Elyk25

[hv=pc=n&s=saq752hkdakq86cq6&w=st4hj9dj97532ct42&n=skjhaqt6d4cakj983&e=s9863h875432dtc75&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=1cp1sp2hp3d(4th%20suit%20forcing)p4cp7nppp&p=d2d4dt]399|300[/hv] Had these beautiful hands today sitting in south's seat. Imagine my surprise when my PARTNER reversed! Anyways, quick question on these type of auctions where there is an obvious grand slam-- When's the best point in the bidding sequence to just throw down that satisfying 7NT down on the table? Might it have been better to explore a suit contract here (at least in IMPs). How about in MPs? When there's this much strength here is it best and typical to go through the nice and slow bidding sequence to show controls, bid your suits, and etc? Are there any likely risks of your partner freaking out on you and passing at the 6 level? Is bidding the 7 level earlier without exchanging information have any benefits (i.e. could it help with making the opps lead harder in the case that it might matter?). Thanks for any and all replies!

Standards for Overcalls at the 2 level with a long minor (5+ cards) Hey all, How often should a 5 card minor suit be overcalled, and of what characteristics should that sort of hand have? The most bare-bones standard I'm aware of for this situation is the overcaller must have at let 5+ in the minor and 10+ for a two level bid. But I feel like there are more subtleties to the purpose of overcalling a minor-- especially with minimum values. One thing is, minors are easily bid over and with out the majority of the points you're unlikely to find a part-score over the opening bidder, nor a game unless you are very distributional and have the unlikely support of a strong hand from your partner (with support for your suit over course). What situations and factors affect how you overcall 5 card suits-- consider factors like vulnerablility, shortness in desired suits extra length (a 6th card), quality of honors (i.e. is this a suit you really want you're partner to lead to you?) When is it good to bid the 5 card suit, and when is it more importantly best to stay quiet. Thanks everyone for your response!

Hello All! So I'm a relatively newer player and I was wondering for some advice on some observations I've had with experimenting with my hand evaluation style. Some major areas I've been testing with different evaluations are: -When to open those 11 pt hands -When to open minimum NT hands Messing around with light openers my general understanding is that is best done in 3rd/4th seat? In general if a hand has 12 HCPs with" good distribution" (mostly A's and K's, sequences, good shortness, good length, etc) I've been opening them (regardless of seat). For 11 pt hands I've been some what struggling in determining rather or not to open those borderline hands (usually something like 11 HCP, with a decent 5 card major or something). A general rule I've been using for opening these light openers is the hand should satisfy the Rule of 20 and have 2 defensive tricks (I've adapted this useful tool from this great book I've read by swiss champion Mel Colchamiro). However these 11HCP hands with a 5 card major and that only add up to 19 for the rule of 20 are somewhat bothering me-- I'm still can decide if as I general rule I want to open these types of hands or not (specifically in 1/2nd seat). Another thing that I've tried a few times that I have yet to be convinced is a bad habit is considering distribution points for length and honor balance (AKs vs QJs) for opening 1NT (particularly in cases where say you have 14HCP, but a nice suit with almost all As and Ks). I've notice occasionally while playing some hands online that I've opened 1NT is some cases where others have decided to just open a minor. The times I've done this I'd say in general the result has favored well due to the fact that the 1NT usually keeps the opponents out of the auction and lets us get to a nice partscore if partner is a passed hand or had a minimum 6-9 (Especially in the case of partner being a passed hand)-- the bad part of this of course is the threat of overbidding in those auctions where partner has 10 HCPs and decides to push to game. Any advice how to settle these situations? If you have any criticism, might you at least see the benefit to maybe regularly doing this in certain situations (at favorable vulnerability, after partner is a passed hand, in IMPs vs. MPs, etc)? If you agree, do you have any additional advice to add or other similar situations this sort of examination of hand evaluation might be useful? Thanks Everyone!!

