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I would pass with 11 HCP and both minors. With a 5 card major i would open. But what to do if you got a slightly stronger hand ? After 1♣-1♥/♠-1nt the opponents will most likely start the unbid major and a possible fit in a minor is lost. In MP play a risk you can take but in IMP play not recommended. After 1♣-1♥/♠-2♣ you rebid shows a 6+ card ♣ when you have in fact a 5 card. If you agree that a rebid is standerd with a 5+ card it is harder to reach 3nt based on ♣ being you trick source. After 1♦-1♥/♠-2♣ you show 9+ cards from your holdings (in this case 5-4 or 4-5 in ♣/♦) giving your partner 2 places to land. If you choose this option agree with your partner to pick his best minor if he wants to play 2♣ or 2♦. This means holding 2-3 in the minors you pick the 3 card to play. So agree with your partner what to do with a xx45 pattern with no rebid of 1nt possible. I would open 1♦ giving you to best option to find a fit in a minor in a non forcing situation even if this means you have to play in a 4-3 fit.

Why did north bid 5d ? The only reason should be take-out with long ♦ and short in ♥ not a lot of points based on the LAW. Because partners overcall is limited to a maximum 17 HCP (bad 16-17 HCP not suited for a info double with a strong suit) slam in ♥ is not likely and 5h looks like the best option. 5h is the right bid why did we loose so much IMPs. Well let me be blunt the overcall of 1♥ in IMP play is bad bridge so if partner is not willing to chance is style of overcalls i get a new partner. If i was south i would learn my partner the negative double and the LAW his bid of 5♦ shows he doesn't play either. So i presume this board was played in a session just for fun and would not care about any result and order my partner to get a round of drinks, east and south deserve it to forget the way this board was bid by west and north.

East supported his partner nothing wrong with that. If overcalls can be done with the hand west had don't complain it is the price you are willing to pay. So the question remains should west give a overcall ? This depends if you play for MP or IMP. Playing for MPs anything goes it is a bidding war for the partscore. Personaly i would pass because you could still balance if it goes 1♥-p-1nt-p-p-? but even for that the hand is not suited imho. Playing for IMPs the hand is way to weak it got 9 LTC (loosing trick count) and no aces (means 10 LTC to me). Or if you don't know or use the LTC even then it is a big no no you got 3 queens from which the queen of ♥ has little value. My tip for overcalls (in IMP play) is if you cannot open at 1 level don't give a overcall. When you get better in bridge you can lower the minimum for overcalls in agreement with your p.

To find the best lead there are a few steps you have to take. Step 1 : Do we play for MPs or IMPs ? In MP play it is imported that the lead doesn’t give a unnecessary overtrick. In MP play you try to find the lead which will give the best chance to set a contract and you don’t worry about overtricks. Step 2 : Is your hand better, about the same or worse than your partner ? This is important to make a choice between leading your own strength or to try to find your partner. Step 3 : Which suits do you not lead ? These are the suits which would be helpful for opponents. This will increase the chance to find the best suit. Step 4 : Which of the remaining suits are we going to lead ? For this decision step 1 and 2 are taken into account. Step 5 : Which card do you lead from the suit ? For this decision step 2 is the most imported clue. If following these steps means you have to lead trump and or under lead a ace, king or queen so be it and don’t worry if it was wrong just analyze it with your partner if he agrees for the reasons why you lead that suit and build on your leading skills. A tip for analyzing a board (for whatever decision during the game) is to wait for the session to be over you cannot chance the result and it will break the concentration you need for the remaining boards.

That explains a lot :). It would be helpfull if all alerts would be explained better (why 1♣ with 5 card ♦, range for 1♦). West bid 1nt with a 3 card ♥ so after 2♦ being game forcing west must bid 2♥ first because any other bid would denie a 3 card ♥ (if not why play checkback). The 5 card ♦ can be introduced after east bid for example 2nt after 2♥ (stronger then direct 3nt) to ask partner if he got anything else to show.

Is the bidding you gave us correct ? If so why did west open 1♣ with a 5 card d ? Why should west show his 3 card ♥ if east bid 1♦ ? Should the bidding be : 1♣-1♥-1nt-2♦ ?

