GrahamJson

On the other hand xx Axxx AKxx xxx has no play for six. I'm not so sure that slam is as likely as most others think. Therefore I prefer 3D, seeing if partner can make a positive noise. If he can't then I'm happy to play in 4H.

Maybe, but I think I would ask for attitude rather than count if I held the north hand.

Given that N is missing HQ I'm struggling to come up with a hand in which he would think that count is more important than attitude. The bidding does not suggest that this is a rapid cash out situation. Incidentally I have two regular partners. With one I play normal signals with the other reverse. Maybe reverse has technical advantages, however I certainly find them more difficult to play. But perhaps that is because I have grown used to the normal method.

A simple remedy, at least for the scoring aspect, it for BBO to adopt Butler scoring. In this the top and bottom scores for a board are ignored and the remainder are averaged. This eliminates bias caused by one extreme score. I believe that if the board is played many times the top and bottom two scores are not used when calculating the average. http://www.bridgewebs.com/helensburgh/page14.html

The first two bids are ok, but as for the rest.... If I had to choose I think I would go for west's redouble as being the worst. East's 3H is awful, but does at least have the merit of telling his partner that he is a poor player. This should alert West to avoid any bid that could be misconstrued, as the redouble clearly could be. Even if East knew that the redouble was for rescue, why would you want to do so opposite a partner who has bid to the three level on his own and you hold three top tricks? In fact I struggle to think of any occasion when a redouble above the level of two can be SOS.

True, although I have seen some, actually quite a few, rebid 2NT on 4441. Personally I prefer rebidding 2H. If you were a little stronger you would have no choice. I assume that you wouldn't open 1D on AQJx AKQX AKJx X.

I'm with MrAce on this. West holds an absolute monster yet slam is far from laydown. Maybe I'd bid 4D on the east hand, but with such poor trumps and most of my values in clubs I think I would ld probably sign off. Incidentally, I'm surprised that no one has suggested opening the west hand 2C. I've seen worse 2C openers.

Having checked a few sources, all seem to agree that a cue bid is the only forcing continuation by opener after a negative double. To play a jump rebid, 3S in the above example, as forcing must surely make a simple rebid have far too wide a range. Incidentally, Miles also mentions that a negative double at the two level should show a minimum of a 9 count, making the east hand above a dead minimum.

For what it is worth, Marshall Miles in "Competitive Bidding in the 21st Century" gives this as an example of a 2S rebid after 1D-(2C); AJx xxx Kxxx AJx. This is of course an extreme example, but does illustrate that the 2S bid shows minimum values. It is certainly not a reverse, as some other posters have implied.

It seems to me that east has an automatic pass if west rebids 2S. He has already shown his hand by doubling. West could hold a balanced 12-14 count, for which 2S is more than enough. For example Kxxx Qx AKxx xxx. West is vastly better than this so is well worth 3C followed by 3S if east bids 3D or 3H.

As an Acol player even I would bid 2H. It's a classic example of when not to jump; too strong and with a second suit that isn't the one opened.

I must be getting old, but I can't see how a hand that is not worth opening at the one level can somehow be later worth forcing partner to bid at three level.

I guess you would bid 2D and then 2S over partner's 2H, if that is what he bids. This is of course one of the disadvantages of the method, as you cannot stop in 2H.

I used to play transfer responses from the level of 2 of the doubled suit upwards. So, for example, after (1H)-X-(Pass)- 2H shows spades, 2S clubs and 3C diamonds. Minimum bids (1S, 2C and 2D) are natural and other bids such as 3H can have other meanings, e.g. Balanced, no stop. This method has several advantages. Responder can bid on to show extra values or a second suit, or a stop. So, for example, after the auction above, following 2H and a 2S bid from the doubler responder can bid 2NT to show about 11, balanced with spades and a stop. 3NT would show a stronger hand, 3H would be similar but without a stop. Overall this method should give many advantages and I would like to report that it produced a lot or great scores, unfortunately I can't recall ever actually using it. Either responder was not strong enough (although it doesn't require a particularly strong hand, maybe 8+) or third hand made a nuisance of himself by bidding something annoying. In summary in theory it has several advantages and perhaps deserves to be played more widely. However it does need detailed discussion between partners in order to agree the precise meaning of continuations.

