ArcLight

Playing 2/1, jumps are very special picture bids. They are not needed to show general strength. With a 2 suiter, opener could bid 2♥ without fear of being passed out since your 2/1 established a GF. There was no reason for the 4♥ bid, probably pard wasn't aware that 3♥ was a splinter. From Mike Lawrnces 2/1 CD Jump shift to new suit – 2 treatments (both good) Discuss with pard which one treatment. a ) 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. b ) Splinter. Keeps the bidding lower than a double jump to the 4 level. You can play that a double jump then shows a void. Note: Jump to the 4 level ALWAYS is a splinter (assume 1 card, not a void). I wouldn't assume pard has 5 Diamonds, just 4. Pard may have though you had 5! Does the response to 5NT = sepcific kings? OR just 0,1,2,3 - thats important! Pard may be thinking something else. I would be a bit nervous about the Grand Slam - what will you do with all those hearts if pard has 4 trumps and opps lead trumps? 4-1 trump splits are not uncommon. Even with 3-2 how do you make 13 tricks on a trump lead, unless pard has AKJxx in hearts, or KQX in clubs. From the bidding pard is probably 5=1=4=3.

>3. Its often advantageous to employ a mixed strategy early in a match or a rubber. Its a lot easier to play against an honest citizen than a player who has a reputation for making lots of psyches. Make sure that the opponent's know that they need to think carefully about whats going on.... SJ Simon in "Why You Lose at Bridge" says the opposite. Don't worry about the psychs, just play your normal game. Its when you start altering your bidding/play that you really start to get hurt. Admitedly these psychs are a bit different than the typical fake opening bid. How often do Zia/Rosenberg psych? Once per match? Also, does pard of the frequent psycher field the psych? Like not making an invitation with 9 HCP opposite a 3rd seat NT, just in case pard psyched, while they would do so in 1st / 2nd seat?

Board 2 - why should pard bid 4♠ by themselves? With a likely 5-3 fit (maybe 6-3) and a defensive holding, let the opponents try and make something. It didnt work this time, that doesn't mean it wasn't the right bid. Pass on the 2nd board is fine. Bad results happen. Look at the big picture, its a percentage action.

If you accept bad behavior, whether its cheating (or graft by politicians) it becomes accepted as normal and more common. If its "known" that cheating is common then it ruins the fun for those who don't cheat and don't win as they may think they were cheated. This came up at the table: Pard opens 1NT (15-17), RHO passes, I pass (maybe I had 7 HCP) and LHO asks "Pard are we useing CAPP or DONT" This is a pick up game and I have no problem with opps agreeing on a defense. RHO says "How about Pass" and LHO passed. It was just a meaningless pick up game, but I was annoyed at that brazen behaviour. I privately told the opps that was unethical behaviour, they got mad at me, and I asked them to leave my table (privately). (Of course I blacklisted them)

The Weak No Trump by Andy Stark Decent all around coverage of teh 12-14 and 10-12 No trump. I was hoping for a lot more on how the weaker no trump affects your other bids. For example in ACOL a 1 Club bid might not be the 12 HCP 3 card crap it is in SAYC. Half the book is spent on various (competing) response structures to 1NT, run out sequences, and defenses to weak NT. I would have prefered that th author not emphasize and elaborate on his favorite response structure in such detail, unless that response structure is commonly used by experts. If Meckwell and Auken- van Arnim use 2 way stayman with the 10-12 NT then I'd be more willing to accept it. The author admits that he could have written more on constructive bidding with unbalanced hands. :-( I wish he had. I like his writing style, and sense of humor. I just wish there was more on the all around impact of the weak NT, and less on the conventions. Good book, worth reading if the subject interests you. There is another book How I became a Life Master by playing the weak NT by Eric Luft that I really disliked. It was mainly his home grown system containing his favorite set of conventions, and had little to do with the weak NT. Win the Big Match by Julian Pottage. Eh, I didn't like it. It's advanced, but I just didn't find it that interesting or useful. Some of the hands were interesting and I enjoyed them, but many required playing for specific layouts plus squeezes. Maybe experts would like it more. I found the Kelsey Test Your XXX series far more interesting, and those were non trivial problems. Eric Jannerstens "The Only Chance" was also more interesting.

