RedSpawn

Excuse me, West having ♥1098765432 is RIDICULOUS, so how is it not possible for distribution to be WAY OFF on this goulash-like board? Using probability and normal distribution bell curves on a "goulash-like" board is NOT advisable. You will choke on the cayenne pepper! Second of all, if the opposition has a 5♣ club contract, the more profitable sacrifice is ALWAYS in ♠, never ♥. Opening 4♥ with such obscene garbage is not bridge, it is Texas Hold Em Poker. It's not partnership bidding, it's guerrilla, "Highlander" bidding. It's the same as igniting a powder keg and hoping to contain the fire IF your partner actually believes you. If you are in the business of being clever and making gross misrepresentations about your hand's asset value, own the outcome both good and horrible. I've seen way too many "advanced" & "expert" players on BBO hastily run away from the table when they make a hot mess on the auction board with a 0-3 HCP hand. In fact, I think we call them "runners" on BBO since they have a notorious reputation. PLAY YOUR POSITION regardless of your professed rating or title. If you have a garbage hand, sit in the corner, be quiet in the auction, and respond when asked (e.g. takeout doubles and forcing bids). Otherwise press PASS and allow your partner to do his job effectively without all of the unwarranted, distracting NOISE coming from the West seat.

This poll illustrates a very important point about preemptive bids. Generally, a preemptive suit should contain 2 of the top 3 honors OR 3 of the 5 top honors. Why? Because SUIT QUALITY MATTERS IN PREEMPTIVE BIDS. You can relax this rule a little bit to contain 2 of the top 4 honors, but this is a general guideline to ensure that the preemptor has REASONABLE CONTROL of the suit he wants to establish as trump. To be specific, REASONABLE CONTROL means that the PREEMPTIVE suit has both the length AND honor strength to justify taking up huge amounts of bidding space and potentially closing out the auction. This general guideline helps ensure that: The preemptor can gain reasonable control of the board during declaration; The trump suit will establish a decent amount of playing tricks once the missing honors drop; and most importantly, The preemptor does not usurp a more profitable preemptive bid that his partner may have. 9♠ 10987645432♥ Q3♦ 9♣ This hand definitely has the length with 9 cards but it has no honor strength. All we have is a lowly 10♥ and the rest of the honor crew, AKQJ♥, is missing in action. You can NOT describe this hand as having a "good" 9 card suit. And just as you have an ugly 9 card ♥ suit on this goulash-like board, someone else may have VERY pretty hearts. For example, take the board below: [hv=pc=n&s=s42hdjt98764c6432&w=s9ht98765432dq3c9&n=saqhakqjd5caqjt85&e=skjt87653hdak2ck7]399|300[/hv] South passed his 7 card ♦ suit? Why? Because he knows how to faithfully play his position. He has a bust hand and a poor quality diamond suit so he engages the PASS button. West has the same predicament but for some reason almost everyone on BBO is saying bid 4♥ in 2nd seat with a very QUESTIONABLE ♥ suit. The best answer is PASS because your partner: 1) has a better bid if you will only let him make it and 2) has a more accurate assessment of where asset values lay in auction as the 4th seat bidder. . . but you must PASS with a bust hand containing 2 HCP. Hard to do, isn't it? Can you honestly justify taking out your partner's 4♠ overcall of a 2♣ open? Your partner has a good 8 card ♠ suit containing 3 of 5 honors. He has the goods to place the partnership in a relatively safe place - West DOES NOT! All West really has is good intentions and the road to HADES is paved with plenty of good intentions. The opposition does NOT have a slam and bidding 4♥ is down 3 which is NOT good bridge. And your team has 4♠ cold as the cards lay. A player should not make executive decisions about the partnership's future while sitting in 2nd seat and holding a bust hand. MORAL OF THE STORY: Play your position; Stop bidding your partner's hand; Pre-empt with decent suit quality; and Engage PASS button with bust hands containing 0-3 HCP!

Maybe you have forgotten what an opening bid means. An opening bid is a promise by you that you believe you hold a better than average hand and are therefore willing to put the TOTAL partnership's assets at risk to pursue a potentially profitable contract. It is a representation by you that your partner relies on during his decision making in the auction. When you open up QJX, QJX, QJX, QJXX and suggest to the opposition AND your partner that you have a better-than-average hand, you begin the auction with a convenient lie; a lie that you hope will not come back to haunt your partnership. That is why you routinely try to underbid by two tricks afterwards to offset the potential impact of said misrepresentation (lie). You are essentially writing a check with insufficient funds and are hoping that no one will ever be smart enough to cash your check before the auction ends. Good luck with that theory. (－‸ლ) FACE PALM {sharpening my battle ax}

