smerriman

I am not an expert in the slightest. I was also not aware of this until a couple of years ago, where I posted on the forum and received helpful responses that told me why I was wrong. When I got such responses, I thanked the responders for their advice, realised it made complete sense, and learnt from it. If you want to ignore any advice you get in the forum, then feel free to use references outside of the forum: http://www.d17acbl.org/index.php?page=rkc-3-queen-ask http://www.bridgewebs.com/porthcawl/ROMAN%20KEY%20CARD%20BLACKWOOD.htm http://web.mit.edu/mitdlbc/www/articles/Crosswood.pdf https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=GiJsAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT119&lpg=PT119&dq=rkcb+10+card+fit+queen+ask&source=bl&ots=Lp1hlHvbae&sig=lUmal7IQB92_BiczRAIeYvhfdkg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiBrq6h3ujeAhVSaCsKHV6BAoU4ChDoATADegQIBxAB#v=onepage&q=rkcb%2010%20card%20fit%20queen%20ask&f=false

I don't know how GIB decides when it should and when it shouldn't show a void. But having decided not to show the void, for whatever reason, 5♠ is the correct bid, not 5♥. When you have a 10 card fit, you "show the queen", since a ten card fit doesn't have a deep loser (which is what the purpose of asking for the queen is). So by bidding 5♠, GIB is telling you it has a 5th spade. You can then safely bid 6♠. Maybe GIB is programmed to think that showing a 5th spade is more important than a heart void. No idea.

Seems like it'd be very rare for 1♠ to be passed out when you're making game (I guess partner could have something like Kxx-xx-xxxx-xxxx), so yeah, I'd say 2♣ is going to lose a lot more than it gains opposite GIB here.

[hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?s=S74H754DCQJ987652&n=SAKJ65HKDAKJT96CT&w=SQT32HA32DQ8753C3&d=w&v=e&a=P1D2HPP2SP3C3H3SPPP]400|300[/hv] My initial reaction - and partner's initial reaction to my pass - was that 3♠ was forcing. But 4♣ couldn't be right - as a couple have stated, you're losing the first 5 tricks unless partner has the club Ace, which seems highly unlikely. If partner had 10 tricks in her own hand, I thought the bidding may have gone differently. So I passed (first time deliberately passing a bid I thought was "forcing"?) 3♠ makes exactly, while 4♣ is down 2, as expected. (Why West didn't bid 3♥ the first time, which may well have pushed us too high, I have no idea).

Based on experience, GIB bids 6NT on its second bid *every single time* it gives a positive response. Has come up multiple times, but seemingly deemed unimportant.

:(

[hv=https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?s=S74H754DCQJ987652&d=w&v=e&a=P1D2HPP2SP]200|300[/hv] IMPs. Your bid? I chose 3♣, after which West pushed to 3♥ and partner followed up with 3♠. Now what? (Assume West isn't particularly strong - there was no reason for not bidding 3♥ initially - so don't read anything into that). Edit - had the vulnerability wrong. Fixed now.

The probability you can make an overtrick is constant. The advantage of going for the overtrick (how much you benefit, compared with not going for it) is not constant. I think the confusion was in your use of the word advantage.

Yeah, last time this came up I discovered GIB will bid the same with ♥5432 ♦AJT987654. If opener isn't going to bid 1NT, it should just bid 1♦ to start with.

Sure. After three passes partner is bidding 4♠ to make, and will already have taken into account I'm likely to have a few points. I won't be thinking Qx Axxx xxxx Kxx means we have 12 top tricks.

Really? I would pass a 4♠ preempt with most hands where we're making slam/grand slam.. and wouldn't be very happy with partner..

But your second bid after 1♠ tells partner whether you are at the low end, or at the high end. So there is no "gap" - if you have 19-21 points you can tell your partner that just as easily as when you open 2♣ to show more. But as mentioned, you aren't required to have a certain number of points to open 2♣. Some hands with more than 22 shouldn't be opened 2♣, and some with less should, based on how you expect the auction to go. I would open your hand 2♣ because 1♠ could easily be passed out, and you have a comfortable way to show your hand and find out what you need after 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♠.

