smerriman

Not with GIB, but if South responds 5NT to deny a king, then 6♥ is a reasonable way to ask for the queen of hearts, at least.

Well, not when the bidding has completed. But prior to that, of course; in some situations partner's pass *requires* to you choose between doubling or bidding.

Looks like a very interesting hand - so many lines and squeezes to choose from. I wouldn't know where to start the calculations. But it's definitely not as straightforward as you think. Doesn't your line basically fail if East has the King of spades - making it no better than the simple spade finesse? Edit - OK, it still works if East started with four clubs, but I'm sure there's something better..

Yeah, the standard meaning for 3♠ over 2♦ would be Smolen, showing 4 spades and 5 hearts and right siding any 5-3 fit. Didn't realise anyone plays it the other way around.

Right, but I was referring to your 'most standard agreements', which I'm pretty sure doesn't include 2♦ denying a five card major.

Have gone with this: 1st challenge hrothgar lead after 9 boards in original challenge: 18 imps 2nd challenge hrothgar loses by 17, averaged to 7 boards = -7 imps + arbitrary 3 imp penalty = 14 imp win to hrothgar.

http://www.bridgebase.com/myhands/index.php

Stayman? Have never heard of that with 5-5 before - how do you continue after the almost certain 2♦? Seems like the normal starting point for standard bidding would be 1N - 2♥ - 2♠ - 3♥ - 3♠ after which you can use voidwood 5♦ - 5N - 6♠.

I don't see how this is even remotely related to the OP. The OP shows broken simulations, given every single dealable hand should result in 13 tricks. In yours, GIB's system thinks that if you've found a guaranteed club fit, a further suit bid is a cuebid. Is that rule so wrong? These aren't even on the same planet, so I'm not sure why they're in the same thread.

Given 1♠ is nonforcing, I'm struggling to see how 3♣ can suddenly be forcing.. really does look like 4054 to me.

Eek, sorry, I totally forgot about this. For now have included this challenge in the results, though as hrothgar was leading the old one comfortably and lost this, I'll make an adjustment this weekend. Round 1 has officially concluded - the deadline for the remaining matches is May 3rd, 11:59pm EST - this is the normal timeframe based on those who have only just finished round 1 (though earlier would be great).

The overwhelming majority of tournaments on BBO are *Robot* tournaments. Since of course, a lot of people don't have partners online at the same time and like playing instantly with robots. If you exclude those tournaments, when I look at the list of tournaments starting within the next 2 hours, I see 8 individual tournaments (3 of those Goulash, which hardly count) and 59 pairs tournaments. So like the club, the overwhelming majority of 'real bridge' tournaments are Pairs.

https://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:ebee0635.7f2a.11ea.b96d.0cc47a39aeb4-1586963291&u=smerriman smerriman 23 - 12 broze

For me when I do this and there is a seat at the table reserved for me, I see my name there (in a different color to the red you see for others) and can click it to sit.

That is incorrect; your partner just sees a normal bid. Online bridge and face to face bridge are quite different; I would, for example, always describe my 4NT responses when making them (without clicking alert to mark it as artificial) just so that opps don't need to ask.

This is what an 'Instant Tournament' is in BBO. Though not unlimited entries!

Based on polls at Bridge Winners (and the resulting Bridge World Standard), this is definitely a minority view.

That depends - do you think 'nothing better' and 'nothing worse' mean the same thing too? ;)

Sorry, but if you're going to consistently make 100% false statements, you're going to be consistently corrected. "At least" is a synonym for "greater than or equal to". 20-50 million is not "greater than" 50 million, and it is not "equal" to 50 million [unless there were exactly 50 million deaths]. Either your knowledge of English isn't great, or you are truly trolling everyone.

:blink: After all the responses, you still haven't learnt?

Seems like it only puts friends first if you have 'Show offline' disabled.

Announcement - if you have completed 9/9 matches, you may challenge those in the other pool who have also completed 9/9 matches (but not others). If you are friends, best to confirm first though (in case someone completed their 9 matches quickly due to being less available in the last week).

https://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:407a80cc.78e4.11ea.b96d.0cc47a39aeb4-1586273231&u=smerriman smerriman 45 - 20 sep123

That's lebensohl. Ingberman is specifically the idea of using the 4th suit instead of 2NT when it's cheaper, at least as taught by mikeh.

https://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:39e28c93.77e1.11ea.b96d.0cc47a39aeb4-1586161981&u=smerriman smerriman 17 - 14 shuba https://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:4599c756.77e1.11ea.b96d.0cc47a39aeb4-1586162000&u=smerriman smerriman 21 - 20 Natali_