Quite the contrary, I have been playing against a lot of the players who have joined the Dark Side of Bridge and open up junk bids with 0.0 to 0.5 quick tricks as 1 level bids. What normally happens is I double their horrible 2NT bid for down 2, followed by a 3♦X bid for down 3, and these "MODERN-BRIDGE-ERA-Open-Whatever-You-Want-Players" run from the table in disgust because I see through the smoke screen, call the poker bluff for what it is, wield the penalty double battle ax, and defend well. Their partnership typically dissolves within 3-5 boards. They will NOT continually trespass on my auction with sanitation values and leave unscathed. If they want to open up a 13 HCP hand that has 0 quick tricks and is lined with nothing but overvalued queens and jacks (not even 10's), go right ahead. I will look at the remaining aces, kings, and 10's in my hand and smile devilishly as the ruse plays itself it out in the auction. I will press DOUBLE at the right moment, sharpen my battle ax, light up the oil drum grill, cook and serve what's left as BBQ for the kibitzers. So, I am not waiting for their comeuppance. I am waiting for them to wake up and join the rest of the bridge community and perform sound, complete hand evaluations. If you are a QUACKS (Queens & Jacks) believer, then I suggest you read this and other materials to make sure you understand the full risk you assume with this "method" of opening bids. Card Evaluation - Bridge Depot Karen Walker Opening Requirements Bridge Guys Opening a Hand

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Here are the costs of increasing the range of opening bids: Your team will frequently bully and commandeer the auction with woefully inadequate HCP values. This will subject the partnership to a higher risk of overbids, which your team will routinely blame on "card placement". You will create additional frustration and work for your partner who must now differentiate if your 1 level open is sound or junk. Your partner will have to figure out the new meaning of a 2NT response to a partner's 1 of a suit opening bid because "the opener" reserves the right to open junk material in 1st or 2nd seat. Your team will frequently & incorrectly make 3NT gambits with inadequate values because Quick Tricks are not even on your team's radar for opening bid requirements. Your team will began to heavily and unjustifiably rely on poor, novice level defense to make contracts since being 1st to open trumps common sense bidding. You will eventually create derision and mistrust within your own partnership when you encounter teams that see through the "jedi mind tricks" and successfully employ the penalty double to knock your team out of competition.

ANSWERS: (D) QJx QJx QJx QJxx-- DO NOT Open and PASS and await further developments. This hand: is ace-less and lacks proper suit control which is a one HCP deduction; lacks 2.0 quick tricks (it has ZERO (0) quick tricks); has only 12 HCP which is less than the standard requirement of 13; has 8.0 losers from a Losing Trick Perspective and is thus worse than the average opening hand which has 7.0; has ugly 4-3-3-3 distribution which is a one HCP deduction; and contains 8 overvalued queens and jacks which require a 2 HCP deduction. This hand all in is : 12 - 1- 1- 2 = 8.0 HCP = WORSE THAN YOUR AVERAGE HAND OF 10.0 HCP (E) QJx QJxx QJxx QJ -- Do NOT Open and PASS and await further developments. This hand: is aceless and lacks proper suit control which is a one HCP deduction; lacks 2.0 quick tricks (it has ZERO (0) quick tricks); has better shape-4-4-3-2; has 8.0 losers from a Losing Trick Perspective and is thus worse than the average opening hand which has 7.0; is lopsided unfavorably in its honor strength. It has 8 overvalued queens and jacks which requires a 2 HCP deduction; contains dubious honors trapped in a doubleton with the QJ suit. We should deduct one HCP as QJ doubleton is defective and has less trick taking potential than KX or QJX or QXX. This hand should be valued as a: 12 - 1 - 2 - 1 = 8.0 HCP hand. All things considered, this hand, once again, has less strength and trick tacking potential THAN YOUR AVERAGE 10 HCP HAND.

