luis

Thanks Ben :-)

Maybe pass should be semi-forcing in this particular position allowing pd to pass with a minimum opening, a reopening double must show extra values and then responder can decide if it is ok to leave the double or bid 5s or 6c if that's playable when pd has a good hand. Anyway I'm bidding 6c and I think that doesn't show spade tolerance.

How can pass be forcing after pd opens 1 spade and they bid 5d? You can have 0 or 18 HCP in this auction and pd is expected to do what with either his minimum 11HCP or superb 19HCP ? I can already imagine the line in the CC: "If we open the bidding we are in a forcing pass situation"

I like Bart a lot too but if you ever ask online any player, even those "I play any gadget" guys about BART the usual response is "Yes, I'm playing but I'm not Bart" This approach by Jeff Rubens was also tested by me in every single hand I was asked for advice after 1m-1M;2m and it does work. How does anti-bart work Ben? If anyone is interested in TSAR and Bart and ends up playing online with me just let me know and I'll play these gadgets. TSAR has two nice characteristics for a convention it is easy to play and it does happen a lot of times in a normal session.

I haven't visited the site because my browser just reads plain html without fancy javascript or applets, I think bridge hands can be perefectly presented using plain HTML unless you want to let the player "play" the hand or show animations as the cards are played.... Nevermind about the deal that Ben presents: How can this deal be under the "deals of the year" title? They doubled 4h you finesse the h9 and have 10 top tricks in 4h doubled... what's the point? I can't see any lesson on the deal besides "don't make stupid doubles" Maybe I'm missing something :-|

I guess you can bid 2 spades with that hand. If you rebid 2c then treat the hand as a 6-4 hand.

I expect to stablish spades for 12 tricks.... if pd has AKxxx or AQxxx with the K that should be onside on this bidding. So with about 7 HCP in spades I have about 5 average HCP to spare. Since I have all the clubs but the Ace and the hK it's very likely to find the cA or the hA in pd's hand. I'm optimist

As usual in this position any bid can be right, wrong, very right or very wrong. So the good bid is the better bid in average. I have a hand with 5 losers and a solid club suit so passing or doubling 5d are not options. I'm bidding 6c expecting to make that maybe with an overtrick. If pd has a good hand and can bid over 6c -unlikely but not unreasonable under the cirunstances- I'll bid 7c.

I completely agree with Misho, auctions after 1m-1M;2m are very common and not handled well by sayc or natural systems. I found that the use of an artificial forcing to game bid as misho suggest is easy to remember and behaves very well taking all the pressure away from the bidding. I've posted in this same forum a message about Jeff Ruben's idea and got 0 answers/comments :-) Maybe it is time to refresh that: You can find the use of a relay after 1m-1M;2m as proposed by Jeff Rubens in this post: http://forums.bridgebase.com/in...ay;threadid=581

I can volunteer to comment, after commenting many matches in the Juniors WC I find I'm confortable doing that so no problem at all.... In order to support the fifth chair foundation if you want to organize team matches partnering students with exp players I will vlunteer as well. Luis

NMF applies over a 1NT response unless you have a special agreement with pd.

Gee :-) You scared me Ben :-))

Why would 2s show a "monster" hand? It is just forcing to game or better and that's what I have. 2NT without any card in diamonds is clearly wrong to me and it wrong-sides the contract. 2h is non-forcing! and you have 12 with 4 controls! C'mon do you really want to play 2h? You ar denying about an Ace and a King with that bid. How can pd take a good decision if you bid 2h with Ax, QJxxx, xxx, xxx and ALSO with AKx, KQxxx, xxx, xx. I won't try to change your mind Ben but if you play with me when you have an opening bid and I open the bidding we are entitled to play some game. I think 2s is so automatic....

2 spades almost automatic.

Well I simulated the conditions and ducking the spade J seems to be the right play, it wins when declarer doesn't have 9 top tricks and pd has an entry usually the club ace or heart ace. Taking the sA is good only when you can cash 4 tricks outside spades and declarer has 9 tricks, and that's very unlikely. Too bad you just run into one of those damned boards. On the other hand after the 2s preempt it is correct to assume that north has the spade Ace so it may be assumed that south has the other ace when there're two aces left, so declarer's correct play is to cover the sJ, north must take the ace and the defensive communication is broken. Playing the sQ is also good on the current layout because it is more likely to make the defenders continue spades after playing the sQ from dummy. Mmmmmm.....

Excellent report Ben, thanks a lot!

If I cash the SA and SK then East can ruff the first club, cash the sQ and then exit with a diamond eventually I must lose the club J to my LHO for down 1, they only have to duck once in hearts and play a diamond when in with the hA. I played a low spade to the J because I thought that had spades been 4-1 my LHO was more likely to hold 4 since the other guy preempted, I guess that is ok with the odds. I considered playing sA sK bu then if LHO has QTxx I can lose 2 spades a heart and a club for down 1. Argh.....

In a peaceful practice session I went down in a game I think I should have made.... Your hand: AK862, K4, -, AKQT92 RHO You LHO Pd 2d x p 2h p 3d p 3n p 4c p 4h p 4s p p p Do you agree with the bidding? Now dummy comes J54 QJT4 KT63 63 -------- AK862 K4 - AKQT92 Lead: Diamond ace, expect bad breaks. What is the safest plan for 10 tricks? (Tip: Clubs are 5-0 offside, if you play a spade to the J the 9 appears on the left so RHO may have QT73)

Hi, I'm looking for a sensible not-weird writeup on the forcing NT continuations in a 2/1 framework. If someone knows online documentation that I can read I'd appreaciate pointers. I've been experimenting with a 1M-1N;2c artificial relay combined with BART after both 1h and 1s and I think the structure can be simple and good but I want to understand the ideas and methods other theorists recommend to cross some results and see if this can work. Of course personal thoughts, theories and ideas are welcome.

