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For holding a extra trump 1 LTC less therefore 7 LTC

North has 7 LTC (loosing trick count) and 4♥ is the bid I would make and south will be hard to stop to reach slam. In the bid situation given north must bid 4♦ as cue due to his holdings (KQxxx) in ♣.

Hope these 10 bridge commandments will help you to let your frustrations go. #1 You shall have no other masterpoints before Me. #2 You shall not make for yourself Masterpoints - any likeness of anything that is in bridge heaven above, or that is in the BBO bridge beneath, or that is in the water under the BBO bridge; you shall not bow down to Masterpoints nor serve them . . .. #3 You shall not take the name of the Masterpoints in vain, for the Masterpoints will not hold him guiltless who takes Their name in vain. #4 Remember the Bridge day, to keep it holy . . . #5 Honor your fathers and your mothers Masterpoints . . . #6 You shall not murder Masterpoints. #7 You shall not commit Masterpoints adultery. #8 You shall not steal Masterpoints. #9 You shall not bear false Masterpoints against your neighbour. #10 You shall not covet your Opponents Masterpoints . . . your wife's Masterpoints . . . nor anything that are not BBO Masterpoints.

Rule number one : never ever bid a weak hand twice (2♥ sold your hand) it's your partners job to decide where to go. The exception on this rule could be holding a 6-5 pattern with no aces and partner gave a non forcing raise in your suit.

1♠ is better used as natural bid and 2♠ as the 4th suit. The argument to use 1♠ as the 4th suit to gain extra bidding room baffles me after 2♠ you got all the room you need and with 1♠ as natural you tell 8 cards from your holdings (not if 1♦ is a relay in your system).

Double or 1♥? double, to strong for a overcall 3♠ or something else? ok for me 3NT or something else? ok for me 4♠ or something else? pass, trust your partner

Holding a 56xx 5x6x 5xx6 x56x x5x6 or xx56 pattern its best to open the 5 card unless you can bid twice revers. This means at least 18 HCP or 16-17 HCP no A, K or Q in a singleton or Qx in a doubleton. If you hold less than 16 with a very bad 5 card major (9xxxx or worse) you can bid it like a 4-6 pattern (must be in agreement with your partner though).

Using the LTC to value the strength of your hand the first deal has 7 LTC and 1♠ is your openings bid. Having a very bad 5 card I would not mind if you started with 1♦ it's your choice to value your hand and as partner you should respect that. The second deal with a 5xxx pattern and 9 LTC is a perfect hand to open 1♣ (or 1♦ depending on your agreements for a minor openings bid). Giving up a possible 5-3 fit in a major holding 8-9 LTC will lead most likely to a nt contract or a part score in partners (long) suit which has a better chance than a contract in ♠.

3nt, looking for slam in ♦ with a 7 looser hand is asking for trouble and gives opponents a better choice in what to lead if you end up in 3nt after all.

Assuming 4nt is RKC for ♠ bid 7♠ you got all the key cards and Q of ♠. If that is not enough your partner should not have asked.

If a bidding goes wrong only look where the first mistake was made, speculating what the best recovering bid should be is wasted energy. After 1♣ a bid of 1nt sells your hand (balanced with 6-9 hcp not interested in the suits you can bid) and let your partner decide what action to take. So if you bid 1nt it is not possible anymore to show your ♦ suit without specific agreements. With a new partnership play KISS creative bidding will get you into trouble and partner won't trust your bidding after a few of these creative actions if you have a obvious alternative.

We got to 6♥ and it looks pretty hopeless so find away to make it. Trump has to be 3-2 with the K of ♥ in west. There are 2 chances being QJ ♦ in east or the ♣ have to be 4-4. If you play on QJ of ♦ west needs 2-3 ♦ and you have to finess twice to make 6♥. So playing on ♣ being 4-4 looks best (assuming opponents kept silent during bidding). Trump the first c and play small to Q ♥ after second round of ♥ trump another ♣ take the last trump and hope the last ♣ will drop. So never give up and always look for a chance how small it is. Johan Cruijff would say if something is very difficult it makes it easy.

