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In Dan Romms book "Things your bridge teacher won't tell you" he claims that a big advantage of 4 card majors is since you don't need the Negative double, you can use it as a penalty double. He says that in todays environment, many people overcall with weak hands, and there is no way to penalize them. (he also doesnt like the negative double above the 2 level). I have never played 4 card majors. Would those strong players who have care to comment?

3NT so I can hog the hand! :) If playing with my regular partner Ren Kexford, I might bid 4♠ a splinter agreeing Clubs as trump. Or 4♦ as Kickback. Pard would know that since I bypassed Unserious 3NT I have a slammish hand with at least 2 aces. Too bad that stiff ace of spades is not in a 5 card suit instead. 3♣ should imply a pretty good 2♣ bid. KQxxxx or KQJxx in Clubs. And not balanced else bid 2NT (or whatever 3NT is). If I were not playing with Ren, I would bid 4♣ and let pard cue bid or BW.

1. I agree with the Responsive Double. Since we hold the A and Q, pard likely has a 6 card club suit holding the K and J. Would he overcall with a 5 card broken suit? 2. I will just bid 5♣ and hope we make it. We may have a spade, and a diamond or heart loser or two.

This isnt quite what you are looking for, but still useful http://www.eastontario.com/conventions/count.htm http://www.eastontario.com/conventions/count2.htm

I think 2Nt was fine, pard has his bid and shape and stoppers. Many people play ssystem on, so if you bid 3♦ and pard 3♥ you can decide what to do. Keep in mind pard doesnt have to have many hearts. In this case you have a great fit. It wont always be so. I'm not sure how you would end up in game, unless you bid it. I may be tim it, but I'd have left pard in 3♥

Doesnt leading a heart from hand probably cost 3 trump tricks, as well as the eventual spade loser? Enter dummy and finesse East for the heart J. Hopefully he goes up with the A or K and gives his pard a ruff with the other top honor (A or K). Then your Q takes teh remaining Jack. Lose 1 trump, 1 spade, and 1 spade ruff.

Top 5? How about the top 50. Yes , thats right. There is a lot of ground to cover. You can read some books on fundamental bidding, and this excludes conventions. You need to read books on card play technique: I liked Mollos (Card Play Technique) more than Watsons, but you wont go wrong reading Watson. Terence Reese has a number of books on various aspects of card play technique. Card Play Made Easy 1-4 is a good set of smaller books. The Bird/Smith/Bourke 12 volume Bridge Technique series is ok, but pricey for the material Kelseys Bridge Odds for Practical Players is also good. Reeses The Most Puzzling Situations in Bridge Play is good when you get more experience. For Defense you can start with : Bill Roots How to Defend a Bridge Hand Eddie Kantars Modern & Advanved Bridge Defense Frank Stewarts Comprehensive Guide to Defense Frank Stewarts Winning Defense I'd save Kelseys Killing Defense and More Killing Defense for later as they are a bit more advanced. Also Woolseys Partnership defense For Deduction / Inferences Miek Lawrneces - How to Read your Opponents Cards Countrdown to Winning Bridge Dormer on Deduction Better Bridge for the Advancing Player by Frank Stewart I wouldn't worry about Squeezes yet. Birds Bridge Squeezes for Everyone is a good starting point. Reese and Kelsey have good books I also wouldnt worry so much about false carding Lawrence & Kelsey have books, as do Rigal and Lipkin >How to lose at bridge I think Arend means SJ Simons How NOT to Lose at Bridge :) Or "Why you lose at Bridge" or something like that. Just 5 books? 1,2. you must read a book on basics, so I'd pick Watson over Mollo.. But you should read both 3,4. Eddie Kantars Modern & Advanced Bridge Defense 5,6 How to Reda Your opponents Cards and Frank Stewarts Better Bridge for teh Advancing Player. Frank Stewart is probably the most underrated or unappreciated author (other than Jannersten). He has a number of EXCELELNT books.

Ron Anderson's The Lebensohl Convention Complete is best book on the subject. It covers how to use it against 2 suited overcalls. It also discusses using it against enemy weak 2s, and pards Reverses. It covers Lebensohl in more depth than Pavliceks book (which is an excellent book).

What would be a better lead and why?

