ArcLight

I like the new release, its very nice. One feature that I would find useful is being able to mark players as "Dont Want to Play With" I don't want to make them enemies, just not play with them. If I could easily identify them, it would allow me to sit at a table faster, instead of having to check out my profile on them.

>You are obligated to disclose your agreements, but you have no obligation to educate your opponents about what a standard bid means. What if I don't know your system? What if my opps are using MOSCITO, which I don't know. What if I am not familiar with a convention? Whats wrong with "in our system this shows an unwillingness to defend clubs and demands pard bids a suit" Maybe the last pair they played uses the cue bid to show a 4-4-4-1 hand with an odd number of jacks and a prime number of honor cards.

From Mike Lawrences 2/1 system notes (books & CD) Jump shift to new suit – 2 treatments (both good) Discuss with pard which treatment to use!! 1 ) Two GOOD suits. 8 – AQJ87 – Q8 – KQJT5, but NOT AK – Q9763-J-AKQ87 (hearts are weak, even with 19 HCP). Bid 2D with the later, despite the HCP. 2 ) Splinter. Keeps the bidding lower than a double jump to the 4 level. You can play that a double jump then shows a void.

Psychological Strategy In Contract Bridge ~ The Techniques Of Deception And Harassment by Fred Karpin 1960 There are 3 parts to the book. The first part shows various psyche bids through the ages, breaking them up by era. I found some of the psyche bids from the early days not worth consideration, such as opening 1NT with 0 HCP. Some of the "later day" (ie 1950's) lead inhibiting psyches (like Zia uses) are worth studying. I would have liked a long chaper(s) on when to use each type of psyche. The only useful book on psyching I've read is Zia Mahmoods "Bridge My Way". I got nothing out of Pottages or Mollows books. There were some chapters on weak 2s (relatively new back then) and weak jump overcalls. All this material has been seen else where, but its still valid. The 2nd part is on Declarer False Cards. - disrupting the defenders signaling - playing a card so as to cause one of the defenders to think the other has a card (you have KQx and cover LHOs opening lead to RHOs Jack with the K, making LHO think RHO has QJx) - playing the "wrong" (too high) card to fool the defenders plus lots of others The 3rd part is on Defender false cards - against NT, LHO has all the assets. Lead 2 from A Q T 6 2, making declarer think you only have a 4 card suit, and its safe to finesse into your hand - ducking plays - playing a hard thats higher than needed, to cause declarer to think the suit is split badly plus lots of others The 2nd and 3rd parts are found in other modern books on deception. They are still valid and well presented. The first part was of some interest (the part on modern day psyches like fake cue bids). Overall its a pretty good intermediate level book. Worth reading. One of the things you don't see is how often psyches work out badly, or frequency of bid. If you have a reputation as a psycher, you may derive some benefit if it causes the opponents to bid unsoundly.

>The large graphic that Claus is using as a sign file is an image hosted by Bridgefiles.net >If you configure your browser to block images from this location you won't get bothered by it any more. Using Mozilla you can rightclick on the image. >Not sure how to do this in IE... Richard, if you can tell me how to block this in IE I'll be your best friend! :)

Wayne, GIB works by generating a set of hands and evaluating how they work out. The slower teh setting, the more hands it can generate and examine, and teh better it will perform. At the fastest setting if it generates just a small number of hands a couple of outliers may distort it's analysis and cause it to select a poor bid. I have not had the patience for the slow setting, and its fast setting has not played all that well on my machine.

How to Play (and Misplay) Slam Contracts by Fred Karpin Good solid Intermediate level book on play of the hand. The contracts are all slams, but the techniques are applicable to other hands. Players from the 30's and 40's alos posessed good technical skill, and card reading judgment. The bidding may be a bit outdated, but the hands were good. A few squeezes, but mostly timing/communications/counting/card reading. My main gripe with Fred Karpin's books is the hands are almost always presented Double Dummy, and you have to cover up the appropriate hands. ------------------------------------------ I also just reread Step by Step Card Play in No Trumps by Robert Berthe & Norbert Lébely Great intermediate level book on NT play technique. Not just obvious hold ups, but blocking plays, timing, communications, and planning at trick one. Clear, well done. The best book on NT play I have read (I'm looking forward to Augie Boehms Three Notrump in Depth ) ---------------------------------------------- Bridge Lessons at a Glance. Pamela and Matthew Granovetter. $10.95 104pp Intermediate level tny booklet. Given the small size (3 inches by 3 inches?) its probably the equivilent of a 20 page book. For $11 I consider that quite pricey! The material is good (whats there).

