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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.

To solve this, we first need to know why partner did not simply bid 4H over the 1S call. Nor did he splinter in spades. He is either too strong for 4H or still seeking strain. I suspect he is something like 2344 or 2353 18-19 count. Would he make a support double with that? He might not since it will be difficult to convey this strength if opponents bid spades at a high level. Anyhow... Either way, partner will clarify if I bid 3NT. Its pretty clear I only have one spade stop since I bid did not bid NT right away. If partner passes, he has the 18-19 hand with 3 hearts. If he pulls to 4H, he has some kind of hand that seemed too good for a direct 4H. I don't quite know what that hand is, but I will just bid 4NT RKC and go from there.

The opponents have AT LEAST 10 spades. I think this hand really needs to be fed into a simulator to give us a good answer. Advantagees of 5C are many. Opponents are now left guessing with RKC gone when they are in slam zone. Opponents might bid 5S and go down. Opponents might double and miss slam or not beat me enough. Tbe disadvantage, and it is a big one, is going down 500+ when the field is -450. Because matchpoints events favor those who tend to have high variance results, I think this is a great spot to bid 5C, though a simulation could convince me that I am insane. As for WHY you want variance.... A bunch of 7 out of 12 scores is great for low overalls at best. Mix in some 0's and you are average. Min in a few tops and you are in contention to win. This is far less valuable in a weak field, but in a strong field, creating swings that are at least actions that could be right can mean higher (and lower) scores. In imps this is even more interesting. -500 is no longer something I am strongly averse to. Am I really going down 3+ a lot? Do I really think we are beating 4S very often? But I love taking away RKC and a 5C cue bid. Pushing them to 5S is worth quite a lot too.

Absent discussion, that double is penalty Partner has poor clubs with 4243 or 4234 shape. Developing hearts may be a problem since we lack the T and have to draw trump. I pass 3S and figure making any number of spades will be a good result. NT rates to play really poorly unless pard has AQJx and KQ in majors. (or AQxs xnd KQ with spades splitting 3-3) I pass and expect a good score.

That 1H overcall is marginal. Personally, I think its a poor bid, but I expect most of the field will make that bid automatically. The main reason it is a poor bid is that it HELPS the opponents find spades more easily because now 1S shows 5+ and double shows 4. it also warns them off of NT when hearts were a threat to them. As for the rest of the bidding..... South cannot bid over 1H, to do so is crazy. 1S shows a good suit and forward going values and either a re-biddable spade suit or heart tolerance. This hand has heart tolerance and nothing more beyond the smattering of values one would often find in this auction. 1S is STRICTLY a novice bid. Once the double and conversion to penalty has happened, you are surely screwed. Using xx for rescue will be clear enough in terms of intent, but South has no idea if running is good or bad. I think a slight edge goes to xx. Not because I know a new place is better, but because my opponents may not be as eager to double if, for example, each has only 3 spades. The bottom line here is that by this point in the auction, you are already doomed. Unless the field is very strong and full of bidders who love to overcall that mess, (oxymoron?) the auction probably won't look like this at many tables, so in the long run, choosing to sit or run won't matter much.

I believe there are good reasons to play Flannery. These may not balance the downside of losing a weak 2D, but the reasons remain valid either way. 1. Playing 2/1 and holding 45 shape in the majors is awkward unless the hand has reversing values. Flannery avoids all the rebid issues after !NT and even 2C or 2D bids. Now the 2S bid is a reverse and there is no doubt. Furthermore, when you have 4513, 5431 or 5422, the rebid over 1NT forcing is a disaster. 2H is probably best except maybe with 5413. But that is a big problem because the 2H bid really needs to promise 6 cards if partner has any hope to evaluate his invitational hands. 2. With Flannery, it is possible to play 1S response as guarantees 5+ Once again, this makes things a lot easier when it comes to evaluation of hands. 3. Flannery also comes with a decent set of tools for exploration of slams and even making wise decisions about game. 4. Competing with a Flannery opener is on the awkward side. Penalty doubles are pretty easy to find if your decision to compete is wrong because opener's hand is so clearly defined. After all, you most likely will be deciding which minor to play in at the 3 level in an auction where fit is totally unknown. 5. Against weak players or unfamiliar partnerships, simply knowing what the defensive calls mean is not clear. This can lead to a total train-wreck by your opponents.

Is this a 2S bid? The spades are only 5 in length and there is another suit. I want 2S here to say I have slam interest or better with good, but not necessarily great spades. If that is consistent with what pard can expect, I will bid it. Over 2S, I think 3H is correct. While diamonds could matter, this heart suit needs to be emphasized. Now what? RKC for hearts Pard shows 2 with the Q. Now ask for Kings and partner will show nothing. Now I bid 6NT. Partner at that point might realize that I could easily have the singleton KH. If he sees this, he can realize the value of the JH and could try 7NT. Strangely.....If I bid 6H, partner will likely figure me for Kx in hearts, which means I've already counted the hearts for 6 winners and the Jh will look nice, but it won't really look like the key to the hand. i.e. Kx opposite AQxxxx rates to win 6 ricks but K opposite AQxxxx looks more like 5 tricks. So having the JH means the hearts are solid opposite Kx and opposite K. Worse yet, over 6H, partner might go to 7H with the same hand with Kc instead of the Jh So even though 6H is probably a bit safer, it really takes a 6N bid to get partner to realize that there are 13 tricks.

