mila85

rdbl. - maximum (10-11) and I need a swing (it's too speculative) 2♠ - 5-5, 10-11 hcp 2nt,3♣ - ♥+♣? I can't imagine a hand where I want to show clubs. And I prefer not to use 2nt because partner is guessing what I want to say 3♦ - ??? I would always respond 3♥ to this bid 3♥ - preemtive

Ask your partner.

I guess west has KJxxx in diamonds. I need spade finesse to work. So I take with spade queen and run ♣10. If west doesn't cover I take what east returns and play ♣K. If clubs are 3-2 or east has 4 it's easy. If west has 4clubs I play all my winners ending in dummy. Position is: - - xx x / - - - A97 If west discarded club I can run them. If he holds both clubs I endplay him in diamonds. If west covers I must guess. I think it's right to finesse in clubs next round because of restricted choice (if west has QJx(x) I don't know way how to make the contract).

Full hand is here but I knew my answer before I saw it. 1. PASS I have 7 loosers. That means cca 5 down. Partner can't have values to cover all these loosers. If it was after 1st seat opening I would pass too - with values for making 5♦ partner must double. A 103 AKJ10753 AK2 is minimum for 5♦ A103 - AJ107532 AQ2 is minimum for double (3 1/2 tricks) 2. PASS Partner can have (semi)balanced hand, where both 5♦ and 4♠ can't be made. 5♦ can cause doubleswing for opps - 4♠x-3 and 5♦x-2 or similar. Double is not good too. I have long diamonds and values in them. Partner must pass this double with most of the hands - and 4♠x will be often made. 8 435 QJ107 KQJ108. is minimum for 5♦ (I play acol or wj, 1♦ shows probably 5 diamonds, 4 is minimum) 8x KQ5 107x A10852. is minimum for double. More interesting problem is, what you do after partner reopens with double. 3. PASS I have minimum, 3 top honours and 2-3 tricks. Partner doubled, where is the problem? x KQ7 KQJ86543 7 is minimum for 5♦ (very offensive hand) Ok, I wouldn't find good 5♦ sacrifise. But can I know it during the bidding? No. If 4♠ can't be made it can be very very bad defence...

Ok but is 3♣ 5♥4♣ or can it be 4♥4♣? noone knows... In most of the systems 3m is used as artifical checback for 3c major fit. In WJ you can show naturaly 4card minor. Perfect tool in slam bidding - and absolutely natural. I haven't wrote that it's a good systmem (eventhough I think so). I only wanted to say that it's very natural despite it does not look so. I don't think that it's 0 in MP. When I compare it to SA. 1♣ opening shows 3+♣ 11-20. 1♦ opening in WJ shows 4+♦, 11-17 and unbalanced hand. Who is in better position after interference? But that's not really natural. I can give you a better system than that without much thinking. The next bid is always relay, opener uses natural bids: 1♥ (5+♥) - 1♠ (relay) 2♣ (5+♥4+♣) - 2♦ (relay) 2nt (5♥4♣22) - 3♣ (relay) 3♦ (12-14pc) - 3♥ (relay) 3ba (1 ace) - .. and now asking for kings etc. Thats a big precision... and partner never passes... etc. Sorry, relay bidding is not natural. In the sequence I showed can 2♦ start reley sequence. But it doesn't. It establish GF and the bidding is natural with all its advanteges. 1) NAMYATS is very good in WJ. 2) I would double, not bid 5♥. 3) No system is perfect. Strong club is not played because of strong hands. Its advantage is in other limited openings. My post wasn't about opening scheme. In polish club you open artifical 1♣ and use some convections in later bidding. But the idea of it is very natural.

I think that 50% game should not be played at MP. Mainly when the field is weak and strange things can happen. Imagine there is 4♥ contract depending only on finesse. Weak players can play 2♥= or 5♥-1. 3♥+1 will defeat these players.