To rate or select boards, play and strength of players is a bad solution who will be the judge of that ? In MP play (if enough boards are played) the better players will always float to the surface anyway. Just accept that there is a (small) unfairness in MP play. My tip is play teams that is the purist form of bridge you can get.

yes 3♦ on a 2 card you have a 5-2 fit and I said that 3nt would be better then 3♠.

well if he does he bid wrong his bid would be 3♦ or even 3nt is better than 3s

A re openings double has 2 meanings. 1) short in opponents overcall can play in 3 places 2) extra value (at least revers strength) So after 2♠ from partner bid 3♣ showing variation 2 and let partner decide.

First I would call the director because you hold only 12 cards. If it was actually a 10 card I open 2♣ because its a game forcing hand after a 2♦ relay from partner I jump to 3♥ (showing long ♥ no trump support needed) followed by cue bids.

Any action is a gamble (pass/3nt/5♦) but playing for IMPs I would bid 3nt with the argument if it smells like game bid game.

Players support on a 3 card if 1nt rebid is not a option. The argument is that the don't have values in the side suits or a 3154 3145 1354 1345 pattern. If you have to lie about your holdings it's better to do it in the minors than in the majors. My advise is stop supporting on a 3 card and start playing 2-way check back stayman and holding a 3-1 in the majors with 5-4 in the minors always open 1♦ which will solve most problems. After 1m - 1M - 1nt holds any nt pattern or a 5431 pattern with values in the other 3 card major or a 4 card ♥ (after 1m - 1♠). So after 1m-1♠ 1nt could hold a 3451 3415 pattern or be the only exception you support on a 3 card, another option is to give a rebid in the minor on a 5 card (both must be in agreement with your partner). 1♦ - 1m - 2♣ shows at least 5-4 in the minors with a minimum and partner picks his best minor with a non forcing hand. Follow up (in general) after 1m/M - 1M - 1nt - ??. pass = to play max 9 HCP 2♣ = is a relay for 2♦ to play or check back 2♦ = game forcing check back 2M = as rebid to play with a 5+ card or as new suit game forcing with a uneven distribution 2♥ = (after 1♣ - 1♦ - 1nt) weak with 5 card ♠ and 4+ card ♥ 2nt = relay for 3♣ to play or game forcing with a 5-5 pattern 3x = invite with a 5-5 pattern 3M = as rebid on agreement 6+ card as invite or game forcing 3nt to play For example : 1♦ - 1♠ - 1nt - ?? 2♣ = weak 4+ card ♦ or invite 4+ card ♠ 10-11 HCP 2♦ = game forcing 4+ card ♠ 2♥ = weak 5+ card ♠ 4+ card ♥ 2♠ = weak 5+ card ♠ 2nt = weak 4xx5 or game forcing 55xx 5x5x 5xx5 (on agreement a 5404) 3♣ = invite 5xx5 3♦ = invite 5x5x 3♥ = invite 55xx 3♠ = 6+ card ♠ on agreement as invite or game forcing 3nt = to play Follow up : 1♦ - 1♠ - 1nt - 2♣ - 2♦ - ?? pass = to play 4x5x 2♥ = invite 54xx 2♠ = invite 5+ card ♠ 2nt = invite 4 card ♠ 3♣ = invite 4xx6 (on agreement) 3♦ = invite 4x5x (on agreement) 3♥ = invite 64xx (on agreement) 3♠ = invite 6xxx (on agreement) 1♦ - 1♠ - 1nt - 2♦ - ?? 2♥ = 4 card ♥ 3 card ♠ still possible 2♠ = 3 card ♠ 2nt = minimum 3x = maximum what you show must be in agreement with partner 3nt = maximum nothing extra to tell (or ask) 1♦ - 1♠ - 1nt - 2nt - 3♣ - ?? pass = to play 4xx5 3♦ = game forcing 5x5x 3♥ = game forcing 55xx 3♠ = game forcing 5xx5 If you are interested in all other situations and extra agreements (depending on your system) send your e-mail address through bbo mail and I will send you a document with all possible check back situations.