I will assume LHO has 4 clubs and finesse. Reasoning below: (If I've made a faulty assumption pleas elet me know!) You need some information on the way the suits split. You know that RHO has at least 10-11 of the misisng 14 HCP. I say 10-11 leaving 3-4 for LHO but I'd like to know a bit more about their methods. How many total points (shape + HCP) do they need to bid 3♦? Since LHO is so weak I think ♦ are 4-5. Its very unlikely the heart finesse will work, and even if it does, you still need 4 clubs. Once you lost the heart finesse, and the dimes are cleared, if you lose a club, you are down (3Dimes, 1C, 1H) First cash the 3 rounds of hearts. Maybe you can get a better count on the hand. Though in this case it wont help as RHO would respond 1H with 4, and LHO would open 1H with 5, H are 4/3 Assume the club is a stiff That would mean LHO has 4 clubs, 5 dimes, and say is 2-2 in the majors. Meaning RHO has 5 hearts and 3 Spades. RHO would have opened 1H. So LHO is 1=3=5=4 and RHO is 4=4=4=1 If RHO has a stiff club, then LHO has the Club Jack, so HCP are 4-10 Would RHO open with 10 HCP and 4441 shape? What are their criteria? Losers? 1C, 3D (missing AKQ), 2H, 1 Spade (assuming KQJ) They might With 3=4=4=2 shape they have teh following losers. 2C, 3D (missing AKQ), 2H, 1 Spade (assuming KQJ) = 8 They would not open I will assume LHO has 4 clubs and finesse.

The Only Chance by Eric Jannersten There are 83 bad contracts (usually due to some bad split like 4-1 or 5-0) and you have to visualize what layout you need to make the contract. The layout is realistic, not requiring a 6-0 split or 5-1 with a stiff King. You have to make some assumptions, like the hand with the master trump not being able to ruff in before the 3rd round of clubs allowing you to discard a loser. A nice assortment of problems. There are a few squeezes, but most problems just require planning , counting, and visualization. An excellent book for all you over bidders at the Intermediate plus or higher level. Eric Jannersten was a Swedish expert who wrote a number of excellent books, though they are probably not well known. Winning Pairs Technique Card reading; the art of guessing right at the bridge table Find the Mistake Play safe -- and win The Best of Bridge I haven't read his book on Precision. He has another book "With Open Cards" that has 100+ Double Dummy problems. They are tough! They are mostly small and grand slams involving some weirdo squeeze. Its definitely for Advanced players.

>>- 1. Yes, but I don't think it's an obvious overcall. I would be happier with a weaker hand: ♠ Axx ♥ AKJ9xx ♦ xx ♣ xx >>I agree with Roland, give me a hand with same HC but less controls and I wouldn't overcall at all. Am I misunderstanding or are these two statements are in conflict? I take it that Roland would rather overcall with a hand with an extra trump (the J) at the expense of the K♦. I think Fluffy is saying to pass with that hand?

both vuln. (please answer for both IMPS and MP) RHO (North) opens 1 spade 1. Would you (East) overcall 2H with this hand? If not how much does it need to be improved so as to overcall? ♠A x x ♥A K x x x ♦K x x ♣ x x 2. Now switch seats to South (the partner of the 1♠ opener) Assume East overcalls 2♥, you pass and pard reopens with a DBL. 1♠ (2♥) p p X p ? What do you bid with: ♠ x x ♥ J T x x ♣ x x x ♦ J x x x Do you pass for penalties (and risk Overcaller being doubled into game)? Or bid 2♠? Or what else? Perhaps I am mistaken but it seems to me extremely dangerous to pass. Maybe in MP? But I can't imagine doing so in IMPS

This hand can make slam if pard has 0-2 spades, and a few clubs including the K (if RHO has the Q), or KQ. (with 0 its only 35% chance of a 3-3 spaed split) Something like: (give or take a heart, and maybe add the club Q, with enough clubs, you can play for the drop) ♠ x ♥ x x x x x ♦ x x x ♣ K x x x

