LBengtsson

I have noticed a number of players advertising their services here to teach bridge, via Skype, Zoom, etc. for bridge beginners, intermediates and less experienced players, and I wonder what safeguards BBO has in place? I am sure there are many who have experience (at advanced level or above) and are genuine, and just wish to earn a few dollars on the side, but it does make me think that it is an easy way for some not-so-honest types to scam players. It is the internet age after all, and there are more scams online than anywhere else these days. Actually, I guess 99% of scams now occur online. A beginner or intermediate would (probably) not know whether the advice offered was good or bad, especially if they have not taken lessons at a recognised club. And as bridge is so involved, and there are so many things to learn, a systematic scammer could take lessons from a number of inexperienced players for a number of months before being found out. Earning thousands of dollars. I have seen one-to-one tuition @$40 an hour minimum, so it is not too difficult to see someone earning $1500+ per week from such malpractice. There are many bridge players who have not learnt technical bidding but believe they are at advanced or expert level, so they would be falsifying their credentials if they were offering their services. Rather like applying for a job when a degree is needed without having one. And what would BBO do if someone who had engaged another player to teach them online actually complained? And wanted a refund? Would they hire an attorney? Or would the allegation be just brushed under the carpet? And how can BBO prevent it happening? As I said previously, I am sure many people offering a teaching service are genuine, with good card play and bidding skills, and plenty of experience, but there is the opportunity for rogue types to make money dishonestly here. Do you agree? And has anyone had experience of this actually happening?

Yes, extraordinary! Undeterred by partner's three passes at red/white, the beginner South recognizes the value of 6601 distribution and bids his best suit three times. Just think what would have happened if he knew about the unusual no-trump lol :) Good hand to post as it teaches beginners that high card points are not the only criteria for assessing a hand.

You deserve +1 for finding an example that is different that the wikipedia entry I quoted above. But there is a subtle difference other than it was bid by Meckwell :) Meckstroth is not bidding after his partner has already passed (as in jillybean's hand). South could be unlimited. Yes, Meckwell did very well on this board as the defense did not find their 5♣ tricks plus 5♥ tricks (lol). -2800 (I think that is right) for 3NTxx at white down 6 would not make a good advert for using this bid imo. And Meckwell going down -2800 would have been a first, surely?

Please stay jillybean. We need you here! Your posts are interesting discussion points. I have spent a hour searching the net for clarity on this subject. The 3♥ bid is known as a "Jump Cue Overcall or Bid" and the three examples I could find all say that the other two suits (other than the long minor suit) need to be stopped. The wikipedia entry is below and has probably been taken from the Official Encyclopaedia of Bridge. The jump cue bid The immediate jump cue bid of opener's suit has a specific meaning. It is typically a long totally solid minor with stoppers in the other two suits. Partner is asked to bid 3NT with a stop in the suit opened or else to bid four or five clubs (pass or correct). I know of the Gambling 3NT opening bid where opening with a long minor does not promise these stoppers, effectively a preemptive opening bid, but this is a different circumstance bid in a competitive auction.

That was the first bid that came into my mind opposite a passed partner red/red before I read any of the replies.

LOL. So 6♣ goes down? Trust me to pick the losing option :(

It is a unhealthy monster with a stiff and doubleton honors: Pass at red/white seems best.

With no agreements over interference over 2♣ partner was expecting (hopefully - lol) for you to bid 3♣ in response to his TOX. He now bids 3NT. What has he got? Balanced and strong, and you are turning up with much more than a Yarborough. Partner should be pleased:) What concerns me more other than we should be in 3NT or 5♣ is whether we should be 3NT or 6♣? Give partner ♠AKxx ♥AKxx ♦AQ ♣Axx and he is playing the hand with about a 80% chance of slam. That asks the question: exactly what hand would partner have for a TOX in this auction? Is TOXing after interference the best way to describe this hand? I am not sure myself. If he were 5M332 or 5M422 surely he would have bid the 5M suit at the two level? Or is that wrong? And I am still puzzling what distribution partner has here. And what point count? More than 24 (as in the hand above) - quite possible. I might settle for 3NT but I think I have enough for 6♣. That is what I am going to bid come hell or high water. It might be wrong, but partner is playing the hand, his big hand is protected, and the opps. have to lead into it. East's 2♦ bid could well be a psyche here: why did he not open 2♦ weak? I am trusting partner to bid correctly so 6♣ it is.

That one sentence sums it up perfectly. I doubt if many bidding systems would find the right spot given the combined point count. I do not think that North should bid 3NT with no ♣ stopper. If a small lie has to be made, I prefer 3♥ here (as DavidKok says).

The word "strategy" sort of gives the game away imo :) And then I looked at the spoiler. I agree with helene_t that it is borderline between a pass and throwing caution overboard and bidding 4♠. No strategy involved. Either you bid and give partner the impression you have a stronger hand than shown, or you pass. I am for bidding 4♠ as a good partner will know that you might be a bit light and have been forced to bid here. It is unlikely that South will have the cards to X you, or feel his cards are badly placed under a 4♠ declarer, especially as his partner has little to help with his 4♥ pre-empt.

