jonottawa

Is partner not supposed to switch when I discourage? I'd play a more neutral 8 (for fear that partner will switch as asked and then they'll make 6 for a screamer) and then the 6 for reasons already offered. At IMPs the ten is right. 'So I was defending this hand with one of those 'World Class' guys on BBO and I held T986 / A5 / J85432 / 6. He led the Ace of Spades and I SCREAMED for a switch (looking at the 6 Clubs on the board with lots of tickets he'd have to figure out what I might be looking for) but he forgot that to give me a ruff he might need an entry later in the hand. So he cashed the King of Spades and the hand was over.'

I loathe 2 Clubs. I shudder at the thought. I'll stick a Diamond in with my Hearts and bid 2♥ followed by NT if I get another chance at an appropriate level. I can live with 2NT or 3NT.

All Red IMPs Opener: ♠QJ7532 ♥98 ♦KQJ6 ♣5 Responder: ♠A ♥A62 ♦A74 ♣AKQ863 Auction: 2♠ P 3♣ P 3♦ P 5♠ P P - X - P - P XX - Float

Looks like I've already passed it out. Don't like the initial pass. Whole auction strikes of masterminding (don't open opening hand, don't show support, sign off in game and then bid slam.) Glad it worked out for you and your partner (who exhibits many of the same symptoms.)

You have like 19 points or something. Double shows values and at least an inclination to defend. I can't imagine not doubling at any colors. Giving pard a choice between defending 4 Spades undoubled (we all know he ain't doubling since he rates to be void) or playing 6 Clubs isn't bridge, is it?

I expect that he is holding a bong, or perhaps a crack pipe.

I don't think it's a toss-up at all. Bidding 3♥ with a stiff Spade is very unlikely/unusual, albeit not impossible. After testing Spades, if they're 3-2 you ruff a Diamond and make 7 (assuming 3-1 Clubs.) It is pairs, after all.

Insane. ... Actually, the hand's in every post you make (at least until you get a new one.)

Lost a friend once when I moved his brand new motorcycle from one parking spot to one about 40 yards away (in the same largish parking lot.) He called the police and when they arrived they impounded his motorcycle because he was under the influence. Now THAT's funny.

If no effort was made to communicate the situation to a director/organizer of the event, then if the player is determined to be ineligible, disqualify the team. If the situation was communicated to a director/organizer of the event but not adjudicated until later, then threaten to sue, etc. Full disclosure, etc. I think it's somewhat pathetic that this player even considered playing in this event and utterly pathetic that he did so without getting a ruling on his eligibility aforehand.

I like 4 Clubs but only as a passed hand. Colors mostly offset 3rd seat imo. Hopefully partner isn't insane and has a fair suit if he opened light here. Not sure why this is a problem. You bid a game on a hook that seems like it rated to win and it lost. Unlucky.

Guess it was impossible to work out. I thought it might be possible to deduce what I held, based on the fact that it's easy for me to describe almost any other hand type with at least 3 Spades. Actual hand below. How would you have bid it? (And I hate people who bid like this too. This time that people was me, though.)

Playing 2/1 with support doubles, you pick up in 4th all white: ♠AJ73 ♥J8 ♦9862 ♣AQ2 P - 1♣ - P - 1♠ X - P - 2♥ - X P - 3♥ - P - 3N P - 4♠ - P - ? If yes, what's partner's most likely hand? (And I hate your 3NT bid too, but that's another poll.)

Slight update: A friend pointed out that 5 Spades DOESN'T MAKE on a trump lead on the first one, so that one's mostly on our teammates.

Best ever. These guys make every other tennis player who ever lived look like hacks. I was bummed that I missed the end of the match (McEnroe gave the impression that they were done for the evening when the rain delay at 2-2 in the 5th occurred so I went kibitzing and missed the conclusion.)

Not really (The governor of the State of Florida is Charlie Crist.) But the rest of them are true. George Bush stole the election in 2000 (he lost Florida) and probably did it again in 2004 (he might have lost Ohio if the votes were counted correctly and almost surely would have lost Ohio if the lines in many Democratic districts hadn't been hours and hours long for lack of functional voting machines.) As they say, if George Bush is so determined to spread democracy to the rest of the world, why doesn't he start with America?

A zero is a zero (matchpoints) so I'm fine with doubling. Assuming I can find the right ace I'm beating the folks who didn't double or who doubled 6 Clubs (if it can be beat.) At the table it's not much of a problem. Heart Ace looks right. Would you post this as a problem in forums if doubling and Heart Ace was right? Probably not. Shrug.

IMPs - Swiss AT5 / A5 / AKQ3 / AQ76 RHO opens 1 Spade. You double. The auction proceeds: 1S - Dbl - P - 2D 2H - 2S - P - 3D P - 3NT - Float LHO (Hamman, fwiw) leads the 8 of Hearts. Plan the play. Q3 / T32 / J9872 / T42 AT5 / A5 / AKQ3 / AQ76 Edit: Response to below. RHO shows out on 2nd ♦ pitching ♠ If you cash 5 ♦ RHO pitches 4 ♠ Spoiler below (invisible ink)

