MickyB

No way I want to double for penalties, even if I could - unless RHO is me, of course. In 4th seat he should be more likely to have 7 diamonds, which is likely to equate to six tricks immediately. 3NT felt obvious until I realised that I'd have to bid that on a flat 19 count as well...this hand could play quite beautifully if partner has a club fit and the expected diamond shortage. Doubling for takeout will surely make partner misevaluate his hand completely. Is 4♣ forcing here? Stop posting awkward problems that just cause me to woffle without giving an answer :angry:

2♥ is fine playing weak NT. Not convinced that 2♥ is more encouraging than 2♣ in a strong NT system...really have no idea what I'd bid here.

This is just shy of a 3NT bid for me.

Is "weak Stayman" really alertable where you are?

A Butler from a two table event is fairly meaningless IMO.

If I have supported partner's suit, I'll lead the top one. He knows I have three already, so I may as well deny an honour. If I haven't supported partner's suit, I'll usually lead the bottom one. It sounds like this suit is going to be our source of tricks so I want to encourage pard to play on it. In an unbid suit I'll usually lead the top one, so partner doesn't think that it is my suit and that it needs establishing.

Seems better to have one full table that can start immediately rather than two half tables waiting for opps. It also tends to lead to a lot of tables consisting of one regular partnership and one pick-up.

You could make shockingly few tricks on this hand - LHO has five hearts to cover yours, and you'll be lucky to get in more than one ruff before RHO starts overruffing. 3♦ is enough.

Hmm, not sure about this. Pard felt it was right to pull 4H X to 4S, even though your hand could have been a lot more defensive than it actually is. How can he now know that it isn't right to go onto 5S? I guess maybe the difference in ODR between the typical hand and a purely offensive one isn't great enough...and do I tend to get bad results when I pull partner's high level doubles, but that could just be because I'm playing against other juniors who have already overbid :lol:

I reckon you are both just shy of taking action. Chalk it up to bad luck.

I think that some people have either not read Flame's post, or have misunderstood it. The way I understand it, the only hands that will instead respond 1♦ are those with 5♦, 4 major, and invitational strength opposite a 1NT rebid. When opener is unbalanced, you are leaving him more room to show his hand rather than forcing him to rebid 2♣; When opener is balanced, the auction can start 1C:1D, 1N:2C, 2D:2M. This gives opener the chance to play in a 4-3 major fit or a 5-3 diamond fit instead of 2NT, should he decide to reject the invitation. Walshers would just bid 1C:1M, 1N:2N, pass.

Yup, a definite improvement. Might even be worth responding 1D on 4-4 and invitational values.

Guy Fawkes Day? Yanks...c'mon, it's Bonfire Night :) Happy Birthday Frances!

Indeed - and if you are far enough down that the sliding VP scale makes swinging attractive, you are protected by the cap on the carryover.

Was 2N limited? If it is possible for the 2N bidder to have be boarderline between a 4N rebid and a 6N rebid then there is nothing suggested by the UI. If that is not possible then 6N is probably still an LA.

Yes, and it seemed a strange situation to use it - against a pair like Meckwell, who open and respond light, you are more likely to have a game on and much less likely to be doubled when you haven't.

Haven't checked what they play, but Cardsharp and I both play 2♦ as weak there - well, constructive (4-7, 5-8 or similar). Stronger than this would respond 1♠ (showing ♦).

I did a search for "bridge" and sorted by number of replies replies...A thread on Tenerife had over 18000 views, 2nd and 3rd were on BBO cheating and Zar points, this thread was fourth.

You live in the UK and you play something other than Acol. This is definitely a good start ;) Polish Club and MOSCITO are level 4 (maybe 40% of competions); Transfer responses are level 3 (ok for 95%+ of competitions). I think transfer-walsh (1C:1D showing hearts, 1C:1H showing spades) is the way to go - I've enjoyed playing it in different guises over the years. I'm now playing something resembling the Welland-Fallenius system, which uses a 14-16 1NT opener and can usually show both 11-13 and 17-20 balanced at the one level, meaning responder can safely bid on rubbish B) Send me a private message if you want to know more. It works fine whether you want to learn 2/1 first, afterwards or not at all.

Under the state of the auction, South would pass with a constructive type hand. LHO has yet to bid and pard needs D shortness to re-open if it is passed to him so I take the 3H to be a garden variety limit raise.......expecting D leads and ruffs if pard passes the 3H bid..... Yes, I was wondering earlier if it would make sense to play 3H as a limit raise when responder has long diamonds, and weaker than that when responder has short diamonds. I think it should be ok - after all, it is normal for the hand short in the opps suit to stretch over preempts.

Oops - select "kibitz partner when dummy". Then you always get to see two hands during the play.

There in an option in your user profile to kibitz only one hand. Unfortunately, when your chosen person is dummy, you don't currently get to see his partner's hand (without changing the option in your profile).

The "new" method is not playing 4NT as both minors, but as two places to play (C+D/C+H/D+H). Problem is, Beatrix - if you bid 4NT with a 1435, quite often neither game will make, and if pard had had the opportunity to pass your double you would have taken a nice penalty. IMO it is much better to put these pure takeout hands in with the flatter hands that are doubling - admittedly you are a bit nervous doubling on a 0(544) but it doesn't have to turn out badly!

Wouldn't dream of it. Anyway, it is obvious to open 1♣. 1D has been drilled into me. :) But I do not want to upset the Canuks. Think Mike is actually a 1♦ bidder, I should have added a wink! Playing SAYC or fairly normal 2/1, I agree with that. I agree with Richard about the benefits of putting the opps to the guess regarding balancing. I have enough room to differentiate between 3 and 4 card raises in a system I'm using atm, but this info is useful for the opps too.

Yeah, think 2♦ being forcing is a regional thing, possibly connected to playing weak NT and 4 card majors. Thanks for the responses so far.