DozyDom

I hope everyone is doubling with the N hand - even at a table with 3 robots, 3NT is much too likely to go down with a major game making. As for what E does, I guess I'd be considering 4C, Pass and 3H. 4C is the textbook bid green on red with 3 card support, but you have to think it isn't going to stop much bidding from the opponents, and if you end up playing 4CX the layout is probably awful enough that it isn't a good sacrifice against anything but slam. To quote the Arctic Monkeys, pass feels like settling down, or giving up, but it don't feel much like you. Green on red, with a 5-count opposite a pre-empt, I don't want to shut up; I want to bid. And bidding 3H might not be that bad an option - if things go wrong, partner supports you and you're doubled, you just run to 5C and force them to guess whether to double you or seek their game. So I suppose I'd bid it; it just doesn't feel like there's a big enough downside to not do so, and the upside is getting them to play in S, D, or at the wrong level. After that, I suppose it depends whether S bids 4D? If not - which is what I'd expect -someone's going to double 3H and E runs to 4C. At which point one of NS will bid 4H, and E's bid won't have changed anything at all. Whether you open the W hand 1c or 3C is a question of taste imo? Just depends how weak in HCP, and how shapely, you expect your green on red pre-empts to be. I'd go for it; in the minors I like to open at the 3 level on a very wide range of hands when green.

Another day, another reason to have a separate subforum for "Fun ways to bid at a table with three robots". I do genuinely enjoy these stories, and I do like to make off-piste bids and second-guess the robots myself. But if posts were clearly marked as being separate from real life, it would be easier to debate and discuss options. At a table with 3 robots, I still prefer 1H - but 1NT is now a considered and reasonable action that I would expect some friends to make. But if you post it in a forum about bridge and don't include a subtitle of "how would you best manipulate GIB here", you can expect that people will respond as if you are playing bridge, not the variant of competitive solitaire produced on BBO.

If Kafka was Czech, it seems he would normally open 1C on this hand, since I think Precision and Polish systems are more common over there. Other than that, the rationale I imagine you're thinking of would be to avoid a club lead, against 3NT or against a slam. For me, making a decision on the contract is a cooperative process with my partner during the bidding, not a choice made before it starts.

I think I'm bidding 4H too, though my partners will be expecting less than this. The diamond overcall makes things much easier for us imo; it's suddenly so much more likely that they have 2 tricks off the top, even in the cases that P does have 3 tricks for me. But it should be rare that things go too far wrong responding 2H, if you're more optimistic than me. Edit after looing at the full hand: meh, these things happen. If your p is mad that you played in 4H, that's on them.

BBO has no requirement to state your skill level accurately. Real life bridge has no requirement to describe your skill level accurately. Playing individual tournaments, there isn't anything even faintly questionable about calling yourself any skill level you like. They've been a member for a decade - maybe they just haven't bothered to change the rating they had 10 years ago? In short, I don't have a clue why you're talking about this person; whatever you're trying to imply, it reeks of paranoia. Well bid on the hand though!

GIB's response is correct, so long as 4NT is KC in diamonds. 5S either shows 2 KCs and the Q of trumps, or guarantees a 10 card fit. If 4NT is a bid showing slam interest actually in diamonds, you're going to have 5 card support; P has only shown 3, after all. So GIB has told you what you wanted to know, hopefully.

Given that it's all anonymous, I don't feel all that reluctant to say that these two are probably cheating in some way. They may very well not be, but I'd try to avoid playing them again. As for 4H being available, no one ever said they had to be clever.

So we blacklist them when they cheat, but we can't accuse them of cheating. Great strat, hope it works out for you.

The only bid I seriously consider is pass. The saying "always support partner" is on the money - but the support we have is the kind you get from the trapdoor on a gallows.

BBO allows anyone to create their own tournaments, whose entries can then be restricted so that only the usernames of members of your club can enter (or you can leave it open if you want). First, you need to be approved to create tournaments and act as director - for that, you need to email support@bridgebase.com and give your username and real name, at which point they'll register you, though I don't know how long that will take. Once registered, follow the instructions at https://www.bridgebase.com/help/v2help/creating_a_tournament.html to create a tournament, and then the other pages at http://www.bridgebase.com/tourney/help/ to manage it while it happens. Note that unlike real life, acting as a playing director will probably not be possible; a lot of the functionality is not available for you.

I don't know whether I'm upgrading. But after I open 1C and hear 1D, I should be extremely happy that I have done - we've found a fit that's usually difficult to find! Time to raise. E could bid more, but with shortage in partner's suit and a useless jack, I don't think I would bother.

That would be a poor choice if N holds the A, rather than KQ, of spades :)

Mikeh, I'm not particularly on board with ducking the heart either - but when you say partner has switched off, surely if declarer has AKQx in hearts, and has just played 8 club winners, then what on earth is going on when they play a spade to lose to the A? If they started with the AD, they have 13 tricks off the top. If they don't, they have 12 tricks on top and have just allowed you to take the contract off! So I do think there's no way this can be Peter's fault; his partner should be able to place the points around the table, and give partner the AD. But that doesn't make them an utter idiot, any more than N's bid made them an utter idiot, or your belief that E should assume declarer started with 12 or 13 top tricks makes you an idiot. They probably just had a long, hard day. No need to be rude about them.

