luis

[hv=d=s&v=b&s=sjtxxhkqxdcaktxxx]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] You open 1♣ and pd bids 1♠, you bid 2♠. Over 2♠ pd jumps to 4♥,what now? Question 1: Do you agree with 2♠ yes / somehow /no ? What would you have bid instead (2/1 not strange gadgets) Question 2: Assuming you bid 2♠ or somebody did for you, what now? Luis

On a side note when you express your opinion about my posts please don't use the word 'we' as if you were speaking in the name of all the forum posters. What you think is what you think and what the majority of people think may be different. Thanks, Luis

Dear Jdonn, With respect and honor I answer the question you kindly posted. It is my humble opinion that 1-4-3-5 is not the usual shape that pd expects when somebody opens 1♥ and that makes me think pd might get quite confused in the bidding and eventually take bad decision. It is also my humble understanding than there is no way to describe a canape hand playing 2/1 or SAYC, so letting pd know you have more clubs than hearts might be quite a difficult task. Given that pd is not a passed hand I guess we can have some problems in the bidding, innocent pds will take 1♥ followed by 2♣ as 5+ hearts and 4+ clubs. Sincerely, Luis

I guess you have to alert your 1NT openings then if 1♣ - 1M ; 2♣ is either 6 cards or 5 with a good suit then you need to open 1NT with this type of hands and it becomes an agreement. Luis

I believe 4♦ agrees hearts and 4♣ would be forcing it doesn't make sense that opener wants to play 4♣ :-) Luis

I had a simple plan titled "If pd shows signs of life I bid 7♣" So If I bid 3♦ and pd bids 3NT or jumps in a major or bids anything but 3♥ or 3♠ I can jumpt to 7♣ and if he bids 3♥ or 3♠ I can use RKCB in the major (to find the K or KQ how clever) and then bid 6 or 7 accordingly. Maybe it was a crazy plan but I couldn't figure out anything better at the table. Luis

I auto qualified my 3♣ bid as "sick and horrible" at the table and apologized to my pd for destroying the auction. Why do I want to show clubs when I have Kxxx of diamonds and the only thing I need in the world to play 7 is AQ of diamonds? 5NT is clearly better and if not I must always show support with 4♣. I never considered pd could be 6-5 in diamonds and spades and I could be endplayed in the bidding as I was but it certainly was my fault and I think 3♣ is a horrible bid, sick and deserves a bad result :-) About the double I guess you can't double when you can win 7 if pd leaves the double. Again I never considered that an option and it was precisely what happened! 940 instead of 1440 and 1400 instead of 2220 is not my idea of "being unlucky" I hate 3♣ a lot more than the double but I think both are wrong. Luis

Because I think "what the hell is this?" is a more clear description of my thoughts about the problem. I think the bid is indeed demenatial/crazy/insane whatever you want to call it but that doesn't imply anything about the person, I make a lot of sick/demential bids and I auto-qualify them in that way. That is your idea but I've never intended to be offensive towards you or anybody else in the forums it seems like you take things in a personal way. I've been called names and called other names and has always been funny, typical coffee bridge chit-chatting. I guess we just have to find a problem where we agree about something so we can praise each other and be friends again? :-) Lol, chill down I have 0 problems with you and I might have many problems with your bids or plays as you may have with mine, feel free to speak freely about what I think and I won't be offended and I hope to get the same understanding from you, we are all grown up bridge players. For some reason whenever I start strong discussions with some player we end up being good friends maybe because I'm always looking for those that think different than me because they are the ones that can help me learn and improve. If anything I said was offensive to you accept my apologies -once again-

I have the feeling that both 4♠ and 5♥ are more or less the same thing, the only good thing about 4♠ is that pd can bid 4NT and find if two keycards are missing. They both semi-commit your hand to a slam so the decision is practically the same. Luis

[hv=d=n&v=n&s=shaxdkxxxcakxxxxx]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Pd opens 1♦ and RHO bids 2♥ (weak) I bid a natural and forcing 3♣, big mistake! 4♥ on my left and now pd god bless him bid 4♠ Endplayed in the bidding completely, there is no way now to find about AQ of diamonds to play 7, 4NT sets spades, 5NT sets spades, I had 4 card support for pd's suit and a 7th card suit and suddenly the trump suit was my void. I violated my own rule "Support with support" I should have bid either a fit-showing 4♣ bid (forcing) or 5NT directly. 3♣ was a stupid mistake. Second disaster: [hv=d=n&v=n&s=shaxdkxxxcakxxxxx]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] I got this monster and RHO opened a weak 2 in diamonds. I decided that there was no better way to start than doubling, again big mistake, pd passed with QTxxx of diamonds the spade King and a singleton in HEARTS!. You collect 1100 or 1400 but throw 7♣ to the trashcan. Maybe I should have bid 3♦ here as a way to start. So why I'm posting this? Maybe it just help you if you get something similar :-) Pd was around the club yelling "you owe me 2 grands Luis, not one, two!" Lucky for me he went down in a cold slam in the second match so he was quiet the rest of the evening. :-) Luis

Pd has a hand where we can make 3NT so I'm bidding 3NT. I will answer what pd should have exactly after taking a look at dummy :-) Lucky when you don't know what pd has but you do know what to bid :-) Luis

Hey Mike, What would you do over 2♠ by pd after 2♣. Do you think 2♠ is constructive since pd could have passed 2♣ ? Then are you jumping to 3NT or do you think 2NT shows this kind of hand?

