TheoKole

By the time that opener reverses to 2 hearts I have my antenna way way up for a misfit auction, I will bid 2 spades to maybe get a preference with 2 card support. (After I refuse a fit my partner should be aware of this possibility also). After the 3 clubs bid, I definitely downgrade my hand to bid 3 hearts, the spade suit is worthless against a probable void in partner. I do not want to play 3 NT on a misfit hand, 3 hearts is probably a good enough spot on a 4-3 fit, probably played on a cross-ruff. Theo

2 Diamonds = Weak 6 card suit in an unspecified major. If I get to play it in 2 spades great, If opponents compete in hearts or diamonds, I'll make an exception and break my vow of silence to bid clubs. My partnerships allow this under exceptional circumstances so partner will know exactly what I have. Not exactly safe but I'm not a conservative bidder in style :lol: Cheers, Theo

4 Spades. If I was in 1st, 2nd or 4th seat I would open with 3 spades. In 3rd seat and with the colours right, I want to put maximum pressure on 4th seat if he is waiting with a medium hand with good suits in the minors. This may turn out bad if partner has defensive values in the minor suits, but as Justin said "That's life". In any case, I like to have an aggressive preemptive style to make the opponents make the last guess. Cheers, and happy holidays Theo

I don't consider myself an expert but after having read Lawrence's book of opening leads (and following his advice) I have found that my leads have improved DRAMATICALLY! I heartily recommend this book to everybody. When it is my turn to lead I always consider the bidding (even if I have what would be considered an obvious lead (AKQ, KQJ, etc...). Have the opponents had a powerful auction or a weak one? Has one or both opps shown shortness in a suit? Do I have strength in the opps suit or suits? Has dummy indicated ruffing values by taking preference for a suit contract? Are there indications of a strong side suit in dummy? How many high card points can I hope for partner to have as indicated by my hand and the bidding of the opponents? After I consider these factors, my own hand comes into the consideration. First I consider which suit to lead as indicated by the bidding and then I look at what I have in this suit. If I have an unsupported Ace in the suit indicated, I always look at the other suits, to see if I can justifiably lead them with a hope of success as indicated by the bidding. (Usually going from worst leads and eliminating them to "Not so Good" leads). If the other suits seem hopeless, I would go back to the Ace unsupported suit and see if I could justifiably lead it. If after all this I decide to lead the suit I have to decide if I would lead the Ace or underlead it. Approximently 99% of the time I would lead the Ace of the suit. The biggest reason for this is that if the King is in dummy and my partner has the Queen and declarer the J, the declarer will almost always play low from dummy. My partner would also play low or play a middle card and declarer would win with the J. To add insult to injury declarer can then lead up to the K and get 2 tricks in the suit or a trick and a discard. This would make my partner and me both look like fools and I respect my partners too much to give them this type of abuse. In order to underlead an Ace, I would need a specific reasons to believe that my partner had the King of the suit, AND that I NEED to underlead it RIGHT AWAY in order to GAIN a trick or tricks. These reasons can only come from the bidding. (If my partner has the King he will play it, he probably will not read me for the Ace, but he would read me for the Queen, until declarer plays low and then he will start thinking...) **Note that there is still room for partner to get the position wrong and return another suit, even if the cards are as you have calculated, partner may think that declarer is holding up the Ace to "rectify the count" for a squeeze** I have underled an Ace in a suit contract exactly twice in the past 5 years that I have been playing. In the first case the opps had a VERY strong auction, dummy and declarer indicated strong side suits and declarer asked for a stopper in the unbid suit which dummy denied and the bidding stopped at 5 hearts. I looked at my holding in the unbid suit and saw AJx. The bidding had practically told me that my partner had the King of the suit so I decided that this MIGHT be an unusual exception to the rule about underleading Aces. (These opps were very experienced bidders and with Kx(x) of the suit, declarer would have bid the slam) This worked like a charm, as partner had Kxx and declarer Qxx of the suit. Underleading the Ace was the only lead to defeat the contract. If I didn't lead the suit declarer would have had time for 13 tricks. By the way, I appologized (spelling?) to my partner for making my lead so difficult to read. In the second case, I also had a stong reason to believe that partner had the King of the suit. Declarer had shown a 2 suiter in the minors and had sacrificed over our spade game. I underled the Ace with the 2, as a suit preference for clubs which I was void, because I was certain that we would get no more than 1 trick in the suit. Dummy turned up with King, Queen in the suit, declarer played the King from dummy and discarded a heart from his hand. Luckily we got that trick back when I ruffed declarers Club Ace. The 5 diamond contract ended up -5 doubled anyways for a top, but again I appologized to partner for the bad lead (partner knew I had underled my Ace but luckily declarer didn't figure it out in time to realize the suit preference). So after 2 times in 5 years, 1 time the lead turned out well, and the 2nd time the lead turned out neutral. I see many players leading or underleading unsupported Aces about once every 5 hands, (I'm not kidding!). When I'm declaring these players sacrifice loads of contracts or overtricks or simply timing (by not attacking dummy's ruffing value by leading trumps). Just my thoughts, Theo

