jtfanclub

I got called last week for failure to alert on.... P (P) P (1♦) X showing a 10 count or so and diamonds...which it would for most beginners I know. I got out of it by pointing out that this time there was no damage, but I don't like regulations that require beginners to alert natural, intuitive bids.

I don't enjoy playing Standard American. I find it a giant pain in the ass for an auction to have meaning A for one partner and meaning B for another partner and have them both be right. Everybody has their own opinion of what Standard American is, and they ain't changing. I consider it grotesque to read what I consider to be very ordinary bidding questions here and get a wide variety of answers, each of which considers their answers to be Standard American. I prefer to play my system because it's simple, easy to learn, and cuts down on confusion. Lots of people who insist that their meaning of of an auction is Standard in Standard American will happily assign some other meaning to it if what you're playing is not Standard American. I understand why this is, and I respect that. If I can write up a two page system that a person can read, sit down with me, and play and have fewer bidding misunderstandings the first time we play it together than if we both play "Standard American", well, why shouldn't we play my system? If I don't like SA, and I don't want to play SA with regular partners because I don't find it to be fun, why is this a problem? Why do you think this makes me stuck up, or imposing, or whatever? Maybe the question should be asked "at what point in one's bridge life, without any kind of verifiable performance success, is one convinced that their version of Standard American is the only system and then impose on every one of his friends?" In my own defense, with about half my regular partners I've played their favorite system instead. And with a number of people I play Standard American because, well, they're good people and I like spending time with them whether it's playing Bridge or Go Fish. As far as I'm concerned, everybody who plays "Standard American" above a certain level IS playing their own custom system, with this part they liked from one person and this other part they've liked from some other person and some parts that just make sense to them and finally some parts that are just what their club does. And what I find is that the difference between playing my custom system and their custom system is that they won't write down what their system is ("it's just standard"), and they won't make changes to it (because it's standard). And they expect you to know it perfectly, because it's Standard American. Of course, real experts do write down what they're actually playing, with dozens or sometimes hundreds of pages of notes, and they do make changes to it to fit their temperments. But at that point, it's really a custom system, and no longer Standard American. Whether it's my custom system, or my partner's, or a joint effort, or a bridge writer's, I'm going to enjoy it a lot more than a partner who has no references for what his bids mean or how he evaluates hands. And I honestly can't imagine why I should apologize for that.

Not sure why this is a change. We've been negotiating with the Taliban for about a year now. Basically it comes down to if they'll stop protecting Al Qaeda and other international terrorist types, we'll stop blowing up their weddings- I mean, fighting their troops.

I agree with the Supreme Court ruling, but I think the jury ruling was nonsense. No, the FDA approving a label doesn't shield the drug company from liability. In this case, though, the label was more than adequate. Maybe if it was being self-administered the label should be longer, but this was something that was given in a hospital. They should know what intra-arterial means and what they should do to prevent it. Besides, when was the last time a doctor actually read a label? Edit: PS http://news.yahoo.com/comics/090301/cx_fra...fqgaSrxKRQP_b4F

I'll be there in a couple of weeks- just looking for a partner for an evening, at the local club, assuming there is a local club. Never played bridge in Europe before, and I only speak a smattering of German. Send me a PM.

So what would 2♠ have meant, then, after you made a 2♦ call? I play that as a suprising forwardgoing move, and I don't know anybody offhand who doesn't. Partner has a clear and obvious way to invite game. Why would he use 2NT, if it meant the same thing but a lot less clear? I think you're right, X followed by 2♥ makes more sense with 5-5. Maybe he's 4-6. Maybe he's used to using X followed by 2♥ as a powerhouse and he's forgotten that as a passed hand he doesn't need the powerhouse bid any more. But I think 2NT can't be a diamond bid. Even if partner woke up and realized that he had an opening count and more, 2♠ is just too obvious to use 2NT for the same sort of hand.