Why did west bid 6nt and did not start with 2♣ to see if grand slam was possible. The only hand to open 6nt which makes sense is a that all suits are closed holding a double stopper and 3 aces. For example a hand like AK/KQJ/AKQ/AKQJT or AK/AK/AK/KQJT9xx (or similair type of hands) so if partner holds a ace he will bid 7nt. Leading ♣ makes no sense it is most likely west longest suit and what remains is leading a jack. If west bid 6nt holding 4 aces i would not worry because he did not open 2♣ and the rest of the field is in 6nt aswell or they missed grand slam and any jack lead can be right or wrong. If partner is holding a ace could the lead be importend? The chance the dummy is holding a queen in partners ace and west need at least 2 tricks in that suit is verry slim and without any extra information any jack can be right or wrong. If our 2♦ opening would be strong i would lead the jack of ♦. If in your system a dbl on a 3nt contract (where they asked for majors and the nt opener denied a major) is asking to lead your worst major i would lead the jack of d. If west 6nt depends on the lead and you guessed wrong so be it. They will be in many other bad or wrong contracts and the lost ground over a lucky slam will be won back soon.

If you play a natrual system you need a lot of (specific) agreements to reach 7s. 1d-1s 3h-4d 4h-4nt 5s-5nt 6d-7s 3h is a splinter showing a fit in s with a maximum holding a 4144, 4153, 4054, 4162, 4063 or m516x pattern 4d cue in d no cue in c 4h showing the splinter to be a void and a cue in c and now showing a 4054, 4063 or m506x pattern 4nt roman key cards 5s showing 2 keycards with Q of s 5nt all keycards on board asking for kings 6d showing K of d or both K in h and c 7s due to the void in h east must have K of d Any other bidding sequance will most likely lead to 6s. For east to bid 7s west must hold the K of s, AQ(+) in d and i do not think it is possible for east to get all that information. For west to bid 7s east must hold the specific hand he or she had and i do not see another way to get all the needed information. So reaching 6s would be ok and leave 7s to the experts.

I think you mixed up the hands. On hand 2 i said you can bid 3nt if your partners openings bid are solid for hand 3 i said bid 3h if this is game forcing if not bid 4h. I did not suggest that you should bid 3nt for a extra 10 p opposite a contract of 4h but did say in IMP play bidding game (hand 2) pays better in the long run.

Hand 1 : 2d showing a 4+ card h and d with 6-9 HCP. Hand 2 : Depends how light 1d can be with a balanced hand (1nt is showing such hand) if any 12 HCP or even 11 HCP is possible 2nt is best (being a invite with 10-11 HCP), if only solid 12 HCP are possible 3nt is the better option because you got a perfect 11 HCP for a nt contract (in IMP play a good rule is if it smells like game bid game). Hand 3 : 3h showing a game forcing hand with a 6+ card h. If 3h is not game forcing your best option is 4h.

If the algorithm works in most cases then it is good enough for me. If the claiming % should be in your profile is the remaining question. I would not mind aslong there is a option for any player to hide it if they want to.

I do not think showing the % of a players claiming history is a indication of their level of play for a few reasons. It does not show the moment the claim is made. Meaning anyone can claim trick 13 when they could have claimed at a earlier stage. What is a wrong claim ? Is it if opponents reject a claim then there will be players who will reject every claim to mess up a players claim %. Or what will happen when opponents accept a wrong claim. Who will decide if a claim is good ? At live play a director must be called when a claim is rejected and the players cannot get to a agreement and according to the rules you are not allowed to play on after a claim. Playing online you would need a computer program to be a director (would be great if this was possible though). Is it a relevant statistic ? I think it is but not as a indication of a players playing level. Showing a players scoring avarage (MP, IMP, team results) or some other form of rating would be better.

If a safe cracker cannot open a safe he will take it home where he or she has more time. So making it harder to crack the safe is no solution because the can download the shuffling program and crack all the barriers you put in place at home. You said the need at least 3 boards to crack the code so if you restart the random generater after 2 boards are shuffled the problem must be solved. If this does not solve the problem it means that the random generator used is not realy random and that is the problem which has to be fixed.