If you play this system, it seems to me that you lose the responses to Jacoby 2NT for the opener. Or do you have other system bids for this situation? Theo

Thank you all for responding. At the table, I also passed and with confidence I believe. The other side did not balance, they know a misfit auction when they hear one, and they did not double on which I would run out to 2 hearts and make as the cards lie. These are expert players and defenders as I said. A trump stack behind partner ment down 3 (-300) even though he played the hand as good as possible. They reached 3NT at the other table which made on a VERY lucky placing of the cards, with 5 Hearts, 1 Diamond, 2 Spades and 1 Club. I am not sure of their auction to 3NT. This double score combined to make a handy win for our opponents. In our 1-11 section, the other team in contention for the title played very well to beat their opponents, and we ended up losing the section title by 1 VIP. Those are the breaks I guess. :) Theo

Perhaps I should have explained a little more about the setup of the tournament and the rating system in Greece. Ranks for players in Greece are separated from 1 to 16 depending on how many Black, Gold and Placing Master Points a player has. A player can only win Placing points by coming in at least 3rd place at a regional or national tournament. In order to achieve Rank 9 you must have earned 3.0 Placing Points which is equal to coming in first in a regional or national tournament. In addition, while in an "Open" Category of a tournament anybody can play, there is also a 1-8 Category which is closed to any player who is Rank 9 and above. In practice, the "Open" category of a tournament includes mostly players who are Rank 9 or higher with few exceptions. However, in addition to the first, second and third places for the "Open" category of the tournament there is also a first place for the best team in which all the players are Rank 1-11 and a first place for the best team in which all the players are all women. In Greece, there is a national tournament every year, only for players of Rank 12 and above. The top 2 teams of this tournament become the National "A Team" and the National "B Team". In addition this tournament decides the "A and B Teams" for the Categories "Men, Women, Teams, and Seniors". These teams go on to represent the country in International tournaments. The team I played with had an average Ranking of 6 (between the 4 players) so you could say that we were definite underdogs to play in the "Open" category. ;) We played in the "Open" category mainly for expierience and I have to say that I really enjoyed myself, although I was very nervious at the end. :) I really feel drained of energy right now after 3 days of bridge but I can't wait till next year :) . I included this explanation of the ranking system and tournament structure to give everyone a feel of the situation when I had to make my bidding decision for the hand in question. Maybe it was because I was tired, but it sure felt like it was one of the hardest bidding decisions I've had to make in months. Cheers B) Theo

My apologies, I placed the hands as we were seated. South is the top hand and North is the bottom hand. Theo

[hv=d=n&v=n&s=sq87xhaqjxxdc10xxx]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] I was North when I faced this bidding problem. The bidding had gone... N-------E-----S------W P-------P-----1 ♦-----P 1 ♥----P-----2 ♦-----P ??? Extenuation Circumstances - These may or may not impact on your decision. 1) This is the last hand of the last round of a regional tournament. 2) Swiss Teams Match scoring (Open Category) and you are currently in 8th place overall out of 30 teams at the end of the previous round. 3) While the top placings are out of reach, your team went into the last round with a 9 VIP lead over the next placed team in your section (1 - 11) (You had previously beaten this team by 21 - 10 Imps, so a tie between the 2 teams means you win the title for your section). 4) Due to a bidding mistake on your part on a previous hand in the round, you estimate that you have lost approximately 3 - 4 VIP's of your lead over the other team in the 1 - 11 section all other things being equal. 5) Your opponents are expert defenders (they are the current title holders of the National Womens Pairs "A Team" and are part of the National Women's Team "A Team" of your country. A mistake on your part is likely to be severly punished. 6) Unknown whether this women's team is in contention for the Women's Section Title or not. (Perhaps not knowing was a mistake as this may affect their bidding decisions at the other table.) You are vulnerable, what is your bid? Theo

[hv=d=s&v=b&n=sqxhaxxdakj109xxcx&s=sakhkqxxdxxxcakxx]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] This hand is from a very recent regional tournament team's match were I was North and heard my partner open 1 Diamond. What is your bidding plan to get to 7NT and the top spot in the safest manner? Our bidding method is in hidden text below... Enjoy.

