keylime

Am going to give equal blame to both players. North for the slight overbid of 4S with a four card heart suit, and South, for not realizing that to have a grand slam try he/she should have some sort of control in the majors to keep going.

My 4NT agreements: 1. In comp, 2 places to play. When pard overcalled a suit tho, it's an 2 way bid: either a good raise to five of pard's suit, or takeout oriented (analogous to G/B 2NT). This came up recently (I sprung one on Larry). 2. If no suit is agreed on before 3NT, it's quant. seeking direction. Can be passed. 3. If one suit is agreed on, then ace asking. 4. If TWO suits agreed on, normally is asking about the 4-4 fit first, then the first 5-3 fit if applicable. 5. 1NT - 2R - 2M - 4NT = quantitative. Normally go through Texas to get to keycard but some play it the other way around. Important to discuss. There are many more but wanted to give the gist of it.

I am experimenting currently with specific two suiters in competition. What I can see is the following: 1. Pard knows exactly what you have, but so do the opps. 2. Construction of the 2 suiters is critical (currently we're trying out touching ones). 3. Lastly, strengths matter - either minimax or continuous.

I bid 1NT, 3 suited t/o for the unbids. The reason is, when you make a 2 suited overcall the 4th suit, the three card fragment in essence, becomes very hard to play in. Without the t/o, which at equal colors I probably make, I overcall 1♠; I don't have enough hand to make this overcall and buy the hand - if they end up declaring it's nearly double dummy.

I am going to stick neck out, and blame EVERYONE for this mess, even East for being innocent. :)

I'll bring the 50 cal machine gun to the party....

I KC here with 3S, Turbo start with denial cues. What concerns me is a hand like AQJx Qxxx AKx Jx where we're dead off the hop potentially.

Ditto. Six looks good here.

As a canape clubber these days, let me share the ups and downs of canape: Ups: 1. Never miss your 4-4 fit. It doesn't get buried. 2. Unloads your 2C opening to be a natural, 6+ in length. 3. No pesky rebid problems when holding minor-major hands; open the major, rebid the minor, and you're good to go. 4. Occasionally, the opps will walk right into your five card suit. Let me confess this has happened twice and both times, the joy was unable to be contained as they got doubled for a telephone number. 5. Takeout doubles are harder to make; playing minimum offshape t/o's are much more apt to cause trouble for the opposing side if used by them. 6. You can suppress majors over 1D, knowing pard can't have them unless it's a five carder and maximum hand. Downs: 1. You'll need a response structure to handle your 4-5's and especially your 4-6's in G/F situations of a limited bid. 2. In competition, you'll need ways to show 5-4's when they bid and raise a suit. 3. If you play transfer positives like we do, practice, practice, practice if you play MAFIA style answers where majors must be shown first (we play exclusionary xfers). 4. It takes a lot of adjustment to open that four carder before the five carder. Trust me; took me 2 months. 5. Suit quality of your four card major should be discussed and agreed on. Larry and I open nearly ANY four card major regardless. Sometimes we have landed in Q-x-x opposite 7-5-3-2 at the two level; it happens. 6. The level of detail is much higher than a 2/1 or Precision method, simply due to the differences in the bidding. Overall, I think it's a great way to play bridge, but not the only way.

Keri, she's hot.....oops! Mr. Klinger has quite a good NT engine there..... :angry:

This is a very difficult position to be in. As an owner of 2 cats, I would do everything within remote reason for their health. I agree that a 2nd view from a different vet might be greatly beneficial. So, Bugatti and Bacianna (and I) wish their best.

Playing four card majors these days, I raise because of Fred's reasoning, almost verbatim.

I play 2H here as shape, but with the additional element that the g/f is minimumish in nature since opener's rebid shows a good hand.

Picture this: AC/DC's "Who Made Who" into "Who Trumped You".

I thought about this on the Metro today....picture Timberlake's "SexyBack" turned into "Return My Lead Back". It has "potential".

I'm a 1S bidder. This has "bad" all over it.

So Ben made Grand Life Commentator? Nice. Well done neighbor!

Greetings friends, My pard and I are looking to play either the 0-5000 or the Open Spingold in Nashville. We play a 4 card major canape club system. We're looking for a pair (preferably 2 pairs if doing the Open) that is a long-term p'ship that is established, diligent in approach, and available during the NABC. We're asking months in advance, so we can begin working on team dynamics, practice team matches together on BBO, and if possible, play once as a team before Nashville. If interested, private message me here or reference my blog. Thanks. :D

I confess I have a serious problem with the query of 2D. It screams of UI here. It's clear that the auction was forcing and therefore I am concerned. If E/W were true experts they would realize the scope of the auction and not have drawn themselves into this unfortunate situation.

I bid 5D, en route to 5H. If we defend 5S doubled, then pard will defend it much better knowing your hand is 2 suited in nature. I echo the sentiments about taking insurance. This weekend there was a hand where taking insurance was quite cheap in the teams: I at white on red bid 6♦ down 1 versus their cold 5♥ game vulnerable. Unfortunately, teammates let them play 5 diamonds doubled making! lolol

I think void is far more important. The queen is an hidden asset, but it's critical to just get to the right slam.

Moonraker....nice. The lead actress in that I always thought was quite attractive in a classy way.

Here's my thought on this: As most of you know, I play a forcing club 90% of the time. Due to this the ACBL GCC has clear language on what is considered "strong" (15+ hcp). So, there have been times where I've opened a strong club on this hand type: xx AKT9xxx AK9x x Surely this is a good playing hand. Yet I've been called to committe twice because the point counters are thinking it's not a "strong hand". For the record I won both appeals with deposits retained. Thusly, some definition of a strong 2C opening is sorely needed. I don't have a problem when it's an acol 2 bid that has excellent playing strength (like the example I gave). It's the 15 count 2 suiters with a void and lack of controls that I have a problem with. I do want the concept of judgment to be retained, but not at the cost of potentially damaging the opps' methods.

Ooooh, can we do truth tables? I can see it now...."today class, we shall learn the contrapositive"...... B)

Ron, Your pard really tried to hang you in a couple of hands didn't they? 1. Negative double on soft values. 2. the B-wood on a void with hand evaluation espousing. 3. the comment that BBO's bridge is inferior to her site. classic.