phoenixmj

True enough . Hand 2 woluod be a one club open. So i guess partner can figure out i have ak clubs. How about hand 1? Open 4 clubs??

[hv=pc=n&w=sh542d95cakjt9753&e=sakhkqjtdakq863cq]266|100[/hv] We came across this hand in a team game. I was west and opened 4 clubs. Our partnership agreement implies that to open 4 clubs - we likely have a losing trick count of 5-6, along with a good 8 card suit and a weak hand - preemptive. This hand met all of those requirements. Partner looks at his hand and senses slam. Bid is 4 NT. I answer 5H (2 with no queen). Partner bids 6 NT - which we make 7 because there is not a heart lead. Suppose my hand had been as follows. [hv=pc=n&w=s32had95cajt97532&e=sakhkqjtdakq863cq]266|100[/hv] Suddenly we have a problem - especially with a heart lead. A heart lead wipes the entry to the board at trick one. The clubs no longer run because we are missing the king. If the diamonds split 4/2 - we are likely in trouble. My question is whether we should be bidding 6 clubs - especially in a team game. Curious as to what you would bid on this hand in both a team game and a matchpoint game. Should I have opened 4 clubs? It takes up so much room that we seem to not fit in a cue bid or two. Any help is appreciated.

In our section at the tournament - 2 people bid and made 6nt, 1 bid and made 6h, 1 bid and made 6d. I can possibly see bidding 6d - but not the others. If the bidding goes 1d, 1h, 1s, 3h ———. Is a 4 heart direct bid ok with a singleton heart? I rebid my diamonds. We wound up in 4 spades which i felt lucky to even make. Seems like even going for any overtricks risks the contract. Of course now that i know where everything is i would happily take the risk:) No one else played spades and not sure why partner shifted back to spades after my diamond bid. A bad board for us as i made exactly 4.

[hv=pc=n&s=sat865432hakd7cj8&w=sqhj9542dt852caq7&n=skj7hqtd943ckt642&e=s9h8763dakqj6c953]399|300[/hv] Came across this hand in a tournament. both vulnerable. East is dealer and astonishingly opened 2 diamonds - which they confirmed was a preemptive 2 bid. What should south bid? A straight 2 spades is acceptable but does not give information on true length and does not give information on the power of the hand. A Double implies more high card points. Our results on this one were skewed because I doubt that other tables faced a 2 diamond open. For this hand, I did not like the 2 spade bid because I thought it distorts the value of the hand. I might have doubled first and then bid the suit - after finding out something about partner's hand. It makes 5 spades - but south would like to know that north has the queen of trump. What do you think? How should the bidding have gone to make sure we get to 4 spades.

[hv=pc=n&s=sj865ha2d976cj952&w=skqt9h6dakqj42cq7&n=s432hqt7dt5ckt864&e=sa7hkj98543d83ca3]399|300[/hv] We came across this hand in a tournament. South is the dealer and NS is vulnerable. We did a terrible job of bidding this hand. It is a bit of a misfit, but 6N makes as does 6S, 6D, 5N, etc. We wound up playing 4S - which was alarming when I saw my partner's hand come down with 2 spades. What is the optimal way of bidding this hand? South passed. I opened 1D to start off the bidding. Partner bid 1H. I want to make forcing bids only. I wound up making 4 spades - but most people wind up in diamonds or hearts - both of which are easier to play. Double dummy says I can make 6 spades but I did not see that happening and frankly was happy to make 4 given that we have only 6 spades between us. Any and all help/suggestions are appreciated.

For us - if an unpassed responder bids a new suit it is 100 percent forcing. In this case- it would show 5 plus hearts abd 10 plus points as well. I understand we have a fit but the hearts would seem to be valuable into - and responder will have another chance to just go to game in spades depending on openers rebid. Again - with a 7 ltc and a fit - east should insist on game and i think 2 hearts is a stronger bid. In general - once you have a fit - do you abandon mentioning another possible suit - especially when lucky enough to have the other major along with support for opener? If opener had a stronger hand - there might well be slam interest because of shape. I do agree a cue bid showing limit or better would also be better. We would still wind up in spades.

