luis

4NT on the first hand, no defensive tricks. Pass on the second one, I don't know why I would want to bid something here. Close to Dbl. Luis

I would bid 6♣ now, looks healthy.

2NT and follow 3♣ with 4♣ showing a bad hand with long clubs in support.

I would try 2♥ and see what happens. In -THEORY- dbl and then hearts might be correct but in practice I think that bidding 2♥ with such a good suit can't be very bad. So I would experiment bidding 2♥. Luis

2♣ and 2♣ I have rule about overcalling 2♣ over 1♦ whenever that is either resonable or not completely insane including the mildly insane overcalls (not this one). The reason is that removing both 1♥, 1♠ and 1NT responses usually makes some damage to the opponents bidding. Luis

I'm liking Slavinsky (mind the spelling) leads. The only problem is that my pd thinks they are a satanic invention to make his head spin :-) 2nd and 4th with std honor leads until I can de-satanize Slavinsky :-) Luis

I am more stupid than you! I play a club to the ten after winning the heart lead. Or maybe run the club J. Oh well it's complex! :-) I don't want to be trapped in dummy that's all I know :-)

I generally agree with Free's comments. While it is not common there has to be a way to show a good hand that "thinks" it can be your hand and not theirs. I'm using this which is simple requires no memory and has worked well for me: Dbl : I think this can be our hand (includes good two suiters, good 1 suiters, strong hands etc) 1d/1h : Lead directing 1s: VUL = lead directing, NV = Random (either a spade lead or no preference 13 cards) 1N: Strange hand (includes 6-5 hands, 7-4 etcs) 2x: Suction style 3x: 6+ cards preempt (NV might be 5 cards) Very very similar to what Free commented. Luis

If you get in trouble with Justin about your percentages let me know and I will defend you :-) Luis

Was this IMPs or MPs ? And what vulnerability? I think that may matter because West's bid can make a lot of sense at MPs where you bid 4♥ as a defense against 3♠. Depending on the vulnerability and scoring I might opt for an average of several scores depending on how likely West's will bid 4♥. Something like 30% of 4♥ and 70% of 3♠ for example. Luis

1♣ 1♣ 3♣

If support doubles are optional the only option to X is Pass when you have 3 cards in pd's suit. So the 2♣ bid denies 3 hearts. Pd has something like this: Jx, Kx, Axx, KQxxxx He is offering a choice to play 4♥ in case you have 5 cards in the suit, a good idea once he denied 3 cards. Luis

I would like to interview those who pass 3♠ because I need to know how did you get to a such elaborated parnership agreement as being able to pass 3♠ with 2 cards after a responsive double vulnerable and still get a good result. I confess I would be puzzled by 3♠, I'm sure pd would be puzzled too, and I'm sure neither of us would pass in case we have some vulnerable game, how bad can it be to bid 3NT and play 3NT, 4♥ or 4♠ compared to 3♠, after all you have shown 5 hearts, 4 diamonds and not 3 spades. Luis

I can understand this over 1♣ - X - 3♣ - X But when the suit is diamonds I really think a penalty double is useless compared to the hands where you have values and no clear direction to go. Maybe over 1♣ - X - 3♣ it makes sense to use X for penalties and 3♦ as a responsive double, pd will reopen with a 2nd double when he has 3+ diamonds in case you have a diamond suit and couldn't bid it :-) Ah devilish idea, I'm sure my pd will love it and we'll forget it if we agree to play it :-) Luis

I play support doubles are optional, You make one when you WANT to tell pd you have 3 card support, not whenever you have 3 cards in his suit. Basically this means your hand is more offensive than defensive so you would like to play, that means that if you reach a 4-3 fit you have offensive values to make that not a stupid contract. Luis

Here's the thread... (Ain't Google a grand thing) Only reason that I remembered this is that it involved Bo-Yin Yang who used to be a fixture at the MIT bridge club http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.b...c4b0890cd98e3d7 Very interesting. I think that the problem was that if you change your style based on your opponents methods then you have to announce it. But then if you announce you change your style they can change their methods and that never ends? Is there a solution? A: We preempt wild B: Then we play penalty doubles A: Oh then we preempt solid B: Then double is takeout Repeat

Don't confuse experts with people that play and do well at the local club :-) I think you misunderstand how the BWS polls work. In fact, I just checked, only 13% of the expert panel (this is by invitation I suppose) voted for puppet stayman, and 25% of the "ordinary" Bridge World readers. Edit: Josh, I am sure Luis wasn't intending any offense. Luis won't mind either if you call his opinion nuts. In fact, let me try: Luis, your opinion on puppet stayman is completely nuts! ;) Arend Yeah, seems I had a wrong view about it. Sometimes when you write something it is read very differently than what you wanted to say in words, so I understand Jdonn could be offended and I apologize.

