bluenikki

Strain not to make a simple overcall with a void in opener's suit. Carl

Do you really think an ace underlead is playing to lose????

Stalling, despite multiple warnings. As dummy, repeatedly commenting on the bidding or play.

Story going around in 70s New Jersey: A 6:10 player had to find a queen. He leaned to his left: No queen. Just to be sure he leaned to the right: No queen. So he shrugged and went with the odds. Lady in 4th seat opens her purse, takes out the queen, and says, "I've played you before."

More problematic in face-to-face bridge is that some people always arrange the cards in their hand in a particular way. This made it possible to work out the opponents holding from where in the hand they selected their next card. That is cheating, of course.

Relay: a bid (usually of the cheapest suit) that says nothing about the players hand, but asks for further description from partner. Here is something I've wondered a long time. What if the "relay" bid says *something* about your hand but not much? Hypothetical sequence: 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♥ saying "normally no 6-card suit or 5-5. tell me more" The "normally" is to give you an out with Qxxxxx or the like. Does that have some other name?

What you describe is not a controlled psych. A controlled psych is one where there is an agreed rebid (other than passing a forcing reply) that confirms the psych. In your case, the opener doesn't care whether his partner knows he's psyched: He intends to outbid him at every level.

So they have 23. You have 9.... By the way, the real danger of an adverse game is when responder suppressed a fair 6-card suit to raise the major. Doubling the 2♠ response directly with singleton is a completely different matter. If I have a singleton in the suit opened, I don't much look at anything else. But I don't wait for opener to limit himself.

Sorry to keep on with off-topic of (1♠) - P - (2♠) - P ; (P) - ? I take it for granted that with 11 hcp and fewer than 3 spades, you would already have strained to act over 1♠. Maybe weaker NV. So. given that you are weaker than that, to hope to get out with a small loss at the 3-level, you are presuming significant high cards opposite. And no no no partner is not marked with any such thing.

You are certainly bidding 2♣ whether you play GS or not.

But even Larry Cohen would agree it's better to be -170 than -420.

The term garbage stayman is an abomination. Regardless, even if you play 1NT - 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♠ as forcing or invitational, surely you and everyone else, when dealt xxx xxxx xxxxx x will reply 2♣.

Is it a suit contract or not? The considerations are different. For defending a suit with no important honors in partner's suit, the primary question is how many of partner's honors will cash. Therefore, any agreement that has you leading the same card from adjacent lengths is suicidal. Such as SAYC's leading second highest from both 4 and 5 small. Or leading highest from both xxx and xx. Or leading middle (second lowest) from xxx. The same applies with an honor, with two exceptions (and these apply to notrump as well). First, if you are on lead for the last time, it is probably right to agree to lead the honor, on the off chance it will hold. Second, if the auction marks dummy as much stronger than declarer, so that any missing honors are likely on your left, it is right to agree to lead highest.

When the goose-psycher has the moral equivalence of 5432, a 4-3 fit in the suit could well be your best strain: cross-ruffs with no over-ruff. Avoiding having to guess what minor to bid first is a trivial consideration.

In all *published* methods of advancing a takeout double, (1y) - Dbl - (1z) - Dbl shows 4 or more z. This is not just to account for outright psychs, but for goose-psychs on 5432, where it still might be your best strain.

QJxx QJ - 8765432 If you leben, how is opener to know you have this rather than QJxx QJ Jx 65432 The first is a *good* hand. 11 Goren points. Just unplayable in anything but clubs. Your point of view is that minor-suit hands must resign themselves to minuses when pluses are easy. Minor suit hands happen.

Here is a very good reason. 8765432 in clubs, no ace.

The term "negative free bids" is awful. It suggests weakness, rather than what I believe is the meaning: game possible if fit, even if opener is minimum. How about "constructive, non-forcing."

I call those psychics. In any event, it is wildly wasteful to structure your whole competitive structure to account for semi-psychics. Just reserve a single bid. Notice that contemporary intervention methods have no way for intervenor to show a really good hand. The scale of strong rebids stops at about 20 hcp. In other words, no attempt to account for psychic openings.

It would be nice for responder to have some reserved bid to show a hand that will produce game opposite a bare minimum misfit. (My vote is 2NT.) But you are unlikely to hold such a hand after a non-psychic overcall. But I suppose you have to be prepared for psychs.

Another question worth considering. If 2♦ is not forcing, when does opener pass? If the rule is "only with a bare minimum misfit," it will rarely matter whether you call it forcing or not. Just like 1♣ - 1♥; 1NT - 3♥, supposedly non-forcing, but opener passes only with bare minimum misfit, so it doesn't matter what you call it.

In 1992, I had a pick-up partnership with a lady who insisted that all 4♣ bids would be ace-asking, without exception. This was not as difficult as I thought it would be. You just have to plan your auction with care. Fortunately, I never was in a situation when I desperately needed to escape to 4♣ from 3NTx.

Only *immediately* after a notrump bid and then only if NT is the first natural bid. And then only if jump. It is for when you have a (very) long strong suit. Major or minor. With two balanced hands, any ace-asking is wrong.

xxxxx Axx Axx Qx will make 3NT a big proportion of the cases when partner voluntarily bids 3♣. Of course this hand will pass 2♣.

Weak 5-5 hands are hopeless facing a 1NT opening. This hand is promising facing club length and strength and strength in hearts. But you were pre-empted from learning in the auction whether that is the case. Just knowing that opener is max with strong heart support gets you nowhere.