This is BAM, not IMPs so go with the percentages. Dont cater to 4-1 splits. Opps at the other table can bid and will be in game as well. If they are in slam making, they beat you. So don't assume teh Spade finesse will work. Win heart in hand. Lay down AK trumps Run Clubs, you have the entry to Dummy in hearts. They get 2 tricks, the trump Q (maybe) and the Dime Ace. [i play AK of spades because I think its the best play for the hand, not necessarily the best play of the spade suit in isolation. "8 Ever, 9 Never"]

>I really think estimating what the field will be doing is overrated, but sometimes it's obvious that you're in an abnormal contract and the normal contract will take 1 more trick. Justin, you certainly have much more experience than I do, but what you say seems to be at odds with what Hugh Kelsey says in "Match Point Bridge". Basically, he says if you are not in the "right" contrat, you don't do well. And you have to look at what the field will be playing to decide how to play the hand. (play for down 1, or make a speculative 3/3 or penalty double) Maybe he is basing this on play against a good field, not the typical weak and random one. I see other authors showing problems in this frame of mind as well (we need Z to score well, play for some unlikely combination)

>The laws are certanly not against cheating but against making mistakes. When you bid/lead something, which MAYBE is suggested by an UI, you receive a corrected score. I am sure that Adam did not at all tried to cheat. I believe, that he tried anything to avoid any advantage from the UI. But this is not the point. The laws do not ask whether he tried to cheat or tried to be ethical. They just ask, whether a lead was suggested by the UI or not. ANd several members of this fourms believe, that a club lead was suggested by the hesitation. So, when he lead a club he was wrong. And that is, where he gets the corrected score for. The problem with this attitude/view is that it removes thinking from what is a thinking game. Not everyone is experienced enough or good enough to think quickly. There is a sure fire 100% solution - pause for 10 seconds before every single bid and card play. Let the opps know ahead of time that you want to make sure no UI is passed. You don't want to be accused of being unethical.

I'm not sure what Larry Cohens RealDeal CDs are. He has a 3 CD set Life Master Pairs which are ok. They are not as good as the Mike Lawrence CDs, though they are more advanced. Mike Lawrences Private Lessons have some squeezes, but just simple ones. If you have BB 16 you can (laboriously) enter hands from books on Squeezes, and play them later. Not much fun that way. As someone else pointed out the level 4 Bridge Master hands have lots of squeezes.

>If west's intent was to get a diamond ruff, why not overtake and play a diamond through. I agree. The actual play reminds me of something from Hugh Kelsey, but the opposite. "Take pard by the hand and help him find the right play when you can" (don't present him with a problem he may get wrong when YOU know what to do) In fact - Hugh Kelsey would write in "Even More Killing Defense" ;) "Since pard did not over take your Q and lead a diamond back, you can infer that he doesn't have a low doubleton. He must have the KJxx so cash your ace and lead low to his Jack, so he doesn't make a mistake" :P