1. I don't understand the 2♠ bid RHO made. >2S = to play opposite spades, happy to be in 3H or more opposite hearts How can they be happy to play in Spades when you have 6 and presumably LHO has 5? They are happy in a 5-2 fit? And also happy in a heart game, with us having 9 hearts? If I understand this correctly, RHO has 2 Spades and 4 hearts, wouldn't they bid their longer suit (Hearts), or is their response structure to bid their shortest suit? If thas the case, RHO has 2 spades and 4 hearts and must not be allowed in. Win the Club Ace and play the Club 9, discarding a low spade form hand, endplaying LHO. If RHO plays a club honor, ruff it, and enter dummy viad the dime ace and lead another club. I sure hope RHO doesnt have both club honors, becaus ewhen we lead trumps, they are in with the ace and will lead a spade through our King for 2 fast spade losers. Say LHO wins the club, they have no hearts, a spade gives us a trick, a dime is a free finesse, and a club gives us the free entry to dummy for the free finesse. If RHO covers, ruff, enter with the dime ace, lead another club, discard a spade, RHO is end played. I sure hope clubs are evenly distributed. Also, if it turns out that LHO has a big hand, we will probably lose the dime finesse.

>Sometimes playing assign the blame is a moot point. To me, there can only be ONE mistake in an auction. I dont agree. There can be an initial mistake, and then another, there are 2 players, one mught slightly misvalue their hand, and the other is not blameless. >I think if your 2/1 methods allow for the opening of weakish 6/5 hands in 1st/2nd I think its a clear 1♠ opening bid. Count HCP, add for length, and add for concentration of intermediates in the Spade suit. Basic Hnad Evaluation, its an opening 1 Spade bid. And it takes little to make game. >Who was it that said, "Never play me for a certain hand. I won't have it"? Kaplan? Kay? Except we are not playing pard for specific cards, there are many general collections of HCP that will produce game. Playing pard to hold exectly the trump K and a specific ace and length in a suit would be a stretch. This is not, it takes little for pard to make game. >Partner also may hold x xxx xx KQJxxxx and look how much fun you are about to have....... Pessimistic bridge is not winning bridge. Yes we can constrct hands where 4 Spades doesnt make. bUt we can constrcut many more mediocre ones where 4 Spades has play. >This auction and hand pattern scream the hand is a likely misfit. Who can judge this? South or North? South sees 3 spades and is happy? Noth is sad about the 4 Spade bid but doesn't know anything about Souths hand. >Partner is quite capable of bidding 4S on his own if opener passes at this point. Maybe not. Maybe South has 2 Spades (king off side but spades split 2-3) but the needed fillers. It takes little to make game, bid it. He who knows, goes. >To bid 4S, says three things to me: >1) Partner, I dont trust you enough to do the right thing if I pass. No, it says pard, I have the kind of hand that has play for 4S if you have an average hand for your bid. >2) Man, I really like playing the hand and pass just isnt in my vocabulary. After all, I am 6/5, so I will bid even though 4S is a total misdescription of my hand. Partner doesnt need to know that I have a second 5 card suit. It says nothing of the sort. Opener has a hand thats hard to describe. Take the risk and bid it. Its possible that 4 hearts will make! Maybe there is 1 spade loser, and if the King is offside, its a discard. I don't think 4 Hearts making is impossible. Given what North knows (not from Souths point of view) Pass with a more balanced hand, bid with a distributional one. >3) I am such a poor defender, I can't stand to pass and find out if we can at least go plus on this hand. Maybe scoring even more than our game. Again , this is not true. Don't defend with extreme distribution. You own the Spades, bid them. Go for +620 rather than +100 or +300 or -590.

>I think that pard should pass 4♥. If I come out of the woods with a double (which I will), then pulling looks right with this ODR. Thats how you get to 4♠. I don't agree. What would it take form pard to make 4 Spades? AKxx in diamonds? Or the Spade K and QJxx in Diamonds. Making 4 Spades takes little. Why defend when 4 S likely makes?

