deftist

I play weak jump shifts in competitive bidding, but strong jump shifts when opponents don't intervene. So far it didn't really matter because these situations came up like twice, or maybe 3 times.. When you said 2S in 1S-2D-2S is forcing in theory, is that because of the 2/1 game forcing, or just in general? I thought partner's 2S and my 2D can both be minimum, so technically 2S shouldn't be forcing (although 2D should be) and there might be cases where the responder should just pass 2S. If I bid 2D to "bid a new suit first and show support later," then of course I will rebid over his 2S. But isn't it also possible that I just bid 2D with a good 5-card diamond suit, yet don't want to go anywhere further after 2S because I lack points AND support in spades, as well as stoppers in other suits? Say I have a hand like 54s/T9h/AKT94d/K543c -- do I really want to not pass the 2S? You did mention though that experts will regard this as forcing, and it would be great if you could elaborate on it. Once again, thank you so much! I'm learning a lot.

Thank you so much for your detailed response, Kaitlyn. On the first hand, I didn't know that you could bid takeout double after your team has already bid a suit. It makes a lot of sense, though! I think I ended up bidding 3C, not being entirely sure if I had to jump to 4C or even 5C. But then again I had no info on my partner so I chose the safe (or safer) route. On the second hand, great points about 2/1 game forcing. My partner was a stranger to me and we didn't have much of a convention, so I couldn't assume that 2/1 was game forcing for him (=for us). Because of that, I thought of just bidding 4s although we might miss on a slam. But then again, I thought 3NT would be better because a) it describes my balanced hand better (although there was no agreement on the meaning of 3NT), and b) if he corrects to 4s (usually with 6+ spades) I can still go for the slam try. So I bid 3NT, and unfortunately my partner passed with the following hand: [hv=pc=n&n=sajt974ht8dktcak6]133|100[/hv] It looks like he bid 2s because he had 6 spades, but then he didn't correct to 4s when I was almost guaranteed to have at least 2 spades. Anyway, everyone passed and he immediately quit when he saw my hand. :/ Which made me wonder if I made a big mistake.. One more question to Kaitlyn: is it a mistake to bid 4NT (Blackwood) right after his 2s? I can still sign off at 5s/5NT if I wanted to, and I don't think I'll lose 3+ tricks often enough for a slam try to be futile.

Thanks a lot for your reply. :) You mentioned an artificial bid for exploring slam -- could you give me an example in this specific case? Also, by red and green I assume you were meaning vulnerable and non-vulnerable, but this is just a wild guess. :/

That makes a lot of sense, thanks. One more question -- would you bid 2d over 1s too, or are there alternatives?

Thanks for your reply! Since 2d is forcing, aren't my hand and the level we can reach both unlimited? Or will there be cases where we will end up committed to a "wrong" level? I'm curious to hear about other options here. I thought about Jacoby 2NT but I only had 3 spades. And if I bid 3NT, I thought partner might just pass..

Hi guys, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! [hv=pc=n&s=s6hakd74cajt97643&d=n&v=b&b=13&a=p1d2cppd]133|200[/hv] I have pretty long clubs, but my 12 HCP + 3 distribution points made me not want to make a preemptive jump. When my RHO doubles though, I wasn't sure what it means, nor what to do. I didn't think this was a takeout double because he has already bid a suit, but maybe he has lots of points with short clubs? At any rate, what are my options here? I thought about jumping to 4c, but that probably promises too much when I don't know if partner can support me. Bidding 3c is probably a better option. How about redouble -- what would it mean in these spots, and would it make any sense? [hv=pc=n&s=sq32hak3daj42cqj9&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=1sp2dp2sp]133|200[/hv] I have 17 HCP opposite an 1s opening. Game seems already possible and I would want to explore slam, but how to proceed? Here's what I thought: If someone could comment on my thought process here, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Nice problems. I am a bit confused about the problem 2 though. At the beginning you said SAYC with 15-17 1NT is assumed for all problems, yet in the answer you said "1NT, showing 12-14 points would be a significant underbid" -- am I missing something here? Also, in question 4, how many more HCPs would we need to open strong 2c with these sort of hands? With highly unbalanced hands like this I was thinking we could open with 20 or 21 HCP, especially when we are in the 3rd seat, but maybe that's too loose..