I have no problem at all with Jdonn and have expressed I'm sorry if he was offended I was wrong and I didn't meant to offend him as most regular posters should know. I have no problems admiting I was wrong and apologizing, we are discussing bridge here so no reason to fight I think.

Don't confuse experts with people that play and do well at the local club :-) Are we talking about "people that do well at the local club", or "good pairs in international competition", of which either "90%" use puppet stayman, or 100% ("I know exactly 0 good pairs that play regular stayman over 2NT") or 99% ("among the good pairs I would say 1% play regular stayman over 2NT")? Are experts not "good pairs"? Or are you saying the opinions of experts are somehow LESS relevent than the opinions of good club players? It wouldn't kill you to just admit you were wrong about something, rather than frantically making up statistics at every corner and contradicting yourself. Thanks for the statistics Arend. It's nice to see a poster make claims he can actually back up instead of fabricating them. You need to chill out, I have the idea that most good pairs play Puppet or Romex over 2NT. Of course that I can be wrong. You can say "you idiot" don't know what you are talking about and I will reflect and probably admit I was wrong, I don't have any problem being wrong because I have been wrong a lot of times before. Seems like in the US regular Stayman is quite popular even among very good pairs, maybe I never had the pleasure to see them play and maybe the 2NT opening is not very common so I had a wrong picture in my mind. If that is the case I have no problem saying sorry I was wrong and I hope you accept my sincere apologies if you were offended. I just have the idea that we can say thinks in quite a crude way in this forum without people taking offense. Sorry! hope we can still be friends. I wonder what is the trend in Europe, for some reason here in Argentina 100% of the good pairs play either puppet or romex I think this is because Smolen is not so commonly used even over 1NT, just about 40% of the pairs play smolen over 1NT. Maybe that explains it. Luis

Don't confuse experts with people that play and do well at the local club :-)

Maybe this depends on what you consider expert players, I know exactly 0 good pairs that play regular stayman over 2NT. You might name a few but 90% of the good pairs in international competition play Pupper, Romex or something. Why it should be alertable? Because it is a partnership agreement!!! Everybody plays weak 2s and they are still alertable aren't they? How can I NOT like you if I don't know you? Do you have a photo somewhere? I never meant to insult you I just found most of your arguments in this thread horrible and I'm entitled to have an opinion, unless you prove it different you are still my friend because you post here as me, if you want an enemy I'm not the indicated person since I'm quite friendly. You are allowed to think my arguments are stupid and I'm allowed to think your ideas are horrible and we can still be friends or not? I don't pretend my friends to think like me, that would be boring! Going back to your arguments you are comparing pears and apples :-) Luis

Will you be quizzing the good pairs or the "husband & wife on a bridge trip" ? Among the good pairs I would say 1% play regular Stayman over 2NT. Some might play Romex or variations instead of Puppet but the idea is the same. Very nice but completely unrelated to the choice of playing puppet or not. What? Smolen over 2NT? Who uses Smolen over 2NT? Maybe just you. More artificials bid to double? For example? More information to the opponents? When you have half the deck you want to play a game you can win not blast to something, the 2NT opening is already enough information a clarification can only help your side. I found most of your comments really terrible. Luis

3♦ then 3NT

I assume you are talking about puppet over 1NT because puppet over 2NT is almost standard and the advantages over regular Stayman when you open 2NT are really important. There are 3 schools about opening 1NT with a 5 card major 1) Never 2) Only with a bad suit 3) Ever In 1 you don't need PS, in 2 you can also live without it since treating a bad 5 card suit as 4 cards is usually a good compromise. In #3 however you probably want to find out if pd has a 5 card major, I personally hate PS over 1NT so I use Keri which is a lot better. Luis

Spade 7. Declarer is prepared for a diamond lead and I want to make a passive lead, the spade lead will work whenever pd has something in spades and sometimes when he doesn't. Luis