1. South had a tricky response at his first bid. Using 2/1 he's not quite strong enough for a 2/1. One plan is to bid 1NT (frocing) then rebid 3 Spades, delayed Limit Raise (10-12 Support points and 3 card support). The only problem is you have 13 and are 1 point too strong. Another would be to "upgrade" your hand and bid 2 Clubs GF, then later support Spades. I think 1NT was ok. No blame assigned 2. North bid under extreme pressure. Game has a shot, the bid was reasonable. But what is teh partnership agreement? Will pard expect 19 points and bid on? IF so be prepared to apply the brakes. No Blame 3. North bid under extreme pressure. South shouldn't expect a 19 point monster. The heart Ace was potentially wsted if North was void, and the J is certainly wasted. Even if pard has a stiff heart the ace is not helping establish a long suit. Souths ource of tricks clubs can be great if north has the ace. Any Spade finesse is likely to fail. South doesnt have enough trumps to ruff a lot of diamonds. I can see South wanting to bid, but slam is probably too risky. Maybe South assumed North had more than he did, jumping to 4S. Blame South 75% as the slam is likely to be poor. 3. North knows South doesn't have an opening bid because of the initial 1NT Time to sweat, get ready to apply the brakes. Pard needs 2 aces and teh Spade King (or teh finesse to work - unlikely) what about the dimes? Ugh! 4. South sees a bid of 1/4. WOW pard has great spades, and BOTH aces, Slam here we come! Pard you have the Queen? No Blame. 5. North - APPLY THE BREAKS! Bid 5 Spades. 100% Blame North at this point

Eric Kokish has a system described in his 2/1 software (sold on BBO), and also in Bobby Hammans new software CD.

>"It works similar as a short suit game trial, i.e. responder can judge if his values fit." I understand the concept, but is showing a doubleton really that valuable? With a Short Suit game try (a singleton) you have just one loser and pard can downgrade a king or some other holding. If pard has a doubleton, that doesn't seem so important. Maybe if its a worthless doubleton, and you have 0 in that suit, (2 sure losers) it might be useful. What are the disadvantages? How beneficial is this to the defense? Does it net out? Is it a very slight plus? Does it work against weak players because they don't listen to the auction but hurt against stronger players?

When super accepting, is showing a doubleton really that important? Maybe for slam bidding? Which is infrequent, and it gives away information about the strong hand in the more common part score and game contracts. (90% of the time you give away unneeded information) What is so important about showing a doubleton? (Maybe a weak doubleton (no A or K) as mentioned somewhere in Bergens "More Points Schmoints"?

Here was openers hand: S: x H: A K 9 8 7 6 D: J 9 8 7 6 C: A p - 1♥ - (2♣) - X p -2♦ - p - 3♦ passed result: 3♦ making 7 What I'm thinking is: 1) with that kind of ♦ support, responder needs to let opner know. Opener can't be looking at good Diamonds and wont get excited about a raise to 3. Responder has the A K Q x x of trumps, how can opener infer that? There was no 2-1 auction. 2) Opener is showing at least 5-4 shape. They bypassed NT and with 5-2-3-3 shape they would bid NT or maybe ♣. 3) a negative double shows 4+ spades. It doesn't imply great ♦ support Responder could be 5-1-3-4 (yes they would make the negative Dbl with that club holding). Also, the HCP could be wsted in Spades KQxxx. The Neg DBL didn't guarantee a huge hand in support. 5-1-4-3 4) Opener has great shape, but needed a very specific set of card from responder to make the minor suit game. It would be very easy to visualize a spade, heart , and diamond loser in 5♦ 5) What would a raise of 3♦ to 4♦ by opener mean? "Bid 5 if you have good diamonds?" or could it be interpreted as "Bid 5 if you have a good hand - and pard might think KQxx in Spades would be valuable, along with the KJxx in Diamonds and x in hearts. 6) Was the opening hand worth a 3♦ bid rather than 2? Great shape, but weak suit. 3NT would have been ugly.

W/W pass - pard opens 1 Heart - RHO overcalls 2C 1. What do you respond with: S: T 9 8 5 H: void D: A K Q x x C: T 8 7 x a - Negative Double b - 2 Diamonds c - other . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. You make a negative Double Pard responds 2 Diamonds. Probably 4. Pard knows you have 4+ spades and didnt want to play in NT for now. What do you bid?

