zzxjoanw

Yesterday I logged into BBO to use Bridge Master, but I saw that all my progress had been wiped: deals I had completed no longer had a star next to them. I started over from Level 1, and then went to bed. This morning I checked again, and my progress from last night had also been wiped. Could BBO please fix this bug?

When I was a complete novice to bridge, a more experienced friend recommended that I read the book "Standard Bidding with SAYC" by Ned Downey and Ellen Pomer. It assumes that the reader knows the rules of bridge and is familiar with HCP and total points (i.e., HCP + distribution points) but not much else. It covers the basics of natural bidding plus a few of the most common conventions (Stayman, Jacoby transfers, fourth suit forcing, Michaels, Unusual 2NT, takeout doubles, negative doubles, Blackwood). Now I am in a similar situation of being an experienced player trying to teach a novice how to bid. I want to buy her a book that, like "Standard Bidding with SAYC", explains the principles of natural bidding (so sequences like 1M-2M-4M, 1M-3M-4M, 1M-2M-3M-4M, 1m-1M-2M-4M, etc. will make sense to her) and the most common conventions but is based on 2/1 instead of SAYC. So I'm not looking for something like the Hardy or Lawrence books that go through the system in excruciating detail. I tried searching the web but I couldn't find what I'm looking for. So now I am being lazy and asking the BBO community for recommendations.

I don't understand. You're saying GIB is proceeding under the assumption that the heart finesse is going to win? Why does that make sense? It should take the club finesse first so that even if the heart finesse loses it can still make the contract. Unless, of course, you assume that the heart finesse and the club finesse are equally likely to work, in which case GIB's play does make sense. Is that it?

Forgot to mention, GIB cashes the ♥A at trick 3 and finesses the ♥J at trick 4, going down. It wasn't simply a matter of delaying the club finesse.

Here's the deal and the auction: [hv=pc=n&s=saktha87dj932caqj&w=s732ht4dkq84c9852&n=sqj98hkj962datct4&e=s654hq53d765ck763&d=e&v=0&b=14&a=p1dp1hp2np3c(new%20minor%20forcing)p3hp4d(cue)p4sp5hp6hppp&p=c3cqc2]399|300[/hv] At trick 1, east leads the ♣3, won in dummy by the Q. At trick 2, the ♦3 is led from dummy and won in hand with the A. This play at trick 2 seems very strange to me. It guarantees that should the finesse in hearts lose, the defenders will be able to immediately cash the ♦K, setting the contract. Instead, declarer should attempt to pitch the ♦10 on a club. If this loses, the contract still makes whenever the trump queen is onside, so it seems like a strictly superior line. Am I missing anything? This is the advanced GIB btw.

For me I can usually switch between apps without having BBO log out, but if I accidentally press the back button, the app logs out. This is really annoying because of how easy it is to do by accident.

Inspired by the other thread. Partner opens 1♣, you respond 1♦ with a 4-card spade suit, partner bids 1♥, and now you want to show spades but then it would be fourth suit forcing. What do you do?

The 3NT bid by east, which was explained as "cheaper minor", doesn't make sense. Clearly the correct cheaper minor bid is 3C. Even if 3NT is the bid to show a really bad hand, west should still pull to 4D. This lead directing double by north was really good though... [hv=pc=n&s=sk9hkqj6dt984cj93&w=saq52ha93dakqj72c&n=sj8743h52dcakq542&e=st6ht874d653ct876&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=p2c(strong)d(lead%20directing)pp2dp3n(cheaper%20minor)ppp]399|300[/hv]

Why doesn't the Android app have an easy way to see the results at other tables? My friends who use iOS tell me that they have an additional blue button to see the other tables, but I don't have it:

Many times, while playing on BBO on my laptop, and waiting for someone else to bid, I've alt-tabbed to another window, then back to BBO, only to find that BBO has frozen. Sometimes I will only hear the sounds indicating that someone else has bid but their bid won't actually be displayed in my window, and sometimes I won't even hear a sound. The only way to fix this seems to be to log in again. This often causes me to get kicked from the table. I use Chrome 62 on Linux.

