Kaitlyn S

duplicate post :(

Deftist, I suggest you read this thread which discusses the initial defensive action which might help with your second question. Initial Defensive Action On your first question, I agree with the others. When you open 1NT, your partner knows the combined assets of the partnership and is the captain. Your partner will only pass if he deems it correct to pass. You, who have no idea what partner has, and having defined your hand well, should stay out of the way.

duplicate post :(

Sometimes you'll get a bad score if partner has one bullet. On the other hand, are you playing with the reasonable GIB or the clueless one?

I have a rule that I don't open 2C unless I'm virtually certain I can defeat a small slam bid by the opponents when their distribution isn't unexpected. Here, if one opponent has a singleton spade and the other a singleton diamond, they could easily make 6H so that precludes a 2C opener. If it goes 1S passed out, which is very unlikely, I'll pay off. I have 15 HCP and partner has 5 or less (possibly including points for length.) Nobody opened. Say the HCP are 11-4-10. Is he person in pass-out seat who is likely short in spades really going to be clairvoyant enough to pass 1S?

I'm going to do these out of order for a reason. ( b )[hv=pc=n&s=saqt763h5dackjt87&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1s2dpp]133|200[/hv] Here if I bid 3C partner will know I have a great playing hand since I've potentially forced him to 3S with two black small doubletons. This will allow partner to bid game with a couple of fitting black honors. On the other hand, bidding 2S on: ( a )[hv=pc=n&s=sakqj763h52da2c75&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1s2hpp]133|200[/hv] doesn't guarantee much of anything when playing negative doubles, since if opener is short in hearts he has to cater to partner having a decent hand with hearts. South would bid 2S on QJxxxxx, x, AJ, QJx and partner will pass most of the time with a non-descript 8 count. Now put yourself in North's position with something like: x, Axxxx, Kxx, Jxxx. North isn't going to make a negative double and isn't going to bid after 2S. Why is North going to think you have eight tricks? If you don't play negative doubles, so that 2S implies values, 2S is fine. However, when 2S can mean "I had to act because I'm short in hearts and my hand is unsuitable for partner leaving the double in", I think you need to bid 3S. After all, you want to be in 3NT opposite as little as the HK and club length and you want to be in 4S when partner can provide 2 tricks and 3NT isn't an option. ( d )[hv=pc=n&s=sa5hakq85dkj7cq93&d=s&v=n&b=15&a=1h2cpp]133|200|[/hv] I would bid 2NT, (a) to cater to the fact that partner might have enough high cards for game, and failing that, (b) partner might have a long suit (diamonds maybe) and a weak hand and can bail out in his suit, knowing I have some support. By the way, I would have opened this hand 2NT (20-21) giving myself a point for the excellent heart suit. If I open 1H and partner responds 1S, a non-forcing 2NT doesn't do this hand justice. I suppose 3NT does but that means something else in my partnership (and unless that shows specifically a doubleton spade, partner will never know when to pull it to 4S.) It is that support issue that prevents me from bidding 2NT on: ( c )[hv=pc=n&s=saqhakt85dqjt73ck&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1h2dpp]133|200[/hv] because if I bid 2NT and partner bids 3C or 3S to play, I'm going to be unhappy. Note: 3S by partner would be to play after 2NT. If partner had 7 points and 5 spades and didn't make a negative double, partner might cuebid their suit to suggest game and doubt about the final strain. You could now bid 3S on a 3-card suit in case that was partner's strain problem.

No, but he might bid TWO spades over 1H overcalled by 2 of a minor *gulp*

Am I the only one who thinks East might be goofing around with three small hearts and a club fit? I think this decision is a lot closer than the rest of you do. If that's the scenario, I'd like to defend 3C with a heart lead but that's not happening. It wouldn't shock me if we either give up a spade trick on the lead or let the opponents discard a heart loser on a spade we help set up for them.

It reminded me of my favorite botched robbery, when the robber yelled out in a bank: Hey Mother Stickers, This Is a ****-up! His face turned beet red and he left embarrassed and empty-handed amidst great laughter.