Playing 2/1 Mike Lawrence style, no Bergen Raises After pards 1♠ you don't know if your diamonds are worth anything. A 3♥ invitational jump shift shows 9-11 HCP. You have 10, but are the QJ really worth anything? Also, the hearts are poor. 1♠- 1NT 2♦ - 3♥ This shows a weaker hand than 1♠ - 3♥ The 2♦ bid helps your hand (though its likely just 4 cards), but the ♥ suit is still poor Making a 2/1 with a bid like this will damage partnership harmony. It may "work out" but pard will no longer trust your 2/1 bids.

Winning Card Play by Hugh Kelsey Similar in scope to Victor Mollos excellent "Card Play Technique". It covers all the usual suspects - Declarer Play - Squeezes, Trump Coup, Eleimination, End Play, Ducking etc. Defense - defense to above techniques, forcing, hold ups, et.c Deception Carding Very good general coverage of many aspects of card play. Sort of an Advanced version of Watsons Play of the Hand, but shorter and more fun to read. (Kelsey DOES have a sense of humor!) Its not a fast read as it has lots of examples. Recommended for Intermediates. (I read this book based on Helene's recommendation. )

I shudder to think how many hundreds of dollars I've spent on Carls books! :D I estimate over $300 over the last few years. Still looking for Kelseys: Test Your Communications Test Your Percentages

You can't answer this without knowing what to expect from pards 2♠ bid. Can it be Jxxxx xx xxxx xxx up to AQJxxx xx T9xx x RHO passed, so hearts are probably 4 = 5 = 2 = 2 RHO didn't bid NT so wont have a spade stopper. maybe they have some minor suit points. Sounds like a misfit. Stay out. You have a good hand, but can you make 3♠? I dont think so. Can the opps make 3♥? I'm not sure. Is it worth locking in -50 or gambling and see what happens if 2♠ is passed out or 3♥ is down 1. Maybe this is my inexperience but I pass 2♠. LOTT be damned.

>However, the best players rarely play in open tournaments or pickup games in the main lobby. Rather, they arrange set games or team mathces against one another. So that explains why Benito Garozzo never sits at my table ...

>1. Good opps; JTxxx, void, Kxxxx, Qxx. NV and pard opens a 15-17 NT. What is your plan? Pard may have a 5 card heart suit (what is your style), and probably has 2 spades. Transfer to Spades and pass. >2. Good opps; Q98xxx, void Kxxx, Qxx. Vul; pard opens 1♥ and bids 3♥ over your 1♠ response. Now what? 3 Spades Pard has 6 hearts, and they are mostlikely headed by 2/3 of the tope 3/4 honors. However, they also should have 2 spades and 6-2 trump suits are superior to 6-0. Your hand is WORTHLESS to pard unles Spades are trump. Pard will ahve winners for you. >3. Randoms; Kx, KJxx, Axx, AKxx. White / Red; pard opens 2♦ in 2nd seat weak. RHO overcalls 3♠; you call? How horrible is the 2D call? J x x x x? Thats down many in 3NT I still take the risk and bid 3NT. >4. Good opps; KQJxxx, AKx, xxx, x. White / Red. LHO opens 5♣, pass, pass to you Pass - Preempts work. Take the sure points. ------------------------------------ EDIT - I see I got a bad score, still think these are teh right actions

Are Inverted Minors played differently in 2/1 compared to SAYC? In Root & Pavliceks "Modern Bridge Conventions" 1m-2m, 2NT shows a weak hand and is passable. Playing 2/1 We had an auction 1♦ - 2♦ 2NT - I passed with 10 points I assumed 2NT shows a min and 3NT would probably be uncomfortable Pard said to just rebid 3♦. Is 2NT in 2/1 forcing to 3m?

I must be missing something, why not lead the 4th best club? (or whatever your lead convention is) Sounds to me like pard is broke, but maybe pard can force a club honor.

How many hearts is responder showing with the 3H bid? 1D - 2C 2H - 3H (Note: with a GF hand with 5 clubs and 4 hearts we respond 2C, not 1H)

Mike Lawrences software CONVENTIONS is also excellent. It contains a lot of material, not so much on millions of conventins, but on quizzes and sequences. For books Modern Bridge Conventions is excellent.

1♥ - 1NT X - 3♣ The X = a bid Its not a jump over the 2nd bid, its a jump over the first bid. Hence I wrote "Delayed" jump