ArcLight

>I have been known to strongly critical of some popular conventions myself from time to time (recent tirades against 2-way Drury, 4-minor as RKCB, and good-bad 2NT come to mind). I Fred, Where are these posts on BBO? (any one please point me to them!) As for CC - I see "Advanced" BBO players with "Stayman and Transfers" as teh only text on their profile. In general (based on my experience) they are not advanced players.

1. Where are the hearts? 2. Why did RHO not bid them? He must have a bad hand. Pard wont have a decent hand with a dime stack. He didnt overcall hearts, probably he doesnt have much. I suspect LHO has a very good hand, perhaps 2 suited. I don't care for 1NT. Perhaps 1 Spade. Or pass. So the opps don't get together in hearts.

I think 3♦ is ok. Lets say pard has a nice 2 clubs bid. S: K x x H:A x x D: x x C: A K x x x This can take 12 tricks if the dime Q is onside. This is a nice hand, but not unreasonable. I wouldn't expect it, but its possible. Add a spade or club, and remove a heart and you can ruff the third heart, and make 13. With another type of hand pard can look for 3NT or 6NT. 3♦ shows more than a minimum (this is more than a minimum) and a solid suit, which I think this is because of the interior quality. In the Mike Lawrence notes on 2/1 1♦ - 2♣ 2♥ would not show anything extra, because you are hunting for 3NT. but 1♥ - 2♣ 2♠ does constitute a reverse. 1♠-2♥ 3♣ Is a high level reverse and requires extras. Jump rebidding your major – 2 treatments: a) Solid suit: AKQJxxx – JTx – x – Kx. With Qx of C, its not a 3S rebid. (good hand) Suggests slam. ;) <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) Frances raises 2 good points. In my experience - "2/1 with pick up pards (at least the ones I get who tend to be 'advanced')" doesn't mean much because all they know of 2/1 is: - 1NT in response to 1M is forcing - a 2/1 is forcing to game They abuse or misunderstand jumps especially. As for 1D - 2C - that is an area requiring discussion. No way pick ups will get it right.

In the Mike Lawrence 2/1 system you would bid 2♠ 3♠ = ( A jump rebid openers 1st suit) with 3 trumps (good trump support = 2 honors) and a good hand (16+). Usually a J2NT bid is used with 4. A gentle slam try.

I think the misatke was pards double of 3♦. I'd much rather thay play there than 1NT. ================================================ I can't imagine what pard is Xing on, as it can't be diamonds if LHO is penalty doubling them and RHO also has them. Does pard have AK in dimes? RHO has less than 9 HCP, so pard has at least 13 HCP, probably 15. Or more if RHO has les, but then why is RHO bidding at the 3 level with nothing? An X of 3 Diamonds is dangerous, as 3D can make. I will pull to 3H.

I guess nobody doesn't play Smolen anymore, otherwise we would know that 1N 2C 2D 3H shows 5 hearts with a game-forcing hand :) >1N 2C 2D 3H shows 5 hearts Playing Smolen as I know it, it would show a 4 card Spade suit and 5 hearts. Playing Smolen you bid the 4 card suit, not the 5.

Does 1♣ - p - 1♥ - p, 1NT always deny 4 spades? I think Jdonn and maybe Fred said that with 4=3=3=3 shape opener should rebid 1NT and bypass 1♠. Maybe Ron Klinger also said this? (if one of the people named above didn't say that - if I misunderstood, or misstated - no offense intended)

>Mechanically, Spades and Bridge are almost identical. They're both trick taking games. They both have trump suits. Sure, there are some cosmetic differences, but the core elements of the game are pretty much the same. I don't agree. In bridge you have the Dummy for the defenders to see and the declarer to control. You have the bidding as a guide. This is very different from Spades. How frequent are squeezes in spades? Trump coups? Even end plays aren't that common. In Spades you have Nil Defense/coverage, plus the concept of avoiding overtricks.

>I took the "play spades" comment as a constuctive comment, also. I think spades is an excellent game and it is the most skillful card game for 3 players. 3 Player? Hmm.. Iv'e only played it 4 player. I would think it loses a lot in a 3 player game.. The 4 player verion requires pards cooperation and understanding what is going on. Whether trying to set the opponents or avoid bags (overtricks). Plus Nil defense/nil busing is pretty interesting, and I don't see how you do that in a 3 player game. > I took the "play spades" comment as a constuctive comment You should not have ;)

>Is it very ego building to suggest to somebody who doesn't want to work out 100 pages of special agreements with a dedicated partner - should they be able to find one- that they perhaps best go play some other game? While I see the attraction of massively complex systems and designing them, I personally don't care for it. I am attacted to Bridge because of the card play and deductive reasoning. By cardplay I don't mean complex squeezes, just simple precautions to retain trump control in case of a 4-1 break, or some side suit breaking badly, or maybe a Trump Coup. Larry Cohen doesn't seem to love complex systems, though I'm sure he does use some complexity. Same for Bobby Wolff. Both are considered excellent players. Complexity may make a difference at their level (perhaps Meckwell owe a little of their success to their system), but until we get to that level I wouldn't worry too much about it. Some players I have played against will offer a defense to a system or convention I'm unfamiliar with. Others will not, thinking they are "winning" because of their unfamiliar system. I see some postors scoffing at the idea that you should provide a defense if opponents ask. >>Aside from reflecting the rather odd notion that it is ok to be condescending to people who maybe don't share your values, I'm not sure what you were trying to accomplish. 1. to be insulting 2. start a flame war You saw through it. ;)

Serious question: Have you ever considered taking up Spades? You might prefer the game. Richard, Don't underestimate Spades. I doubt you are anywhere near as good as you think you are. Try playing against top Spades players (some are quite good Bridge players) and likely they will clean your clock.