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I must first qualify my answer as saying that I am using SAYC with 15-17 HCP as 1NT. The answer is an equivocal NO to all 3 choices, regardless of seat or vulnerability. The purpose of the opening bid is to to describe the trick-taking potential of your hand, so that the partnership neither overreaches itself (and thus incurs a penalty by promising to take more tricks than is possible) nor misses a golden opportunity to obtain a lucrative reward by failing to set the commitment high enough when ample strength is held. The opening bid serves as a foundation for the partnership to explore the viability of a contract so the Milton Point system (4-3-2-1) ALONE is insufficient to accomplish that. Why? Because Milton's systems overvalues queens and jacks and undervalues aces and 10's. Points matter, but having the "right collection of points" to secure tricks matters even more, as well as having decent suit controls and favorable distribution. The Quick Trick method addresses suit controls. However, it undervalues queens and jacks and overvalues aces (hmm...which is the opposite of the Milton System). But when you use both Milton's system and the Quick Trick evaluation method, they serve as a sound basis for opening a bid because the over/under valuation of honors in BOTH systems cancel each other out. So 13 honor card points (from Milton) AND 2 minimum quick tricks (from Quick Trick method) should be the starting point for determining whether or not you want to "strike first" in the auction. If you want the partnership to successfully take 7 tricks by opening a 1 level contract, a requirement that you possess at LEAST TWO tricks QUICKLY on your own is a fair obligation--especially when you have no idea about the distribution of the remaining 39 cards. Your opening bid is a PROMISE to the partnership about the trick taking capabilities and strength of your hand. It is a representation to your partner that you believe you hold a better-than-average 10 HCP hand. You should be able to deliver on that promise with the available information from your hand. Let's look at Hand A: S-QJx H-QJx D-KJx C-QJxx This hand has 13 points RAW, but its Milton Points are only PART of the whole picture. Here are the deductions from the 13 points: The hand is ace-less which means that it lacks POWER. There are 39 cards remaining in the deck and the opponents have 26 cards and your partner has 13. The opponents are twice as likely to get the remaining 4 POWER aces than your partner. This does NOT bode well for the partnership should you actually win the auction. You technically should deduct one HCP for ace-less hands as they are weaker from a suit control standpoint. The hand clearly is not even close to the minimum of 2.0 quick tricks. It has 0.5 quick tricks so no primary strength for offensive or defensive purposes. Aces and Kings must clear the board in three (3) suits before the Queens and Jacks can go to work for the partnership! The hand has horrible 4-3-3-3 distribution. Why is 4-3-3-3 horrible, you ask? With 4-3-3-3 shape, this hand is "flat" and has no chance for a reasonable ruff in a suit contract; for a NT contract, there is no suit long enough or strong enough to establish skaters or additional tricks to help you to successfully fulfill the contract. From a Losing Trick Count perspective, this hand has 7.5 losers which is more than the average opening hand which has 7.0 losers. The hand is lop-sided unfavorably in its honor strength. It has SEVEN (7) queens and jacks which are overvalued in the Milton Point system, so you must deduct TWO points from the total HCP count to offset this. So: Take the 13 points raw MINUS 1 point for the 4-3-3-3 distribution MINUS 2 points for the super-excessive amount of queens and jacks MINUS 1 point for no ace in the hand = 13-1-2-1 = 9 HCP. This is an ALL-IN evaluation of just hand 1 and reconciles with K&R statistics of 8.95 HCP. B-) (A) is your average hand of 9-10 points and is clearly not an opener. Did you recognize this or were you wooed by the "red dress" (13 HCP) the hand was wearing? If you value your partner, the partnership, and successful outcomes, you do NOT open (A). You PASS & await further developments. As bridge players, we are charged with the responsibility of doing a full hand evaluation and not becoming slaves to mindless point counts. If you open the bidding solely on point count without LOOKING at suit controls (quick tricks) and your hand flaws, you are inadvertently setting the partnership up to fail. Factors such as quick tricks, shape, paucity of aces, losing trick counts, dubious honors trapped in doubletons or singletons, excessive lower order honors (queens and jacks) all can adversely impact your partnership's ability to successfully fulfill your contract OR defeat the opposition's. You have to account for these factors in your hand evaluation process. Also, partners make decisions on whether to double the opposition's contract or overcall based, in part, on their partner's opening bids, so it will behoove you to make sound opening bids and avoid opening garbage hands unless you have a death wish. Modern bridge developments do not require us to forgo sound opening bid requirements to compete more effectively in auctions; there are other tools for that. Be sensible and realistic about what you are promising your partner in your opening bids and embrace the PASS button when you have nothing noteworthy to report. Remember, the pass button can create an opportunity for the opposition to overbid, so it too, has POWER. :)

Whoever is the 1st person TO MAKE A BID during auction and abandons the table before the completion of said hand is the person whose Main Completion Rate will be adversely affected. Also, note that if you bid AFTER someone has abandoned ship, you reactivate the possibility of being penalized for subsequently leaving the game before the completion of the hand in question. So, if you are the last person at the table and have not bid AFTER the previous player left, you will not be penalized for closing the table.

All, I have recently started playing Team Match tournaments and have noticed a very disturbing trend for a HOST OF tournament directors (TDs). When my team is leading by 10+ IMP points or more, the Tournament Director (and sometimes his partner) magically disappear! In other instances, the TD will remain seated but will purposefully fail to substitute any runners hoping that enough honest players will tire of waiting and withdraw from the tournament. IF the tournament director leaves the tournament and hosting rights revert to me, I can remedy this situation by finding substitutes from My Friends list for ALL of the runners to try to finish the game that I am winning. However, what concerns me is if I fail to do so, the server will ultimately cancel the game due to (1) a time out (stall) or (2) too many player withdrawals. Here's what REALLY concerns me about the game cancellation . . . .wait for it. . . wait for it. . . If the tournament game does not finish and the server cancels the game, ALL of the people who withdrew from the game do NOT get penalized in their Tournament Completion Rate (TCR)! Since the game never finished, the server destroys ALL of the attendance/withdrawal and hand records associated with said game. As a result, these records can not be viewed in My Hands, even if the game was 90% complete! Therefore, there is an inherent incentive for a Tournament Director to play "Back to the Future" and complete games he is winning and disappear for games he is losing. He will get his win and higher TCR rate for the games he wins and completes; conversely, he will NOT be penalized for leaving games he is losing IF the server ultimately cancels those tournament games! :angry: I have noticed this pattern a lot in the Team Matches tournaments and it appears the foxes are raiding the hen house. We need an Information Technology solution to address this. Only when a game is completed and the server removes all of the players from the table to the lobby do the withdrawal records for THAT tournament get imported to BBO MyHands for calculation of the affected players' TCR. Any thoughts?