2S and double are similar. The difference is that 2S is a hand that would not be offering the option of playing defense. So it won't have much in hearts, but the double will. I would tend to think of this hand as being 4-6 or even 4-7 with a lot of playing strength. x xx AQJx AKJxxx I'd read 2NT to be more on the competitive side, such as x xx Axxx KQJxxx. That leaves 3D for truly freaky hands like void Ax AJxx AKxxxxx. 3D is forcing to 4 level and so partner should push to a game with most anything useful.

Partner had many choices for competition over 2H. 2S, 2N and X are all some kind of takeout. So first off, partner should have a bid that suggests defense. That means the double includes heart length. Most likely he is 1345. Double is a flex bid. It is takeout, but suggests defending if my hand seems suitable. I cannot quite figure out the difference between 2S and 2N. I think 2S is a stronger hand than 2NT and that both bids show something like 6-4 in the minors. But since I have a stiff club and QTx of hearts, I will pass. Do I love this? No. But if 3C gets doubled I doubt my JC will be enough to avoid a disaster. When pulling a double may also yield an ugly score, it makes more sense to slug it out there with a bit less than would normally be required. And this auction is begging the opponents to double us if we compete. I think pass is clearly the best call, though I'd like to have a bit more high card strength.

3S seems OK. This hand really isn't a limit raise. I think 4C is an awful bid. West does not want to defend game in spades, so why not pass and see if they bid it. Look at the North hand, would it bid 4S freely? Its pretty clear that the opponents may have settled for 3S. 4S by north is a direct result of the bad 4C call. Without that call, I don't see how North can take this mediocre opener and raise a sign-off type bid to game. Pard should have 4 trumps, but its pretty likely this hand has 4 losers. But facing a 4C call, North is a lot more likely to think the hand is double fit and that bidding a bit more will be correct. 5C by East is really quite awful. This hand is a defensive MONSTER for this action. The only real excuse here is that 5C might just make. But this hand is not very different from what partner expects. Oddly, the hand that partner has is NOT a good 4C bid, so East should assume partner has a good 4C bid. But what IS a good 4C bid. I'd say its a hand that is happy to defentd 4S. But the east hand has so much defense, that is hard to imagine. Nevertheless, its always better trust partner over opponents. Therefore I, as East, assume partner WANTS to hear them bid 4S, or is at least OK with defending. 5S is AWFUL. I would expect this from hand-hog novice players ONLY. 4S was already a thin call, but defensible in light of the auction. I would not even make a forcing pass, but in this auction, there should not be a forcing pass implication. I would not play with a partner who made such bids more than once in a blue moon. Here is how I think the auction should go..... 1S - 2NT - 3S - P P - P If NS bids 4S freely, West should bid 5C.

3C instead of 2C? ONLY if BBo defines 3C as less then a limit raise. But if that is the case, then what does BBO define 2C to be. I expect BBO defines 3C as a limit raise and 2C as vanilla since I've never heard of anyone playing inverted minors in competition over a suit bid. So let's assume 2C is correct. Next.... What was partner's 3C bid. In this auction, 3C is strictly competitive, but that is ONLY if 2NT is an artificial bid showing strength. I doubt BBO has that tool. For this reason, partner's 3C bid is quite variable. In cave man standard, this probably shows values to jump to 3C. In the more modern game, 3C is probably competitive. But unless partner wants to bid 4C, he cannot invite since everything else is a game force. So while your partner might have a hand that would have bid 3C freely over your 2C call (game invite) he probably has less because two bidding opponents have something, yet have not jumped in spades. All things considered, best assumption here is that 3C is on the light side and probably has 5+ clubs. In that case, doubling is bad. If opponents were non-vul, it would be horrific. What about bidding 4C? It certainly can be a good save vs 3S. I doubt you go down 2 and get doubled in 4C. So why not bid it.....? The answer is that you cannot defend 4S. Bidding 4C may lead opponents to feel they have to bid one more. And if they assume we have 10+ trumps, they are probably correct to do so. If they do, I would not double. My 5th club and lack of defense are very bad here, and we certainly have 10+ clubs, meaning we only have 1 trick there at most. If we should be doubling, it will be partner In fact, the only other call I would consider is 5C. But I'm not taking a sacrifice against a game they have not bid yet and I cannot quite imagine wanting to bid to 5Cx on the hopes that its off one. It is a mistake to assume the opponents have landed in their optimal spot. Had the opponents bid to 4S freely, I would take the sac. In IMPs, it might be OK to bid 4C and PLAN to bid 5C over 4S. After all, if our hand was the same (but black suits reversed) we would drive to 4S after a 1S opener and we'll make it fairly often, so on that basis, bidding on cannot be awful. My scoring for the bids. (Scale of 1 to 10) Double = 0 (or less if I can award a negative score) Pass = 10 4C (planning to bid 5C over 4S) = 8 4C (planning to double 4S) = 0 Same deal.... I have no defense, so I cannot double. 4C (planning to sit if partner doubles) = 6 After all, par for this hand could well be 4C making exactly 4 and the double may be necessary to protect that result, but that is partner's decision since your hand is as weak and defenseless as it can be. 4C (planning to pull even if partner doubles 4S) = 4. Partner may infer more defense when I push them, but he might simply have them DOA. Remember, he could have more than a minimum yet not want to jump to 4C. Since my defense is awful, it could be right to pull, but since my hand is not GROSSLY different in defensive strength than partner expects, pulling is, at best, taking a view. 5C = 0. I see no advantage to this over 4C planning to pull to 5C I've not seen the hand, but I suspect you ate 3SX and probably an overtrick or 2 on the side.