>Some of the comments like "just learn how to play, don't worry about conventions" are imo rather patronizing. Actually they are sound advice. I see people in BIL (the beginner intermediate lounge) listing all sorts of conventions they don't need and mis-using others. They are not helping themselves. They are mis directing their efforts. Based on what I see in BIL beginners are not taught fundamentals. A new player will do just as well if they don't use J2NT or Inverted Minors or Leb, etc. They need to learn basics. Many Intermediates are not really intermediates. They think they are becaus ethey know some conventions, but their card play, counting, and visualization is weak and they don't realize it. [i'm sure Adam's students don't fit this criteria as he would work with them to correct fundamentals] >Most conventions are not complicated, and they make the process of bidding easier rather than harder. Any one convention is no problem to learn. The problem is when: - conventions have variations that the pick up pards haven't discussed and may not even be aware of. Do you play Drury? Reverse Drury, Regular Drury, Bergen Drury? What does a 4 Club response to a Jacoby 2NT response mean? Is it a void? a GOOD 5 card suit? What defines GOOD? - do you know ALL the follow ups to the convention? People list RKCBW, but don't know how to ask for Queens. What does 5NT mean? Is it SPECIFIC kings, or just number of kings? - how many conventions are you using? If just a few then complexity is no problem. If using 27, and half of them rarely come up, will you remember what that means? 1NT - 4♠ ? What the heck is pards 4♠? I gues its a transfer to Clubs. 5♣ OOps! I forgot we were playing Baron, and it was a balanced 17HCP. WIth just 15 HCP and 4 clubs we ended up down 1 in a bad slam. > Admittedly you don't want to start playing everything at the same time.. just keep adding something every 2-3 sessions or whatever rate makes you comfortable. Thats a 100% sure recipe for mistakes and forgetting conventions. You need a regular pard, and still certain conventions don't come up all that often. It is necessary to practice a convention, but don't look for a silver bullet. > However, they are not big scary complex things and serve people of ALL skill levels equally. One convention is not scary. 38 are. In addition, you study a convention, think you know it, then gradually forget parts of it. One day, 11 months later this comes up: p p 1♥ p 2♠ p ? What is 2♠? We play Drury, what is CHO doing? Mini-Splinter? Oh, I forgot thats a passed hand fit jump, pard has heart support and a nice spade suit. 2♠ p 2NT p, 3♣ p 3S making 4 pard held: SP: KQxxxx H: xx D: x C: Axxx He was playing feature ask/show, you were palying Ogust >Another thing I disagree with is the comment about omg learn count. You misread it. Learn TO count. Count signals help, but learning to count even with out them is key. >As I phased out of intermediate status, I started playing count and I LOVE it. It is incredibly frustrating now for me playing with someone who does not show count. However, (again, imo) count is something that you start doing when you feel ready for it. Its great for visualizing the hand layout/distribution of the 2 hands you can't see... but when you are still learning the game there are plenty of clues in the way people play.. signals etc, that you can usually find the right play even without knowing if declarer is 5/4/2/2 or 5/3/3/2. When you are comfortable with the game to the point that you are starting to picture the other 2 hands in your mind, then count is awesome. But when mentoring newer players who have enough on their minds already, count falls by the wayside for a good while imo. Whan mentoring new players you should focus 100% on getting them to count. They can learn technique from books. Counting is what takes practice. They can read books on defense that will help visualization. But they can't play defense well without counting. >I started playing about a year ago... so being a "new" player is a fairly fresh experience for me. >As I phased out of intermediate status, If you are advanced after just 1 year then you show great promise.

Pard has 5 cards to choose from, Attitude and Count are not going to be important. Pard will be pretty sure you have 4 clubs for the raise. He wouldn't discorage other wise, he'd be worried about South discarding. Pard could signal a middle card to continue, Ace and another Dime. Good thing pard has KJx.

Here is an artcile by Larry Cohen "What Conventions should we Play" http://www.larryco.com/BG%20articles/A13--...20We%20Play.htm [surprisingly he puts the 2NT ask over pards weak 2 as #4] One thing I noticed is very few people listed a defense over NT. I consider that more important than many secondary conventions (like Inverted Minors) that I see people listed. Also, Splinters are so easy to use and so commonly used, I'm surprised not to see them higher up on peoples lists. Last point - agreeing on signaling. So many times I sit at a table and ask pard "what defensive signaling do you use? Attitude? Count? Suit Preference? UDCA or Standard? 4th best leads OK? Standard carding?" And the "intermediate" doesn't know what any of that is. They assume signaling = Attitude. Thats fine as long as I am made aware of it. Many "advanced" players don't know any of that. The REAL advice to give to the intermediate player is: 1) learn the basic carding conventions (4th best leads, lowest from touching cards when following, basic stuff) plus basic signaling so that you can do #2 2) focus 100% on counting - forget 100% of anything else including card play technique 3) learn basic card play technique - read books like Mollos Card Play technique, Klingers Card Play Made Easy, Kelseys Winning Card Play, Mike Lawrences CDS Private Lessons 1,2 lastly 4) start with just a few conventions (say 5) and learn all the responses, not just the first round, plus how to deal with interference. 1S p 2NT (3D), ??? Counting, and knowing carding and basic technique will make you a much better defender than most "advanced" players, adn you will be defending around half the time.

