heart76

Opener is not forced to bid, so 4S has to be weak with long spades. Any other hand should pass first, except when minimum and unbalanced. At least this would be consistent with the "mixed" purpose of the XX and would force opponents to show a suit.

I have noticed GIB jumping to 3 in a new suit after partner's 1M opening to show a 6+ cards suit in a approx. 6-9 HCP hand, as opposed to bidding 1NT. I have a few questions and I would like to hear what people think. 1) GIB is doing this also with 2-6-32, which imho is horrible because it prevents playing both 2 spades and 2 hearts, which I think would be better spots in many cases and can be reached with no struggle. What do you think? 2) Why would this method be better than going through 1NT and bidding your long suit after? 3) If you think that this method has merit, what is the HCP and suit quality range you would see fit? 4) Do you pass with a void in GIB's suit, accepting this as a preempt, or do you bid again? (Not thinking about having extras here) 5) Would it be better to use the single jump for the so-called mini-splinter, showing 0-1 cards and a raise of partner's major with at least invitational values?

Don't teach an old dog new tricks, told me my first partner at my club, an elderly, very pleasant man. Do everyone a favor, yourself being at the top of the list, find a better training place for your pair. The sweet talk you got from the TD is ridiculous (and he should have refused to rule). Let the club ban what they want officially, or there is no point standing. I have a lot of sympathy for these people, I really do, but what can one else do?

Play low now and finesse the 9. Has E hoped to give W a ruff or get one when W has the K and has played the wrong card? Anyway, discard a spade on the 4th diamond after playing hearts and ruffing the last club. Then play towards the spade K. Btw, the X from W is out of the picture with his values and trumps and should probably be removed although I'm not a rule expert especially at rubber.

With my reg partner we have 2NT=limit+ raise and 3M preemptive both with 4+ cards. I'd re-evaluate the hand to 9, 10 when counting the HJ which is not working. So we're in game only when partner has extras. Pass in tempo to re-open in case they end up in D? On a good day you X them in 3C...

The question was about Walsh, so opener rebids 1NT. Also, why would you jump after 4sf? XYNT, described in an earlier post, is mandatory with Walsh. 1C - 1D / 1NT -2D / 2H - 3C shows already a5-4, otherwise responder bids a 2C inverted minor raise. Opener should now show his 3 cards D with 3D, since partner needs to be interested in more than 3NT for his 3C bid. Than every pair would have their methods to invite slam, e.g. 4D or 4H kickback.

Yes, I have seen this, but could you please explain where the gain is?

I have been using the same for some time and have seen that the number of hands you want to use the invitational 3H is small since in many cases you want to invite only if partner has 4 card major. I think this might be one of those. Anyway, I think I will run a simulation on such hands. So in practice one has to consider the trash stayman option strongly, intending to raise the major to 3 or to bid 2H. Other than that, I am very happy with this use of 3 of a major over 1NT, even though it is less common.

Congrats to the semi-finalists. For the record, the last 8 boards with Diana_eva: http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:ec58fda4.7c59.11e9.a064.0cc47a39aeb4-1558506127&u=heart76&v3b=app

Diana_eva completed 9 of 16. http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:f4a6a86e.79bd.11e9.893b.0cc47a39aeb4-1558219237&u=heart76&v3b=app I can play another 8-board, I will send it.

Nige1, I won't be able to play the challenge you sent me as I am away until next week. Sorry

To anyone in my friends list: I am not playing between this Friday and Tuesday.

Heart76 - GIB : 6 - 10 https://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:0c76ba9f.6724.11e9.80b2.0cc47a39aeb4-1556174013&u=heart76&v3b=web

How I think. Facing the weak raise, N is awkwardly trying to push you to 4M. Unless he's 16+ and prepared to X. X here is for me out of question without the needed hcp, unless it's explicitly agreed as 100% takeout. If I bid, it's 4H, of course showing 2 cards and I think partner should remove to 4S if 5 non super solid H or if X and with 2 S. At IMPs it's tempting to bid, hoping for Kx AQxxxx xx Qxx or similar.

Heart76 - Olegru : 7.5 - 8.5 http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:a43e3b14.6a05.11e9.80b2.0cc47a39aeb4-1556490807&u=heart76&v3b=web

Heart76 - xBABARx : 9 - 7 http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:f4750e97.67f9.11e9.80b2.0cc47a39aeb4-1556265885&u=Heart76&v3b=app

Heart76 - Mlbridge : 8.5 - 7.5 http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:d87c4b36.6643.11e9.80b2.0cc47a39aeb4-1556077719&u=heart76&v3b=app

Derppp - heart76: tied http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:98eda58d.64d1.11e9.80b2.0cc47a39aeb4-1555918698&u=heart76&v3b=app

Gr.B Heart76 - Crazyhoop : 6 - 10 http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:c8608edb.63ba.11e9.80b2.0cc47a39aeb4-1555798948&u=heart76&v3b=app

http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:386d0f2e.6482.11e9.80b2.0cc47a39aeb4-1555884606&u=heart76&v3b=app Heart76 - sep123 : 10 - 6

I think I would pass. 2D is a 3 card suit only in a 5-3-3-2, where we'd have a better spot in H. But picture partner with a 5S4D hand and you can hope to trump 2 S. If you really don't have the courage to pass, bid 2H and hope that partner has 2. Btw, I assume that pd would rebid 2S with 6 instead of 2D.

Hm. Leading D or H needs the 10 not to be with declarer. Leading C needs to find partner with at least the J and no other card to get in. I think I'd lead a D. What is the chance of getting endplayed this way? Sp K + 1 or 2 D + Cl A and then you lead again. Maybe leading the J to try to make partner get in with the 10 is right?

We'll that's of course a very good point and something I thought about. I guess you're probably right given your experience, but what I thought is that a ♠ finesse (at >50% corrected chance) is always possible, so ducking a ♥ would increase the overall chances more by the 36% 3-3 break.

Even with both finesses working we still have 11 tricks, so we need to establish a suit. I would assume that at least one of them is breaking 4-2. If we cash ♦A and finesse, we still need the defence to play ♣ to cash the last ♦ when they break 4-2. We can't afford using that only communication to hand to play the ♠ finesse because we would go down by playing the majors from dummy if ♠ don't break. I may very well go really wrong here, but if W is rated 4-5 decent ♣ for the opening lead, he needs to have a side entry, imho likely the ♦Q. I think I would play a low ♥ at trick 2. That would pick up the suit when it breaks 3-3, rectify the count and keep all the rest open. On a ♥ return I would cash AK and play on the ♠ finesse if they don't break. If they break, I go for the single squeeze played as a double with 2 ♦ discards on the ♥. The same play applies on other returns, although on ♣ it would be necessary and good to cash both honors right away.

I might be optimistic, but what are the distributions of the other 2 hands? Partner rates to have either a 6 card suit or 2 5 card suits. He surely doesn't have a 6 card major or he'd bid it. My guess is that he's got 5 in a major and 5 ♦. So I would X, penalty oriented but partner can remove in his suit with yarbrough.