As hrothgar said, it depends. What you should do is consider the hand that you have, and how the auction is likely to go based on what you open, no matter how strong your hand is. For example, if you have AQ-Q-KQJxx-AKJxx: If you open 2♣, the auction is almost sure to start as follows: 2♣ - 2♦ - 3♦ - 3♥ - 4♣. What are you going to do over each of your partner's responses? (Eg, if they bid 5♣ you might be going down in game, or have a cold slam.. with no idea which). Conversely, if you open 1♦, then jump to 3♣, you get to hear two descriptive bids from partner and you're at a much lower level. The risk? What if partner passes, and you can make slam? Can you really think of any set of hands where none of the three players at the table are able to bid 1♥ or 1♠? The chances of that happening are virtually 0. The risk of opening 2♣ - where you're going to be in the wrong contract almost every time - is far greater.

6♠ is pretty much undefined I think. GIB uses 5N to show the queen without a king.

Was just considering the suit in isolation (3-3 + 6/15 * 4-2 + 4/6 * 5-1). But yeah, I didn't consider the lead.

In a sense that makes playing a heart a worse option though, since your best hope is that West has the king and doesn't play it. If West jumps up with the king, there's about a 56% chance of a 3-3 or blocked spade suit. But in the other cases, remembering South is dummy, I don't think the right spade switch will be too hard to find. And given the other 50% of the time East will win the King and you haven't gained anything, the heart seems too risky.

If you click on your name at the top right, there's a dropdown which includes 'My Content' - showing you all* topics you posted in. * well, it seems to only show the last year's worth, but that's plenty

That 5♣ splinter has popped up before: http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/topic/78888-shows-splinter-with-4-cds-in-suit/ No idea what the real description is meant to be.

One side note - if you do play a low heart towards dummy, and West plays the 7, would it be better to jump up with the King than cover? Would 7 from QJT7 ever remotely be the correct play from West? [edit] Nevermind, I get mike's point now - if you cover and lose, you still make the contract, so it doesn't really matter.

Isn't the upside that you make the contract if RHO has 4 spades? That is, if you are 100% sure West has all of the trumps, Cyberyeti's line guarantees the contract, while playing a low heart will go down whenever RHO has 4 spades. So it comes down to how often you think RHO will have a trump vs how often they will have 4 spades and no trump.

4♠ is the only possible call by North here. [edit - Stephen makes a good point - 4♥ might be even better.] Unless North has strong hearts, North is forced to bid even with 0 points. Since 4♣ could show 0 points and club length, South will have to pass a 4♣ bid. If 4♣ makes, you'll score 130 points + 20 per overtrick. If 4♠ makes, you'll score 420 points + 30 per overtrick. 4♠ therefore has substantially more to gain than it loses. That's why to double as South you must have at least 3 spades (or a much much stronger hand that can bid again), and will actually have 4 most of the time. That's also why North should choose 4♠ over 5♣ - minor suit games are much harder to make, and South is going to have 4 spades most of the time, making it the better choice.

Congrats cherdano on the win (and icycookie for such a close match).

4♥ is not a slam try. 4♥ confirms that *2♠* was a slam try, but after it wasn't accepted, 4♥ can't be anything but a signoff. Advanced GIB doesn't understand this; they should turn the simulations off after such a signoff. Why GIB bid 3♥, I have no clue - what more could you want to accept? And yes, GIB often jumps to 6NT for no reason after a 2♣ opener. Has been the case forever and doesn't appear likely to be fixed.

When you were politely informed you had made a mistake, did you learn from this - or treat it as a personal attack, ignore the advice, and continue to make exactly the same errors on the next hand?

Change ♦Q to ♦K and GIB will bid 2♠. So it's nothing special like the quality of the clubs; seemingly just a glitch in the rules, precisely when GIB has 7 HCP and 10 TP it looks like.