Polish club is a very natural system eventhough it uses a lot of conventions. Examples: 1♣-1♥ 2nt..............shows 18+balanced without 3heards Because of a convention (odwrotka - 2♦ shows strong club and 3c support) you can now bid naturaly (3♣ shows clubs). 1♦-1♠ 1nt-2♣..........asks 2♥-2nt..........2♥=3spades and max, 2nt asks ? Almost everybody uses here some convention - NMF or 2♣ as puppet to 2♦. Spade fit is known but after 2nt the bidding is natural. We can find 4-4 minor fit or play 3nt with fit but bad distribution. 1♣-1M 2♣-2♦ ................. 2♣ shows 15+, 2♦ is GF Because of this convention you can bid naturaly. You are in GF situation so you aren't afraid of parner pass.

The problem with double is that partner can pass it. I think it shows pretty strong hand and tends to be (semi)balanced in this position. You can bid 1nt with weaker but distributional hand.

I remember on my first tournament opps opened multi. I dint't hear about it before and they told me about 5 possible meanings. I didn't understand at all. I didn't know that it's from 90% weak two and what P/C is. I don't remember my hand but I remember I passed. I didn't like the board. I didn't like opps, I didn't like bridge. Today when opps open multi I like it. I know that I'm in better position than if they opened natural 2♠. If multi is baned everybody is in the same position. Noone has an advantage. Where is the problem? I think people don't like weak hands and passing. They want to play multi because they want open as much hands as it's possible.

I play: dbl&1♦ - raptor 1M - lenght or shotness (3cards in others) in bid suit 1nt/2♣ same with ♣/♦ 2♦ 6cM 2M 5-5

Seems interesting. Did anybodody played it so?

What tournament did you play? I read 'local club' but also 'language barrier'. 1. Online - this shouldn't happen because you selfalert. 2. Friendly tournament - accept the ruling because - I want enjoy the game not argue with TD. - Opps were damaged by misinformation. Maybe it was a misbid but when partner jumps to 3♥ (3♠ was lucky) you can always correct to 3♠ and he will understand (Even if the explanation was right it wasn't 'full' because you know your partner and you can recognize 'old agreement') 3. Normal tournament with normal cc. This should be in your cc and it can help you if you explain it correctly. (But when you correct 3♥ to 3♠ your partner must bid as it was strong) 4. Big big tournament - change the result to 6♥=. You MUST know this basic bidding situation. I'm not TD and I do not know the rules very well. This is only my view.

... and on the range of your 1NT opening bid (and hence what hand strength might be contained in the 1m opener when balanced). My other message at http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?sho...indpost&p=87862 is of some relevance here. In general I would agree with the theorem if you are playing a strong (ie 15-17) 1NT opener. Odds are that opener has a weak 1NT opener on the auction, opposite which you would not invite with a balanced 9 count and rarely with 10 even with a guaranteed fit. The problem argues somewhat for playing a weak 1N opener, so that opener's "normal" minimum playing strength given the raise is roughly the same whether opener is balanced or unbalanced - (in either case better than a weak 1N opener), when a game try with a 9 count is safer. Playing weak nt 10HCP are GF values:) x Axxx Axx Axxxx xxxx KQxx xxx Kx

I think that this is a text-book double. Pass is not bridge but poker.

Many issues here: 1) Occasional partners and subs You cannot reasonably expect a sub to have detailed agreement, or even nondetailed agrements. If he makes a bid unagreed with pard, you have no right to know any more than his pard will. If it's undiscussed, it's undiscussed, the bidder "hopes" pard will understand it, and you should be in the same situation than his partner: in some case, it will be YOU that need to know what it is and have to guess, in other situations, it will be his pard, that's life, once you win, once you lose. Yes. Bidder HOPES pard will understand it. So there must be an agreement. Without it it would be impossible to understand. (natural is also an agreement) No, this is not a normal psych. You know that partner is not sure what it means. Imagine the bidding 2nt-p-3nt-dbl/4c-p-? a) I have 20BAL, 5 clubs and think that RHO can make tricks in my unstopped suit (dbl was for a lead). b ) I was psyching. I think a) is normal. Partner can bid 5♣. But when you play with a sub he will always pass. After multi bids can be natural or P/C. This is a big difference. I you deny explain it and partner takes a good action then TD will work... You can say "It tends to be..." If it's true you must give this information. You can protect yourself very easily. When it's your bid, you know what you have in your hand. When it's parnter's bid you can say "I think it's ... and I will bid so." In most of the tournaments it's enough. Opps must guess. Your pard can think about it. -------------- Of course nobody has to say what their actual holding is. When you play with a sub explenation like "our 3rd board, SA2/1, no other agreements" is enough With causual partner you should always say what you think it is.

