beatrix45

:) This auction is not working out at all. Seems to me that 1NT is an offshape underbid, two hearts is a considerable overbid, and two clubs seriously misrepresents my hand and is essentially a cowardly attempt to win an argument in the postmortem. Since the one spade response worsens my hand, I think that the one NT underbid is best choice. I have one HCP and the ten of diamonds more than advertised, but no spade fit and my long suit is topless and may not be a source of tricks. In today's world, the stiff spade won't be that unexpected. Trixie

:) I really hate to bypass a four card major if we are playing five card major suit openers. The extreme case would be a square hand with four small in the major and lots of body in the hand as a whole. A one NT bid after a one diamond opener might be something like: Q109 9832 J108 KJ8 Sometimes bidding a weak four bagger at the one level deters the lead of that suit, but equally, my partners will occasionally raise with three trumps and a ruffing value. This can be real bad if I end up playing a trump suit something like: 9842 opposite K73 at the two level. Note that if I have enough to make a game try opposite a single raise, this won't be as much of a problem. Trixie

:) 3NT - Bob Hamman showed the world how to handle this type of bidding problem. Trixie

:) Seems like 2C has to be a general purpose cue bid. You have to have a bid here that shows a powerful offensive hand that is unsuitable for defense. Basically, a double should promise no club void since a penalty pass is not too unlikely, and defending at the one level can be a tough way to score points if you can't lead a trump through, and the extra trumps you don't have in your hand show up in the dummy. In this case, you have some play for game opposite four small spades and a doubleton heart. So, raising partner's one heart or one spade bid as a game try looks just right. Even a raise of one spade to three can be defended. Partner shouldn't play your bid as Michaels, so he/she might bid diamonds, and, if so, you can either bid spades or re-cuebid to elicit a major suit preference. The other tactic is to 'walk the dog' with a quiet 1S bid with a heart follow up if necessary. I don't think anyone can say this is tactic is right or wrong, it just depends on the caliber of the opposition, your partner, the state of the match, and your feel of the table. If it works, you are right. If it fails you are wrong. Trixie

:) Online bridge games are full of emotional cripples who are liable to do and/or say anything. On the first hand, the initial 1S overcall is too light, but the partner's bidding is insane. Raise to game with 10xx in trumps and a couple of outside cards??? Then redouble??? AAAAAAAAAArgh. The second hand is even more pitiful. Open 2NT with any form of 5-5-2-1 distribution??? Next ask for aces with a void???? If you did any of this (and I'm sure you didn't), you are not advanced. Nil illigitimo carborundum Trixie

:) Technically you should bid 7, I guess 7D to offer choice. The alternative is 6H, but only if after losing 13 IMPs the match is survivable. Trixie

:) In my Thursday afternoon 10 cent money game with the girls, 1NT would be automatic because I get to play the hand. At matchpoints with a good partner, I like the pressure bid aspect of 2S - the spade 9 is a big card in this situation. Under any circumstances, I really hate the idea of 2D with that suit. Trixie

:P Thanks a million to everyone for your input. I think we may have gathered enough opinions, analysis and data to draw whatever lessons this hand offers. Inquiry and others presented an excellent analysis in favor of 2C. jlall and others capably present the case for dbl - primarily that 2C is much more dangerous than dbl. The problem on this particular hand was that EW had a tendency to stop bidding too soon. They have a nine card fit in clubs and a secondary 5-3 eight card fit in spades. NS has a nine card fit in hearts and a less useful 4-4 in diamonds. In short, there are lots (18) tricks in the hand. NS knows to go to the three level based on a 6-3 heart fit known from the git go. NS has more of a problem. After 2C at least W knows about the nine card club fit, and her free 2S bid after over 2H advertises a five bagger, so E knows right away about the 5-3 spade fit. After my double, I couldn't even be sure that W free 2S bid over 2H showed more than four cards. Wouldn't my partner feel like a moron playing a 4-3 fit at the three level when there were only 16 tricks in the hand? What it all boils down to is that this hand represents a whole class of hands where 2C is better. The other arguments are still valid. Anyway, in the future I'm going to bid 2 of my minor over 1H on these 3-2-5-3 or 3-2-3-5 hands and see how long it takes before I go for a telephone number. Trixie