Thank you so much again for your detailed posts. I am learning a lot! Kaitlyn: you said my raise will show a possibility of making game, but does that hold true in a competitive bidding too? Say I double, my LHO passes and partner bids 1s. Should I just pass with minimum (say 4 spades with 12-15 points) instead of raising to 2S? I know I probaby cannot reach game opposite 10 points tops (unless the fit is good), but I wouldn't want to let opponents in easily with something like 2c, 2d, 2h. If I pass partner might think we have a 4-3 fit in spades instead of 4-4 and not compete further, no? :S

Thanks Kaitlyn -- I have been enjoying your problems a lot. I do agree that 1S should be prioritised over takeout double here because we cannot easily find a 5-3 fit. If partner coincidentally bids Spade though, I can still raise the suit because it is not a new suit and thus I don't have to have 18-19+ points, right? And a side question, for my RHO to overcall 2d over my partner's Stayman, what would he need? The same requirements as when he is overcalling my 1NT without Stayman? Also, the same requirements as when he is overcalling my 1h or 1s? I was thinking a good 5-card suit or 6-card suit with about 10-12 HCP, but I might be way off here.

Thanks all for your replies :) One further question -- is it not required to have about 8 HCPs to bid Stayman? That is what I was told a while ago, but I guess it actually makes sense to do it with less points because the responses are mostly (entirely?) limited to 2d, 2h, and 2s, so the responder should be able to place the contract in the partscore. But then again, what other conditions have to be met for these "looser" Stayman?

[hv=pc=n&n=sak9ha43d85ckq873&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1np2c2d]133|200[/hv] I think 1NT opening was standard (maybe 1c was better?). Partner bids Stayman and I was going to respond by 2d, but West intervenes and stole my move :( What should I do? Just pass and hope partner will bid again? I really don't want to be defending with 24+ points on our side but felt a bit lost. Is my partner forced to bid again against 2d? Am I forced to rebid after that 2d? [hv=pc=n&n=sqt653haj2d4caqj4&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=p1dd1sp2d]133|200[/hv] Looked like a good spot to takeout double, but I was not sure if I should show my 5-card major first by overcalling 1s. After I doubled, East kicks in with 1s and partner passes. Then West rebids 2d. Do I just pass here because I have no 5-card unbid suit? If East did not bid 1s I would have (obviously) overcalled 2s here, but bleh..

[hv=pc=n&s=sk43hak5432dqck32&d=e&v=0&b=14&a=p1hp4hp]133|200[/hv] Just played this hand on a relaxed game table. I bid 1♥, LHO overcalls 1♠ and partner jumps to 4♥. I wasn't sure what this means. Had LHO passed, I think this 4♥ raise would have been preemptive (am I correct?), showing about 6-9 HCP. Does this change once LHO overcalled my opening? If so, what range of hands is my partner representing? Either way, should I stop at game or go for a slam? I ended up passing because I thought he didn't have many HCP's and 6♥ would have been too ambitious, but maybe I am wrong because chances are we are going to have a very long heart suit.

That makes a lot of sense wank, thanks for your explanation. :)

Why is 3♣ being hardly played? Is it due to the risk that partner raises our ♣ incorrectly? Or just because we can agree to use 2-level bids for the same purpose and keep the bidding low when we are not forcing to game?

Thanks for your replies, all. I have a question about bidding clubs. What's the difference between rebidding 2♣ and 3♣ here? Do I understand it that I am forcing when I jump to 3♣ but not when rebidding just 2♣? Or is he not allowed to pass 2♣ either? And if I am indeed interested in clubs (which I am not in this hand), what should I rebid over his 1NT?

[hv=pc=n&s=s94hqj873da76caq9&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1dp1hp1np]133|200[/hv] When North bids 1NT after my 1h, I thought the following might be true about him: - His HCP is about 12-15 - He doesn't have 4+ spades or hearts, otherwise he would have bid 1s+ or 2h+ - He has 5 diamonds at most With my 13 HCP and two stoppers, (I think) I would like to reach game. Question is, how? a) Do I just bid 3NT with very weak spades? b) Do I bid hearts again? Problem is I have too many HCP to bid 2h, and one too few heart to bid 3h. c) Any other options? I can't bid a new suit, can I? My hearts are mediocre and there is no guarantee that North will be able to support it, so I felt like bidding 3NT. But then again, he might have 3 hearts and I can find that out by bidding 2h or 3h (not sure). Any comments and inputs are much appreciated! I won't be very surprised if I am missing something really simple here.