Ducking the first trick doesn't look well. Diamonds will be cleared and after interference LHO must have an entry. So I take with an ace and RHO will prabably unblock the suit. Time to play clubs. But how?

The problem is that it's always difficult for opps or TD find what the full agreement is. You have something in your cc, something in your system notes but you also played lots of hands and you have hundreds of agreements which were never said. Imagine a situation: You have to make a bid and you are not sure if your pard will understand it. 1. You alert it and say that you have no agreement - it can be ... or ... Opps have to know the same what partner so you don't tell them what it is. Your pard now explain correctly what you have and takes a good action. Td is called - you have to explain that it was just lucky. 2. You alert it, say what you think it means (you have). I your pard takes a bad action. It's your problem that you don't know the system. You will have a bad result and the advantage your opponent had isn't the reason. Another situation: Partner opened weak nt. RHO doubled and I passed. It forces redouble - it's only bid pard can make. And he bids 2 spades... I can explain it as no agreement. But I must do something, I must think what it means. So I explain what I think it is and what I will do (not the exact bid, only idea). 3rd situation: Bidding goes 1♠-2nt/3♦-3♥/4♠. 2nt was inv+, 3♦ and 3♥ some game tries. Both of you think for a long time about playing this not easy game. You imagine every possible hand pard can have. Opps ask to explain the bidding. You say 'game tries'. They want to know more but you don't want to say them more than your pard knows... When you say 'no agreement' it's always suspicious. You expect some action from your partner. You can always say something - What the other bids mean? How we bid in similar situation? Is it forcing? Don't be afraid that you give them too much informations. You have always an advatage. They can never know everything. So say what you can. (This is about online brige or game with screens, of course you can't say to your pard what you have) I didn't know how it was explained at the other side of the screen. 1. I was sure we have the agreement in very similar situation - I didn't think about not having it here. And my pard didn't think that we can have it here. The auction was absolutely boring and normal for both of us:) 2. There are only two possibilities. Lebensohl or Natural. I can say that I'm not sure. But I must say what I think it is. 3. If I explained it as 10-12 nat. bal. and had very weak hand (we can call it bluff) what I had and my pard explained it also as natural, he would be in the same situation, none of the opps will know my hand but the result wouldn't be changed. The only problem was different explanation - you must know your system in this event - because it's impossible find out what the real agreement is.

I think that dbl. should be penalty oriented - values and no fit. Hands like: Ax AQxxx xxx Axx Can be perfect contract against hands like this: Kxxx xx KQxxx xx

We did't have exact agreement but it doesn't mean that we had no agreement. When I use a bid I expect partner will understand it (we played Lebensohl over weak two openings). So I say to opps what I think it means. If I explained it as 'no agreement', opps would call TD. It's impossible that I don't have any idea about 2nt bid if I want to play Championship. Maybe it was a bad example. I wanted to say that when I use a call I expect that partner will understand it. I don't use bids I don't know what they mean. If an opponent explain something as 'no agreement' I will ask him why he bids it. What will his partner do? What it can be? Does they have an agreement about any similar situation. If he answers me 'no agreement, it can be anything' then it's brown sticker. Explanation of an opening bid should be the same at both sides. (When you play online only one player explains it - but if he has something different then his partner must bid as he had what he explained) I don't believe to opps if they don't know what they opening bids mean. It's not championship, you can make mistakes, but to know what the openings mean is necessary. If someone opens 2nt and has no idea how his partner will take it, he must be crazy or cheating. When they give me no or bad explanation and partner makes good action I call director or leave table. btw Sorry for my English...

