Kaitlyn S

Pompous Life Master?

Answers: 1. [hv=pc=n&s=s3haq62daqjt5c642&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp?]133|200[/hv] Hint: No bid describes your hand. What is the least bad lie? 2c Answer: If you bid 2H, you are showing significantly more strength than you have, which will likely result in partner driving the contract too high, unless you later pass a forcing bid which could result in a missed game and will erode partnership confidence. You have a minimum opener. Let's examine the options for a minimum opener. 2D: Tends to show 6. Expert Marty Bergen promotes the idea of treating a chunky five-carder as a six-card suit so maybe this isn't too bad, but your partner, with a minimum response, will usually pass, possibly leaving you in a 5-1 fit. 1NT: The lack of a diamond stopper is a minor concern, we rebid 1NT with an unbid suit unstopped all the time. What concerns me is the fact that I am showing a balanced hand, and partner with spade length may insist on spades thinking I have a doubleton. In fact, while responder rebidding spades would usually show a 6-card suit, your 1NT rebid gives partner permission to play in 2S with a five-card suit if he thinks he will lack entries to use his spades in notrump. For example, if partner holds: [hv=pc=n&s=skq973hj75d642c98]133|100[/hv] he will be justified in thinking his hand might produce two or three more tricks in spades than in notrump if either you don't hold the ♠A or if spades don't run. Do you want to play in 2S on these cards? 2S: This indeed shows a minimum but partner will be somewhat disappointed with your trump support. 2C: Note that this is not a strength-showing reverse because partner has the option of returning to your first suit at the two-level, so bidding 2C with a minimum hand won't get your side too high. 2C could be a minimum or medium opener (a maximum would jump shift to 3C). It also shows unbalanced distribution including at least four clubs, and usually at least five diamonds. It is not forcing. Do you really want clubs as trump if partner passes? All the choices are not that good, but 2D seems the least bad; if partner passes, at least you have good trumps. I recommend 2D. 2. [hv=pc=n&s=sj3hak62dq6542ck9&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp?]133|200[/hv] Hint: No bid describes your hand. What is the least bad lie? Answer: Again, you are far short on strength to rebid 2H. Whereas last time, I suggested 2D on the chunky five-card suit, this time playing in 2D opposite a singleton (or even a small doubleton) is not likely to be a success as it will be hard to avoid four trump losers. You don't have the length to support spades or rebid clubs, but this time the downsides of bidding 1NT are missing. Yes, I am aware that your 1NT bid shows a balanced hand and that means not having two doubletons. But what is the downside? If partner insists on spades, I have the two promised spades. I have both unbid suits stopped which is an extra bonus. Furthermore, in standard bidding, responder can bid 2H with a weak hand with 5 spades and 4 hearts and you will find your 4-4 fit - the 1NT rebid changed the rules for responder's new suits. I recommend 1NT. 3. [hv=pc=n&s=sa93hak62dq6542c6&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp?]133|200[/hv] Hint: No bid describes your hand. What is the least bad lie? Answer: 2H shows much more strength. 1NT is awful with a singleton in an unbid suit (what do you think the opponents are likely to lead after partner raises you to 3NT?). 2D risks playing in 2D opposite a singleton diamond. What about 2S? In some partnerships (or some parts of the world) this might not even be a lie - I know many decent players that routinely raise their partner's major suit response (which shows 4 or more cards) on 3-card support when their hand isn't suitable for notrump. However, in standard bidding as usually taught here in the USA, the raise shows four-card support. If partner is minimum, you may play in 2S with your ♠A93 opposite his four small trump. Is that so awful? Your singleton club could produce a couple of club ruffs, the ♥AK and ♠A will produce tricks, and that gets you up to five tricks if partner has nothing; surely he'll have some potential with a couple of high cards and his trump length. I've given you the worst-case scenario here, partner could have a fifth spade or could have a decent four-card suit which would make 2S an excellent contract which would be hard to reach if you didn't raise. Are you afraid of reaching 4S when partner bids game on four awful trump? Occasionally you do have to raise on three even if you "promise" four and partner will often bid 3NT to cater to that possibility rather than leaping to the spade game with four small trump. I recommend 2S. 4. [hv=pc=n&s=sa3hak62daqj5c642&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp?]133|200[/hv] Hint: What bid best describes this hand? Answer: You have a balanced hand with 18-19 points and there is a bid that shows that. I recommend 2NT. Are you afraid of clubs? Misdescribing the shape of your hand because of a lack of stopper could lead to a bad contract - if you bid 2H which promises 5 diamonds, you may encourage partner to bid a diamond slam with three-card support (your three small clubs will be a problem there too) and you will be poorly placed if partner bids 2S (most pairs play this shows 5 after a reverse) or 3D (which many pairs play as forcing, but even if you play it non-forcing, you may be playing without sufficient trumps.) 5. [hv=pc=n&s=s3hak62dakjt5caj2&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp?]133|200[/hv] Hint: Do you have to jump to get another bid? Answer: Here you have a strong hand - 21 points counting length. You want to make sure you reach game. You might think you have to jump to 3H to force, but since the simple reverse (2H) is forcing, there is no need to jump. You won't mislead partner; if partner makes a bid that could be minimum, your next bid insisting on game will show that you didn't just reverse on 17. The downside of bidding 3H is that if partner doesn't have a heart fit, your best game might be 3NT and if partner doesn't have a club stopper or extra spade length, partner will bypass 3NT. You may wonder why you don't just bid 3NT. If partner has four hearts, your best contract might be 4H or 6H and you've just buried the heart suit. (I think 3NT shows a different hand type, but that's beyond the scope of this thread.) 6. [hv=pc=n&s=sa3hq762dk7642cak&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp?]133|200[/hv] Hint: Do you wish to describe an "all red" hand to partner? Answer: Some newer players learned that to open 1NT, you must have a balanced hand (no voids, no singletons, not more that one doubleton) in the correct point range. This hand has two doubletons. However, those are guidelines to get the new player started playing. As we gain experience, we learn to plan our rebid before making our first bid. If you open 1D and partner bids 1S (not unexpected), you will have to bid 2H to show your hearts. You have a minimum reverse if your suits are good, but they aren't. By bidding 2H, you are overstating your red suits and your desire to have a red suit as trump. Let's say the layout is this: [hv=pc=n&s=sa3hq762dk7642cak&n=s9854hk53daq5cj74&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp2hp]266|200[/hv] Your best contract is 3NT - even on a spade lead (by no means a given), you make if diamonds are 3-2 and spades are 4-3 or blocked by promoting one heart trick. On the other hand, in 5D, you probably lose at least two hearts and one spade. Partner who thinks you are striving to play in a red suit won't let you play 3NT once you bid 2H - after all, from his point of view, there might be five spades for the taking for the opponents opposite your likely singleton - and yet since he holds the ♦AQ, you must have all the rest of the high cards in the red suits plus a club card to give you enough to reverse, so 5D should be easy. This is a likely scenario from partner's point of view: [hv=pc=n&s=s3haqj7dkjt974caq&n=s9854hk53daq5cj74&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp2hp]266|200[/hv] How can you have any less in the red suits and be focusing on a red trump suit? Here, you have an easy 5D contract while 3NT is in danger in the spade suit. The scoring is IMPS (specified in the opening post) so partner doesn't have the excuse of hoping not to get a spade lead to score 60 extra points in notrump for a top score - partner is going to just try for the safest contract. Looking ahead to the second round, you can see that you really don't want to reverse to 2H. However, rebidding 2NT overstates your strength and 1NT understates your strength. The solution? Don't open 1D. Open 1NT despite the two doubletons. Little harm can come to you as partner only expects two card support in any suit. With the same strength and shape but most of your high cards in the red suits, opening 1D and rebidding 2H would be fine. Having opened 1D, I would probably bid 2H or jump to 2NT now and hope for the best, and apologize to partner if it doesn't work out. The recommended action is to have opened 1NT a round earlier. Now, there's someone who looked ahead. :D