Thanks man, I'm glad to hear that you also have a chess and poker background. :) I agree with you that I should go with whatever learning style that fits me well. I also agree with you that I should try to grasp the big picture first, and then worry about minute details later on. I'm sure I will go through trial and errors, but I will enjoy the learning process. Interesting that you mentioned Jack Bridge, because I actually downloaded the demo version just yesterday. I like its UI and analysis feature, and was going to ask other posters here for their opinions. Do you use it for postmortem of the hands you have played? Also, would you prefer it to Bridge Baron?

Thanks a lot, guys. Many helpful posts, and I really appreciate you for having taken the time to share your advice and insight. :) I will order a few books that were recommended by some posters, and then go look for a partner with whom I can improve as a bridge player.

Thanks! I ordered those two books from Amazon. Having played poker for 7+ years now, I can't stress enough how important it is to develop a solid fundamental game, and I guess that applies to bridge too. I'll look into finding a few partners, although this will take some time. I will look into them. Just downloaded bridgethink and it looks pretty nice. I'll try BBO master problems too! And yes, I'm into computer bridge already because well, I'm a lazy poker guy. :) Thanks! So far, I have been mostly reading "25 conventions you should know" because it seemed to have a good review and I figured it can't hurt to know them, even though that doesn't mean I am going to adopt them all. This mindset comes from my poker background too, although I'm not sure if it is relevant here. In poker, I need to have a lot of lines in my arsenal and understand why people play differently, but that doesn't mean I need to use those lines myself all the time. A poor analogy maybe, but I think I get your point. I haven't looked at the ACBL website yet, but will do so now. Yes, I know this well from chess and poker too, and bridge seems to follow suit. I plan on doing this very soon - just started keeping a bridge journal where I will put some hands I played and analyse a bit. Thanks for your advice!

Thanks a lot, man (I guess I'll have to say this a few more times ITT, as everyone has been so helpful!). I liked the poker analogy. Indeed, I guess there is some similarity between bidding in bridge and betting in poker. They can both occur on multiple rounds/streets, and the further we go, the narrower the ranges become. Actually, this is quite a fascinating element of these games! I'll try to put in a lot of volume. Unfortunately I don't have any human players to play with atm, and instead I have been renting the $1/day robots and practicing with them. Good thing is I can take my time before going through bidding/playing decisions (robots don't give me any time pressure) and I feel like that's a better way to learn for me, at least for now. Interesting remark about bridge teachers. I have been coaching lots of poker students, and am aware of pros and cons of coaching in general. Personally, I don't think I would need a teacher when I start off just because I think I can learn the fundamentals by myself. Well, at least that's what I did in poker, but maybe I'm wrong when it comes to bridge. Either way, I'll give it some thoughts for sure. Good point, Nick. I'll consider this. Thanks a lot again!

NickRW and plaur, thanks a lot. I will try those links first!

Ah I see. I live in the mid-western America. Not quite sure (yet) if there are many bridge players around me.

Thanks for your prompt reply. As for basic books, could you recommend me a few? Also, do you think practicing a lot with bots would help my game? I like it because when I hover my mouse to the different bidding options they tell me (briefly) what each bidding would mean, plus the fact that I am given a lot of time to think before making bidding/playing decision, but that also makes me sloppy sometimes. I would like to hear others' opinions on this.

Hello all, I just started playing bridge about a week ago. I am a professional poker player and some of the elements transfer from poker to bridge, but for now I'd say I can barely spell bridge. I find this game fascinating though, and would like to improve as fast as I can through practice. What should I do? So far, here's what I have been doing: - Read "bridge for dummies" and "25 conventions you should know" - Downloaded "Learn to play bridge" series from BBO website and gone through the drills - Played a bunch of instant tournaments on BBO + games with 3 robots for plugging obvious leaks in my bidding and learning from other players I was wondering if this is a correct way of learning bridge. Maybe I should start posting some hands that I was unsure of? Also, does it help to have a long-term partner in this game so that we can learn, improve and play together? (I am assuming it is.) Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance!