smerriman

So in summary, you got a lucky distribution where the opponents couldn't compete much, were able to show both your suits - and still got to the wrong contract! 5♣ goes down on anything but a 3-3 heart split - meaning it's a net loss at IMPs - opening 1♥ would have gotten you to the right spot. But yes, if you need a big IMP swing, bidding and making a poor game is the only way to catch up. (And again, I'm not saying it's not a good hand. Simply that two suited hands are better described by bidding your suits, even if you had over 20 points).

Rebid 2♣. If that gets passed out - which is still virtually impossible - then I can't see how you can make enough tricks for game. (And of course, that auction is highly unlikely to begin with).

2♣ wouldn't have even crossed my mind here. Think about how the auction is likely to go (against competent opponents). They have a huge fit in either diamonds or spades, and will be competing strongly. It is highly probable the next time you get to bid, you'll be at least at the 4 level if not higher, and have yet to even show either of your two suits. Your partner will also have no idea what is going on; neither of you will be in position to know whether you want to be doubling, bidding game, or bidding slam. Conversely, consider what happens if you open 1♥. It is guaranteed this will not be passed out (how can nobody bid 1♠ at least?), and then you can bid and rebid clubs until your partner gets the message. You got very lucky you were able to find a reasonable contract. This is also why it's commonly advised not to open 2♣ with two suiters even with 22+ points.

With some specific exceptions, you're perfectly entitled to mislead partner and opponents. As long as partner is misled just as much as your opponents are.

Yep, looks like they updated the notes again since I posted.

That result means Olegru just pips sfi for 4th place. Semifinals: icycookie vs olegru cherdano vs Stephen Tu Usual rules (4x16). Given the slowness of the last round, let's aim for getting both semifinal and final completed within 3 weeks.

To what? https://www.bridgebase.com/doc/gib_system_notes.php#Soloway_Jump_Shift looks to have been updated to say only jump shifts to 3♣ are natural and invitational, but that's definitely not right.

Instant tourney I presume? GIB was just upgraded, so you're using a different robot. Seems GIB doesn't play strong jump shifts here anymore. And is broken for choosing to jump with this hand.

This is what you are doing wrong. Based on this thread and many others you have posted, it looks like you are trying to learn 2/1 by looking at what GIB's descriptions of the bids mean. As you have been told multiple times, this is a silly thing to do. Many of GIB's descriptions, like its description of 2♦, do not accurately convey what the bids mean. Just because you have a hand which matches the shape and point count described by GIB (which, incidentally, you don't; you don't have 6-9 points) does not mean that it is the correct bid to make. Making a bid shows and denies many more details than can be described by those two pieces of information alone. After 2♣: 2♦ means: I have a weak hand (under 10 points). Despite knowing your suits are hearts and clubs (albeit clubs may be short), and thus not much room for diamonds, I believe as a partnership, our longest combined trump suit is diamonds. 2♥ means: I have a weak hand. While I may have more clubs than hearts, I believe our longest combined trump suit is hearts. Pass means: I have a weak hand. Even though you may only have 3 clubs, I believe our longest combined trump suit is clubs. If I had a couple of hearts I would have strained to keep the bidding open with 2♥ in case you have a much better hand, but sadly, I couldn't do so. GIB cannot represent this information in a description. Bidding 2♦ makes no sense at all; firstly, you're too strong; secondly, you are completely lying about diamonds being the best trump suit.

2♥ is limited. All further descriptions carry forward the same limits regardless of what they mean. As for why it bids 3♠, who knows..

If you think that bidding like this should be illegal, that's your opinion, which are you entitled to. However, the truth is that it is not illegal on BBO, so you can't say doing so is cheating, as no rules have been broken. BBO employees have outright stated it is allowed, and indeed even recommended it. For example: http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/news_fetch.php?id=1526 Josh recommends open 1NT with all balanced 14 counts. Of course illegal in live bridge (when you have a 15-17 agreement), but legal with GIB, who will never doubt that you have 15. And a specific discussion on why psychs are perfectly legal with GIB: http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/news_fetch.php?id=4812

1♠ denies a heart fit.