Problem set 22 is available. Problem set 22

In essence you answered your own question. If it's too strong to open 1NT, then it's too strong to pass a forcing notrump (which could easily have some hands that would make game opposite a 12-14 NT.)

I have had partners bid a forcing NT with 13 or 14 because the suit they would otherwise bid might get me too excited for slam purposes (we don't play the ubiquitous 2C GF on anything response) so for me the answer is "never". For example, partner bids a forcing NT on Ax, Jxxx, Jxxx, AQJ after I open 1S planning to bid the "obvious" game based on my rebid, rather than bidding 2D and having me go ape with a diamond fit. Of course, it's "semiforcing" by a passed hand since Drury takes care of the 3-card limit raises. And I concur, you bid 2C or 2H with your actual hand. It's a 5-loser hand! Why on earth would you want to pass? EDIT: The Kaplan-Rubens hand evaluator says the actual hand is worth 16.5 points. Evaluation of the OP hand Second EDIT: I hope I can convince the person who voted for PASS to change his/her mind.

I would think double and correct would start somewhere around 18 or 19 depending on level.

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. Some background. Let's look at this auction: [hv=d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp2h]133|100[/hv] North could be minimum and yet if North has two or less hearts and not enough spades to rebid them, North is going to have to bid 2NT or at the three level. In a non-competitive auction, two minimum hands should strive to stay below 2NT, but South's 2H bid has potentially pushed the partnership past a safe level for two minimum hands. South should not bid like this with a minimum hand. The fact that South is potentially pushing the partnership this high means that South should have extra values. This 2H bid is called a reverse. A reverse is a bid that forces a potentially minimum partner to go to the three level to take a preference for your first bid suit (3D here.) A reverse normally shows one of two hand types: (1) At least 5 cards in the first suit, at least 4 cards in the second suit, more cards in the first suit than in the second (you do NOT reverse with equal length just to show strength), and about 18 or more points (counting length) with two decent suits (if all the cards are in your two suits, you might do it with 17.) or (2) at least 6 cards in the first suit, at least 5 cards in the second suit, more cards in the first suit than the second, and more that a bare minimum opener (enough strength that you think there is safety at the 3 level of your second suit or 4 of your first suit opposite a minimum.) A reverse is forcing. The person bidding 2H in the above sequence could possibly have 21 points. A possible hand type that doesn't fit one of the first two is a "fake" reverse if you deem it necessary to make up a forcing bid. For example, [hv=pc=n&s=s8h72dak5cakqj763&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1cp1sp?]133|200[/hv] Here, South might fake a 2D reverse to create a forcing situation as no number of clubs shows the value of this hand and still keeps 3NT in the picture. A good thread on reverses can be found here: Mikeh's reverse primer So let's try some problems. A possible answer is "I would not have opened 1D in the first place and now have no good bid." 1. [hv=pc=n&s=s3haq62daqjt5c642&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp?]133|200[/hv] 2. [hv=pc=n&s=sj3hak62dq6542ck9&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp?]133|200[/hv] 3. [hv=pc=n&s=sa93hak62dq6542c6&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp?]133|200[/hv] 4. [hv=pc=n&s=sa3hak62daqj5c642&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp?]133|200[/hv] 5. [hv=pc=n&s=s3hak62dakjt5caj2&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp?]133|200[/hv] 6. [hv=pc=n&s=sa3hq762dk7642cak&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp?]133|200[/hv]

So they won my ♥Q and returned the ♥10. I cash the third heart. If West has the fourth heart, I'll cash the DA and run clubs and take the spade finesse unless a miracle occurred. If East has the last heart, I'll cash the DA and run clubs which will allow me to make when when East has the ♠K or West has it singleton. Occasionally I'll make it if East doesn't realize the value of keeping the ♦6 covered. I hope West hasn't duped me with ♥A 10 doubleton.

The club lead which is more likely to come from length than a singleton, increases the chances for some of the doubleton heart holdings in West that I'm looking for, and decreases the chances of doubleton ace (or any other doubleton) in East. Don't believe me about that club lead? Then maybe you don't empathize with a West that leads a singleton club and picks off jack fourth or queen third in East. Also, West is likely to lead a diamond from most holdings headed by JT or T9 or 98. Darn good chance West has the DK.

I think the contract is 6NT

Let me take a stab. My analysis will probably make it very clear why I don't play for thousands of euros :D First, I think West is more likely to have the ♦K because he chose a potentially dangerous club lead rather than a "safe" diamond lead (West doesn't know that N-S have the ♣Q.) I don't believe there's a way to play to make on either 3-3 hearts or the spade finesse as they can duck the first two hearts. So I'll advance the ♥Q. I presume they are ducking this (if they win, I'll provide a solution but I don't think they're going to make my life easy. Then I play a ♥ to the ♥K. (1) Let's say this wins and East was the one that followed with the ♥10 or ♥9. Now I run clubs, and unless their cards tell me to keep something different, I'm coming down to ♠A, ♥J, ♦AQ. If both hearts are still out against me after I cash the ♠A, I am hoping that West has bared the ♦K, and if West tosses a heart on the ♠A, I hopefully toss him in with the last heart to lead a diamond. (2) Now, if West followed with the ♥10 or ♥9, I'm applying restricted choice - I'm running clubs, keeping the two hearts and the two aces and taking the heart finesse. (3) If West wins the second heart, I'm home free (so probably he would have won the first, if so, I'll analyze that if needed. (4) If East wins the second heart (West plays no 10 or 9), and returns a diamond, I rise, cash the third heart (I have no squeeze against West anyway) and run clubs. I finesse spades unless it's obvious not to. (5) If East wins the second heart (West plays no 10 or 9) and returns a spade, I have to decide. I think the fact that no interesting heart showed makes 3-3 hearts a favorite, so I rise ♠A, cash the ♦A and run clubs. If East has four hearts and ♠K, I'm still okay. (6) If East wins the second heart (West plays no 10 or 9) and leads a club (pretty strong defense!), I'm playing for 3-3 hearts. (6) If East wins the second heart (West plays an honor), I'm playing East for the heart length (kudos to West from playing a high spot from ♥109xx!) and finessing if East leads a heart, and intending to finesse hearts later unless the discards on the clubs tell me that something else is indicated. Cool problem, and I wouldn't be surprised if somebody can totally improve on my line.