♠ Q862 ♥ QT2 ♦ KJ543 ♣ 5 Bidding in a 1NT auction after not finding a fit with stayman with responder holding a minimum can sometimes be tricky. The other day my partner held the above hand. The Auction went: P-1NT(by me)-P-2C-P-2D-P-3D-P-3NT. We ended up in a disagreement on if 2NT is a possible bid responder can make, and what 3♦ would mean. My partner choose to bid 3D, and me with a minimum 1NT opener and very nice diamond support (AQxxx) decided to bid 3NT (with stoppers in all suits-- 2aces, 2kings). Is 2NT a good bid by my partner with the hand above? should 3D be taken as invitational to game (asking if I have Diamond support) or as a signoff? Thank you for the commentary.

Just as a clarification I'm not suggesting I would strongly consider opening 4-4-4-1 hand as 1NT. The main reason I thought it would be very strategic to do so in this odd situation (probably the only situation i would consider doing so without an that "1" being a singleton ace), was because I was across from a passed hand (that was very unlikely to invite to NT game in our system) where the only reason my partner was likely to bid was to find a major fit (which is very easy to find not only because of stayman and transfers, but because my partner knows almost exactly how many HCPs I have and what strain to stop at). Thank you for the responses so far!

When is it usually deemed "okay" to bid NT with 4-4-4-1 Hands (and other variations, like with 2 doubletons)? The other day at a club, with a passed partner (and a questionable pass by my RHO), I decided to bid 1NT with south's hand. Often in bridge situations come up where sometimes you have to pick the best "lie" to you partner in order to best describe my hand. Given I had two 4 card majors across a passed hand, the 3 most likely situations were: a) partner passes 1NT (where a singleton is likely trivial), b) my partner bids stayman (which now i am in a very appealing place to respond), or c) my partner transfers to a 6 card minor or major (which would allow at least a 7 card minor fit across from good stops in remaining suits, or lead to a likely game try in the majors). Is my bid logically agreeable or might it be classified as a "psyche"? Going by ACBL regulations, bidding NT with a singleton is alright as long as it is logically reasonable and isn't a regular informally illegally agreed upon kept secret from the opponents. (And just to note this method did get us to 4H, which was the contract everyone else who played it was in. The only difference present was we were the only declarer from the south because my partner transferred). [hv=pc=n&s=sak65hkqj2d3cqt52&w=st72ht8dkqj974c97&n=s98ha9763da852cj3&e=sqj43h54dt6cak864]399|300[/hv]

Oh geez I must have been asleep playing this hand! I just realized what happened-- i pulled an extra round of trump and cashed the Ace of clubs earlier to pull the Diamond finesse (worried of course that my long spades would be trumped by someone having a void before i finessed a diamond). Then without a diamond in the dummy (after trump were gone) I unnecessarily lost two club tricks that could have been SO easily avoided when i realized the bad spade split. Thanks for the replies.

[hv=pc=n&s=sakt73h9842dj73ca&w=s5hqjt53d52ckqj95&n=sj842hdaqt986ct87&e=sq96hak76dk4c6432&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=1cd1h3dppdp4hdp5ddppp]399|300[/hv] tinyurl.com/jzv5u4q This auction recently happened to me in a IMPs instant tournament. I made a risky bid by doubling 4♥ for penalty (my partner having suggested 10-12 points and me liking the quick tricks I held in my hand and semi-long hearts). However, my partner raised me to 5♦. The interesting thing is 5♦ can make if only the spade break can be predicted. On a heart lead by south-- i trumped the first trick, took a diamond finesse (which lost) and then drew trump. After winning one round of spades with the ace, i was unable to detect the bad spade break and went for the percentage play of cashing the king. After that i lost two clubs tricks going down two. Does anyone see any piece of information in the auction or play by the opponents that could give hint to the spade break and let the contract make?

Thanks for the advice-- I've recently have looked up Lebensohl for 1NT and it looks like this information will be VERY useful. Thank you!