If it is not possible to randomnize a random generator we cannot solve the problem and have to accept it is possible to cheat.

Ok here another try. If a set for example of 16 boards is shuffeld in less then a second shuffel 8 sets and pick 2 boards of each set. Will that solve the problem ?

If you only can win in bridge by cheating you are no bridge player but that aside no need to make it easy for them. If you need just 3 boards to find out what the rest of the set would be it is simple to counter this problem. After a board is dealed the random numbers sequance used to shuffel the deck has to chance. So add to the code a extra line that wil do this and the problem is solved. For example use the clock as a extra random generator. random number x time = random number used to shuffle 457643 x 112234 (the time was 11 : 22 : 34) = ?? The cheaters now also need to know the exact time each board was shuffeld. If they can crack this code (will be hard) it will take a lot of extra time for a computer to find out what the random numbers used to shuffle are.

2nt is the best bid to describe your hand. You got the 11-12 HCP (range for a 2nt bid), KQTx in d and a bad 5 card (h) counts as a 4 card. Other reasons to bid 2nt is that you get the lead to you and if your partner got 5-4 in the majors he can bid 3h as non forcing or bid 3d to ask for extra information and you can introduce your h aswell.

All depends how you show your fit in partners overcall. Normaly a raise in d shows a fit with 0-9 HCP, 2c (cue bid in openings suit opponents) a fit in d with at least 10 HCP and all other bids denie a direct interest in partners overcall. What 3s means depends on your style. Bidding 3s takes a lot of bidding space and in my opinion only makes sence if it is a preemptive bid with at least a 7 card.

In bridge it is always handy to give 2 (or more) differant meanings to a bid if possible. If you agree that a redouble shows a hand with a 0-1 card in partners suit and or at least 10 HCP no other bid possible gives you a lot of extra information to any other action. The advantage of this agreement is that the opponents do not know what you have and to pass out 1x redoubled is risky so they will most likely bid. If you open 1c with a 2+ card and are to scarded to end up in a possible 2-1 fit in c (not verry likely) you can agree that a redouble after 1c-x-xx only shows 10+ HCP. So if partner opens 1x followed by double your bids have the following meaning : pass = 2+ card x no raise in x or other bid possible redouble = 0-1 card x and or 10+ HCP no other bid possible or needed 2x = fit 0-9 HCP based on the LAW or holding 9-10 LTC for a major 3x = fit 0-9 HCP based on the LAW or holding 8 LTC for a major 4x = fit 0-9 HCP to play for a major with 7+ LTC or a barrage for a minor based on the LAW 5x (in a minor) = fit 0-9 HCP barrage or to play 1/2y (no jump) = non forcing (5)6-9 HCP 5+ card y 2+ card x (denies fit if x is a major) 2/3y (single jump) = non forcing (6)7-9 HCP 6+ card y 2+ card x (denies fit if x is a major) 3/4/5y (double+ jump in a minor) = barrage 7+ card y 0+ card x (not interestted in 3nt or x) 3y (double jump in a major) = 7+ card invite for 4y 4y (in a major) = to play 7+ card 1nt = 8-10 HCP balanced hand (with 10 HCP not interested to double opponents at 1 level) 2nt = 11-12 HCP invite for 3nt (not interested to double opponents at 1-2 level) 3nt = 12-15 HCP to play (not interested to double opponents at 1-3 level) 4nt = slamforcing asking aces (not interested to double opponents at 1-4 level) After 1x-x-p-??//??-??- a bid of 1nt (if called for) shows 5-7 HCP any other bid is sign of with a 5+ card and 0-4(5) HCP. After 1x-x-xx-??//p-??- or 1x-x-xx-p//p-??- a double shows 10+ HCP and all other bids have the same meaning if bid directly with the differance of holding a 0-1 card x instead of a 2+ card x and supporting your p in x shows a fit with 10+ HCP. Playing a new suit with a 4+ card (1d-x-1h) is a matter of style. In my opinion it is better to show a 5+ card because if your partner has a fit a 5-3 fit will play better then a 4-4 fit due to the info double making the opponents distribution in trump most likely 4-1.

