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This is a horrible idea. A tournament is supposed to provide as equal as possible contest. This is a milder version of simply putting all A players in one section during an open event.

This kind of nonsense is why clubs have novice games (and here in the US, other restricted Master point games) Having said this, I do believe those who play an artificial system that is surely outside the knowledge of most opponents should provide a sound suggested defense As for the director....I sympathize with the desire to placate the sheep, who might choose to go away, but it just seems wrong to impose special rules for spoiled children. One reason people use these systems is to gain advantage. Nothing at all wrong with that. This is a competition!

At least switch the round suits and make this a problem With this hand an auction, the Ks or low spade could work, but the low heart is simply superior and I suppose a case for the TH can be made. FWIW, if we switch the round suits, I lead the JH. Leading a minor in 1NT - 3NT is rarely correct unless my hand has more entries.

AJxx, Qx, Q10x, KJxx, IDouble is awful. Even 1NT is better. At least it will be the right contract fairly often. Even switching the red suits is not enough. Partner, you know that idiot across the table, will bid diamonds and expect three of them. With only 2 hearts, double is now just gross. As for 1S? No, no no. Even with IDEAL hands, such overcalls are a crapshoot. You have no offense and a pretty fair amount of defense. Truth be told, you WANT to defend, but will be happy to pay NT if partner can bid. I think most folks who are so desperate to bid with these kinds of hands are poor defenders. AJTx xx AJx Axxx is MUCH closer to a 1S bid. Tons of offense, not much defense outside of the Aces and finding a spade fit will be difficult on some auctions. But realize that bidding 1S may lead to a disaster that can never be fixed. Partner will ALWAYS get the law of total tricks wrong. This can be especially bad if your style includes aggressive pre-emption.

The use of the word "desperate" in this poll is disgusting. It implies that one who would choose to enforce the clear rules of the game is acting in a manner that is to be deemed something other than entirely appropriate." As a defender in this spot, you are absolutely, 100% entitled to have the diamond play stand. It is entirely the responsibility of the declarer to make the proper call. Would you expect Belichick to decline the offsides penalty vs Dee Ford simply because it was a mistake that had no bearing on the play? So just how is this different? You play to win and that is all about capitalizing on mistakes by the opposition. So it cannot be unethical to do so here. You are, of course, as a defender, not obligated to enforce this kind of rule, though I always do so.

I will double 2NT and pull 3 of a minor. Partner might be confused about my holding, but since I am passed hand, the pull to 3H should clarify things. But to be honest, the double seems like it could be 3 suited. On the other hand, I would probably wait till I know their suit before taking action with 4405 or similar. I do think this hand texture is ideal for competing and so it is worth the risks.

Hand 1. Pass the X, not close. If you lose IMPs here, it is probably because 4S was a bad bid that got rewarded. Hand 2. Slams with 20 opposite 10 and this kind of distribution rate to be 50-50 at best. Being in them, or not, seems unimportant in the long run. If you think you are losing the match or playing a superior team, pushing for these seems best. Hand 3. Pass is a clear winner. If partner has a stiff diamond, he is not leaving this in and he most likely wanted to create a force with his xx. If partner has 2 or more diamonds, this is a decent spot to be. As for the TO double on hand 3. This is a god-awful bid. Just PASS. If you belong in the auction, the upcoming bids should make this clear. But for now, you cannot introduce this shape. Other options.... 2C - Also awful. This kind of bid causes partners to become ex-partners. 3C - Less awful. But you still need a partner with a sense of humor. 2H - Less awful. If you are dummy, be sure to spread the cards so that you have 5-5 in the black suits and then be shocked when you see you were 6-4. Obviously this is not a tactic to repeat with a regular partner.

4H a transfer to 4S? Really... Maybe if you play against bingo playing droolers. Against competent opposition, they would have bid to 4S already. Since they have not done so, they probably won't The 3S bidder should be done with his call, since 3S here is (at least with most folks) pre-emptive. Now the 1S bidder will advance the pre-empt further if that seems to fit his hand instead of passing. Of course there are morons who dream of getting doubled in 3S or even buying the hand, but that is why they are morons. As for the actual hand? Its a pure guess, but I strongly expect simulations would show that you will make 6 of a red suit most of the time. Just bid it. Sure.... On occasion the opposition has 2 red aces on this sequence, but bridge is not about avoiding negative scores. What is less clear is if we should bid 6H or 6D, but my guess is 6D is safer.

This morning, I opened 1S. Bot says 2C. I raise. Bot says 4D, splinter.. Lacking any Aces, I raise to 5. Bot passes, down 1 Bot has 3 spades and it is cold barring horrific splits. Splintering when I may only have 3 clubs in preference to showing 3 spades is nuts.

