ArcLight

You haven't played enough pick up bridge on BBO :)

What I can't seem to figure out is people balance against me at the 3 level with a 4 card suit and somehow we get a bad score. Either because opps misbid, pard misbid (never me of course :P ). Playing with / against puck up pards, defense may be weak, and this allows the insane bidders / balancers to get away with murder.

Trick 2 - lead a diamond, hope pard has the ♦K and Q and some length. It looks like declarer has 4/5 clubs, a dime, 2 hearts, and a spade after your ♠ is knocked out.

This is what Mike Lawrence advocates in his 2/1 system notes. He reserves a jump rebid (over a 2/1) of 3M for either; a) Solid suit: AKQJxxx – JTx – x – Kx. With Qx of C, its not a 3S rebid. (good hand) Suggests slam. b) <Mikes choice> Solid or semi-solid suit. The rest of the hand must be good. AKJTxx AQJTxx KQJTxx AQJ98xx (Blackwood may keep you from getting too high)

Assuming you have an agreement that you can raise responders major with just 3 cards, when do you do so? If you open a minor and responder bids a major, when will you raise pards major when holding 3 cards, as opposed to making a different bid? I was under the impression that if you have a balanced hand, bid 1NT. With some kind of shape you might raise pards major.

>>I agree most people asking these questions simply don't know any better, their partners would say "I will always bid again" and they will both get very upset if you called the director as they are always allowed to ask questions. Are you saying that I should ignore it when this happens because most players are unaware of the laws and implications of their questions? >>I also agree that your question was unnecessary but I don't see the relevance here, you were in pass out seat. Had your partner lead a ♦ and had it been advantageous there may have been a director call This doesnt sound like a fun environment :( It sounds to me that if I were playing against you, I would be forced to always ask for an explanation, to protect myself and pard. This does slow the game down, but what is the alternative? If any question is treated with suspicion, and there is a risk to the asker that the director may make some arbitrary ruling against them, there is no alternative. Same for the card play and bidding, take 10 seconds betwene each bid or card play. :blink:

Just a general observation, it sounds like many of you are expecting frequent cheating. I don't play face to face, so I have little experience with what goes on at a club. If cheating (lead directing questions) is that frequent, it sounds unpleasant. I think the director needs to be made aware of their ethics. However, its equally unpleasant to be accused of being unethical just because you want to know the meaning of the auction. In the first example, I would interpret 3♠ as a control bid, and slam interest, and not ask a question. But why is it so terrible if the opps ask questions if they really aren't sure? It sounds like in order to protect themselves, the opps should frequently ask in the pass out seat "Please Explain the auction". I try to figure out the hidden hands, and would like to know what I am entitled to before I lead, and not have someone accuse me of cheating. It goes both ways, you can say "everything and every pause" is UI, to prevent unethical play. But you also penalize those who are not unethical, and this is probably the vast majority of the players. Are club games really better if played in this atmosphere? I can see more serious events, but not casual club games. If someone asks some "dumb" questions, and you sense they are inexperienced/not that good/not trying to cheat, you might casually and in a friendly way explain the issue to them after the session.

I agree - I rate it an A. Not the usual lead up to A Q 9 and cover LHOs card. There are a lot of shape based end plays. The beginning stae=rts out very basic ( worried me I had wasted my money), but rapidly improves. Great book for Intermediates, and still worthwhile for Advanced.

OK, I will take a contrarian view - the book has some useful material but was (to me) annoyingly rambling and verbose. I was familiar with a lot of the material, but still got something out of it. The basic content is fine. But I do not recommend the book as it is poorly structured. It needs major rewriting/structuring/editing to make it more focused. Shorter can be better.

It's not that s;lam as so good, it was lucky, it was the 1Nt bid I was disappointed with. I'm not saying we would have eneded up in slam, or whether its a good one. With a somewhat better hand, slam could be great. Also - living in New Jersey doesn't mean one is mor eor less polite, though there are probably a highe rconcentration of impolite people in teh Metro New York region. I think you are generalizing, and I don't think the way I phrased my comment was an attack. Had I said' Pard you misbid that, it was obviously a 2 Club response" I think that would have been more in your face. I specifically said 2/1 bidding in the topic description. Not SAYC. >>OP: Instead of starting with an attack, you could have asked pard what his sequence showed. It shouldn't take long before you get to "either you have game-forcing values opposite a minimum opener or you don' Hmm, maybe thats a better way of asking, as its even more neutral. I like that! Thanks for the suggestion