The Extra Edge in PLay by Terence Reese & Julian Pottage I read and reviewed this book about 2 years ago. I didn't think it was anything special (I think I rated it a C or C-). I may have been disappointed because I had just read some excellent books by Reese and this wasn't as good. In other words my expectations were too high. Perhaps as I've read more books and gained experience I have come to appreciate some of the techniques more. I just reread the book and liked it more the second time. Some of the hands were not so good, but there were a number of interesting hands / techniques. Things like how to play 2 suits that both offer finesses, or partial eliminations, or unusual ducking plays. I am upping my rating to B-

You passed initially, denying 6 support points. Pard doubled on his own, indicating shape and extras. I think his shape is 1=5=2=5 or better Too bad our long suit is ♦ If I had the Club King insted of the diamond king I would be more excited. But we have 3 trumps and a doubleton ♣. Perhaps we can ruff a club Pard can make game with AKQxx in hearts, and AKxxx in Clubs provided hearts and Clubs split 3-2, which I would not bank on. If pard has a trump loser but has the Dimond ace we can also make game. But he might not. He might have the massive 2 suiter that doesn't open 2♣. But more likley he has a very good hand taht is not making 4♥ I will preference to 3 hearts.

IMPs, Opps vulnerable and pass (pick up pard) you hold ♠ x ♥A Q x x ♣ ♦K T 9 8 6 5 3 2 In 2nd seat what do you bid? 1♦? I opened 1♦, LHO overcalled 1♠, pard bid 2NT now what? I bid 3♥, pard raised to 4. 4♥ was down on a club lead. 5♦ makes. Pard had his bid ♠ A K x x ♥K J x x ♦ J ♣ x x x x On a club lead and continuation teher ws no way to avoid getting tapped and it wasn't possible to set up the Diamonds. I'm thinking of what Hrothgar is always saying, that Swans (7-4 or better?) should play in the long suit, not the 4-4 suit. So what should the bidding have been? p 1♦ 1♠ 2NT p 5♦ ???

(Hannie this is a 2/1 question, not SAYC) Our auction went 1♠ 2♦ 2♠ 2NT 3NT (making 7) How bad were the: 2♠ 2 NT 3 NT

(just teasing Ken :) IMPS - opps vuln, RHO deals and passes Please bid this using 2/1 not SAYC: (Opener) ♠A K J 8 7 x ♥A T x ♦x x x ♣ K (Responder) ♠x x ♥K x ♦ A Q J T 9 x x ♣ A x Is the Openers hand good enough to bid 1♠-2♦, 3♠ ? Or is it good enough to raise ♦ 1♠-2♦, 3♦ ?

So you need a "Federal" drivers license instead of a state drivers license? I don't see the big deal in that? I think there is a lot of fraud and fake IDs used for illegal purposes. I think tightening up IDs is ok. Now if the government kept a record of where we all went, and could stop us randomly and ask for IDs (and travel papers) I would NOT like that.

>In Lawrence's 2/1 workbook he specifically talks about 1x - 2y - 2N being either 12-14 or 18-19 and 3N being 15-17. I suppose the same logic can be extended to 1x - 2y - 2z - 2N/3N and similar sequences. Actually Mike says that since opener could have opened 1NT and didn't it should imply something in addition, and suggests it shows 2 cards in responders suit. (there should be some reason Opener avoided NT)

Jdonn, what are your criteria for rebidding 1NT (as opener) vs. showing a 4 card major? Do you always bid 1NT, or are there exceptions? If so, what?

Jdonn and Jlall commented on a different thread about rebididng 1NT rather than showing a 4 card major with a 4333 hand. (this is rebididng 1NT on the 2nd bid, not opening 1NT) The bidding was 1m - 1Z - with a choice of 1NT or 1M with a 4333 shape and 13 HCP. I think Ron Klinger also advocates rebididng 1NT and not shoing the 4 card major. 1 - What are your criteria for bidding 1NT on the 2nd round? - HCP total - HCP quality - which 4 card major When would you not bypass the 4 card major? If playing Walsh you know that after 1♣-1♦ responder lacks a 4 card major, unless he has a big hand and will bid again. But what about 1m - 1♥ -? when holding 4 spades?

I thought Walsh ws "standard" among USA experts? Justin, do you just respond up the line, or do you use a different method?

Like you need help against weak opps? :) Would you be less inclined to do this against experts (with an expert pard)