luis

Yes, but I am asking what your preferred agreement would be if you played NFB. 2♦ would show inv+ with club fit for me; do you want to make this a generic force? Yes, if 2s is non forcing then the cuebid doesn't show club support.

You say you play 2s as non-forcing and you ask ME what 3s is? Boy I really hope YOU know what 3s means otherwise you are in big trouble. You must have some agreement about a direct 3s or a 2d cuebid followed by 3s. Of course the hand is too strong for 2s, I need to know the difference between 3s and 2d followed by 3s to pick the right continuation.

I declare myselft fixed and bid 4s. I'm happy to go plus after this started with a Vuln Preempt. Ok I might be missing six but....

To make things interesting any of you is considering how likely it is for them to defend to 5h or 6h if you bid 5d or 6d ? Any of the 5d bidders is "walking the dog" intending to bid 6d if they defend to 5h? It's interesting from a strategy point of view.

1s in first seat, no doubts. In third seat both 1s, 2s, 3s and 4s are nice options.

#1 Disagree with the dbl, pinpoints where the missing values are for declarer if the hand is theirs, if LHo bids 2h and that is passed you can always reopen with a balancing double to fight the partscore. I lead a low club hoping not to blow a trick. #2 Bid dbl, powerful hand. #3 Low diamond, second high low unless there's a very good reason to play high. There's no such a reason in this hand so you play low hoping declarer goes up with the ace so you can score two diamond tricks.

Automatic pass and hope he can make 2s. If we miss a game then the 2s opening is wrong, green vrs red 2s is usually very very agressive, pass and 1s are recomended when a 2s opening may make your side miss a game. Even when you can make a game I'm happy to go +170 instead of +420, no big deal.

Dbl of course. Penalty oriented, -180 is cheap and I think I can get some nice number in this hand. This dbl shows short spades since I can bid 2s with 3 or 4 spades offering pd a choice between 2s and 3c.

I like to play doubles after a redoble as penalties when they are Vul and takeout when they are not vuln. Recently I've been experimenting with 2/3 doubles as Ben suggested but I haven't reached a conclusion about them in my partnership. Luis

#1 All Vulnerable. Your hand is: Qxxx Qxx AKxxx x Your pd opens 1d meaning 11-15 precision style, 11-13 if balanced, you play 14-16 when vulnerable. If you had to choose would you say that you have a game invitational hand or a game forcing hand? Please imagine that you have only those options and pick one, why? #2 Vulnerable vs not Your hand is: Kxx Jxx Qxxx QJx RHO opens a weak 2h, you pass and LHO jumps to 4H, pd bids 4NT for minors. Do you bid 5d or 6d? Or something else?? Why?

West is 100% guilty I think this is not even arguable. First of all he can say 2s over 1NT, hard to do it but if you think you can lose the spade suit you should bid them. Then bidding only 2s after pd showed both majors (and some diamonds) is not acceptable. And then the horrible double of 3c.

ROFL What can you do? One of the wonders of online bridge is ability to share the space with all sorts of players and directors. You got a novice opponent and a careless director.

This is the problem of online bridge, you can't punch this guy playing through the internet. At f2f bridge you can just simply ask him to discuss the aspects of the bidding in the street....

Well If we are going to defeat this we need some values in pd's hand. I won't lead dummy suit nor a trump on this bidding. I think the lead has to be a minor so I lead a low diamond, if the lead is bad the 5 card diamond suit may suggest a possible discard won't be useful for declarer. Low diamond, I'm 100% sure it's not the right lead but I lead what I'd have lead at the table...

Horrible ruling. Keep opening 1NT when you think your hand is worth a 1NT opening, don't let this sort of aberrations change the way you excercise your right to evaluate bridge hands as you like. TD: Shape? You changed the result because of Shape? With my best respect you shouldn't change any result without consulting with a good TD or a good player.

Is this a real question? South is a criminal.

Pass by rule I don't overcall with xxx in their suit.

5♥ Two suiter.

I'm not sure if this is right I play low to the 9 If RHO plays the T I play the J if that is covered I run the 8 next If RHO plays the Q or K I play the Ace next (restricted choice) If RHO plays low I put the 9 from dummy If the 9 loses to the T I play low to the J next If the 9 loses to the K or Q I play the J from dummy trying to pin the Ten Maybe I'm not 100% right about the restricted choice porition....

This is my auction: 1c (16+) 1d(0-7 or 12+) 1h (Natural or 19+) 1s (0-4 or 5-7 Unbalanced) 2d (Game forcing hand) 3c (Natural Unbalanced 5-7) 3d (relay) 4c (No side suit) 4N (RKCB in clubs) 5c (One) 5d (Queen?) 7c (Yes and Solid clubs, no side king or queen)

First Instinct: Play the Ace and if we only get low cards low to the Q but if the ace picks a T or J finesse the 6 next (Restricted choice) Without looking I think a very solid alternative is to play low to the queen first if RHO plays a J or T finesse next (restricted choice) The intrafinesse is very tempting as well :-) Ride the 6 and then play the Queen to pin the J or T doubleton in RHO's hand. If Chagas approaches the table and looks interested I'd play the intra-finesse :-) KJT Missing => Luis playing an intrafinesse for down 1 with everybody plus.... This one was good Fred :-) Luis

Double, the only thing you should avoid is calling the director. If you call the director they will play as if you were weak and take profit from your fear. Fear leads to the dark side....

Hi Luis ! Ty and happy new year !! One question: the use of minimax pass (0-4/12+) works fine with 1 level overcalls. But I have a problem when opps overcall at 2 level: we use variable 1NT opening range, so when our NT is 10-12 (and not 14-16), our minimum 1C balanced opener il 16-18/19. Now assume I have a balanced 16 and I open 1C. QJ8x- Ax- KQx- ATxx Bidding goes: 1C-(2S)-pass-pass ? Now, I cannot pass because my pard could have the 12+ hand: so I have to bid. But my hand is too offshape to double (pard will bid Hearts), and do I really want to bid 2NT opposite a 0-4 hand ? Think it in this way: Had LHO opened 2s in 1st position what would you have done in 4th? And bid the same. It's strange but adds a lot of flexibility.

KQT9887 xx I have this "cached" in my memory... Low to the K, if that holds low to the Q. But if the K/Q is taken with the Ace play the queen next. Restricted choice applies, RHO can't duck the K/Q with AJ doubleton :-) It's different if you have KQT98 xxx For four tricks you play low to the K and then low to the Ten. Luis

My recomendation when your strong club is overcalled: Use pass as 0-4 or 12+ Use Double as 8/11 GF Use the other bids as 5/7 in transfer. This maximizes the usage of every bid and allows competition when you have 5 to 7 HCP. Luis