Punched wrong button

Punched wrong button

[hv=pc=n&s=sq9752ht2d76ckt64&w=sakjt3h9654dkqj9c&n=shk7dat5432caj972&e=s864haqj83d8cq853]399|300[/hv] question - on the attached deal, most people wind up in 4 spades. Difficult to play because of the 5/0 split in spades. A few people in the tournament wound up in 4 hearts. Much easier to play. At our table, the bidding went 1S by west, then 2 diamonds by north and 2 spades by east. We wound up in 4 spades. I think my partner should have said 2 hearts instead of 2 spades. Also - if north had not bid, should east with a fit in spades and a good hand (7 LTC) possibly start a 2/1 with a 2 heart bid. No one reached 6 hearts although 6 hearts was made several times. We usually rely on LTC once a fit has been found.

Well - i am converted after reading some of the discussion about bypassing spades. We are now going to bypass and bid one NT. This discussion has been very helpful to us. Thanks.

I just googled and found 2 very good discussions on this. This forum is awesome. Will read while on a plane today. Getting information on the ins and outs of a particular convention or bid is really great. A lot of "stuff" you find just talks about the basic system without addressing the problems. Thanks so much for letting me know this info is out there. Cheers

I just want to thank everyone for the insights into this issue. It has been very helpful. The conclusion I am drawing is that we should play impossible 2 spades because that is too valuable to give up. A 2NT continuation after 1H, 1N, 2m, 2N implies stoppers - so no need to mention the spades since we know that opener does not have 4. So the 1H, 1N, 2m, 2S would be impossible 2 spades and show robust support for the minor rebid. Thanks so much. I just started using this BB and it is filled with great information.

I am hardly an expert - but I can tell you that in our partnership agreement the bidding would go 1c, 1H, 1S if responder has a 4 card major and does not have the power to reverse (regardless of shape)or has a 4 card heart suit without the shape to bid the diamonds first, and opener has a 4 card major. If responder has 4 spades they would then support. Assumption is that opener does not have 5 spades as we would open a 5 card major, and frankly we also assume that opener does not have 4 hearts as a fit would have been found and opener would support the hearts. It is my understanding that opener rebids 1NT over a diamond bid even with 4 card majors and balanced hand, but not over a 1M bid. We would take a sequence of 1c, 1H, 1N to deny a 4 card spade suit but it would show a balanced type hand 12-14 points. That is how we play it. Curious to find out if we are not correct.

Our convention card shows 11-16 points along with the name Flannery. Today - someone basically said you are not allowed to play Flannery 11-16, it must be 11-15. But we always do disclose if asked after the alert. Hence my question. I gather from the responses that what we are doing is fine as long as we disclose our point range. I still see a conflict with playing Flannery and wanting to show spades (as a stopper heading towards NT) and playing impossible 2S. How does opener know whether you are showing a robust raise for their 2 club or a stopper in spades - be it a 3 or 4 card spade suit. So - it seems that we would be unable to play impossible 2 spades if we are also playing Flannery. Is my conclusion correct? I have not seen anyone who plays Flannery alerting/announcing that a 1S response to a 1H open shows 5+ spades, and yet everyone I know who plays Flannery makes this assumption. The 1S is a natural bid so not sure that I understand why it would be alertable. I read a similar discussion on Walsh bids. If opener makes a bid of 1H or 1S over responder's 1D bid, they are showing an unbalanced hand when playing Walsh. From my reading on current ACBL rules, this is not alertable because the 1H/1S bid is natural. There is a BBO discussion on this point. I gather from that discussion and other sources that it used to be alertable but it is no longer so. Similarly, 1N in Walsh style over responder's 1D response does not deny a 4 card major, but also is not alertable per that same BBO discussion and other things I have read. It seems to me that the assumption that partner has 5S when bidding over 1H falls into a similar category. Curious as to your views on the Walsh bids. I have seen some people say that the Walsh bids are alertable and I gather that Hardy implied that they were - but that ACBL has taken a stance that this is not the case any more. Hardy's book was prior to many ACBL changes. Alerting a 1S bid IF it is not necessary could be a problem because you are reminding your partner that you are assuming 5+ spades. When we first used Flannery, it was quite successful for us. Then, it seems that it has created some problems - largely because of the big point range. Adopting the 11-15 standard has some benefits in this regard, but it seems to defeat the primary purpose of being able to show spades without the power to reverse unless you reverse on 16. We are considering dropping Flannery altogether - but we also see the pluses of keeping it. Thanks for your help.