Seriously, we are glad to hear what you have to say, and see your choice, but you DO NOT have to crap over any choice that isn't your own. Statements like the following are horrifically rude: "What the hell is this" "[my choice is] 100% universal" (you know it's not, someone already voted for something else! do we need a lesson on what 100% means?) "[a potential choice of another person is] demential" How do you think someone who might want to vote for a choice that is different from yours would feel after reading your comments? Try to keep things less negative, please. One last thing. You have made it clear in the past you have no idea what is played in any country besides the one you live in. In North America, it is greatly frowned upon to rebid a minor with only five, especially five bad ones, which is partly why this is an interesting problem. Many great players NEVER or almost never rebid a minor with fewer than six. So be careful before throwing around such strong words. You seem to have a problem distinguishing bridge from real life. I have been saying what I think for years in this forums and never got anybody offended but you. So maybe it's you who has the problem. I respect all the opinions, If I say I find a bid "demential" this is what I think but I still respect the crazy dudes that choose it. One thing is what I think about a bid and one different thing is what I think about the person or the player. I will keep saying what I think about any bid and I hope I don't have to make a disclaimer again. Luis

What the hell is this? Why would you open a 4 card heart suit playing 5 card majors in first position when holding 5 clubs? I open 1♣ which I think it's 100% universal. 1NT is risky, 1♥ demential in my opinion and 1♦ is very funny. After 1♣ - 1♠ I just bid 2♣ I don't have enough for a reverse and 2♣ never promised more than 5 clubs so it's automatic too. Luis

Partner denies a club control bidding 4♦? Are you suggesting that 4♣ is a very strong heart raise too? Maybe it's not nasty it's too nasty a problem, maybe 4♣ is natural or maybe it is heart support and a club control and 4♦ denies a club control. Maybe 4♦ is ambiguous and shows a strong heart raise. And even if you are 100% sure what 4♦ is how can we know what to do ? Sometimes I just don't know and this is one of those times. I'm sure I have too much for 4♥ but I also think 4♠ will just trigger 4NT so I'm commiting my side to a slam here. I wonder if we change some cards what would we bid... Maybe we don't want to know Luis

I think I have a good vibe to captain some teams, our team has won our national teams championship 3 years in a row (03,04,05) of course we are destined to lose this year :-). While I don't have the answers to all your questions I will tell you what my experience is and I hope you find the information useful. Even when there are 3 pairs I like a lot the ability of a team to be re-configured in different ways, what you need is to have a formation whoever 2 players you remove from the team, this is very hard to achieve sometimes but I think it is great when possible. If you have a very good player ask him if he wants to play or not and with whom, and follow advice, you want your best player happy and if he feels he is playing badly let him remove himself from the team, if he sees the team can win without him he will enter refreshed the next match. Label each formation for example you should have an "agressive" formation with pairs that create points and use it in difficult matches or when you are behind, you may also have a "rock" formation to use when you are ahead or when your team is better, they won't create swings and you will prevail. A combo "crazy" - "rock" can be very effective depending on the other team. Pay attention to the positions (North, South, East, West) when you need swings put your best player in the same position as their worst player, when you don't want swings put your best player in the same position as their best player (if possible). Pying attention to who holds the cards of whom is important. Team spirit is everything, whatever happens transmit tranquility to your players, keep cool at all times and always listen to them about formations. If you are ahead by a many points mix the formation don't waste a pairs energy, they may have fight in an irrelevant board and you don't want that.

Yikes, nasty problem. 4♠ showing the club control. Pd denies a club control bidding 4♦ so if I bid 4♥ it is because I can't control clubs, therefore I can't bid 4♥ and so I bid 4♠. Luis

I just announced I'm not leaving the forums, I hope to reach 100 replies too, help me! Luis

I would open 1♥ Pass is horrible I will sympathize with the 1♦ openers because at least they are not passing. Hands with hearts are difficult to bid so whenever 1♥ is a logical alternative I bid 1♥. Luis

Nobody will discard a club from Qxx that would be too obvious. Luis

I have something very important to tell you. Nothing bad happened today, breakfast was good, job is fine, weather is fine without rain (pling!). Nobody deleted any of my posts, nobody compared my play with a monkey. Pd went down in a cold slam yesterday locking himself in dummy but I guess that is not a reason to leave the forums. Neighbour on the top floor left a tap open and destroyed my ceiling while flooding my living room, I've thought about leaving the forums for that but the neighbour is not a BBOF poster so it didn't make any sense. So with great joy I announce I'm not leaving the forums today. Luis

Pass and switch to a natural system if that is all I got after the relays. Luis

Nice approach but I don't play that because it has 2 problems that have hurted me in the past. The first problem is that when over 4♦ they bid 5♦ you have no idea if pd has club support and a slam invitational hand or was just asking you to choose a game. The meaning of pass, double and 5 of a major is now nebulous and you can't certainly bid 6♣ with a good hand a thing you can do when you are sure 4♦ shows club support. The second problem is that you lose 4NT as RKCB since you have to bid 5♣ over opener's major to show you had a good hand with clubs. Opener should be able to ask for keycards when he knows you have a good hand for clubs, it's very hard to determine if you can play 5, 6 or 7 when you have to start investigating from 5♣. Luis

I have a lot of admiration for your 3♥ bid, I certainly prefer 3♥ to 4♣

Note I'm not bidding 4♣ here but if I had I would take 4♦ as a cuebid for clubs. It's the only bid to show a good hand for clubs, you only have 4♦ and 5♣ for good/bad hands with club support. That is one of the reasons why when you don't have club support you have to choose between 4♥ and 4♠, with 6 spades and 1 heart I think I would try 4♠ and that is why I'm not bidding 4♣ :-) Of course anything might work in the actual hand but I love this kind of problems because it is judgement what tells you what would work better in average which is what matters. Luis