I expect the redouble MUST be some kind of support or at least values. If it is purely rescue, I expect it should be alerted. With that in mind, it is hard to imagine the partner of the doubler wants to leave it in often enough to play a pass here as "Let's rock!". So...I would assume it is the no preference sort of meaning we are used to seeing over a one level opening bid. On the other hand, I don't think I have EVER seen an auction begin with 2(D,H,S) X XX. Folks usually just raise to make competition harder if they have decent support. Now that I think about it...I don't think I have ever discussed the meaning of XX here with any partner. Redouble for rescue opposite a pre-empt just seems insane. My best guess as to the proper meaning is lead directing. i.e. I have Ax or Kx. With more length, I almost certainly raise.

4S was a slight overbid. That heart suit is really hard to love and the two doubletons with Jackx are also junky. I think South really failed here. (Unless he knows North bids too much). Bet even then, I would rather give partner credit for his bids and if he fails too often, get a new partner. Over 4S, South has ALL working cards. His lack of extra Spade length is the only problem. But no harm in checking for key cards. After 4NT, South finds out he is missing 2 key cards and bails at 5S after he counts the key cards a few times to make sure he is really missing 2. I don't think you can ever discover you are on a hook for 6. North's Spade T and fairly tame distributions in the other suits are needed to even bring it to 50-50. Without the Spade T, slam is much worse. The reason it is sound bridge to avoid slams that require a single finesse lies in the fact that in most cases, more is needed than merely the finesse From a match points standing, the slam bid is usually top or bottom vs field average. This argues in favor of bidding it, since higher variance produces bigger (and smaller) scores. But if the play is at all tricky, simply making 6 in the field contract will be a decent result. If playing IMPs you will consider state of the match, opponents, etc. If you are playing a better team, bid it. It may be your only chance to catch up. If you are ahead in a match against people who know gamesmanship, bid it.... THEY WILL. This is probably not true if playing victory points, since now losing big is actually worse than losing small. But here....You could be off 2 key cards Slam is just not wise.

ACBL masterpoints are a joke. Money is behind this.

17 points.... KQJxx AKQ Q xxxx Barring a big fit, this hand will play horribly for us. 5 tricks at NT are surely to be had, but that assumes they don't have tons of minor tricks to cash either immediately or before I establish my 2 spade winners. Having 5+ length in their Spades will usually make your hand pretty nearly worthless on offense unless you can run the suit quickly. Even less extreme hands are best passed unless a NT overcall can be made. 14 points. KJxx QJxx AJx Qx Even with the 4 hearts, this hand simply has no good call. If you are one of those donkeys who either pulls 2C and expects partner to know you have this junk or a donkey who simply passes 2c, you will be getting a lot of bad scores. Change suits around to this.... KJxx Qx AJx QJxx and now bidding is even worse. The bottom line is that long Spades implies defense unless you can play NT. WIth my first hand, that is really not likely. At least with my second hand, finding some values in partners hand will make NT playable, but not usually biddable. If I simply could not pass under threat of violence, I would overcall 1NT with this second hand (even playing 16-18) since 1NT is far more likely to be our correct contract and also be possible to find. When you have a hand like this, there is simply too great a chance that nobody has a playable spot and even if you have one, finding it is really difficult. Even when you have 4333 shape, it is far from certain that you will find partner with a 5 card suit and if he only has a 4 card suit, the 4-3 probably won't play very well.

I am proud of you. Their attitude borders on intimidation. The object of any game is to win within the rules and taking advantage of this mistake is no different than doubling someone in 7NT when you are on lead with an Ace. (Though in that case it won't affect the score much)

I don't know what is "standard" for that auction. I suspect it depends on how old you are, where you live, etc. I don't like bypassing 5 card suits to play NT, especially when I have xx in a suit and it will be really easy for this NT to be wrong-sided. On the other hand, I have a real problem if partner now bids 1S. I probably pass since partner did not find a 2NT or 2S bid, but I won't like it. But if partner bids most anything besides 1S, I think the auction will go very well. In the actual auction, 2S is a nice call. It really does mean I have 3 spades, want to compete and do not have the kind of hearts that want to hear you pass a double, ergo I have support for all 3 unbid suits. When partner is 3433, will he bid diamonds? I think your hand must be 3244 or 3253. If your partner passes with 3S, that is entirely his or her fault. This is simple logic. You simply cannot have 4 spades. I even think he could bid 2NT to tell you to choose a minor, but frankly, that is a stretch. Even so, I think you should pull 2NT to diamonds anyhow. It's really not very likely he actually LIKES NT in this auction. If he likes NT, he should have doubled 2H. Instead, he probably has 3433 with weak hearts and no stomach for bidding 3D on only 3. At most he has 1 heart stopper and in that case NT is going to play like crap unless the 2H bidder has no entry.