You must not have read Ken Rexfords posts .... :lol:

Josh, Does 5♦ imply a spade control? Or is it the case taht pard must have a great hand, since he is missing any Dime honors and teh Club K. He has something like S: ?? should have an honor to continue like this? H A ... D x C: A Q J ... My question is do you suggest bidding 5 Dimes because you know (suspect?) pard has a spade honor and slam will be safe. This leads to the next question - will pard think you have a spade control, since you are commiting to slam and skipped spades? I ask because I wonder if this may lead to a partnership misunderstanding (at least with me!) in some cases, and want to understand how to handle the auction.

1) As a general principle, low level doubles 'under' the bidder are takeout and doubles 'over' the bidder are penalty oriented. In general, but not always. 2) Doubling the opps in a low level contract that they bid voluntarily(sp ?) It was unilateral as opposed to a joint effort with agreement. These situations are where penalty doubles creep up, as opposed to 1♥ - pass - 2♥. That you will not get rich by doubling (in general)

I assume penalty. LHO probably has 5+ spades, aprd should have a few. Chances are you aren't looking at many spades and RHO didn't raise them. Its unlikley you have spade and club shortness, else you might bid hearts. Probably all the experts do the oppsoite, what do I know ;)

How about 3♠, asking pard to bid 3NT with a stopper?

Phil, I've read all of them except for the Coffin book and and they are all good books. I usually check Carl Ritners website www.carlritner.com or www.campusi.com ( THE BEST book search engine). My notes on: All you need to know about play FROM 12/2005 ARE -Solid book on basic card play. Doesn’t have advanced techniques. Instead concentrates on combinations and other fundamentals. Pottages book is very good. Blocking and Unblocking offers good coverage, its just a bit dry, but studying technique can be dry. Off Road Declarer play is a very good book, though at your level you are surely familiar with its contents. I found Card Play Technique by Mollo a great book and not dry at all. I think for lessons you might also want to look at Klingers Card Play Made Easy Series (1 - 4).

I agree, a void is certainly possible, with extra length in another suit.

LOL! That was my take also on reading the book. A double squeeze comes up 50% of the time. And it usually works :)

In Terence Reeses excellent book "Squeeze play made easy" he says there are squeeze possibilities of perhaps 1 in 6 hands (I'm not sure what is meant by "possibilities" - maybe defenders discard poorly, pseudo squeeze, alternative line of play) In Mike Lawrences excellent software Counting at Bridge he estimate that squeezes occur in 1 out of 30 hands. He also says that simple squeezes make up the vast bulk of all squeezes. 1/6 (16%) is vey different from 1/30 (3.3%) even if both are approximations. Roughly how often do squeezes occur?

I wonder why RHO doubled? Odds are he is looking at the guarded trump King. Once he gets in, you are down, unless he tries to give pard a ruff in hearts. Look at it this way - You took a save of 5 Clubs. You better hope LHO has the Dime AQ. They will lose a heart and a spade, making 11. If you absolutely must make, and dont careabout under tricks, let the heart rid eto hand and finesse the spade Q. You are hoping RHO doubled with the Dime AQ.

These dont require much from pard to make 5 Clubs >x....AKJxx...xx...AT98x is 1h=1s=2h! or If pard holds: xxxx xx Axx Kxxx Axxx xx xxx Kxxx xxxx xx Kxx Kxxx we have a shot at 5 Clubs >x.....AQTxx.....KJ...Kxxxx is 1h=1s=1nt! or xxxx x xxxx Axxx we have a shot at 5 Clubs >x....xx......AKTxx.....AJTxx is 1d=1s=2d! or xxxx (A or K)xx xx Kxxx Axxx xxx xx Kxxx we have a shot at 5 Clubs >x....AJ...KTxxx...AJxxx is 1d=1s=1nt! xxxx xx AQx Kxxx we have a shot at 5 Clubs

This seems very close to a 3♠ bid because of the 3 aces and stiff. The Trump jack could be wasted (if pard has KQxxx in spades) , or very valuable if pard has KTxx in spades. It really comes down to if pard has wasted values in clubs, and I don't know of any way to find out about that. If you bid 2♠ pard will pass with a 9/10 point hand KTxx QJx Kxx xxx or this Kxxxx KQx xx xxx Using Deal Master pro - 100 deals - giving pard 6-10 HCP and 4-5 spades 4S is 57%. Admitedly the double dummy analyzer might not be exact, but it seems that you want to be in games taht are even money.