MickyB

Clearcut pass for me, but then I believe that direct and protective actions should require the same strength over preempts. I'll lose on this hand and gain on another when direct seat has a similar hand but slightly stronger. If it fits your methods to take a call on this, 3♣ is definitely better than double IMO.

There has (not unreasonably) been a pass added to the question. I'm a 5♦ bidder.

It is even easier playing lightish 2/1s - respond 2♦ and bid 2♠ (NF) over 2♥.

More to the point, it is love all... I think it is often right to compete with shortness as a passed hand, partner won't go overboard and it takes some of the pressure off him in direct seat. I'm kinda torn on this one. You are 4-6 and can correct clubs to diamonds. On the other hand, that king of spades is icky, and 3rd seat NV preempt could be on six cards or a slightly stronger hand. If I was in first seat and second seat had preempted the case for doubling would be much stronger IMO.

Huh? Oh, right, hadn't realised this thread was a bidding problem...

I'm a man.

Bleurgh, this is close... I'm going to pass. If pard has a singleton club honour the penalty should be quite nice, and 3D won't play well at all - if I try to ruff clubs RHO will overruff.

Well, we take 70 years as the average life expectancy. Divide this by 10 (the number of toes that a typical person has), and add it to the age at which one usually starts secondary school to get 18, which is thus the logical age of consent. What if a 14 year old promises not to live past 30?

Lol Eric, please don't refer to that statement as being my argument! :) Ok, here is why it isn't reasonable - While you are taking the bidding one level higher, you will often land up in the same contract (1H:2D, 2H:P instead of 1H:1N, 2C:2H, P). The real reason is because of the choice of 12-14 NT and four card majors; Balanced 15-16 should pass a 1NT response, so if you have enough for game opposite 15-16 flat you can't bid 1NT.

You don't. But the same applies after 1N (2H) when you are 5-5 in the minors.

I can't see why it wouldn't apply in this auction :)

Agreed, Axxxx isn't a good holding for a fit-jump. Similarly Axxx for a long suit trial.

Have just been looking through the EBU site, and found this. "How on earth did we decide on the figure of nine [points] for a two level response? Well, if you divide the 40 points in the pack by the 13 tricks, you get THREE. So it takes about three high card points to win a trick. When we respond at the two level, we take the bidding one trick higher, so we should have about one trick more i.e. three points extra." That's you told.

Somehow missed this thread until now! Queen, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, White Stripes, Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, YourCodeNameIs:Milo If I start singing along, it usually means my play is suffering...it usually means my housemates are suffering too.

The question is - is the gain in flexibility of which way around to play the contract worth the loss of 4C as Gerber? :( I agreet that it is often better to have the unbalanced, undescribed hand as declarer.

Does 2S really promise support on this auction? Usually that is in a situation where 3D would be preemptive, but that doesn't make much sense on this auction. Of course, that isn't to say it is the wrong call... I think a 1D opener is best, particularly if pard would bid 1D with 4-4 in the reds - if you raise you'll lose the hearts, if you bid hearts pard will never place you with 4 diamonds.

Sorry for drifting off the subject, just remembered there is something I've never been quite sure of...After 2S-X-P, can advancer with GF values get pard to bid 3N without four card support and 4H with four card support? Does leb work similarly to 1N-2S-3S?

[hv=d=w&n=sakqhaj8xxdcakjtx&s=sxxhqxxdxxxxxcqxx]133|200|Scoring: IMP West opens 1♦, are you going to reach slam?[/hv]

I have not read that book. I'll buy you a copy for Christmas. 2/1 GF is certainly better in slam auctions, but it isn't great at deciding between game and part-score after 1M:1NT. Frances plays 2/1s as fairly light (despite playing strong NT+5 card majors) then uses some interesting system to sort it out including forcing and NF raises. I'm not terribly keen on Acol but play it in my two main partnerships, after a 2/1 response a jump shift shows a splinter and a 3NT rebid shows a flattish (usually 5422) GF raise which works ok. I agree that playing 1S:2C, 2D as NF is slightly rubbish, and I wish we didn't teach it to people at uni ;)

I'm sure a lot of people are getting fed up with me saying this, but.... Don't use K+R for evaluating hands primarily looking to play 3NT. Binky Count says, for play in NT, these hands are worth approximately: A - 12.1 B - 11.8 C - 11.2 D - 10.9

My choice on this hand was pass, which I agree was wrong. Think I let MP/Green sway me far too much, if they are 2 off we should probably be in game, and our chances at finding our best fit are better than I first thought.

Me too...40 points difference doesn't seem nearly enough ;)

Qxxxxxxx - x xxxx sounds like a reasonable 6S bid.

Don't know why I'm doing this now...actually I do, the alternative is working out what a Klein Four group is. Mike Bell, 20. Played a little bit at school, started duplicate about 3 years ago. Doing Maths at Warwick University, but the quantity of bridge played hasn't really helped with that. Hopefully will get picked for the England U25 team this year, but I only have a slightly greater chance of winning a world junior championship than Winstonm :P Bit of a bidding nut - I've always found bidding (and lead) problems to be much more interesting than the play of the cards, if I had my way we would just give the remaining 51 cards to GIB or DF to sort out! I'm usually up for playing an interesting system - I've played a little bit of Relay Precision, MOSCITO, Tresboof Forcing Pass, WJ05, Echognome's Strong Diamond, Nightmare/Millennium Club and several different versions of Transfer Walsh. Currently playing Acol (eugh) in my two stronger partnerships, and messing around with a Welland-Fallenius style system with my partner at university (that's 14-16 NT, all 11-13 or 17-20 bal hands open 1♣, transfer responses to 1♣ with completing the xfer showing the 11-13 NT, with both minors open 1♦ and hope partner responds 1♥ so you can tell him which of your minors is longer! PM me if you want to know more B) ) Just back at uni, where I am putting off doing Maths by playing Lacrosse, Netball, Badminton and Bridge Club stuff - our early recruitment drive led to 5 tables of bridge and 2 tables of minibridge today, let's hope we can keep most of them coming!

A and B - did noone tell you that you should open iff you have 12 points?