1. "Pard, 2 Claubs wa sthe bid, not 1NT" was all I said. I don't remember the details after that. It was something along the lines of not getting too high, etc. Nothing nasty. 2. >>ArcLight, you were being a jerk at the table. You tried to teach someone who doesn't want to be teached, you deserved to be booted. Well I certainly wont play with you :lol: I sometimes get comments form othe rpick up players about bids. Sometim sthey are right and their bid is better than what I bid. I don't get mad at them, since they are making a reasonable observation in a non insulting way. 3 >>You're also being a jerk at the forums for not being completely honest. You skipped relevant details which are not in your favor. What details did I skip? I don't care about good vs bad slam. I think 2C was the better bid, and was annoye dthe opp booted me for saying "Pard, 2 Claubs was the bid not 1NT". I frequently see crazy bids and will point them out. 1m 1S, 3S - the 3 S bid was based on a minimum opening bid. So I told my Expert pick up pard "Pard, 3S shows a much stroonger hand than what you held". I think thats part of playing pick up games. I wouldn't offer advice all the time. Maybe on an occasional hand. And not on declarer play, like if they take a practice finesse. My "gripe" was being booted for making the commend "Pard, the bid ws 2C not 1NT", then after being told I'm wrong and the entire expoalantion saing I don't agree, I know I'm right". I hardly think thats caus efor booting someone.

Frances, One of the resons I posted here was to ask peoples rsponses of 1Nt vs 2C. Most had thought 2C was pretty obvious, though it may be close And no I dont think what I said was particularly obnoxious. Had I said something like "You made a bad bid, and completely misvalued your hand" or something like that, it would have been obnoxious. I don't think we have to live in a complete vacuum and its ok to mention that you don't agree with a pick up pards bid. Pick up pards will sometimes suggest a different bid than the one I made after the hand. Sometimes they are right, and more often they are not. But I don't take great offense.

I don't think I showed him up, as I was not impolite when i mad ethe comment. It's not like I said "Pard, you misbid that, it was obviously a 2C bid". And I didn't say anything else after that, other than when pard made some mor ecomments telling me I was wrong, and I said I was correct. I appreciate your comments and based on your temperment will certainly now play with you LOL :lol:

I never said you can rebid Diamonds to play. I meant you can find out about openers major suit holding. I must not have been clear, sorry. Special case 1C – 1D, 1NT -? Can also use TWC. This sequence has different meanings if you use Walsh responses (responder bypasses diamonds to bid a 4 card major). Since it’s unlikely you are looking for a major, you may want to assign some different meanings to the follow up bids, such as auto splinters. I think the original poster has a method where by they can find out about openers majors, hence his comment about bidding the major showing 6.

I think you are 100% correct. Its just that I WANT my mistakes pointed out. If I misbid, I won't learn unless I am told. If I misdefend or misdeclare, I want to know. What I find myself doing is saying "Last Hand" a lot when I see how bad a random pick up pard is. I never criticize their card play. I was just matter of factly mentioning what I thought the right bid was. Oh well. TYP <_<

I lumped NMF in with 2 Way Checkback Stayman. 2WCB does allow one to show invitational or GF hands in this sequence. I clouded the issue by using the term NMF instead of CBS or some other acronym. Sorry for the lack of clarity.

The holder of those cards bid 1NT forcing, I bid a red suit, then he jumped to 4 spades ending the aution. I ended up with 12 tricks. The clubs rolled in (I had Ax and ruffed them good after pulling trumps). After the hand I said "P, 2 Cubs was the correct bid, not 1NT" He told me I could have had a bad opening hand (thats my problem). I told him he still has to make the system bid of 2 Clubs. He said something, and I said "I know I'm right". So he booted me. LOL And he is a Silver life Master. Self rated Expert or Advanced. (He was a weak declarer also - as I watched him misplay a couple of hands). I was just annoyed for being booted when: 1 - I was not particularly obnoxious (other than saying 2 Clubs was the right bid, and then saying "I know I'm right") 2 - I was right, (and at all the other tables no one bid 1NT, only him) Its interesting to me how often these high master point players make really fundamental errors. Another SLM Expert misbid a hand, and then told me he was a bridge teacher. Teaching advanced classes such as "Hold Up Plays". :lol: I'm not saying I'm all that great, but I'm still surprised at how bad a lot of these "experienced players with lots of MPs" are. Maybe I will have to lie and change my profile to "Expert" so I can play with other lying advanced or advanced intermediates who rate themselves as experts, as opposed to the beginners who self rate themselves advanced. But I'd rather not lie :angry:

All White, Imps Pard deals and opens 1 Spade What do you respond with: S: K T x H: A D: Q x x C: K x x x x x (2C, 1NT forcing, Other - if so what) (3S shows 4+ Spades so that bid is out. )