A couple of questions here - 1. We have recently started playing Flannery (although I know that a lot of people frown on this bid). I understand that the definition of Flannery is that you have 5 hearts, 4 spades, and 11-15 points. Someone told me today that there is NO wiggle room in the point count - so you can be penalized for bidding Flannery with 10 points or with 16 points if the opponents catch it and call the director. Is this accurate? The 2D bid is alertable and we always give the point count along with the shape when describing the bid (if asked). 2. We play that you need 17 high card points to reverse. Seems to me that the purpose of Flannery is to allow you to show your shape when you do not have the power to reverse. How about 16 HCP - what do you do then? 3. One of the benefits of Flannery for us has been that if partner opens 2D, I know he has 5 hearts and 4 spades. If he opens 1H - I know that he likely has fewer than 4 spades unless he has a big enough hand to reverse. Consequently I do not bid 1S after a 1H open unless I have 5 spades. This allows the bidding to proceed more smoothly. It has recently occurred to me that impossible 2 spades has a bit of a conflict with Flannery. Suppose partner opens 1H. As mentioned above, I will not bid 1S over the 1H unless I have 5. So the bidding goes 1H, 1N, 2c by opener. But let's say I have 4 spades and I would like to show them now. If I bid 2 spades, is it impossible to spades or is "possible" because we play Flannery and I am now showing my 4 card spade suit. Very curious to hear especially from Flannery players if this is a true conflict. What am I missing???

We bid the major first if we cannot reverse - regardless of how unbalanced the hand may be. But I think this is partnership agreement. NOW - another questions - How unbalanced does OPENER have to be to bid 1H or 1S instead of 1NT? If the bidding goes 1c, 1d (responder), 1H - does that imply a singleton/void in one of the other suits - OR are 2 doubletons sufficient? Suppose opener has a hand with a shape xx, xxxx, xxx, xxxxx - is this an unbalanced hand? Should the opener bid 1H if partner responded 1D? Thanks in advance.

https://www.larryco.com/bridge-articles/walsh-style "The theory is that with a "one-bid" hand you bypass diamonds so you can make sure to introduce your 4-card major into the auction. If you know you will get to bid twice, you can bid your diamonds first (even with 4-4 in diamonds and the major). "Knowing you can bid twice," means responder has at least opening-bid strength." I was very surprised to see this. Please let me know if I am mis-reading it.

Hello - we have recently been introduced to Walsh style responses to 1C. I have today found what appears to be two conflicting options responding to a 1 club opener with 4D, and 4 of a major. Based on reading the Larry Cohen article online, it appears that his approach calls for bidding the 4 card diamond suit (even with a 4 card major) if the responder has an opening hand. Other articles I have read and also my notes from a class we took - indicates that if you have 4 card diamonds and 4 card major, you should bid the major first regardless of strength. If you have 5+ diamonds and also an opening hand (the ability to bid 2 times) then you would bid the diamonds first and then the major on your second bid. What is the correct (most used) approach to having 4 diamonds and 4 of a major with enough points to take a second bid (i.e. an opening hand.) Thanks in advance.

I have not requested accommodation. I was just wondering if anyone has addressed this problem already. The rules excluding headphones are clearly aimed at transmitting bridge info - so if I used device that is unable to do that I would think it would be OK to use. My iphone - which does play white noise - would also be capable of transmission so I am sure it is out of the question. The problem just came up for me and I may choose to just avoid the venue that seems to irritate my issue. Other tournaments have been ok for noise for me.

I have a bit of tinnitus and white noise earphones are helpful for me. There is one venue in particular, where the acoustics in the room are quite bad and there is a bit of an echo when people talk a lot. I played one tournament there and left with a bit of a headache from all of the noise and the event was just not fun for me. The noise was very distracting and people seemed to be talking a lot after hands and sometimes about hands. We did OK as far as the bridge scores - so this is not just sour grapes. But I would not go back to that room to play in the future. It is unfortunate because many tournaments are scheduled at that venue. Other people had similar complaints - but I don't expect anything to be done and don't know if anything could be done. Seems to me that I could wear headphones with white noise - NOT INTENDING TO RECEIVE ANY BRIDGE INFORMATION ON THE HEADSET - and then playing at that venue would be a lot more fun. I see the ACBL rules state that electronic equipment (including headphones) is not allowed - but expect that it is because they could be used to cheat. Is there any exception for a headset that would be connected only to a white noise generator? Curious if anyone else has this issue at any venue where they play and if accommodation can be made. I tried earplugs and they only made things worse.

Yes - having the same problem. I have the older version on my fire and it works fine, but the new version on my android tablet does not. It keeps stalling for long periods after each card is played. Works ok for a hand or two and then a problem. I did not have the old version on that tablet as the tablet is new. Any way of downloading the old version onto the tablet? It worked much better for me. thanks