only way to rank highly is to be dealt 4 high-scoring boards in a row; there's no correlation between this and playing well.

https://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:9829a034.b304.11eb.bd23.0cc47a39aeb4-1620811787&u=smerriman&v3b=web&v3v=5.8.1 smerriman 6.5 - tim_ucin 9.5 Several of them were edited in a couple of days after posting :) But nige1 is always the first to finish!

Well, I'm stumped then. For me, anything that is typed into the description box at any time before completing the bid goes through fine. (Whether or not you click alert just alters whether it has an additional red ring around it.) So I don't think it's anything you are doing wrong process-wise; perhaps an issue with your device.

By TCR do you mean Free Automated Fun? Those tournaments "require" you to play GIB's system (though most people don't do it anyway); all bids by every player are automatically alerted to be the robot definitions, so you can't override them. (At least, that's how I remember them working; I haven't played one for years, since they're completely random, so I may be wrong).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1vaw0iys5mt39k3/Event%2022.xlsx?dl=0 All players are now free to challenge everyone else. The deadline for the remaining matches is June 13, 11:59pm EST. Each challenge should be 16 boards, MP, best-hand. Since I aim for 10 challenges in round 2, and we have exactly 20 entrants, we'll play another full round robin like last time. As then, I've divided people into two groups; complete all challenges against those in your own group first. Once you've completed your first 9 challenges, you may only challenge those in the other group who have also completed 9 challenges. Each challenge should be 16 boards, MP, best-hand. The deadline for completing the first 9 challenges is May 25, 11:59pm EST. As always: If a challenge hasn't been accepted in a day or two, cancel and reissue it to make sure you don't time out after the other player accepts. Please only accept a challenge if you are positive you will be able to complete it in time. Partially completed challenges are annoying for everyone. (At least) one player should report the scores of each challenge here by pasting a results URL. You can get the URL via the History tab, clicking Results, then the icon at the top right to open the results in a new window.

From the machine's point of view, you're 100% guaranteed to have the (other, presumably North played one) heart honor due to your bid. It has never been able to distinguish "equal" lines of play.

If 4S is keycard, then 4N shows the black controls, doesn't it? Though of course it bypasses the keycard ask so not as useful here.

I see a demonstrable bridge reason for pausing then playing the queen. I don't see any demonstrable reason whatsoever for pausing then playing low. CC's own logic included the fact that playing low in tempo was a poor play, so can't take advantage of the fact that playing low after a long pause is better. His reason for avoiding the 'right' play after the hesitation is also nonsensical, imagining his partner wanting to give him a ruff after discarding on the second trump. RR may be bad, but this is grasping at straws.

Is 2NT not a negative in this auction to allow you to sign off in 3♦?

Shouldn't the last two be reversed? I don't know of many methods that check for an open suit after keycards.

Advanced.

Seems a good spot for an invitational 3♣.

Maybe a bit boring but I'd just go the 2♣ -> 2NT route.

1/3. But yes, it definitely seems worth showing the void here, so I go with that.

If I bid 3♠: - partner might raise to 4♠, and then what? It could be on a singleton, so I guess we're forced to pass, when grand could easily be on. - or partner might bid 3N, or 4♣ or 4♦.. all of which I would have regretted not bidding 4♣ the first time. So I'll bid 4♣ now.

3N, definitely.

You're not going to find a consensus here - it's a common point of debate. It depends a lot on the strength of your hand, where the honors are located, and even which suits they are - with spades and a minor, it's much safer to open the minor. But even with hearts and a minor, this poll of - QJ752 AQJT86 63 had 59% voting for 1♦ and 33% voting for 1♥.

It's a well known phenomenon called 'confirmation bias'. Every time you get a poor hand, you remember it much more than the better hands. You bring it up in conversation with those who know you, who then also notice it each time you have a poor hand, and so on. *Everyone* feels like they have bad hands most of the time - because it's simply true. In two thirds of all hands, you're going to be dealt 11 points or less (and only one in 5 hands are you going to get more than 13 points) - so the opportunities to be 'disappointed' come thick and fast. Looking back at the latest 300 hands you've played on BBO (at least, the public ones), you're getting exactly the same types of hands as everyone else - ranging from 0 hcp (once, should happen every 275 hands or so) to 22 hcp (once, should happen every 236 hands or so), and plenty in the middle.

The standard approach is that double shows a bad hand while pass shows some values. So I would also pass. Your partner opened 2♣ intending to rebid 2N. I don't see any reason to change their mind after the interference.

Entries are closed. Pools will be announced shortly. TL;DR: MPs, best-hand. Will allow a full two weeks of registration, so entries close on May 8, 7pm, NZT, and the first round will begin shortly after that.

With random dealing, the probability that nobody at the table has a void or singleton is 20.63% - ie there is an 79.37% chance there is a singleton or void somewhere. Looking at MyHands, you have played 278 hands over the last month. A 95% confidence interval would therefore be [207,233] for hands with at least one singleton / void. You had 225 hands of the 278 containing a singleton / void. Just what you'd expect. You said 'often' everyone at the table has a singleton or void. This was only true for 7 of your 278 deals. Not sure how this is 'often', but this also lies within the expected confidence interval. In other words: They're random deals, and what you're seeing is normal and likely, with your own hands proving you wrong. Whatever you're basing your opinion on, it's not the facts!