keylime

Han, I play better when I'm not at 100% strength because I have to grind, which caters to my mentality.

Han, the other table did pass it out at 4SX. Making -590.

If you pull you avoid the 15 imp loss and loss of match that happened. After the scoreup I hit the gym for about an hour by myself wondering why I had not opened 4♠ originally; it was a very bad night put it that way. At least I found a 4♠ call but still, I wasn't overly happy with my tactics here.

This hand is the one hand that has been haunting my dreams lately. I did bid 4S, got doubled, RHO removed to five hearts, making. At the other table, it went 4S-X-P-? and you're in passout seat with: Q T9xxx x KQJT9x Anyone for 4NT? Pass? 5 of something?

1. Standard: 5 hearts, 4+ clubs, G/F. Keri: 5-5, G/F 2. Standard: 5 clubs, 4 spades, G/F. 3. Standard: Probably heart shortness, values for game. (how I play it anyway).

OK, here's the first of a few adjuncts. Let's say you passed like I did. The auction now comes back at you: (1H) P (4H) Now what?

3♣ from my three cats, and I approve this message. Frances as usual is stating my feelings as well.

I voted for ducking, because I'm not sure a diamond return is what is going to get this defense started and they have a foul split in trumps potentially coming. If anything, I'm inclined to win and switch to a club before winning and playing a diamond through due to my trump holding, but I might change my mind.

If pard can't find a cuebid of 4D, then I'm bailing (if tho you cuebid Aces first then kings instead of the A or K style, this hand is harder to deal with potentially). I agree with Phil -> 5 level is not very safe on this construction.

I bid 4C and do not try for 3NT here, with reservations....

If I read something it only creates more brain activity - I spent quite a bit of time on that treadmill listening to music on my keylime colored iPod with Gypsy Kings or Kylie Minogue. I had a couple of late nights trying to purge all the hands from my psyche...

If I knew opener's hand in its entirety, you can successfully argue for the drop using an extension of prism signals - since we hold an even number of clubs and you know major lengths, you should be able to determine the layout by inference.

The other benefit for me in working out after the play concluded, was to prep the body for sleep - otherwise I lay in bed until 3AM going through all of my errors. After the tourney I have to watch myself wandering over to the dessert section...

Tim, I was hoping you'd catch the potential sarcasm. :D To be fair, this bracket was of good quality towards the end.

You are dealt white on red in 1st chair this assortment of cards: [hv=d=s&v=e&s=skt9xxxxhdqtxxxxc]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] You're playing IMPs, Bracket 4, against competent opponents. What do you do? Does position in the match matter here?

I'd come in with 1NT here white on red. At equals maybe and at unfav, probably not. One of the things I noticed in Nashville was the utter lack of interference in auctions -> in the Mini-Spingold not one bid over a forcing club, the Open Pairs had one Mathe bid that was natural and a Suction bid, and the rest of the week there was one Mathe and one Suction call total. We had probably per session 2-3 forcing club openings (one session we had 7, another 6 if memory serves).

I go out and eat every night too, but I have been using the exercise room after the evening play to relax and get some work in. The food here has been quite good and is a strength of this NABC; there are MANY places within 4 blocks radius to eat.

It was a blast to meet both Han and Arend - it was one of the main highlights that I will take from this NABC. They both are truly outstanding gentlemen and players.

I eagerly look forward to playing BBO on a Mac. BTW Fred, REALLY nice spread you had for the get-together, and thanks a million for your kind words to me.

I used to play Snapdragon doubles, but decided to not use them and instead play transfer advances to get lead directional indicators (when possible).

I was at the get-together today - the demo was unable to be performed due to the poor, shaky internet at the Convention Center. He did not get to go into the major details, but from what we were told, BBO is going to be offered in both the client form and the web interface form in the next few weeks. It will use the Flash engine.

Just wait until my appeal hits the table if it got to committee - it is an eerie reoccurance of the "oh s**t" ruling of Vancouver. It was completely unneeded.

Update: To date, the competitive bidding methods haven't been used by a total of three times: one two suiter, one 1NT takeout, and one power double. There has been tho a high frequency of forcing club openings. We have learned that we need to address Suction and regular CRASH items in the notes - definitely on unsteady ground.

There is a valid view about the potential misused syntax of "highly unusual method"; we inadvertantly used the phrasing to describe the different approach we use versus the normal North American perspective; this has gained a handwritten clarification to avoid any ruffling of feathers. Thanks for the counsel there. With regards to the 5332 club hand outside of range, in 3rd/4th seat that hand is opened 2C normally; that is something tho we should tag a disclaimer about. Thanks for the advice there. The NV 14-16 handtypes should have I think its own paragraph to help aid in disclosure; that was an oversight on our part and has a handwritten addition with regards to that. I'll check to see if for the 1D opening as well now that I think about it if we kept the 5332 club handtype listed in our summary sheet. The relays we've implemented is because we both are not yet keen on adaptation of Symmetric Relay. We've strived to acheive as high of parallelism with the bidding methodology to help memory concerns and provide a sense of repeatibility. I hope this has borne out. We have not tho thought about the 2NT/3C inversion; will discuss that with Larry. Thanks for the constructive comments to this point.

As a gift to those who have wondered, I have posted the system that Larry and I will be using in our attempts to help our team win the 0-5000 Mini-Spingold in Nashville. The link is resting on my blog at Click Here for a Really Good Time... I hope you enjoy the contents, and be gentle with your thoughts. :)