thepossum

Thx I understand that. But I essentially have a worthless hand almost a Yarborough, 11 losers, 1 point (K-R 0.7!) opposite maybe only a light takeout double. We were vulnerable. But still, I was not expecting partner to leave it as a redoubled contract so will always bid with this partner in future Suppose I bid with that hand and partner raises to 3 thinking I have something which is then doubled vulnerable 3 down doubled vulnerable (800), 4H non vulnerable game (420) or a redoubled contract (not knowing how bad it is going to be) But clearly you never leave in a contract like that in that situation

Thanks everyone I don't think I will pass in that situation again. I really thought there was very little chance of it being left in for penalties, and even if it was didnt think it could go that wrong. I actually thought they would bid again and maybe go to game, but clearly they knew they could do better than that Note, it wasnt actually my worst IMP score but it felt like it. I've been on a redoubled drubbing like that before at the 1 level

Looks as if everyone except me made the right call :) Sadly I passed and it was left in for penalties and makes 12 tricks redoubled :( I really hoped that was such a thing as an SOS re-re-double to get partner to bid their best suit

Recently had this hand I made the wrong bid but possibly my worst ever IMP score I really didnt know what to bid but I;m sure almost anything was better than what I bid [hv=pc=n&s=sj62h8765dt962c52&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=1cp1hd(2%20suit%20Takeout)r(Support%20redouble)]133|200[/hv]

Its not really a plan Etha. I was asking a serious question about NT bids with 5 card majors

Dear all I dont expect any support and do not necessarily invite any responses to this. However it really does annoy/upset me when very good players in a matchpoints tourney will pass with a strong NT hand in order to get a top defeating EW. Similarly those ho trick the defence into thinking they are weak so they get a doubled game when they have a clear ga,e. All these forms of gamesmanship/professional gaming of the system/etc ect rather undermines the game and brings those players and the game into disrepute. I often read about people openly condoning gaming the rules, gaming the guidelines in every way they can. Those players will never be deserving of any respect. There are legitimate ways of gaming/misleading/deceiving/clever play that do not cross the line into cheating. Blatant lying about strength of shape or hand is not clever or worthy of any respect Rant over P

Hi all There seems to be an issue I have started to notice (although maybe it has always happens) of GiB overvaluing its hand and making jump bids totally unnecessarily, especially to the game (or slam) level instead of the 3 level. I have several example hands but it has occurred over a Drury, over a takeout, over a quantitative; basically it is jumping when it has a minimum in its range rather than a maximum. Times when it should pass or just make a single raise regards P

Hi everyone I'm just wondering if GiB yet has the capability to add up its high card points It would be a useful addition to the software regards P

In addition to the excellent resources of already generated hands as on Pavilicek's site above, you can use one of the scripting tools available to generate unlimited hands of your own specification. They do require a reasonable amount (not huge) of scripting sometimes but allow you a lot of flexibiity in specification of the four hands, points, suit lengths, honours, controls etc. It may take too long to get the hang of it before a weekend tourney though. Its probably less than 5-10 lines of script. Can't think off the top of my head, but learning the functions takes a little while I use bdeal (by Piotr Beling) for simulation but I believe there are many including GiB/BridgeBase has a hand generator

Whatever it is Cyberyeti, maybe we can all agree it has been 3 years of failed leadership and demo cratic process by Westminster to look after the well being and interests of all the people in different parts of the UK May has been the one in the hot seat and is still the best bet of getting parliament to stand up, show some leadership and act in the interests of the people. Nobody else has helped. Corbyn just plays party politics. The extremist Brexiteers just care about themselves. It's been three years and still Westminster can't get its act together

Browser update fixed it. Would still be great if we can find a way to play Acol one day :)