I like the topic :-) I'm very confused YET about the optimum structure over a 1M opening, I'm going to share my thoutghts in this post and please let me know your comments or opinions. Assume we play 2/1 My first big concern is the typical 5431 hand. Case a: You have 3 card support for the major - I think that with 3 card support the most accepted practice is to bid 2/1 with GF hands. Do you think a mini-splinter or fit-showing bid makes sense with an invitational hand with 3 trumps? Then if the idea is to invite what is best to evaluate opener's hand? A shortage showing bid (mini-splinter) or a suit-showing bid (fit-showing bid) Case b: You have 4 card support for the major. - First question, with a game forcing hand what do you do? a) Bid 2/1 ;) Use a Jacoby-alike 2NT response c) Bid a fit-showing or mini-splinter bid - Second question: If you use 2/1 with game-forcing hands what do you use with an invitational hand? a) A fit-showing bid B) A mini-splinter In my opinion mini-splinters are superior to fit-showing bids for invitational hands, knowing responder shortage is better than knowing his suit if you need to decide whether to play game or not. Do you agree? It's a very confusing area of bidding where Jacoby, 2/1, Fit-showing bids and Mini-splinters are mixed in a soup.... mmmmm.... I hope we can clarify this mess with this thread .....

I'll try with Vanilla 2/1, not many gadgets or conventions.... The only fancy stuff I play is that 1M-1N;2c is forcing. 1a. AQJxxx xx KJx Ax K xxxx Axxx xxxx 1s-1n 3s-4s 1b. Jxxxx A Kxxx AJx K xxxx Axxx xxxx 1s-1n 2d-3d p 2a. AJxxx A KQxx AJx x J10xx Ax Kxxxxx 1s-1n 2c-3c 3d-3h 3s-4d 4h-4s 4n-5h 6c-P 2b. AJxxx A KQxx AJx x J10xxx Axx Kxxx 1s-1n 2c-2h 3d-3n P 3a. AJxxx Kx AJxxx Q x xx xxx AKJxxxx 1s-1n 3d-3n P 3b. AJxxx Kx AJxxx Q K xx xxx KJxxxxx 1s-1n 3d-P 4a. Axxxx AK Jxxxx x xx xx xxx AKQJxx 1s-1n 2d-3c 3d- 3n P 4b. KQxxx Ax KQxxx x xx xx xxx AKQJxx 1s-1n 2d-3c 3d-3N P

Squeeze without the count.

2c, automatic any scoring or vulnerability.

NS are not playing precision, they are playing some form of rudimentary bridge that I don't what it is but it's not precision. 5c doesn't need an alert, West took his risk by bidding 5c, it can be either lead directing or a suggestion of a sacrifice for his pd. The director is worst than my local TD and that's really amazing first of all there's no infraction since 5c doesn't need any alert and second once NS decide to play 6s east has a natural cK lead for the same result so there was no damage. Once west bid 5c they have a good reason to play 6N instead of 6s but they tried the double shot of 6s or calling the TD and that's not nice..... Nasty,

Then I opened 1h with: Axx, 8765, xx, AKQx. Pd bid 2NT showing 8-11 with 4 or five hearts and no singleton. Vulnerable all. 1) What do you bid? If you bid game in hearts or invite you are down 1, pd will accept with his maximum Qxx, AKTx, QT9x, xx. The 3nt game is far better than 4h and you have very good chances to make this, if you bid 3nt congratulations! passing 2n or bidding 3h that is of course to play then that's ok too. Nobody vul: x, xx, ATxx, AKQxxx LHO Pd RHO You 2h p 4s ? 2h was a weak 2 and 4s "to play" 2) do you bid? what? We were fixed by RHO, he has AKQJTxx, xxx, x, xx and the 2h opening has x, AKQxxxx, xx, xxxx so they are down 1 in 4h on the 9 card fit (cA,dA,cK, low club and pd overruffs) but 4s can't be defeated. You are down 1 in five diamonds and pd would have bid 5d over 4n or double. I passed and got a bad result, not because we didn't find the 5d save but because everybody was down 1 in 4h! KJ9x, xx, AQx, AKxx LHO Pd RHO You 1c 1d p 1h p 2h 3d p ? 1c was strong (15+), pd pass showed 0-5, your second pass showed 15-18 and no heart stopper. 3d is natural, 4-5 HCP and a diamond suit. 3) Do you bid? What? I felt the need to do something with AQx of diamonds and zero points in hearts. Since I passed the 1h bid I can't have a 5 card spade suit right? So I bid 3s, that can get me to a 4s game in a 4-4 fit, to 3nt if pd has the magic QT9 of hearts or to 4s in a moysian fit. Pd did bid 4s with Txx, xx, AQxxxx, xx and they lead the sA and a spade (!!) so +650 was worth a bunch of imps. The contract can be defeated playing 3 rounds of hearts since RHO has Qxxx of trumps. Remember that a ruff and sluff usually is deadly when they are in a moysian fit. I like 3s, in the worst scenario you are -1 in 4s or 4d. Your hand: AJ9xx, 932, Jx, T74 LHO Pd RHO You 1d p 1s p 2d p 3n p p p 4) What do you lead? The point of this hand is whether a spade lead is a logic alternative, if you lead a spade declarer has his 9th trick. If you lead anything else there's only 8 tricks for them and a good result for you. I confess I touched my lowest spade... and then lead the c7, piufff!