Thx for the illuminating responses. Y'all did much better than me (surprise, surprise.) Here are the actions that worked (not saying they're percentage.) 1. 5 Spades (Kxx / x / Axxxx / xxxx technically double is right double-dummy.) Opponents bid 5/5. I think pass is % based on the comments. Partner could easily have another heart here. 2. Anything not slam (I played partner for something like Jx / AQxxx / Kx / Axxx and bid Blackwood over 4 Spades. He actually held xx / T9xxx / Ax / AKJx and EVERYTHING was wrong (though trumps broke.)) It seems to me from the responses that this is the 'not closest' of the decisions and qualifies as a clearcut mistake. Opponents were less optimistic and joined the rest of y'all in game. 3. 5 Diamonds (partial credit for Pass, which gets you to a good spot on most days and makes if you can sneak a spade by and play double dummy from there.) I bid 6 Clubs (trying too hard to find a good hand to blog I guess, declaring a slam with a void in trumps.) I still think this is closer than most of y'all do but agree that it's probably % to pass. He sure bid this suit a lot if he has more than one loser in it though. I bought: - / xxxx / xxx / AKJTxx Clubs were 5-2 with Q9xxx behind dummy. I don't think you can make even 5 as it turns out but it's a better spot than 6 (6 Diamonds miraculously makes with QJ tight of Diamonds in the slot, so 5 Diamonds is the only way to go plus.) I got a heart lead and ran the ten of spades winning but Righty ruffed the third Spade. Sadness. Opponents played 4 Spades doubled making 6 on a Club lead so we were always losing a bunch if we didn't bid the Diamond slam. 4. Not pass. Pard had KT9xxx / xx / Ax / Kxx and everything behaved. I still think it's normal to pass. The opponents were in game. 5. Not a club. I didn't give this one enough thought to be honest, so I think it qualifies as another clearcut mistake. I reasoned that partner had a chance to double Diamonds and Spades for the lead, that Lefty's Diamond suit would provide lots of pitches (since my 5 bagger was headed by the 7) and that I'd better grab my Ace and hope partner had a trump trick. We had 2 Club tricks all day on any other lead and might beat it twice on a low Diamond lead if they misguess. Axx / Axxxx / AKx / xx KJ / KQxxx /Jxx / Kxx This is the only one that swung the result on its own and the one I shudder at the most (since slam leads are something of an achilles heel of mine.) Our teammates (Pisk was one, fwiw) were +650. 6. Not pass. I bid 2NT and then when he bid 4 Spades I felt trapped. Damned if you do, etc. Of course, he had KQxxxx / KJx / xx / xx The opponents missed slam on this one as well. I'm curious how the doublers proceed if partner bids 2NT lebensohl.

Got bounced out of the KO semi-final this afternoon after getting all 6 of these 'close' (as I see it anyway) decisions wrong (we lost by 14.) I'm mainly curious whether y'all agree that these are close and if not, why not. 1. All white AQTxxxx / A98 / xx / x You open 1 Spade, LHO bid 2 Spades, pard bid 3 Spades, you bid 4 Spades. LHO bid 5 Hearts passed back to you. 2. All red AKQ9xx / Kx / Qxx / xx Pard opened 1 Heart. You bid 1 Spade. He bid 2 Clubs. You bid 2 Diamonds. He bid 2NT. Do you bid 3 Spades or bid 3NT? If you bid 3 Spades and pard raises you to 4 Spades, are you done? 3. AKJTxx / Ax / AKTxx / - You open 2 Clubs. Partner bids ... of course ... 3 Clubs. Sigh. You bid 3 Spades. He bids 4 Clubs. You bid 4 Diamonds. He bids 5 Clubs. What do you do now? 4. All red x / Axxx / KQxx / AQxx Pard opens 2 Spades in 2nd seat passed to you (you play Ogust, fwiw.) 5. Righty opens 1 Heart and the uncontested auction proceeds: 1H - 2D 2N - 3H 4H - 4S 4N - 5D (0 or 3) 6H - P You hold 9xxx / x / 7xxxx / ATx Your lead? 6. All red Axxx / AQxx / Axx / Ax Righty opens 2 Diamonds. Do you double or bid 2NT? If you double, pard bids 4 Spades. If you bid 2NT, pard bids 4 Spades (yes, transfers are hard.) Are you done?

Wow, thx for the illuminating responses. Sorry to disappear -- I was playing in the Austin regional all day (we won the KO in spite of this hand, woot!) The actual hand itself doesn't prove a whole lot, but it's only fair that I finish the 'story.' I thought 3 Clubs would be forcing because our 1NT shows 8-10 and if pard has anything resembling a reverse we belong in game or at least 4m. But perhaps I should rethink that. I indeed never thought to draw a distinction between a reverse over a 1NT response and a reverse over a suit response. I was significantly less certain about whether 4 Clubs would be forcing, and as a complicating factor I play 'minorwood' with this partner where 4 of a minor is often keycard. If I wasn't sure what it meant, I didn't think he would be either, so I felt like I had to either bid 5 Clubs or 6. As others have mentioned, 4 of either major could just conceivably be an offer to play and I tend to prefer slightly more unilateral but unambiguous bids over highly misinterpretable actions. After a 30-second tank, I bid 6 Clubs. I thought I had 3 huge cards and almost couldn't have a better hand (besides a 4th club.) Pard's hand was not what I hoped for. ♠KJ6 ♥J875 ♦A ♣KQJ62 I felt like he hosed me, shrug.

♠Q98 ♥K6 ♦T9752 ♣A43 Uncontested auction: 1♣ - 1N 2♥ - 3♣ 3♠ - ?

Good problem. I'm tempted by 4♠ (especially with weak partner) and 2♥ but 3♠ seems %. Pard will bump on the vast majority of hands that 4♠ is cold.

LOTRO

Re the quote: Not many judges like that. Glad to hear there's a few left. Re the case: Glad you won. Victimless crimes should never be more than misdemeanors.