Do not feel embarrassed, jillybean. We all welcome your contribution on these pages. And may it continue for many, many years. We all get swamped now and again. And make mistakes. And guess what? I never considered birds in the Southern Hemisphere migrate North. Jeez, it just proves that my brain cells fire a false start now and again also lol :)

A ace has migrated north, unlike the birds, jillybean lol :)

The whole part of jillybean's post is not all about points imo, but shape. On this auction what shape hands could partner have for 2NT after 1♦? Not many, I guess. Would 4414 be in the mix, or do you have a Multi or Roman opening 2 ♦ bid that accommodates this shape? Or do you lie with this shape and open 1♣ and then reverse, or are you disciplined? Partner cannot be 34(M)15 as that would be covered by a reverse imo. So that leaves 4(M)324 if using 5M opening bids, or 4333, 3325 or could partner be 3316m/3226m here also? (Also possible is 4432 if you open 1♣ as 2+ and do not open 1♦ here). I think the methods used need clarifying before actually answering the question, that's why I think using any control-asking bid like Gerber immediately is promblematic, but some other bidding sequence such as nullve used might be the way forward. It makes a big difference if partner turns up with a stiff in my ♦ suit as opposed to a doubleton or tripleton, and it also makes a difference if partner could turn up with ♣KQJxxx or similar as the chances of making 7NT increase enormously if we hold all the aces.

Apologies! Backing off quickly :) Though I still think even contemplating a small slam on the cards a bad call. Change the North hand slightly to ♠xx ♥Ax ♦A10xxx ♣QJ10x and I would be a bit p***** at missing a slam. Only a queen makes a difference, and then it is only a 28-point 6NT slam.

Wow! But in the long run the 'poker' players will lose in the end. Suppose your partner is playing standard 2/1 with a strong NT and opens 1NT with the South hand. What would you be thinking of as a contract as North? 6NT? I doubt it. I cannot believe so many partnerships were in 6NT with those cards? Maybe one, two tops. But six? Twenty-six-point slams just do not happen with two balanced hands opposite each other except with a massive dose of good fortune.

Not knowing Acol in its entirety, but I guess that 4M (if not using 5M Acol) get bid before 4m. So, I guess that East opens 1♥, West responds 2♦ and then East has to take the decision whether to do next? Can you reach 6NT without a whole box of gadgets and without seeing both hands? Possibly. I think it is probably easier to reach 6NT if East opens 1♦ here, and Acol players are playing inverted minors. If they are not, then again it could be more difficult imo.

My first impression without seeing the spoiler was to bid 6NT protecting the ♠K5. If you are missing two aces, it is 95%+ that you are going down in 6♥ also. I agree that 6♥ may give you a better chance to make the contract but without a 5-card side suit in your own hand which could be ruffed out promoting the 5th card as a trick as long as the opponents cards split 4-2/3-3/4-3, there cannot be many hands imo where you are not collecting 12 tricks. A ♥ contract against human opps. could see a Lightner X being bid - I do not know if the robots do Lightner X's - and then you would remove to 6NT. Yes, unlucky to find the 4-0 ♥ split, just 10%

The comment I can make here is that it is your decision alone. Partner should have made his bid on the last round. Any hesitation now at the table could be seen as UI (Unintended Information) and a director could be called. The reason I like 4♣ here is it puts the opps. at a guess: they are unlikely to X and may well go to 4♠ which will be a difficult contract to bring in, if not impossible. Obviously, bidding 4♣ depends on how many ♣ you guarantee on a opening bid of 1♣. But as partner has bid 3♣ not X on his last bid, and it is very probable partner is void in the ♠ suit, I would play him for 5+ ♣.

I guess after 4♣, partner bids 4♦, and then I bid 4♥ - that must show a void now imo. partner bids RKCB, you respond 5♦ (1430), partner then asks for extras with 5NT, you bid 6♣ and then partner must decide where the final contract lie. I do not agree usually with the weak hand being the boss in the auction and bidding RKCB in an auction, but you have described your hand so its now up to partner to decide where the final contract is.

That is the easy bit. I have a feeling we have a jillybean bridge movie coming up :) (Having a complete guess here, it is not partner who bids his longest suit ♥ here and we have an uninterrupted auction, but the opps. throw in heavy interference in ♥ into your bidding machine. So, we may not even get to reverse with 2♦.)

There is a sort of theme with all these hands, except no. 1 where the ♠ suit will take seven tricks over 90% of the time: either partner turns up with a key card in the long major, or a finesse is right, or a split is favorable. Just on pure odds that is unlikely to happen most of the time. It makes life easier in a 3NT contract when it does happen, but would you want to be in a 3NT contract when you have to rely on it?

Ther are pure players who will say that your hand does not warrant a Jacoby 2NT response here as it does not contain 13+ points, though I cannot see any other way to describe the hand except with a Bergen response - if you use them. I do not know every variation of responses to the Jacoby 2NT response, but I would be bidding 4♠ after 3♣ here. What 4♠ specifically shows here I do not know, other than I am minimum. Whether it shows just strong trump support and nothing outside, no stiffs/voids or side suits and this sort of sort of balanced 5422 or similar I am guessing. Yes, there are plenty of hands other commentators have posted where slam is easy, even a grand if partner has the right cards.

I assume this hand is from our Acol forum contributors, and 1NT is 12-14 here. (I admit I even like the British style of the weak pre-emptive 1NT opening, that was used by Fantunes and Kaplan-Sheinwold system bidders also.)

I have seen X used at the 2 level to show a double negative hand 0-2 HCP - no king or ace hand - but not at the 4 level though I like DavidKok's answer here that lower-level doubles are penalty protection against psyches and garbage by opps. Imo, I would have thought, given that partner had opened 2♣ probably with a 2 or 3 suited hand not likely containing ♥s in this sequence Pass - 2♣ - 4♥ that X would be best as a penalty here, especially given the vulnerability.

I just do not get how West can only bid 3♥ on this hand, even if the opps. are using Acol. 3♥ invitational? That is just crazy! The question remains if the auction goes 1♥ - 4♥ do you still X at favorable vulnerability? Even I feel a bit hesitant about that, at a level higher.