:P I think with minor suit 8 and 9 baggers you have a basic choice: blast or walk the dog. This hand looks like a dog walker with its 3 bullets and ratty suit you could stand to have more information, but two other factors are also important: the quality of the opponents and the state of the match. Against high quality opposition, blasting is better. Also, are you going for a favorable swing or just to halve the board? You could really bid anything with this hand. To try to halve the board against good opposition, you might bid 5C. To set a trap for good opposition, try 3C. To walk the dog against a non-seeded pair you would bid 2C or even pass. Feel of the table is critical here. You hold a rare and unexpected asset, so use it to do unto the opponents and do not let them do unto you. Trixie

:P Your hand is a rock with 3.5 quick tricks and a big potential source of tricks. The heart Q makes that suit a runner. 3H will cause partner to value it properly, if he has it. You would bid 2H with an average hand like: Kxx KJ9xxx Ax xx and, you could be a lot worse. Trixie

:P Trouble is that declarer gins in clubs with any 2 or 3 card holding. I'm going for the spade overruff and the diamond or heart A from partner. Trixie

:P The hand that prompted this posting came up in a BBO individual tourney last night. The full layout: ............................... 83 ................................AQ8742 ................................QJ75 ................................Q QJ1065................................................K97 109.....................................................J5 A4.......................................................K102 10732..................................................AK985 ................................A42 ................................K63 ................................9863 ................................J64 It was played 28 times. Nine times N opened 2H and NS was the winner on six of these hands with an average gain of 1.24 IMPs for these nine hands. On five hands N passed as dealer losing on four of these with an average loss of 2.3 IMPs for the five hands. On thirteen occasions N opened 1H winning on eight of these hands with an average win of 0.5 IMPs for the 13 hands. One sport opened the N hand for 3H; finished in 4H off two, and lost 2.7 IMPs. The posted question was whether E should double, pass or bid 2C on the thirteen hands where N opened 1H. On seven of these E bid 2C and on six E doubled. Evidently, the field was a divided as I was. Bidding 2C did work out better. The two club bidders gained IMPs on three of the seven hands with an average loss of 0.1 IMP. The doublers, and I was one, were trapped unless W got really active. They lost on four out of six hands with an average loss overall of 1.0 IMPs. My auction went 1H - dbl - 2H - 2S - 3H - ??? It didn't look right to bid 3S, so I passed (the LAW and good defense) and it went all pass thus losing the board. Would anyone bid 3S with my cards? One pair did. How about 3S with the W hand? His pass was not an obvious error to me. Still, I got killed on a board that has normal suit splits. Who should take a charge? Lesson?? Open with the N hand, and probably 2C is better with the E hand after a 1H opener. Trixie

You are in second seat with no one vulnerable playing IMP pairs. RHO opens the bidding with 1H. You hold: K97 J5 KT2 AK985 Do you pass, double or bid 2C? Why?

:unsure: 1) duck the heart and pray 2) bid 2S, the weakest action possible 3) pass is automatic, don't run until you are doubled, and probably not even then (depending on the table feel) if partner promises a decent 6 bagger.

:unsure: Great bidding problem! This type of hand is often misevaluated.

:) I just noticed that Justin bid only 2S. Maybe he has a point. The thing is that you do have an 8 card major suit fit and enough high cards to raise to 2S without any distribution. It's not a good 3S bid, but I think its closer to 3S than 2S - except the last time I did bid 3S with that hand, my partner bid 4S and went down two tricks.

:) I have noticed that these type of hands - i.e. a 4-4 fit with a void in partner's other suit - do not play all that well, so a 3S underbid is my choice.

