Double !

Is it clearly established that BBO adv. plays the 3H rebid (1D-1S-3H) as some type of splinter? I know a number of people who play it as a 5-6 hand that's not good enough for a reverse and suit rebid. I am not advocating either meaing of the bid, just trying to clarify the meaning of the bid in the given system.

Admit Nothing!

enough Monkeeing around... lol I always thought it was "daydream believer"......I better look for my greatest hits album.

Luis, thank you for response. I actually meant that I couldn't wait to find out what you bid with the initially given problem hand. I love creativity and find it very helpful.

-so would I-

If YES, then that extra King of Hearts makes a big difference, don't you think? It's not only worth an extra trick, it's one less that the opps potentially could cash once we lose the lead (assuming a heart lead)

I'm curious. Would people rebid 4 diamonds with ♠ QTxx ♥ Ax ♦ AKQJxx ♣ x ? BTW: I can't wait to see what Luis bid.

Granted, this constitutes a whole new problem question, but............. What are you going do if it goes 3NT -p -p -X ? Sit, or run, if run, where are you going to run to? I like reisig's treatment.

I expressed my views on 002-A and my wife tried to wash my mouth out with soap and water!!!

OOPS I forgot to count my ZAR points!

I suspect that Mr. Benniest plans to torment us all by telling us that he knows the panel's answers and isn't going to tell anyone until the last possible moment! Golf, anyone?

I'm in shock. Are you actually agreeing with the 2H bid? Or are you being facetious? lolololol. Oh, well, right or wrong, at least I had a reason for it. That and $2.00 might get me a cup of coffee (inflation).

3 puppy tracks for me (clubs) I want to find out what partner based the neg dbl on. Cue set up the force. Another thing. Where are all the clubs with rho not supporting?

2 Hearts Showing where my cards are. If double is for takeout, and partner can sit for it or if that gets us to a club contract well, congrats to the geniuses. It's not clear to me without prior discussion that Dbl shows 4 hearts as opposed to just a good hand.

2 Hearts I expect to get zero points for this bid, but I selected 2 hearts. Again, I want to hear partner's rebid. A 4C or a 4D rebid gets you absolutely nowhere. Partner is most likely to rebid 4S, so you are back to where you started. If, by chance partner can show 5 spades via rebidding them or raising hearts, then at least I know that I'm not sitting opposite 4 lousy spades in partner's hand. I'm looking for some way to create a forcing situation below the 4 level. This hand could make 7 or go down in 4. The 5 level is not guaranteed safe.

PASS It's not clear that the opps have a fit or that we have one. Why risk going for numbers? Chances are, the more we can make, the more the opps can make.

3NT It's forcing whether serious or not. 3H commits us to play in spades. Again, I want to hear partner's rebid. If P bids anything but 4S I now get very interested. Meanwhile, I have wasted values in lho's suit. Where are partner's values.

Another vote for 3 clubs: I know little about partner's hand, and I don't know where we are headed yet. Three clubs at least gives partner more room to clarify his/her holding. Simply rebidding 3NT just seems to to me to be going too fast. If it's right, we'll get there. I want to hear partner's rebid. I concur with the feeling that these were a very difficult set of hands. I hope I score over 200 in total. Good Grief.

IMO, responses to this question depend a lot on how disciplined your weak 2 bids are (assuming you play wk 2 or multi). Specifically, can partner have 6+ hearts? Playing 5-card majors, possession of 3+ spades seems unlikely. So, the question is, based on how disciplined you play weak 2s, can partner have a hand that will be able to have no more than one loser in the combined hands, presumedly set up spades, control trumps, and have an entry to the spades once they are set up. Or can partner have a 2-suited hand that will provide a source of tricks? If the answer to either question is yes, then IMO, a bid of 4H is insufficient albeit safe. 3S, although forcing, won't help you if P now just bids 4S. A 4C bid is intriguing: you'll quickly find out whether or not there are 2 diamond losers while confirming hearts as trumps. Seems reasonable to me, an "on the way" bid (showing the feature on the way to 4Hts). DHL

There a famous bridge story about an average bridge player (hereafter identified as AP) that approached a world famous bridge player (hereafter identified as WFP)with a bridge question and handed him a piece of paper with a hand written on it. (you've all heard this story and probably recall it better than I.) The WFP asked the AP who his partner was. The AP thought and answered, "another you". The WFP then asked who his opponents were? The AP answered that they were also "another you" (i.e. same level, style etc.). The WFP then gave the hand back to the AP and said, "sorry, I wouldn't play in that game. It's too tough!" Thinking about this story made me wonder, and so I ask........ Since we can't have clones of ourselves as our partners, what constitutes the ideal partner for YOU? What qualities and attributes (skill, personality, sex, age, experience, interest, motivation, knowledge base, etc., etc.) do you look for in a partner? What features are most important to you? In a casual game or weekly game? At tournament level? At the highest level that you feel comfortable competing at? For a short-term partnership? For establishing a long-term bridge partnership for the highest level of competition that you seek? What qualities and attributes would automatically make you not want to play with someone? What qualities and attributes would initially interest you in someone as a potential partner? Thank you in advance for your considerations and responses to this set of questions. Don

Oh, Lord, am I about to look bad: re: hand with cards shown--lead a spade? 1) Spade? 2) Diamond? 3) Diamond? I don't have a clue and I'm proud of it! lolol

not just nat. & GF, if that's your treatment, but IMO, the bid implies good quality suits, otherwise why bother with the bid when 2D is forcing?

oh, lordy the name Steve Quist definitely rings a bell!!!! and, yes, it was at westwood where I learned about/ played these 2-bids a few times/ maybe it was with you! It has been so long. BTW: Joe Vaas hasn't been there for years now, from what I hear, but the club still very much endures with different owners. Small world! DHL BTW: I, too, have developed my own homegrown system based on 13-16 1NT openers. Played it for several years way back when with good success including a 2nd overall in a flight B regional open pairs. Then moved away from the area. Have revived it and have been playing it online with one fine player with fine success, and am working on tweeking it. Where is it written that we, as reasonably intelligent bridge players, can't try to be a little creative once in a while. That is one reason I encouraged bestguru to go with it and develop his own system as described in another thread... P.S.: and I had a garage at the time and am still not rich or anything close to it.

# 1 would seem to be some minor-oriented takeout,. # 3 many people are now playing Sandwich NT (hold the mustard), also a takeout. #s 2 & 4 are in the balancing seat. I would interpret both as suggesting declaring 1NT.

sorry to disappoint, but you're not alone. I, too, voted pass. I have no honors in either of partner's suits, not sure that I want to commit to 9 tricks unless P can bid again.