You have a monster hand making a laydown 6 ♦ or 6 ♣ with 3 clubs to the K in partners hand. With my regular partner, we play Unusual NT with any point range of 8+, I would bid 2NT, then cue bid Spades to show a monster hand, then cue bid the other minor, then if I have room cue bid Hearts. Nobody would stop me from reaching 5 of a minor at least. If the action goes, (1♠) -> 2NT -> (4♠) -> P -> (P) I would bid 5 ♣ which my partner can pass or correct to ♦. Cheers, Theo

1st combination: Small to the K and then small to the 9, followed up by small to the 10 (I assume that entries are not a problem) 2nd combination: Small to the King and then small to the 8, later if 2 of the 3 outstanding honors have appeared on my left finesse the 10, if not then play the A Theo

Hannie and Luke Warm, after the preempt, I had a few choices most of them which seemed to be wrong at the time. 3 Diamonds and 4 Daimonds would be natural but would be much weaker hands. With the actual hand after the lead if partner had the Ace of Spades, the 6 Diamond slam would have been laydown as I could have forced out the K of Clubs and dummy's 10 of Clubs would allow a heart pitch. Partner could also have had the Q of hearts. I felt I had to double to indicate a strong hand in the first place and then ask for Aces. 4NT directly after a preempt in our system would be a strong 2 suiter so that was out. Our rule for these situations is that we MUST be ready for any answer given to 4NT and either have real support or a self supporting suit. So I can't ask for the Q hearts in this situation. At the other table the bidding went 3 Clubs -> 5 Diamonds -> All Pass. I must admit that my partner looked a little surprised when I bid 5 Diamonds as he thought hearts were trump at first, but I bid in tempo and he remembered our rule about a self supporting suit and passed. As for the play, I played North for the distribution of 3-1-2-7 without the Ace of Spades, if he had 2-2 in the majors I probably wouldn't make as these are very good defenders. (If north had 2-2 or 1-3 in the majors he would have the Ace of spades or the heart honors) North's preempt style is pretty solid, and since I have to play him not to have the Ace of Spades, he would have some other cooressonding honors in spades or hearts. I ran all the diamonds but one and the Ace of hearts in order to drop a singleton honor in North's hand, keeping: (if I run the last diamond dummy is squeezed in the majors for the endplay on South) Kx spades, and 1087 hearts in dummy x spades, Kx hearts, x Diamonds, J clubs in my hand Then I played the small spade towards the King and South was trapped, he won his A spades and returned the the Q hearts to my King and I returned my small heart towards the 10 his J winning. He had falsecarded during the run of diamonds but by that time I knew he had a spade and a heart left and he had to put me into dummy for the pitch of the club J. Theo

[hv=d=n&v=n&w=sk9xxh1087xd8xc10xx&e=sxhakxdakq109xxcaj]266|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] I was sitting East on the following hand in a Teams game qualifying tourament for the nationals of my country The bidding has gone: North East South West 3 ♣-----X---Pass---3 ♥ Pass---4NT--Pass---5 ♣ (3041 Ace Answering) Pass---5 ♦--Pass---Pass Pass A couple of questions: Do you agree with the East-West bidding? If not, what other bids would you recommend? South leads a small club to Norths Q ♣ and your A ♣ 2 rounds of trumps clears them, ♦ are 2-2 (J ♦ does not fall on 1st round) Plan the play. Enjoy Theo

I think the key to the bidding is to splinter with 4 ♣ instead of bidding 4 ♥. Opener can then start to imagine a slam and procede by asking for Aces. with no club losers, the hand should be safe for the 5 level. Many people do not beleive that you can splinter in an openers suit, I say why not? Especially if that suit is a minor. With the concept of "Biddable Suits" going the way of the relic, opener could have been forced to open Clubs or Diamonds (by virtue of playing 5 card majors) when their playing strength is in the major suits. I think the splinter gets the ball rolling in that direction. Theo

4 ♠ applying maximum pressure to East-West. This tells partner the limit of my hand, and East-West can't bid slowly to find their best fit. I would make the same bid whatever the type of scoring or vulnerability. It is not my style to deny a 10 card spade fit. Theo

2 Spades then double, in order to have more than a game, we need a good double fit in hearts and diamonds. If we do have one, then partner will pull the double, but I don't suspect we do. Partner could have cue bid if he was interested in slam, with a spade void. Since I don't have a powerhouse without a double fit, I will double. Theo

An interesting bidding problem happened to me last night on BBO. How would you bid this hand after your partner opens 1NT? ♠ A ♥ Ax ♦ AK10xx ♣ QJ98x North's hand was: ♠Kx ♥KQJ10x ♦QJx ♣A10x In hidden text below is our action with the explanation for the bids: NO PEEKING before answering! ;) Our action went I was mainly interested for descriptions of other systems for slam bidding. Have fun :huh: Theo

Trumps always seem to break evenly when they have little ones, and disasterously when they have high cards... :blink: Theo

Never give up, even if you can see the contract is hopeless... Strange things can happen sometimes... :lol: Theo

When declaring, try and make a complete plan for your contract, but don't be stubborn about it, always be open to the possibility of changing it in light of new circumstances. Theo

Never assume that partner will have the "Magic Hand" that produces your Grand or Small Slam, He won't have it. Theo

In competitive bidding, always bid what you are going to bid with confidence and without hesitation. Theo

Always trust your partner, not the opponents! Theo

1 ♠ is fine, if partner raises, I would compete up to 3 ♠. If not then up until 2 ♠. Theo