>Pass wouldn't be forcing. I know. Hence my next line "Of Course not" I still don't see why you should bid to 7? MP is about percentages. Is there > 50% chance pard has 3 aces or 2 aces and a spade void? I don't think so, even though he opened. Even with that you still might not make.

Does pass ask pard to bid 7 with: - a spade void/ace - aces of ♦ and ♣ - now worry about the ace of trumps? Of course not. DBL. 6♠X may be par, with 6♥ cold and 7♥ down 1. 50% is better than 0% You have 11 HCP. RHO has??? 5? KQxxxxxxxx in spades and a heart void. That still leaves some for LHO, there is a good channce he has an ace. He can Lightner double to ask for an unusual lead (not spades or trump) and probably get his trick. Even if he doesn't double, outside of hearts, where is your source of tricks? DBL, take the plus. Maybe RHO sac'ed needlessly.

>You were asking on another thread about B/I suitability. I think this hand is exactly right. I recall some comment in a Reese book along the lines that knowing about squeezes and such is not nearly as important as staying alert to what's going on. Here, if defender thinks for just a moment he can predict with confidence what will happen if he ruffs, assuming declarer started with five hearts. Staying awake is the key to success, and falling asleep is the key to failure as I have often found to my regret. No way. Those shifting entry squeezes come up once every 3 hands. Thats what separates Meckwell from us. B) I think it was Hugh Kelsey (or maybe Frank Stewart) who wrote that the really hard hands don't come up often enough to make a difference. Its the non-trivial hands where the experts make by using sound technique. Reese wrote that its one player in 100 (or 1000?) that tries to place the unseend cards. That one begins to advance not when they make an end play or squeeze but when they count and place unseen cards. Here is what I liked about Phils example: - there was a choice early on - spade or club force - (does it make a difference? Yes) - This involved thinking about pards response or lack of one to your TO X. What could teh unseen shapes be? - making assumptions. If south has XYZ then the contracts cold, so assume W I find that reading defense problems forces you to think about all this.

I discard a CLub see reasoning below ----------------------------------------- So south has 1 Diamond, yes? So pard has 3. Pard passed over 1♥ For South to now be void in Spades means that pard, in response to your take out double had 6 spades and didn't bid. No way. Would pard have bid 1♠ earlier with 5 spades, over 1 heart? He has shown up with the Dime J, and the Club Q. I think pard would overcall 1 Spade, even with 2 working HCP with 5 spades. >Pard leads the ♠7 (3/5) and you win the K. Pard doesnt have 3. With 5, that would mean 7 was his lowest Spade. [5 of] 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - J - Q Would pard lead the 7 in this case, or instaed top of a sequence? Assume South has the Q. So pard has 4 Spades and 3 Diamonds. South can discard a spade, and still has another. She can't play a 4th Diamond because pard will ruff. What to discard? Does it matter? Just Dont ruff. (Unless you KNOW pard has 3 hearts to the 8, and then you can ruff with the 9 or 10). While its possible pard has the 8, I have no proof of that) I discard a club. pard can ruff if they continue dimes, their hearts are longer and they have to ruff before I do anyway.

Why would you want to defend a 1 Club contract redoubled, when the opponents have 24+ HCP? They will make it on power and marked finesses, even if you score some trump tricks. They only need 7. The only case I can think of is: opener (11 HCP) TO X (11) Responder (10 HCP) You (8 HCP including Q J T 9 8 in trumps) Responder may bid normally with a nice suit like a 5 card heart suit headed by AK, beacsue they fear the opps may find a spade fit. If opener has 13 HCP, his pard 10, thats 23, and this is the usual case and on the low end. 25 HCP would not be uncommon. 1♣ Redoubled = 230. If making 2 its 430 or 630 if Vuln 430 (8 tricks) with no great fit seems like a good score to me