Since the incremental cost of "production" is just postage and producing a DVD (by the way, why not deliver the thing over the internet or by e-mail), I would suggest starting out with a period of high publicity and a very low purchase price (maybe $2 to 5 - even free for a trial period - along with some advertising) to try to develop a market. Get your vendor to supply you for next to nothing for a while on the condition that you will chip in $X worth of publicity and promotion. You will never get the kind of exposure and word of mouth you need by starting out at anything close to $30. If the bridge playing public tries the product and likes it, then you can ease the price upward - the ultimate level should be unimportant to you because your vendor needs to bear that risk. It looks to me like you have the upper hand over your English vendor right at the moment. He/she has a product, but no way to reach its public. If he/she needs an ultimate selling price of $X to be successful, let him/her worry about it. You already have by far the best commercial pipeline into the world bridgeplayer market. Trixie

Ask yourself, "what is my objective in saying something?" At bridge the legitimate objective is to win the event (or money). If you buy into this, the only question is: "which event? This one, or some later event with this same partner?" In the former case, saying nothing is usually best so as not to break partner's concentration. In the latter case, it is usually best to wait until the event is over and do your teaching and analysis in a calmer atmosphere. Now, if you are playing bridge to have fun and having fun involves emotional outbursts, have at it. The only real limit is not to offend the opponents. If pard wants to be a verbal punching bag for your dispepsic commentaries, beat him/her like a three legged dog.

:rolleyes: Maybe: 3D-P-6D? No point in asking for aces. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Your side missed 6 because partner's arithmetic was deficient. You advertise 25-27 HCP and he had 7 rather good HCP. A raise to 4NT (at least) is called for. Then you get to construct 7 HCP hands in your head to see what percentage give you an acceptable play for 6. I looks to me like most of them do since your heart tenace (at worst) buys you time to set up the diamonds, and any stray queens or QJ combos have a nice trick taking potential. Partner might have a stiff diamond, but they might break 3-3.

:rolleyes: I don't see any alternative but dbl unless I were playing some exotic form of Namyats on defense. Worrying about a penalty pass in this vulnerability is just playing scared bridge. On the actual hand we would bid accurately to 4 or 5S, probably going 1H-dbl-2H-3C-4H-4 or 5S- all pass

No, you are not crazy. Partner is crazy. If you had doubled 4S, he would have pulled it to 5C like a shot. If he ever said differently, he lies!

Pass or 7H or something crazy. This is a read out LAW hand. We have 12 hearts and they have 10 spades (at least), plus I have a void and they have a void. Looks like a 24 trick hand. We can likely take 7 hearts and two or three spade ruffs in my hand and a diamond or two. We lose the ace of diamonds and however many clubs partner has. Most likely we will come to 11 tricks in hearts. Gee, that leaves only 13 tricks for the opponents They are a clear favorite for 13 tricks in spades. The spades are probably 6-4 or 5-5. Either way, that comes to 6 spade tricks because of the heart ruff. The ace of diamonds is seven. So, it comes down to whether one of the opponents has 6 clubs (or partner has a club trick, not likely)? If LHO has 5 spades, then he should have 6 clubs, making 7S. If he has only 4, then he must specifically be 4-1-3-5 for 7S to go down. This is probably his most likely specific hand, but I doubt if it is as much as a 25% probability. Partner will score a club honor once in a blue moon. 7S looks like a 2 or 3 to one favorite, at least. How do I keep them from bidding it? That is a purely tactical problem relying on one's feel of the table. 2. Pass. When fixed, stay fixed. It might work out, and bidding with a primarily defensive hand courts suicide. 3. 4C. Looks like a game forcing take out is just the ticket. 4. Open 1D for just this reason. 5. I don't play multi or understand it at all. 3.

North's bid of 1S seems a little wild to me, but south's pass of 1S was genuinely awful. How many spades did he/she think their side had? I might have tried 2C with the south hand in case partner was 4-2-5-2 or better yet 4-1-5-3. He can always run back to diamonds with a six bagger and short clubs. Assigning blame? Awful = 90%, Wild = 10%.