Perhaps some will learn nothing except why they are following a rule of opening 1D with 4-4 :)

Answers: (Material in blue is more advanced.) The purpose of this set of problems is to instill a habit of planning ahead. If you make what you consider the "normal" bid, you may have problems on your next bid - whereas if you foresee the problem, you can avoid it by choosing a different call. 1. [hv=pc=n&s=s2hakjt5dq643c762&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=pp]133|200[/hv] Hint: How will you handle a spade bid by partner? Answer: You might consider passing. However, bidding hearts has the effect of getting a desired heart lead, and perhaps making their bidding more difficult, especially if partner gets active. However, it is your side's bidding that will be more difficult if you open 1H and partner responds the expected 1S. If you bid again, partner will think you have an opening hand - some partnerships say you should have a chance at game opposite a passed hand. Also, 1H-1S-2D could have 18 points, and partner may get too high catering to that hand, and a 1NT rebid encourages partner to rebid a 5-card spade suit. Even a 2H rebid (showing 6) could have as much as a bad 16 points so partner may invite. Once you see the problem, you can avoid it. Rather than opening 1H, open 2H (weak.) You steal a lot of room, and get your desired heart lead. It is fairly commonplace for a third seat weak two bid to have only five cards, so partner shouldn't take you too high trying to further the preempt. The recommended opening bid is 2H. The 2H opening bid pays off big when partner has a weak hand with five spades and would have led a spade against notrump without your bid. 2. You are the dealer. Your call? [hv=pc=n&s=s93haq764dk62caq6]133|100[/hv] Hint: How will you handle a spade bid by partner? Answer: If you open 1H and partner responds 1S as expected, you have no good call. You have about 16 counting your heart length. 1NT, showing 12-14 is a significant underbid. 2NT showing 18-19 is a significant overbid. 2H showing hearts shows a minimum hand and six hearts while 3H shows six or more good hearts. 2 of a minor would show an unbalanced hand and partner could easily pass leaving you in a 3-3 fit. The problem is that you have a balanced hand in the range of your opening 1NT bid. The way to show that hand is to open 1NT. Yes, it is true that occasionally you will miss a 5-3 heart fit. Frequently those hands will play as well in 3NT, but occasionally you'll get to show the five hearts (for example, 1NT-2C Stayman-2H (shows 4) - 2NT (invite; my 4-card major was spades) - 3H (I'm accepting and showing a fifth heart.) The upside for opening 1NT is that you shouldn't have an awkward hand to bid. There have been several times I've opened 1NT on this type of hand and ended up getting a heart lead against notrump - another bonus for opening notrump instead of hearts. The recommended opening bid is 1NT. 3. You are the dealer. Your call? [hv=pc=n&s=sa2h432dkt73caq65]133|100[/hv] Hint: How will you handle a spade bid by partner after West bids hearts? Answer: This one was harder to foresee; you think you can handle a 1H response or a 1S response by rebidding 1NT. This doesn't work out so well when the opponents bid hearts, and partner will expect you to have hearts stopped when he raises your 1NT rebid to game. If you opened 1C, you now have no good call over partner's forcing 1S bid. You must bid as partner could be quite strong; 2C on a 4-card suit is awful; 2D is a reverse (a bid that forces your partner to go back to the three level if he likes your first suit better), and should show at least a medium opening hand; raising spades on a doubleton isn't likely to work, nor is bidding 1NT with three small cards in the opponents' suit. However, if you opened 1D, you have an easy 2C bid now. 2C is no longer a reverse since your partner, with a minimum hand and liking diamonds better, can go back to your first suit at the two level. The recommended opening bid is 1D. 4. [hv=pc=n&s=saq3hk5daq7642ca6&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=pp]133|200[/hv] Hint: How will you handle a spade bid by partner? Answer: Your partner's 1S response, while not his most likely response, is within the scope of responses that you should have prepared a rebid over. Since partner's spade bid could be made on four small spades, any spade raise is out of the question; indeed any jump in spades by you guarantees four-card support. Nor does any diamond bid work. A jump to 3D shows 16-18 points; you have 21 if you count length (personally I would add 1 point for the diamond length because it might be valuable but the suit isn't that good - giving me 20.) If you don't belong in spades, you might belong in 3NT and any diamond jump higher than 3 not only bypasses 3NT, your likely final contract, but also overstates the diamond suit. What about notrump? A jump to 2NT shows 18-19; I believe this hand is stronger than that. A jump to 3NT will shut out a spade fit if one exists. You don't have a balanced hand, However, you probably want to play in notrump unless partner has five spades (which he can show over any notrump opening bid) or six hearts that weren't good enough to open a weak 2 bid. You have the approximate strength for a 2NT opening bid, and rather that deal with the rebid problem that comes over 1D-1S, I recommend that you open this hand 2NT.

Luv ya too, Mike ♡

Despite all the hoots and howls to the contrary, I still think there is a reasonable chance that she is hiding something bad (although the odds seem to be decreasing all the time with all the crap coming out about foreign entities putting out fake news to help Trump.) However, it would be extremely difficult to convince me that the reason she scrubbed emails was anything to do with child sex.