It's a bit hard for anyone to blame May for anything. She is trying to do the impossible. Blame the incompetence of Cameron who failed to put in place a sensible referendum process, self interested and xenophobic lies by the brexiteers such as Johnson Rees-Mogg and Farage , apathy by Corbyn and Labour, apathy by young voters who did not believe that older voters would sell them out, lack of concern for the well being of Ireland and Scotland. It was a total failure of leadership and democracy, an outcome the majority did not want. May is trying to do the impossible. Having said that, while I hope Brexit does not happen, the EU has become a bloated expensive bureaucracy of fat cat bureaucrats imposing their will on sovereign member states and economies. It needs serious reform. It causes massive damage on member states economies and cultures despite the good things that come out of greater economic and political cooperation.

thx all It definitely takes a fair bit of feel and judgement to know when to go for NT versus a suit game/part score. esepcially considering MP/IMP/Vulnerability and many other things has anyone ever studied how effective it is as an opening strategy. As always almost everything seems to be based on anecdote and historic/expert views :)

Thanks Helene

I understand those things Cyberyeti. It does rather surprise me that anyone would use DD results to criticise a partner over anything. It sadly does seem to be over-pervasive within bridge these days. More reflective of the state of the world than just brdge where everyone things an answer from a computer automatically has greater validity than a human :) Being over-critical does seem to be a personality trait common in Bridge. I'm sure many of us share it and its not much fun being on the receiving end P

Hi all I've gradually (based on reading and more learning, and based on an apocryphal bit of philosophy from Zia) increased the frequency of opening 1 NT hands with semi balanced (15-17) hands including sometimes with 5-card majors, and sometimes with an upgraded 14 or downgraded 18, similarly with 2NT (upgrade or downgrade by a point occasionally). I must admit I dont really have any feel for which hands with a 5 card major (or minor) are best opened 1NT or 1m or 1M and tend to use a bit of feel on the shape and stops. However I've also learned not to care too much about having stops in all 4 suits which used to lead me to prefer suit openings. Note this discussion is for 5-card major systems. I think about things differently playing Acol with weak NT. So what are the considerations. I know the usually valid shapes for 1 NT are 4333 5422(???? two doubletons dodgy and should never be bid?) 5332 4432, in any order. I hardly ever open with singletons although have occasionally started doing it with an Ace singleton (and maybe a King but doubtful) But is it usually regarded as acceptable and safe practice to open any of those shapes irrespective of distribution of HCPs or are there pointers towards when you should open a suit. What are the pros and cons. I know 1NT is good for hiding lead options from defence, gives a point count, is preemptive, no trumps may score better at MPs, a no trump game may often be easier (1/2 fewer tricks) but are there any downsides such as the risk of missing a good 5-3 or 5-4 fit. I know they usually will make many tricks in NT too but there is the risk of a bad 2-2 fit in one of the suits. How do the percentages work out. Does it matter between IMPs and MPs regards P Note Just now I opened one (5332, 5cm) with a worthless heart doubleton and unfortunately partner had a doubleton and no stop, and had an unlucky lead, down 3, they cashed 7 defensive tricks. Didnt score too badly in the IMPs game I was in since the alternative was opps getting a minor part score but ...... its still a big swing in a team game.However having just kibitzed a team game they dont always seem to care about wild swings sometimes :)

Here are the North south hands [hv=pc=n&s=sakj752hadkq94c65&n=stht9dt2cakqjt942]133|200[/hv] I ran it through Qplus with 2/1 GF and it nicely overcalled 4C, South bid 4NT Blackwood ending in the very good 6C slam Note 6NT does also make but I wouldnt expect it to be bid very easily Where my auction went wrong is that I tried to force the auction to slam, bid 5 diamonds and GB for some mysetrious reason thought that was a good contract. I wasnt alone in that. Some people just bid 6C immediately and some people seemed to know that a 5H cue bid would have the desired effect of getting to a 6C slam. Maybe 5D isnt the best bid but how on earth could it be interpreted as the preferred game suit after I had overcalled 4H with 4S and North had clubs like that Anyway rant over. People will attack me and my bid rather than the pass by North of course