I play in free BBO tournaments sometimes, but most of the time I get rejected by 3-4 users at the partnership desk and give up. Is it because I play weird conventions, or because I don't have masterpoints, or is there something sketchy about my profile? Or is this normal? https://i.imgur.com/CndSFDh.png (BTW: yes, I use a fake name to protect my privacy)

[hv=pc=n&s=sakt9873hq97daqtc&w=sj5hak843d82c9742&n=sq62htdkj973caqj3&e=s4hj652d654ckt865&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=1d(Minor%20suit%20opening%20--%203%2B%20!D%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points)p2s(Soloway%20jump%20shift%20--%20rebiddable%20!S%3B%2017%2B%20total%20points)p3s(Support%20--%203%2B%20!D%3B%203%2B%20!S%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points)p4n(Blackwood%20%5BS%5D%20--%20rebiddable%20!S%3B%2017%2B%20total%20points)p5d(One%20or%20four%20key%20cards%20--%203%2B%20!D%3B%203%2B%20!S%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points)p5h(%3F%20queen%20--%20rebiddable%20!S%3B%2017%2B%20total%20points)d(6%2B%20HCP%3B%20rebiddable%20!H%3B%20!HKQ%3B%2020-%20total%20points)pp6s(rebiddable%20!S%3B%2017%2B%20total%20points)ppp]399|300[/hv] I assumed "pass" meant "I don't have the queen", but then I went ahead and bid 6S anyway because I knew there was a 10-card fit. But then I realized that north did have the queen. So what does pass mean? And what does GIB do when it doesn't have the queen? Redouble?

[hv=pc=n&s=skj9hqt3dj2ck9432&w=s73hk4dt9653cqjt6&n=s862ha95daq74ca75&e=saqt54hj8762dk8c8&d=w&v=e&b=16&a=p1d(Minor%20suit%20opening%20-%203%2B%20!D%3B%2011-21%20HCP%3B%2012-22%20total%20points)2d(Michaels%20--%203-%20!C%3B%203-%20!D%3B%205%2B%20!H%3B%205%2B%20!S%3B%2012%2B%20total%20points%3B%20forcing)d(Penalty%20double%20--%2010%2B%20HCP)pp2h(3-%20!C%3B%203-%20!D%3B%205%2B%20!S%3B%20rebiddable%20!H%3B%2012%2B%20total%20points)d(2%2B%20!H%3B%2010%2B%20HCP)p3d(11%2B%20HCP%3B%20rebiddable%20!D%3B%2012-14%20total%20points)ppp]399|300[/hv] Robot correctly annotates the double of East's Michaels cuebid as penalty. As far as I know, after such a double of Michaels, any further doubles of either of the opponents' two suits are conventionally interpreted as penalty. In any case, north's diamond holding is certainly not "rebiddable". Is there any sensible call for North other than "pass"?

I meant *3+ clubs and 3+ hearts (but 2- spades)

In the standard treatment of Michaels and Unusual NT, there are two "gaps". Over 1C, Michaels would show both majors and Unusual NT would show diamonds and hearts. If you have diamonds and spades, then you can't use either convention. Likewise over 1D there is no way to show clubs and spades. Would it be sensible to define Unusual NT over a minor to show "other minor and unspecified major"? With both majors, advancer bids hearts and interferer can correct to spades if they actually had spades and a minor. Michaels already has this pass-or-correct property when it's used over a major and advancer has both minors---in fact this agreement would create a "symmetry" between the two conventions. I realize this would be less useful in an auction such as (1D) 2NT* (3D) ? where holding 5 clubs and 5 hearts, advancer would really like to bid 4H if I have hearts, but can't be sure I actually do.