I just realised I never posted a deadline for round 2. (Man, this year is flying by and I've hardly had time to think!) We've had 3 weeks, and by the standard expected rate of play, this should be wrapping in another week, but it looks like a few people are a long way behind. Will follow up with them via BBO messages, but if possible let's try to get this wrapped up by the weekend after the coming one.

I recall you saying this for the reason Helene mentioned - if you end up in 3NT, the defenders have a near perfect count. But the times opener chooses to pass 3NT, 4M is often very unlikely to make, and I can't see how you can avoid it via any other bidding sequence. I'd rather be in an easy 3NT with the defenders knowing more than an impossible 4M. Perhaps there's some other way of getting to 3NT that I'm not aware of.

In your first guessed hand, the contract goes down half a trick - you tie the third spade and claim stalemate. (If, say, you swap West's Q with the J, and replace a small diamond in East with a small spade, it's down on any lead - throwing all of the diamonds still leaves you with all of the club losers). Of course, E/W's bidding is nonsense in all three scenarios..

Double specifically asks you to make an unusual lead. If I wanted a spade lead I definitely wouldn't double. It normally asks me to lead dummy's suit, but I'm going with a club also. But agree with Mike the opponents probably don't know what they're doing.

I would need to know a little bit more about what the opponents' bidding means.

I'm not intentionally misinterpreting anything. The answer to "do you want to be in a slam if only 11 tricks were made" is often yes. I thought your question was rhetorical implying no, but I guess it was a genuine question, in which case I (unintentionally) misunderstood.

You seemed to be implying it was a bad slam because the finesse might fail ("do you want to be in slam if the finesse fails"). This isn't true; it's a bad slam solely because it may go down when the finesse *works*.

Would you still like to avoid 6♠ if the spade finesse works? That argument is silly; a slam on a finesse is usually worth being in. But probably not in this case, since it's slightly less than 50%.

Ah, weekly free uses "advanced" robots I think, since they were used in the original tourney. Guess all the hands it could come up with resulted in passing working out better.. very "advanced".

Must have been a one-off glitch. At a practice table: [hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?sn=smerriman&s=SA8HJ2DAKQT653C93&wn=Robot&w=SK94HQ43DJ742CAT8&nn=Robot&n=SJ76HAKT87D8CJ542&en=Robot&e=SQT532H965D9CKQ76&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=PPP1C(Minor%20suit%20opening%20--%203+%20%21C%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points)P2H(Support%20jump%20shift%20by%20passed%20hand%20--%204+%20%21C%3B%2011-%20HCP%3B%20rebiddable%20%21H%3B%2011-12%20total%20points)P2S(4%20%21C%3B%202-%20%21H%3B%204+%20%21S%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points)P3C(4+%20%21C%3B%2011-%20HCP%3B%20rebiddable%20%21H%3B%2011-12%20total%20points)PPP]400|300[/hv]

Have tested and GIB bids 3♣. Can you post the original hand record?

That sounds about right. The problem is, you need to simulate a *lot* of hands before the results reflect the long term average. If you only simulate 20 hands - and I don't think basic GIB comes anywhere near that - occasionally, the results won't be accurate. GIB then makes the wrong play. Also, worth noting - even if a diamond lead was correct double dummy, I'd still prefer playing with a human who led the club. The "correct" lead assumes partner will know what to return - which he doesn't. If a human lead a club, I'd know what to return.

I agree and can sympathise with many of these. However: This depends on the auction, but in general I would disagree. A lot of time it is correct to take out a penalty double, especially in forcing pass auctions where double means 'my hand suggests defending', not 'please pass'. This is an area I struggle with a lot - there's a good article here: http://www.davelegrow.com/Dealing%20With%20Penalty%20Doubles%20by%20Partner.pdf I'm not sure what system you play, but for me - and I suspect many others - 2♥ is an invite, not a sign off.