I used to think so too but I was informed otherwise. The experts do look at all the sections and are very helpful here. My impression is that the expert section is for things the experts might not agree on or might have problems with. And I think it's about 8+ to 12 but I'm no expert :D

You mean this wasn't a thread about me? :lol:

Set 17 is available. Problem Set 17

Hi - these problems should be very easy for experienced players but an I/N player needs to think about the right things in an auction. If you get them wrong, don't feel too bad as long as you understand the rationale for the answers. I'll provide the answers later but I'll put a hint as a spoiler. Try to solve the problem without the spoiler. Also, let me know if you would be interested in seeing more of these from time to time. Assume you are playing Standard American (a natural system with 15-17 1NT openings and 5-card majors), IMPS, and nobody is vulnerable. 1. [hv=pc=n&s=s2hakjt5dq643c762&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=pp]133|200[/hv] 2. You are the dealer. Your call? [hv=pc=n&s=s93haq764dk62caq6]133|100[/hv] 3. You are the dealer. Your call? [hv=pc=n&s=sa2h432dkt73caq65]133|100[/hv] 4. [hv=pc=n&s=saq3hk5daq7642ca6&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=pp]133|200[/hv]

These hands are quite difficult to bid if your agreements don't match the hands. Any of the following would make North comfortable: 1S-2C-2D-3C not forcing 1S-3C invitational 1S-1NT-2D-3C invitational It's plausible that you don't play any of them. In my most regular partnership, I play the first sequence forcing; the second one Bergen, and the third one sign-off so both of these hands are nightmare scenarios for responder. The second one I might upgrade to a GF 2C response simply because my alternatives are so awful. It likely goes 1S-2C-2D-3C-4H (splinter)-5C. If responder can't bring herself to bid 2C, the hand is far too good to bid 1NT forcing and then sign off in clubs, and might try to survive 1S-1NT-2D-2NT. On this hand it works out as South accepts the try and bids 3C on the way. On the first hand, an unlikely to run club suit and void in partner's suit argues against forcing to game so you're stuck with 1S-1NT-2D-2NT or a 3C underbid. After 2NT, South bids 3S forcing and North tries 3NT knowing there's a misfit but hoping to make it on strength. If North chooses 3C, she plays 3C. So, playing a system which makes the North hand unbiddable, we could land on our feet on both hands. You sometimes aren't playing the right agreements for the hands. Just do the best you can. Someone will give you a convention that will work for this hand or tell you that their method makes your hand easy to bid. Next time, you may have an easy auction while their wonderful convention makes a seemingly routine pair of hands unbiddable.

If this is your major peeve then you live a charmed life. I mean, seriously, who gives a rat's ***?

I win and put the ♣Q on the table. If it loses, I have 2 entries. I can try for 3-3 diamonds and then a spade to the 10 (of course I cashed a high spade early.) If the ♣Q gets covered, I promote spades. If the ♣Q wins, I promote spades. Of course I unblock hearts first. I think I make when the club king is onside or holds up once, and gave the best shot when the club king wins a fast trick for the defense.

What about the most important commandment? 1. Thou shalt be practical. (I am not trying to override God's word but this commandment should get a lot of respect.) The people imposing their moral beliefs don't know the situation as well as the mother does. (A) in the case that Mom would care about the child, she is probably in a decent position to know that the unborn child would live a very difficult life, I believe we should let her decide to make that not happen. (B) In the case that Mom doesn't care about the child, a good case can be made that this child, if born is going to have serious issues. While I don't think Mom should abort a 32 week fetus, I have to think that letting Mom decide is right most of the time. This is even more true when laws are going to lead to disaster rather than being followed. For abirtion-preventing laws will elicit dangerous behavior rather than compliance. I had not even thought about a Mom that couldn't afford early testing that would find a fetus that would develop into a child that Mom couldn't handle and would be a burden to society. Poor and minority women could easily be thrust into an almost impossible situation. Having seen their sweetie tossed into prison for some minimal offense might make the poor young woman fear the law enough to not abort when it should be almost obvious to do so.

What is 3NT?

Pass, 2NT. I don't think my hand has enough defense to leave 2H X in.

I want to mastermind and bid 4H but if they compete partner needs to know about spades so I bid 4S and let partner help in the decision over 5C.

How do you fix this? If you tax companies with more employees higher, you give incentives for having robots rather than employees, causing higher unemployment. If you have a progressive corporate tax rate, you ģive incentive to split companies, making them less efficient and less competitive vs foreign companies, as well as making it easier to dodge quotas. Making them less competitive will have the net effect of higher unemployment.