The demand to hold the ace in trump for asking aces is a bad rule, so scrap that agreement with your partner. For bidding slam it is recommended to check if you and your partner control all suits outside the trump before asking aces (or better keycards). It is more importend to be able to ask for the king and or queen in trump, using RKC (roman keycards) instead of regular blackwood will solve that problem. The differance between RKC and blackwood is that all aces and the king of trump are keycards and you need at least 4 keycards for slam. Holding a void it is recommended to use exclusion blackwood being RKC where the ace in the void is not counted as a keycard. To regonise exclusion blackwood the best rule is that it is one level above a cue bid (or splinter) under 5x (x = trump). So if your partner opens for example 1h the following bids are slam forcing. 3s = cue in s (or splinter) 3nt = on agreement a non splinter (12-14 HCP or any other range on agreement) 4c = cue in c no cue in s (or splinter) 4d = cue in d no cue in s and c (or splinter) 4h = to play 4s = exclusion blackwood with a void in s and cue in d and c 4nt = RKC-h 5c = exclusion blackwood with a void in c and cue in s and d 5d = exclusion blackwood with a void in d and cue in s and c Another example to show what is possible. p-2c-p-2d p-2s-p-3s (3s is stronger then bidding 4s) p-4d-p-?? (4d shows cue in d and denies a cue in c) 4h = cue in h and c (or on agreement cue in c no cue in h) 4s = no cue in c 4nt = RKC-s with cue in h and c 5c/d/h = exclusion blackwood with void in c/d/h (this agreement is only needed if you do not agreed to also show voids if partner is asking RKC) For using cuebids and for any other conventions it is importend to agree with your partner when and how to use them if not misunderstandings are bount to happen. So my tip is study a convention before using and scrap them if the cost more then they earn.

If opponents have a fit it is better to ask for a stopper. The reason is that if you have a stopper in most cases 3nt is safer if you get s lead to then through your hand. Another reason is that bidding 3s to show a stopper give the opponents a chance to confirm a s lead with a double on 3s.

Because you are not in slam you will have a bad score even if you make +4. The best chance for a good score is that slam will be set due to bad distribution in d and or h with K of s on the wrong side. So i would take a finess in s for a 100 % 9+ tricks and at the bar i would ask my partner why we did not bid slam.

How, when and what to bid in bridge is depending if you play for MP or IMP. Playing for IMPs reaching game or slam is the most importend, reaching the best paying partscore or game is secondairy. Playing for MPs anything can be right or wrong depending on the field you play in, if the field is playing solid play loose and visa versa. For how and when to use stayman (or any other convention) the most importend thing is that you agree with your partner so there are no suprises. My tip with any conventions is keep track if they pay divident and if they dont dump them.

West passed first and then bids 2h in the sandwich. If west holds a 6 card h why didnt he open 2h. So the information what a openings bid of 2h shows is a extra clue needed. Also importend is if opponents open 3h is that allowed with a A in a suit outside h. What do we know from west hand so far. A 2 card s, 4+ card h, 3 card d and a 0+ card c with 4 cards left in h and c. If 2h would be strong east will have most likely a 6 card h (so a 2 card c) and you play the J of c if east doesnt cover use the tip from Zia (if the dont cover they dont have it) and take high in dummy and finess over west. If 2h would be weak east will have most likely a 3 card c you start with high in c in the dummy and then play the J and finess over east. If 3h is not allowed with a A then east has most likely a singelton c and you start with the J and if not coverd finess over west. Still remains why did east pass and then give a overcall with 2 aces holding a 2533, 2632 or 2731 pattern. Most likely 2h was a overcall to show partner a lead against 3nt holding xx AJxxx Axx Qxx. Against good players i would finess over east even if the J is not coverd and use the tip from Zia if you dont have a clue about the playing strength of opponents.

Depending on the agreement what the strenght of 2nt is showing you bid 4s or any other forcing bid being 4c as a cue or 4d as rebid of the second suit depending on your agreements in the bidding system you use.