I think that "no agreement" is not a good answer even with a sub. In Riccione LHO opened 2♣ - precision. Partner doubled and I bid 2nt. From my point of view it was Lebensohl. Partner thought it was natural and I played 3nt. It was a stupid contract but I played it undoubled and the defence wasn't the best one. It was because my pard explained it as natural - one opponent was misinformed. The result was changed by TD. Eventhough my pard bid 3nt not 3♣ so it was obviously our misunderstanding not cheating, we should have known what we bid. Ok, BBO tourney isn't Championship but I think players should know what opening bids mean. If I open open 2nt without disscusion it's probably strong balanced hand. It can happen I don't really know (in my info is 20-22BAL, in partner's info is 5-5 minors). So I would open strong balanced hand via 2♣ and pass minor two suiter. It's not a big disadvantage and I'm afraid of terrible result. If someone in this situation opens 2nt: I) he thinks that pard will understand it - he should explain it. II) he's stupid III) he's using HUM - random openings are not alowed. I think that it can happen that partner will not understand my bidding. But it can't happen that I use a bid and I don't have any idea what it means. Every my bid should have some reason and meaning and opps should know it - chance of misuderstanding by pard doesn't change it.

What do you think about this: 1♠-3♠ block 1♠-3x mini-spliner (inv+) 1♠-2♣ can be any balanced GF even with fit 1♠-2nt is 9-11 balanced with 4c fit or invitblock - good 6-9 (8-81/2 loosers ) with 4c fit After minispliner 3♠ minimum, I don't like your splinter 4♠ some extra values (but I don't like your splinter) or minimum and no values in partner's suit other is slam-try After 2nt: 3♣ is invit (vs. weak unbalanced), ask shorness Then: 3x shorness 3♠ club shorness 3nt balanced maximum 4x Hxxxxx or HHxxx 4♠ balanced mimimum 3♦ invit Then: 3♥ balanced minimum 3♠ unbalanced 3NT balanced maximum 3♥ natural 3♠ no game interest 3NT pass with balanced hand or bid 4♠ with unbalanced 1♥-2NT is spade splinter and 1♥-2♠ is balanced invit/invitblock

1nt 15-17 2♦ 18-20 BAL 12-14 BAL is opened 1♣ So 1♣ shows 5 clubs in unbalanced distribution or 12-14BAL or 4441♦. 1♦ is unbalanced or 5332. 1M is 5 card. Over 1♣ opening transfers. Accepting a transfer shows a three card support. 2/1 after 1M opening is GF except rebid. 2c can be balanced with only 2clubs. Over 1♠ 2♦ shows ♥ and 2♥ shows ♦. Kaplan Inversion. Questions: -WJS or SJS. Or reverse flanery? -What do you think about playing Checkback Stayman (2♣=want play 2♦ or invit, 2♦=GF) after 1♣ opening and accepting a transfer to major -After 1♦-1M play 1nt as 12-15 without 3card support and 2♣ can be any hand with 3card fit. And continuations? Or do you have idea how use 1nt rebid? -1m-1x/2nt shows nat. 3m bid without 3card support. Or bad 6m? -1m-1x. I like splinters here. -1♣-1♦/1♠ and 1♦-1♥/1♠. Forsing or not? (2♠ splinter?) -After minor opening the new minor rebid can be a very strong hand with fit (5422- if I have splinters) or 6m. Is it a good idea? And what now? -Over 1M opening play mini-splinters (inv+). Balanced GF is bid vid 2♣. 2nt is invit with balanced hand. -Do you have any other hints? Thanks

I open this 2♣. I have only 2 loosers. 7♥ is easy now. 7nt is right contract and it's possible to reach it but I'm not sure I will do...

I remember that my pard made it but I don't how. I guess it was a singleton diamond honour with west...

I agree.