This is a very good observation, one that I overlooked. Since I don't have a regular pard I had forgotten the implications of NMF/2WCB. >.What is the reasoning behind playing 2♥ as 6-4? I When using NMF (New Minor Forcing) in the sequence 1m 1M 1NT, 1 of the othe rminor asks decalrer to clarify their hand. With 4 cards in a major they bid that major. Thus 1C 1D, 1NT 2C (NMF), 2H (shows 4 H) - responder has more information and knows what to do. The convention has a number of follow ups and implications and the partnership should be on the same page on all of them, hence its not suitable for beginners and can led to problems in pick up partnerships. While many open with AK A, I think the north hand is too balanced and dont mind passing. If pard opens a minor, you bid hearts, they bid spades, you have to bid 1NT, but would prefer they declare as they are mor elikely to have tenaces to protect.

I agree. Good book for beginners, not so good for advanced intermediates and above. It's not like I got 100% right, but I got little out of the book. Still a good book for newer players.

Off Topic but what are the better ways to use these 2 bids? XX and 2NT? I am assuming pard has 3 spades, and 2 hearts. With 2 spades LHO can raise his pard. With 3 hearts pard can support your hearts. thats 8 unknown cards. If they are 4-4 or 5-3 we are fine. If they are 6-2 or worse not so fine. Or maybe .. 7-1 or 8-0, and you and pard can cross ruff some minor suit cards, and make the heart ace. Down 2 doubled? Maybe thats the best you can get out for. Maybe pard has the heart K, and you can get out for down 1 doubled. Maybe even make on some miraculous lie of the cards. Unless RHO lead the ace, and another spade is continued. You make 2 spades, 2 hearts, maybe a coupl eof others, down 2 doubled. Since there are ways for pard to find out about your minor, I pass. Smile, and soldier on.

If I understand correctly, your method is: 1NT 4C = hearts - slammish 1NT 4D = spades - slammish 1NT 4H = hearts - to play 1NT 4S = spades - to play Using Jacoby and Texas transfers, you can transfer, then raise pard showing slam interest. Or directly Texas transfer. What does your method do that the current methods don't do just as well? I still don't see why 4 Clubs Gerber is bad. It may rarely be used, but what is a better meaning?

>>P.S. Gerber is only played by little old ladies who don't understand about how to evaluate their hands for slam purposes. I don't know what the situation is elsewhere, but if you turned up to a tournament here with Gerber on your card, you'd get laughed at :-) 1. then what should 4♣ mean over 1NT or 2NT? Gerber may be infrequently used, so I ask you - what is a better use for 4♣ 2. lets say pard opens 1NT and you have a long minor with great trick taking potential, something like AKQJxxx (pard will have 2 so this is good for 7 tricks. It is very useful to know if pard has aces. The alternative may be to play slam in a suit contract, which you might not want to do at MP. You would transfer pard or to the minor or bid it, if your methods allow, and then bid BW.

I'd overcall 3 Diamonds. If you return the Club King, to stop Diamond ruffs, how will declarer come to hand? If pard has the heart ace, and rises, and leads a club, no club ruffs. Declarer can make: 7 clubs, 2 spades, 1 heart = down 1. Though I admit a diamond force gives you a trump trick, along with your diamond trick. As for a heart switch. I worry that declarer may end up with dome Diamond ruffs and don't like that idea.

Actually, playing with pick up pards has its upside. 1 - you can bid like a mad man, trying to be a hand hog and declare as many contracts as possible. 2 - you can torture an annoying pick up pard. Just keep raising them :P 3 - you run into some really cool bididng situations, for example - at IMPS all white you hold: xx QTx AQT8 K987 LHO CHO RHO You p 1C p 1D p 1S p ? With an "Advanced" pick up pard, with little on his card, you don't assume WALSH responses. Do you bid 2NT? Lets say you bid 3 Clubs, invitational. (perhaps 2NT is better, but you bid 3C) p 1C p 1D p 1S p 3C p 4NT p 5D (Pard has no flavor of BW on his card, you dont even think he knows what RKCBW is, so you assume regualr BW and show an Ace). Unfortuanley we are beyond 5C, so i hope we aren't too high. p 1C p 1D p 1S p 3C p 4NT p 5D p 5H p ? 5H in RKCBW is asking for the Queen, what the heck is it in regular BW? Or maybe pard is using 0314? And its a Queen ask. I am worried ... p 1C p 1D p 1S p 3C p 4NT p 5D p 5H p 6C and pards hand is .... AKxx Axxx Jx AQc Your advanced pick up pard cleverly bypassed hearts on his 2nd turn and went to spades. H emight have bid 2NT also. the fun of pick up pards :P