Of course they did and we all know their level of play and everyone keeps playing them. There are better bots out there but this is the only one whose company has a deal with the ACBL to dish out very questionnable masterpoints Where does all the revenue from these tournaments go. It certainly doesn't seem to go into improving the quality of the bot play or listening to users. In fact I will go further and say that obviously those who want to protect GiB and the dodgy ACBL masterpoint arrangement will do anything they can to attack and undermine on me on these forums. Note, that isnt directed at anyone on this thread

I will post the hand but north had 8 playing tricks, 5 losers, 10 hcps, 15 distribution points and a hand valued at 17+ by K-R Hardly a pass hand Either some players are good guessers or are more familiar with GiBs idiosyncrasies than me. I did consider bidding 6C but suspected other possible options. Passing in 5C would have been OK but 6C and 6NT were easy makes and 4S was a comfortable game Very disappointing There is too much guessing required even after 10 months familiarity. It seems to me that masterpoints are somewhat devalued by this kind of lottery. Also it bears no real relationship to peoples bridge ability looking at the traveller

Hi all Would be interested in any advice on how to bid this hand. It went horribly wrong, no doubt partly my fault but partly my partners. Cost me a 19 point swing in an IMP tourney I was doing really well in. If I can remove these bad ones I may do ok :) Any suggestions for the next bid or alternatives to earlier in the auction I was a bit unsure how strong the clubs were to get that 5C bid, not sure which bid to choose given that there seemed to be a few possible games and slams on offer. I nearly bid 6C but wanted to explore more. Highly distributional hand I assumed but I didnt know how to bid and had a disaster. I suspect it was only a disaster because partner was not human but I'm not blaming North :) regards P [hv=pc=n&s=sakj752hadkq95c65&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=3h(7%2B%20H%206-9%20pt)p4h(1%2B%20H)4s(6%2B%20S%2016-19%20pt)p5c(strong%20rebiddable%20C%2013-14)p]133|200[/hv]

ok thanks it would be a good addition to the functionality regards P

WHich menu?

Hi all I have noticed that many people use an undo function in friendly (non tournament) sessions. There is also the option on the phone app. However I cannot find how to do it using the web software. Is there an undo button somewhere that I cant see P

Hi there I recently discovered and started using the vugraph archive deals which is a great feature of the site. However I can't find if there is a way to resume if you stop part way through a vugraph session. The deals restart at deal 1 Is there a way to get around this? P

Dear all Many thanks for all the replies. I won't take cyberyetis comment about loss of objectivity and not admitting being wrong, personally :) I won't make any comments about possible psychological reasons for those traits - eg sensitivity, defensiveness and other psychological defence mechanisms. I think it would be fascinating study area from different psychological perspectives, especially psychodynamics and cognitive-neuropsychology (in fact all persectives, evolutionary, behaviourist and humanist too :)). Allthough to follow up what cyberyeti said I think the reason people take things personally is that, from my observation, there is a tendency for bridge players to use ad hominem excessively, so they have reason to take things personally. :) I will read a bit more I could quite easily conjecture about personality traits and types from experience, but will not do so here. There is a bit too much speculation/assertion by some professional people on other bridge forums. I will try not to make that mistake here. All I could do is conjecture and I think it would attract a wide range of people but definitely with some strong clusters of some traits. I certainly get the feeling that pure deduction and inference would not be enough to make you good at the game. I suspect that it also requires a fair bit of feel or intuition to be a top player as well as psychological skills. And obviously many are attracted more for social reasons than necessarily competing and doing well. I think many just enjoy playing without necessarily wanting to be the top. It is an excellent participation game/sport from that perspective, as is clear from the grass roots It would be interesting for me to study but I'm unafiliated at the moment (eg ethics approval) and am far more intersted in playing and chatting about things than studying it at that level :) regards P