I don't like the argument that because I didn't mention it to the director immediately, it shouldn't be a factor in the final decision. First off, the director may have asked several dozen questions of the offended people and then asked for a quick reason for the offenders to explain themselves. The player in question might have several arguments available (all of which would be true) and just chose the one most likely to sway the director. Giving a bunch of reasons all at once sounds like excuse manufacturing. Secondly, the person may have just realized it subconsciously. If there had been no delay and no UI, I would have realized something was wrong, but it's very likely that I would not have realized it was that my partner passed the 1 club until I analyzed it later. I'd just know that something going on was impossible. Thirdly, saying "My partner is such an idiot that I'm lucky if he remembers Stayman. Of course if I'm given a choice between partner forgot and some almost-impossible combination of hands I'm going to choose the moron option" might not be the most politically correct thing to say, considering that you still have to finish the game with the person in question. This would especially be true if the guy who forgot the transfer was a client and the guy who was trying to ensure that he'd play the hand was getting paid for the privilege.

Not possible- he's a passed hand. It must be that he's 5-5 in Hearts and clubs, and he was hoping for the 2/3* shot that you'd pick one of his suits at the 2 level, rather than bid Michaels and be assured of being at the 3 level. What else could it mean? *OK, not really 2/3, but you know what I mean.

Agreed on both. In some case one table 1, because I know the opponents, I'll just call the director. Double shots like this simply shouldn't happen. On table 2, I might have called the director to reserve my rights, but I would be very unhappy if my opponent was forced to bid something they didn't want to bid because of a nervous habit.

I don't think you can/should get to 6NT if North is the one doing the exploring. South can see he has all the critical intermediates, so if North gives the option then certainly South should go there. But if South had almost the same hand: [hv=s=skj2hkqj7dk7cak43]133|100|[/hv] Now I'd rather be in 6♥- it's more likely to make, and it's more likely to make an overtrick if they don't find the spade lead (draw trump, pitch a spade on the club, run your winners and crossruff the hand out).

If you're worried about room and strain, why not open 1♥? The only real advantage of 3♥ is that it shuts the opponents out of the bidding, and if you're not worried about that, why not just start nice and low? Maybe you'll talk them into doubling 4♥. I think this is a 1♥ or a 4♥ hand, but not a 3♥ hand white vs. red. Partner will never guess I have this much playing strength.

I am? Ok, here goes. LHO has the 9. RHO had the King RHO did not have the Q, or he would have played it. LHO did not have the A, or he would not have underled it? So LHO started wtih AK8. How did I do? You can see the 8. LHO must have the Q, T, and 9, right? But he wouldn't lead diamonds if that's all he had. So it must be one of: QT95 AK AQT9 K5 AQT95 K If it was the middle one, surely RHO would return a diamond. So RHO must have either AK or K stiff. Edit: I keep thinking about the lead back of the king of clubs. Is he trying to establish an entry to partner? It is possible that his partner has QT9xxx so an entry would do the trick, but in that case if he has AK he should lead the second diamond before establishing an entry. That would mean the K♣ only makes sense as an entry maker if he has the stiff king of diamonds. The other possibility is that he's given up on the set and working on making sure they get 3 tricks. Give him, say... Jxx xxx AK KQxxx Now you could have the other red queen (his partner only has 2 points): AQ3 AT8 QJ432 A9 and have 4 spades, 4 hearts, 2 diamonds, and a club if he cashed the second diamond. Playing the king of clubs before cashing the second diamond holds it to 10 tricks.

I think I misunderstood a comment in there, sorry. Never mind.

Curious. With one point, white vs. red, and partner opening 2♠, I would have guessed that 3♠ was automatic. Maybe even 4♠.

OK, so, changing this just a hair... Your partner is a client. He's a money bridge player, plays the spots off the cards but refuses to play anything fancier than Jacoby 2NT. Doesn't even know what Lebensohl is. If you are absolutely certain that this is not Lebensohl, would you pass or bid 3NT?