>(1c)=x=(xx)=pass(you) >1) What does your pass show? "Pard, I don't have any long suit to run too, you pick the run out suit PS glad I DONT HAVE TO DECLARE THIS ;) I assume we have 3-3 in the majors, probably 4 clubs, maybe 3=3=3=4 shape Responder doesnt have a 4 card major, assume 3-3, Probably majors are 4-3-3-3 around the table, or close to that. I hope we can find a 1 level 4-3 fit, or a 2 level 4-4 fit >2) What would you bid with something like: xxxx....xxxx....xxx...xx This has 2 suitable spots = I would pass , see what pard bids. Maybe a major and we get lucky and find a 4-4 fit at the 1 level. Its possible opener will bid as well, and take us off the hook. If pard bids Diamonds, then he may be 3-3-5-2, not such a nice TO DBL Probably 3/4=4=2. Dimes are OK, dont see a way to find the 4-4. We could bid hearts over dimes, maybe pard has 4? If not its moving from a 4-3 fit to another 4-3 >3) Would your pass of partner's takeout x and the opp xx of an opening bid of 1heart or 1spade mean something different? Obviously the shapes are different. If pard make a TOX of hearts its much more likely that: 1 - he has 4 spades 2 - responder would support hearts Responder could have bid 2NT (Truscott / Jordan 2NT) to show a Limit Raise or better of hearts or spades - without that then assume max of 3 card fit. Probably major is 5422 pard has 2 in that major, thus 11 outside. 3/4 in the other major. With opps opening 1H, pard might overcall spades with 5, or even 5 good ones.

West is going to the 5 level without any sign of life from pard with a max of 14 HCP. There must be some wicked distribution. I wont be surprised if spades are 0-5 and hearts are 8-1. (9-0? possibly 7-2) The only hard cases are Spades 0-5 and the Dime split With Spade 0-5 split, assume East has 2,3,4,5 dimes (with 0-1, West has 8/9 hearts, 0 spades 4/5 Dimes, 1 club, Who leads a stiff K? Must be at least 2 clubs) 1 Win ace of clubs 2 cash Spade K = we now know the trump split. If 4-1 we can afford to ruff a dime if they are not 3-2, so assume worst case 3 Dime to Dummy 4 dime to Ace = we now know the Dime split If 3-2, pull trumps ending in Dummy, run good dimes If 1-4 or worse (and 0-5 trump split) 5 ruff club (x) 6 cash Dime Q 7 ruff Dime (x) 8 ruff club (10) 9 ruff Dime (J) Spade A and Q remain What if West ruffs our Dime K on trick 3? Then she has shortened her trumps to 4. She returns: Heart - now we can afford to ruff the 2nd round high. Lead a Dime and ruff in hand. Play J spade, ruff to dummy, pull spades, run Dimes. Spade - win in dummy, lead a dime, over ruff west, lead a spade back. Pull trumps, run dimes. Clubs - ruff in dummy, lead a dime, ruff with J, spade to dummy, pull trumps, run dimes If Spades are 4-1 its easier, we can afford to ruff once in Dummy.

>How do you continue at T4? Force dummy with a club. Maybe I can promote a trump trick, or maybe Declarer is void in diamonds. How will declarer enter hand from Dummy? It would be a shame if he had Jx in Diamonds. Playing a high spade may establish a spade winner for declarer. I assume Spades are 4-4-4-1. If pard had 5 he might have bid 1♠ in response to your TO X. South may 5 hearts, at least 4. Trust pard that he has a reason to hi-low in Clubs. Besides he can ruff the Q if he doesnt have it. And that means South has 5 Clubs, 4 hearts, 4 spades and is void in Dimes. Or maybe 4=5=0=4 Kill a club, if declarer gets to dummy, he will still get a couple of discards.

Fred, 2 questions: 1. - when you led the club and pard played the 2 - was that an Attitude situation, or would count be more useful GIVEN THAT pard can't even beat the 9? 2. (for us non Experts) - You played the Spade Q to force Dummies K. Why? - establish an entry to pards hand (the J) so they could lead a club through South - to establish a tenace over declarer in Spade? any other reasons? Nice play!

Phil, I think its a bit much to hope for the stiff King of hearts as well as everything else. I know a good pard will always have what you need, but maybe not ;) It could also be: ♠AKxxx ♥x ♦AQT9 ♣Kxx That too probably wants to be in a small slam. But not a Grand