One other point. Some players like to bid 1S after an oppo's take out double as a psych on two or three small cards, usually with support for the suit opened. It is important to play a double of the 1S bid as showing spades, not as some sort of negative double, as it would be following a raise. In the example yo gave I would be very suspicious of the 1S bid and if you played a double of it as being take out it will succeed in keeping you out of your spade fit.

Hmm. I don't see why a double wouldn't be for penalties after a jump, even to the three level. Perhaps especially at the three level. Sometimes oppo makes bad bids, it doesn't make sense to base your bidding methods on the assumption that oppo are always right.

Sorry, but 2NT shows an excellent fit, not a redouble. Otherwise how does opener know how to proceed if the oppo get their bidding boots on. A redouble should always show a defensive hand.

You don't give partner's hand but it sounds like he didn't have his double. After his redouble he could (should?) have passed 2H unless he had excellent trumps. As the bidding went your Qx looks like a great holding on which to pass the double. I'm guessing that your p doubled on Hxx or similar, which I think is wrong.

There are some strange ideas going on here. A redouble says "I have a good defensive hand, maybe we can get a good penalty here." After this all further doubles should be for penalties. Hence the idea that you can now double 2S for TO is silly. What would you bid with a 4441 hand with good spades? A corollary to this is that perhaps any pass should be considered forcing (unless maybe if opener makes a weak rebid). Of course this is largely academic as the north hand is not a redouble but a 1D or 1H bid, depending on your methods. (With a less unbalanced hand 2NT, showing a good raise to 3 comes into the picture.)

Your comments are all very well but do not correspond to the given explanation for the various bids, which presumably correspond to the partnership agreement, good or bad. For example, the 2NT rebid is described as game forcing, (a treatment that I have never seen before) which presumably means 25+, hence the 2D response could easily be negative, e.g <8, whilst still having enough to venture beyond 3NT.

Unless you have a clear agreement a non systematic response to 4NT is just torturing partner. I'm afraid that if you have to ask others what your own bids mean then you have gone wrong somewhere.

I tend to agree with Phil. BBO is full of players who in some cases play up to 100 boards a day yet are still at the level of a beginner, even if they do seem to think that they are experts. Of course to be good you do have to play quite a lot and to be expert you need to play every day, but to progress from being a novice to a reasonably strong player you need to learn the basics and the best way to do that is by a bit of study. At the end of the day it is not a case of either/or. To become a strong player you need to both read and play. Also, as another I think mentioned, a great way to learn is to obtain copies of the hands that you have just played. You can then look at them carefully and check if you could have played or defended better. Don't just look at the boards in which you scored badly, also check those in which you did well. Maybe poor defence allowed you to get away with errors, or maybe you were just plain lucky. Finally, join and play at a decent club. You should find the average standard far higher than on BBO.

It's probably a little advanced for you at the moment but Play These Hands With Me by Terence Reece is possibly the best bridge book ever (it is also sold as part one of Practical Bidding and Practical Play). It follows the thinking of an expert player as he plays through various hands. It does assume a good basic knowledge of standard techniques, but you should still learn a lot from reading it. Of course there are plenty of basic books around. Anything by Bird, Mollo, Reece and several others is worth reading. Check out the Chess and Bridge website. http://shop.chess.co.uk/bridge-ebooks-s/1965.htm

One last example with the same sequence as the first; 1H - 1NT - 2S passed out. The 1H opener holds Kxx xxx KQxxx xx, the 1NT bidder, who passes 2S, holds QJxxxx Axx X Qxx.

Or how about a 2NT opening on AQx xxx Axxx Jxx. Partner responds 3C and passes your 3D rebid. He holds xxx X KQxxx Axxx. You make 3D when most oppo's are making 3H.