What Smerriman said. In the real world my example hand might go for a Jacoby transfer and then 4H as a splinter, but in the real world responder might have an even stronger hand, and I wanted to stick to the realms of GIB.

Just to be clear, you knew with 100% certainty (I know it's GIB, but for texas transfers they do always have 6+ cards) that you had a fit in spades. You had no knowledge of whether you had a fit in hearts, or for that matter whether you had the majority of the hearts. You didn't know whether you belonged in game or slam, though if you're playing best hand you certainly can hope that slam isn't on. You may have guessed, but it's not my choice. I'm not convinced you would be posting the hand here if partner had AKQxxx void Kxx qjxx.

I mean... you get to slam because partner bids slam there. 31-32 points with a long minor in one hand is going to be a slam you want to be in. If he's relaxed about his prospects he can invite with 4NT, and you'll accept. It's not a system issue, it's just a judgment issue.

I leave for half an hour, check the White Book to find that I'm completely wrong, and you're already here to correct me? The EBU really is in safe hands!

...I think you'll have to explain how a score can be adjusted with a portion that's worse than what the non-offending side actually scored. If they were going to reach 3NT without the interference, as seems overwhelmingly likely (despite the sequences posted, if the field isn't in 3NT it's because E overcalls, not because people ask about spade stops in the sequence 1C-1D-2NT), then don't adjust. Edit: this came off as pretty harsh when I didn't mean that. But I don't think giving the "damaged" side a score that incorporates worse elements than their unadjusted score is really in keeping with normal rules about UI. As for how to find 5D once the inteference comes in, N needs the diamond suit to play for no losers (or find partner with the spade A or KQ, which isn't totally impossible). Partner has rebid diamonds at the 3 level, but that could be on QJ to 6 or something. I guess I'd just bid 4D over 3D and hope that if partner accepts, their points are in the right place? But it could end with you in a terrible game. I wouldn't think about calling the director when my opps give me +300 like this; the room is likely in 3NT or a diamond partscore. 2nd edit: the actual result is probably a decent indicator of why I wouldn't X here. Partner has a hand that many would just overcall with, but we still can't compete at the partscore level, while we've just frightened them out of a non-making game.

I'm 100% certain that I have multiple clues available which will help me. The most obvious two, as mikeh points out, are how many trumps do I have to ruff with, and how many entries to the hand with clubs do I have.

KJS, AQT9D, AC gives you enough honour structure for a 50% slam, and that's a place we want to be, right? That's 14 points - a minimum, or thereabouts - with 4 full points wasted in spades. I don't think we ever play in slam opposite that hand no matter how we bid it, though. But I think akwoo's dead on - the splinter is the way to get to a coherent slam, for sure. I don't get why people think texas and then blackwood is even close to a realistic option compared to the splinter; it deserves to find P with either AQJx xx Txxx AKj or xxx xx akqx AKx; both give the same response, but one goes down in 5 while the other makes 6. Maybe it even deserves to find P with something like AQx xxxx AQ QJxx, and P decides to helpfully show trump queen with a 10+ card fit.

I think E has been restrained and sensible - with both opps bidding, 3D is a firm overbid. No blame there. I think S has been restrained but maybe less sensible. S has zero interest in defending 2D, since partner clearly doesn't have 4 good diamonds after passing; a 2S bid doesn't promise extra values, and will pretty much never be raised. Even vulnerable, it just feels like the clear bid. Still, partner won't get you to 4 normally - you'll end up in a spade partscore with a plus, though. W... is being a muppet. He doesn't have the shape for a takeout double, and he has stoppers in the opponents' suits. If he thinks he isn't strong enough to X and rebid NT, he should overcall 1NT direct. If he thinks he's too strong for 1NT, he should double and rebid NT. Either one will get to 3NT. N... is comatose. Genuinely incomprehensible. If you somehow don't raise directly - as should be automatic, both with or without the double - balance. I just can't fathom it. Will that get you to 4S? If the opponents bid 3NT, you can be sure that it will.

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I rebid 2H, and I am back to square one except that partner now knows my strength more accurately; I rate to make imo, so that's better than passing and no worse than opening 2H. But if partner responds 1S, or doubles interference from LHO, I am in a far, far better position than a 2H opener; if RHO makes any action at all I am (or rather, my partner is) in an infinitely better position than anyone who passes to open. I don't see why I would pass this in first seat, and I can't think of a hand I'd open in first that I wouldn't open in 3rd.

I... wouldn't open 2H, and I should have made that clear. I would open 1H, just as I would opposite an unpassed hand. This hand has no business pre-empting, so don't. It has no business passing, so don't. It's just a normal, fairly light 1-level open. Partner will take you to game in a major as soon as they find out about the double fit, and possibly before.

With two Aces, both majors, and a void, you would pass as N? 2H is taking a very bold position. Pass, I feel, is rather bolder.