daffydoc

I have one partner with whom I play a big Roman - 17-24 - we use the one under the singleton approach, allow u to bid the singleton to. either ask total controls or min max. Seems clearly more effective than bidding the singling - gives you an extra bid which can mean something.

I know a lot of players don't particularly like opening 2c on 2 suiters - I tend to disagree and with 5 defensive tricks would have opened 2c and over 4s bid 4NT as two places to play - obviously correcting 5d to 5H but would raise 5c to 6c. Given the Polish club opener i would bid the same 4NT as two places to play, daffydoc

For the one person who said pass - if thats your action hope you have a large stable of partners cause you will lose this one quickly - one CANNOT pass forcing bids and expect partner to be understanding about it - it would a a unilateral action which serious players cannot abide. Better you bid something and perhaps land in a horrible spot then be right and lose a partner. Daffydoc

well is this much different from what partner did to me today in National Fast Pair event? With no interference from opp 1S 1nt 3H 4C 4S 5H 5NT(pick a slam) 6H P P was akqjxx KQJ Kx xx opp xxx AT9x xx AQxx made 6H as hearts 42 on a diam lead. but how did Pard not respect the fact that I bid 4S over 4C - slam should be 6S or 6NT but luckily hearts were not 5-1 daffydoc

this is a standard play and fairly automatic - the nearly 100% play is spade king daffydoc

I use 2D to show the 17-24 4441 - traditionally a very hard hand to bid. One year at the nationals came up 5 times in 10 days, Last year once. Effective tool when it comes up. daffydoc

my first db showed 4H and enough to likely beat 1Hx - the second dbl continues the theme that it is our hand - NOT penalty - unless somehow partner has a hand that can convert. daffydoc

preemts work - while i would try 5C and bid 5NT over 5D I think that trying for 7 is ok but with such limited room most likely will end in 6 as unless i pin point AQ spades and diamond K with the above calls it will be difficult to bid an accurate 7. daffydoc

clear 4H bid I believe - also would have dbl. 2S - and these baby psyches do work - in local KO match last week it went 3D P and on xxxx xx xxx qT8x (white vs red) I bid a 3NT in tempo as RHO had also passed pretty much in tempo - LHO with 15 balanced was stuck and passed. down 6 while teamates made 6M at the other table - so they can work if one gets lucky. daffydoc

With my regular partner at national events - Pecoks - we have an explicit agreement that 4NT on this auction is minors. So easy to bid 4NT - the problem will be to bid 7 - a problem that many might solve by blasting after 5C response( an enterprising partner might bid 6C with heart ace and 4clubs to A - then 7 is easy. daffydoc

Well - very interesting responses - every bidder is happily assuming that partner holds the balancing hand of 10+hcp and opponents are stopping in 2S - WELL LHO has opened and is unlimited - RHO bid 2S which most of the time these days shows a constructive raise - why would anyone think that pard holds 10+ hcp - that is a rosy view - must be looking thru tinted glasses - anyone who bids on this hand has not played serious money bridge - that I am 100% sure of - the bidders apparently do not care that they go for a number - after all its only a number - NOT CASH. daffydoc

personally in real live bridge to even consider a bid at any color is BBO style bidding - in real bridge with real partners I wait for pard to reopen - if he can't its not our hand - and occasionally I will be stolen from - but if there is anyone out there who believes this is a 3C bid - please lets set up a big money match - would be my pleasure to play you! daffydoc

on both hands 5S says bid 6 with 2nd round heart control so in first case i don't like my hand but have control so bid 6, in second case i love my hand and bid 6H or cue my minor ace trying for a grand. over 5H I don't care for my hand on first but do on second - so since pard may have a void my ace is wasted - bid 5s on first and 6 spades on the second. daffydoc

3H is misdirected and just wrong - while i am sure no one is thrilled with 2nt at least it gets shape and strength correct - now whatever methods u play should be able to find 6d - personally I like and play transfers - so would bid 3H xfer to 3s and then bid 4d - and 5D over 4s pref - gets across shape and slam interesl - have run out of room for more exploration. daffydoc

opening NT with singletons is an epidemic on BBO - my pards would always transfer to my singleton - rarely think its right. daffydoc