I don't like the answers here, though they're in agreement so I assume it's the Standard answer. I wouldn't WJS with 4-6 in the majors, even if this hand was weak enough to WJS. I was unaware that was non-standard. Aren't those of you who would worried about being in a 6-1 heart fit when there was a 4-4 spade fit available? If you're not going to worry about a spade fit, why not just open this hand with a weak 2? Rest deleted- I've been talked out of it.

It's the doubleton spade that gives you your 13th trick- there's no place to park a spade loser. I don't see anything in your auction that would keep you out of grand if South has 3 or 4 spades.

[hv=n=skt94hadak7652ca5&s=sa8hk874dqj984cq3]133|200|[/hv] North is dealer. We found (well, I made a slight adjustment to the hands, but on the actual one we found) 6NT played by South, made the 12th trick on a friendly spade lead, and a 13th on a simple squeeze. Partner was not happy that we did not find the much safer and higher scoring 7♦. Would you?

I'm curious to see what the hand was. If MY partner did that, it would mean either mechanical failure (meant to bid 2♠) or mental failure (he thought I overcalled a diamond) and now was hurrying out of what could be a 3-2 fit. But I'm sure that never happens to you guys. :)

Military planes use GPS for steering. Civillian planes do not. The reason for the latter was originally because the military was afraid people would hijack or steal planes, set the GPS coordinates for the World Trade Center, turn on the autopilot, and parachute out. It's very easy to get exact GPS coordinates for a building (you can find them on the Internet). Trying to hit a building with a plane via dead reckoning is almost impossible. Obviously, this didn't stop the 9/11 terrorists, because they were willing to die in blowing up the WTC, but that's a lot tougher to stop. There are other mechanisms in the civillian GPS signal to prevent it from being used for autopilots (especially with ICBMs).

I don't understand the overall logic here. Does this mean the auction 1♠ 1NT 2♥ 4♥ is impossible, since 1NT said 'I don't have enough to force game' and 2♥ didn't show any extras? On the specific hand, since it has 6(!) clubs, you knew you had a fit the first time. But I don't think it's uncommon that an invitational hand becomes GF when we find a fit. Even on this hand, with one more diamond and one less club I'd have some sympathy for 2♦ and then 6♣, especially if partner dealt.

RF happens whether you want it to or not- I've had radios that would receive signals even when they were unplugged, and of course there's the famous case of teeth receiving signals. The power to create the noise is coming from somewhere. If you have a lightbulb set up for the right frequency, you can hold it in your hand and watch it light up if you're next to a radio tower (yes, I've done it). Seems like you could make a recharger with a radio antenna to use that power- it'd be slow, but it would work. It would also interfere with all radios within a few feet.

No, it sounds like they SELF-ALERTED the bid as 5+/5+ and weak. You only have 20 characters or so to work with, so it's going to be only the basics. But I'm sure if you asked they'd have been happy to tell you it was 0-9 hcp or whatever. Meanwhile, if you open 2♥ 2nd hand white on red with a hand like: xx QTxxxxx x J9x would you have felt the need to alert it?

Had that discussion with my mentor before...after reading "To bid or Not to bid", I said that if everybody wasn't going to let us play after 1♥-P-2♥-P-P unless it was going to be a bad result, shouldn't we start including hands with 8-10 and Hx support as well as 6-9 and 3 card support? He said, if we found that nobody was letting us play 2♥, he'd certainly consider it. Of course, lots of people happily let us play in 2♥, so we never did add it. Why attempt to confuse the opponents if they were going to be good and let us bid without interference? We did add those hands to 1♥ X 2♥. I forget if we're alone in that or not. (Precision, so the odds of game are remote).

The issues specific to the ACBL seem to me to be: 1. Getting people into clubs. From my limited experience, that's the big thing. Once you have them in for a couple of lessons, they're hooked. 2. Bullying by established people in the clubs. I don't see how the ACBL can do much other than what's already been done. It's really up to the clubs to control their own members. 3. People leaving as soon as they make Life Master. No, I don't think increasing the requirements to become Life Master was the way to solve this. With no cash prizes, few trophies and "make your own system" actively discouraged, why should people want to stay around after making Life Master? For some worthless masterpoints? Blah.