If you use the completion record in the table option and put it at 95% most table hoppers can't join you but you have to start your own table to do so. For players who joined a tournament and got no time to finish a board but still join your table BBO could (or should) set a time buffer so if the tournament starts in lets say 5 minutes it is not possible to take a seat at another table. And if players leave during a board or even before they bid holding a bad hand BBO could (or should) prevent them of hopping to another table before the board is finished. Another suggestion I would make is that in a profile of any player you could block them as your partner and or block them from your table (official tournaments excluded of course). And if players get angry just remember they are often the ones who made the mistake.

Huh? My response was to your suggestion that 1S is the proper opening. You would pass a 1S opener with the following 8-count: Q JT9xx Jxxx Axx ? I sure hope not. I didn't mean after a 2H overcall; I meant in an uncontested auction. The point was to illustrate that a 1D opener can work better on these sorts of hands, provided you have the right agreement with partner. Cheers, Mike Ok I misunderstood, so you mean what to bid after 1♠ - pass - 1nt - pass - 2♦ - pass - ?? I would bid 3♦ being a invite with 8-9 HCP (being a agreement because 2♦ has a range from 11-17). If I hold 10-11 with the same hand only 2nt as invite available.

Your argument that reaching grand slam is easy is based on knowing that 3nt was bid with a lot of points. If in this bidding sequence 3nt shows 18+ HCP you are right but that is a wasted agreement because how often will this specific situation happens. If 1 hold Q JT9xx Jxxx Axx I would not bid 1nt but wait for a re openings double from partner (or support with 2♦ if you think the hand is not strong enough for that) and in this case he would not do that and bid ♠ to show a uneven pattern and then I would support ♦ with a jump and your partner knows you had a penalty pass for ♥ and good diamond support.

If to analyse a bidding sequence always only look at the first bid which was wrong. In this case 3nt was way to strong and reaching grand slam is difficult but imo that was not the first wrong bid. Holding a 6-5 pattern and the 6 card is lower than the 5 card you need to bid twice revers to show you had a 5x6x pattern. Because the hand is not strong enough to bid twice revers its better to handle it as 5-5 pattern and I would start with 1♠ instead of 1♦. Another reason is that it is more easy to show the difference in the strength of your hand. if it goes 1♦ - 1♥ - pass - 3nt - ?? your only bid to show a 5x6x pattern is 4♠ 3nt should show 12-14(15) HCP with a stopper in ♥ and makes it impossible to show your 5x6x pattern with slam interest if you want to bid 4♠ telling your partner I rather play 4♠ or 5♦ then 3nt. if it goes 1♠ - 2♥ - 3nt - ?? 3nt means the same and now (in most cases) also denied a 3+ card ♠ so you can bid 4♦ as a strong 5x5x pattern and 5♦ telling your partner I rather play 5♦ then 3nt. When to open the lower 6 card and bid twice revers is a matter of opinion. Imo it should be any 18+ HCP or 16-17 HCP with no lost points in the side suits. AKxxx Q AKxxxx x I would open 1♠ AKQxx x AKxxxx x I would open 1♦ A tip for better bidding is to agree what the range of your shut out bids are. So what is the range for a jump to 3nt or what shows a direct raise in partners major openings bid (etc.).

Opponents jump to 3 level and looking at your own hand makes game for both sides is not likely. Playing 1nt as 10-12 is more a pre-empt than a constructive bid and the purpose is to compete for a part score and is better suited playing for MP then IMP in my opinion. Playing for IMP the bidding should focus more on looking for game then reaching or competing the (best) part score and your agreements how to proceed after opponents intervention should reflect that.

Playing system on you loose the chance to play at 2 level in a minor. Playing Lebelsol or Rubensol means you loose the transfers to a major at 2 level. Playing any other agreements will also have some setbacks. Making a choice what agreements to make could depend on MP/IMP play or what the majority of the field does. Playing for MPs I would play opposite the field but to be fair that will be only at a party drive for me and misleading your partner and or opponents is part of the fun that day. Playing for IMPs I prefer Rubenlsol (so in your example 2♦ would be to play with a 5+ card ♦).