MickyB

7♥. If RHO has anything approaching his bid, there's a fair chance that either 6♠ or 7♥ will make. If not...well, he made a bad bid, and sometimes bad bids work. Next time he won't find me with 7 card support for partner.

Sorry - system is strong NT, better minor.

I know next to nothing about cricket, but I'm going to give my opinion anyway. Isn't that what internet forums are for? Why weren't we more aggressive on day two? Looking at the run rate in 20/20 games, I'd have thought that we should have been able to slog a few more runs in that time, even if it meant being all out in the process. Panesar not playing has probably cost us the match, having two bowlers who can take wickets would have been pretty useful. Then again, if we'd lost the toss or KP/Collingwood hadn't done so well we may well have been in a weaker position for having him in the team. I'd sure it would have been Monty in for Giles if they'd known that Giles was going to field like Monty. What did people make of the run-out decision on day three? Ponting and Hussey were at the crease, I forget which one almost got the finger.

[hv=d=n&v=b&s=sqhjt762d5ckqjt86]133|100|Scoring: MP 1♠-(3♦)-? If you double, what's your call over partner's 3♠ rebid?[/hv]

[hv=d=n&v=n&s=sqj6h86d9853c9653]133|100|Scoring: MP 1♣-(1♥)-Pass-(2♥) 3♣-(4♥)-? Do you agree with your initial pass? Do you now pass or bid 5♣? If you pass, what's your lead?[/hv]

I suspect that GIB's liking of 4-3 fits reflects that they are easier to handle double dummy.

What about this hand makes it a 2♥ bid rather than a 2NT bid?

You are playing with an expert pick-up partner, and the auction commences 1♦ (2♣) X (pass); What would you assume the approximate ranges and minimum suit lengths to be for opener's rebids? Would you play it any differently with a regular partner? Thanks

Ok, my take on this... 8-5s will very rarely belong in their 5 card suit - pard will need a huge fit or you'll be in the slam zone. Describing your hand to partner just isn't going to happen; you may as well open a high level preempt. To an extent, the same thing applies to 7-5s and 6-5s, and if my hand is 7M5m or 6M5m I'll normally preempt in the major. Obviously, there are more reasons not to preempt when your minor is longer - Firstly, minor games require one more trick; Secondly, major suits outrank minor suits. I think a preempt on the first hand is reasonable; a preempt on the second hand is not. The reason for this is that if you are taking the same number of tricks in either of your suits, then with the second hand you clearly want to be in spades because you will be a level lower than if you were in clubs. With the first hand, if the opponents bid 4S or 5C, it often won't matter whether you compete in diamonds or hearts (and would matter even less often at IMPs, when the difference between 5D making and 5H making is negligible).

Precisely. If you gave me a choice between passing and bidding a NF 3D on the hand that started this thread, I would choose to pass. The weaker hands may be more common, but I don't want to compete here unless I've got a void heart.

It's certainly gameforcing IMO, but if 1NT is showing 8-11 I think a 4153 16 count should be acceptable (which is nothing like "too good to overcall" by my standards).

Yup, 4♠ is obvious. Can we have the rant yet?

doh.. what do you need that for? Just bid game or pass B) Agreed, but it does have 1N:2C, 2D:2N as an invite.

IMO, there is plenty of room to be able to have 1m:1H, 1N:2H show 5H4S non-forcing.

Wish I'd read Justin's post more carefully before...I started playing a 2 cents too soon, won $160 then lost $180 of it :) Just had another reminder to stay low for now, in a 53 board set my side averaged just over 17 HCP per deal, that was 80 points gone.

You mean...tea is meant to taste of something? Strong, black coffee is where it's at.

About 15 seconds after receiving the above message, I was sucked into the table.

I'd pass this hand. If my hearts were xxx then I'd probably bid 3♠, and it would be clearcut to do so if the opponents had promised a 5-4 heart fit IMO, but the heart queen greatly reduces the chance that it is right to compete to 4♠.

Wrong - your partnership only gets one bid after responder's strength is known. Weak takeouts gain when you put pressure on a (potentially) strong hand in 4th seat, leading to opps failing to compete or getting too high. Transfers gain when 2nd seat wishes to compete for the part-score, but makes the wrong decision in a live auction. Therefore, I believe that transfers are clearly superior except over a 1st seat 1NT opening, when I still believe that they compare favourably with weak take-outs. Regarding super-accepting (or, indeed, raising a weak take-out); 2S is much more likely to buy the contract than 2H, therefore you should be keener to super-accept over 2D than 2H. This is complemented by using 1N:2C, 2red:2S as a 5 card invite. I'll usually superaccept with 4 card heart support, whatever the NT range, but when partner has spades I need a good hand on the bidding so far.

This is grossly unethical IMO. Players who try to pull this trick will invariably be looking for tell-tale signs from their opponents with regard to the position of key cards. If it happens, just call the director and let him sort it out. If declarer has just misclaimed, presumably as a result of miscounting tricks or similar, then there is a reasonable chance he should be ruled against anyway.

The main gain appears to be gaining a level on strong balanced hands, which is certainly helpful if the range is to be 17-19; The main loss appears to be two steps on unbal hands with clubs and a major. This may (or may not) be an improvement on standard methods, but I suspect it is going to be less effective and more complex than transfer responses to 1♣.

J♣ looks obvious And I'd have said that in the simplest Acol, flat 19s open a suit and rebid 3NT. Not that that's any better...

Asptro shows at least 5-4 either way around, so it looks like hearts are 4-4.

1. If I've got Stayman then 2♠ available as a 5 card invite, I'll use it. If pard raises, 4♠ may well be reasonable; If pard bids 2N (max, doubleton spade) then I'll bid 3♦, expecting to play there. Otherwise xfer like everyone else. 2. 3♠ - staying low with misfits may often be good, but going off in 3♥ instead of making game isn't. 3. 3NT. 4. Unless I know that lefty tends to preempt aggressively, I'll venture 5♠.

I disagree with HeartA on hands 7 and 11. 1♠ - (Pass) - 2♥ - (Pass) - 3♦ Before this thread, I had never seen anyone take the position that this wasn't a reverse, but maybe that's a UK thing? It's occasionally referred to as a "high reverse". It makes quite a difference if some people believe it isn't, because I often ask partners who play 2/1 whether reversing shows extras! 1♣ - (Pass) - 2♥ - (Pass) - 2♠ IMO this isn't a reverse, even if 2♠ is showing reversing values.