Looking for a partner who plays 2/1. I play almost everynight but I'm on the kind of schedule where I don't want to have a to deal with scheduling a specific time to play-- I'm looking for a partner with similar habits who tends to plays nights a lot whom I can just ask to play with on a whim often for practice. I'm looking to play very competitively-- I'd prefer after playing a few times to play mostly random pairs tournaments on BBO (including things like speedball if you wish). Message me at username Elyk25 for details if interested. Notes on common conventions used (this is very modifiable-- I'm always willing to learn new things): 1430 RKC weak jumps in comp stolen bid doubles western cuebids inverted minors bergen raises 2-way reverse drury Gambling 3NT help-suit gametries DONT or Capalleti (prefer DONT) DOPI 1NT semi-forcing 4 diamond min All transfers (minor, jacoby, texas) puppet stayman support doubles new minor forcing Gerber Michaels and Unusual 2NT upsidedown carding (with standard leads)

Hi all. Just wondering which 2/1-specific conventions do you find over and over again to be the most important to getting you into the best contracts. For example, I'm partial to inverted minors, bergen raises, and 2-way reverse drury due to their very powerful descriptions they provide. What bids do YOU like to make? Do you find any common conventions overrated and prefer some other alternative? Let's discuss!

Hi I'm a Beginner/Intermediate player with around 20 Masterpoints looking for a regular partnership to play on BBO. I currently play Standard American and am looking for someone to practice with and possibly play in online tournaments on BBO. Message me at my username Elyk25 on BBO if interested. Thanks!!!

Sure I'll play with any of you! I added anyone who commented on this thread to my friend list, so if you add my username we'll be able to talk and play!

Can someone explain the main differences between Standard American and 2/1? I've been playing primarily Standard American, but I have yet to really see the real difference in bidding between the two systems when playing with the GIB Robots or a few partners that play 2/1. I know the core difference deals with the responders bids at the 2 level, but is there any more common things I should be aware of when playing with a partner who bids 2/1 so I don't confuse them? Also I guess this falls under my question of general differences, but with less than 12+pts, how should the responder act in 2/1 (especially if they have 10/11+ and can't bid their good suit)? How is the establishment of partscore contracts affected in 2/1 by these special bids at the 2 level? Thanks!!!

Cool! Thank you so much!

Anyone know how to get on the list to be able to join junior tournaments on BBO? I've never been asked for my age or anything, but I'm 18 and once in the BBO news feed I saw a special Junior only event that I was excited to play in and suddenly massively disappointed because I was blocked from joining. Do you have to some how specially register somewhere in BBO to join such tournaments? Thanks!

In Individual tournaments, whats the best way to approach your partners bid if your unsure what it means? A few times on BBO when I've been playing, I've had a few situations where my partner has tried to do a transfer with no indication to me that they play transfers. I've also encountered a few bizarre overcall situations by my partner where the strength of their overcall (weak or strong) isn't always clear. Is it okay to ask your partner in general if they play a transfers, or in general how they overcall, or am I going to get a director called on me for unauthorized info? I've been afraid to ask a few times in tournaments and its definitely costed me a few hands. What would you recommend? Thanks!

Hey Youth Bridge players wazzup!! Any other youth players exist because in my area I've yet to find another player closer to my age than 45 yrs old (which is cool because hanging with older ppl is awesome!).

Hi I've posted before, but I'm a fairly strong beginner player looking for someone (or a few ppl) to play with regularly on BBO. I live in the Central time zone. I play SAYC fairly standard but I'm fairly flexible in playing style. I play jacoby, blackwood, negative doubles, preempts, and some other stuff and am a really quick learner if you want to play more advanced bids. Message me on BBO username: Elyk25 if interested. Also other random side request: If by chance you live in the Chicago area, I'm also looking for a partner for low tier sessions at the Chicago NABCs in August. Message me on BBO also for more details if interested! Thanks for reading!

I'm usually online almost every night for a bit btwn 7-10 pm central time, but sometimes I'm on in the morning too before 12.

I'll add you as a friend on BBO. If you see me online when you are just message me and we can try playing!

I'm also a beginner looking for a partner if you want to play some time also.

I'm available to play sometime if you want to. I'm a beginner also.

Hi! I'm looking for a partner (preferably a fellow beginner) to play with on BBO. I play basically Standard American and live in a US central time zone. Respond here or message me if interested (and thanks for reading)!