That would be pushing the "undisciplined" envelope so far as to even make Marty Bergen cringe!

I have a lifetime subscription. Last year, they sent me a notice and said that they were in trouble and were hoping that lifetime subscribers would considering paying the annual rate anyway or gift a subscription to someone else in order to keep the magazine going.

I could pass hoping to double the opponents later after they have bid both black suits to show three four-card red suits :D Seriously I open 1H planning to rebid 4H unless something awesome happens.

Agree. Bid 4H, then double 4S seems to be a good description.

Not sure this is a no-cost play against weak opposition (and of course I didn't think it was THIS weak :P ) because I think it's worth something to lead the first heart from dummy if West has only two entries, especially if East has the ♥K and West has the ♥A. However, if you are going to win the first spade in hand, the eight is indeed no-cost.

It's not that terrible; Kaplan-Rubens rates it at 15.40. However, 1S followed by 2S is at least close to the description of this hand in any seat, which is more than can be said for any other sequence. In fourth seat it's a no-brainer; for I'm assuming your "10-12" is HCP and most evaluation systems are going to rate that hand higher (for example, KQTxxx, xx, AJx, xx is 12.40) so the actual hand is only 3 points better than a clear 4th seat 2S opener.

I have probably played far fewer deals on BBO than any of the other posters (maybe a thousand?). I have encountered two different opponents doing this at my table.

I think this is necessary. So I have to promote all my winners without giving the opponents any length trick. I want to take out West's entries early in case East has a second spade so I win ♠K and lead a heart to my ♥10 which also gives the opponents the impression that I'm working on hearts. Hopefully East will signal when discarding on a spade so I'll know which suit to lead to get the ace taken on the first round.

Does the denominator really matter? The fact that it would even happen once in a billion hands is disgusting. But apparently the problem is far worse than that, and the other thread implies that it would be too expensive in manpower to deal with these trolls. In fact, it would be nearly impossible. For a troll doesn't have to jump to 7NT to lose 20 IMPs on purpose. He can scientifically bid a 21 point hand when holding a balanced 9-count for the same result and it would be a lot harder to implement software to catch those trolls.

I looked at your footer and realized that in this case 1D was a transfer to 4S :P I have a five loser hand opposite an opener so LTC implies slam which will help me justify my 5H bid when it doesn't make :D In any event it should be a good save. I choose 5H rather than 5D because I want partner to use heart length in his decision on whether to compete/save over 5S or 6S.

I'm probably not the best to answer because my general policy is to not say something if I have a reasonable expectation that it will be perceived as unpleasant. (Okay, I can think of one glaring exception in these forums but that's still my general policy. Surprisingly, I got positive reputation for my "obnoxious" post :D ) There are at least two reasons why it is beneficial to avoid being unpleasant. (a) If you are routinely pleasant, more players will want to play with you, including the ones that could lead to fantastic partnerships. (b) If you are unpleasant, even if you think it's justified, other players might not perceive it as justified and will take the opportunity to jump all over you for your first mistake at some future point "because you deserve it for being unpleasant." Your own experience will be diminished. That being said, sometimes one unintentionally says things that could make somebody feel worse and one can't feel bad when that happens. When discussing a convention or a treatment, it may become obvious that partner has made a mistake and you are pointing it out even though your intent was to clear up a misunderstanding. Stuff happens. If your intentions are good, don't worry about it. Many will disagree with me but I think it's okay to be perceived as being unpleasant to diffuse a ticking time bomb - you see a heated exchange between friends that could reach a boiling point soon and it probably doesn't matter what you say to try to calm the situation down, it will be perceived negatively. I've received many a nasty comment in response to my observation that a player being berated (playing with his/her spouse) is just as smart as he/she was on the day she married "you", but I might have saved a couple of relationships too so it was worth all the nastiness I received in response just knowing that I might have done some good, or at least made the person realize that the person that she/he was calling stupid really wasn't so stupid after all. Of course, there's another reason why you might want to not be unpleasant. This really shouldn't be a reason because people shouldn't behave this way, but human nature being what it is... This was a discussion of rogue 7NT bidders who just raise their partners to seven out of spite and then leave. 300 in one day! Are you kidding me? However, I'd bet that most of the 300 people that have the unfortunate experience each day of being raised to seven on garbage and losing 20 plus IMPs for no good reason were unpleasant to their partners. It happens 300 times a day but it has never happened to me. I suspect that if I made a habit of being nasty, that I would be one of those 300 daily victims a few times.

Semi-serious question: Do you show your six-card major over Stayman? Partner is almost certainly looking for hearts and denying a 4-card major could lead to some pretty humorous defense against 3NT.

Why would double of 2C be takeout of clubs when 2C shows the majors?