plaur

When you play the ♠A the J drops from declarer, 5 from partner. We do not have any agreements on signalling here. What interest me is whether you want to shift to a red suit and arguments for doing so. I dont care about the bidding, we got lucky :-)

[hv=d=n&v=n&w=sak74ha103dj86c943&s=s1063h865d1094cq1082]266|200|Scoring: Imps 1NT* - pass - pass - X all pass * 12-14[/hv] North opens a 12-14 NT and you double. Trick one ♠2, 3, K, 9. ♠2 is fourth best or from Hxx. What do you play now and why?

[hv=d=n&s=sa8542haj54dacj96]133|100|1♣ - 1♠ 2♣ - 2♥ 3♣ - ?[/hv] What has opener shown? What is the range of hands she may have? What to bid?

[hv=d=s&v=n&s=sh72daj10cj1087xxxx]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] I deal and open: 4♣ - X - pass - 6♥ all pass - making the other table went: 3♣ - X - pass - 4♥ all pass I try to put the pressure on and make them guess but it seems that I too often push opps into making slams when I preempt more aggressively than the other table. Comments on 4♣? Any good advice on the tactics involved with preempting at imps?

I have 12 tricks, need one more. I can try to ruff out a red king and if that does not work fall back on finessing the other. PlanA: ruff out ♥K. Drop two ♥'s on spades, ruff a ♥, one round of clubs and a club to the 9 and ruff another ♥ and oooops no entry to dummy PlanB: ruff out ♦K: Drop a ♦ on spade, two rounds of clubs, ♦A and club to 9. Drop ♦ on spade and a ruff ♦ and if the ♦K wasnt second then finesse ♥ Can I improve on PlanB by running all my clubs after ruffing the ♦? With three cards left I will have ♥AQ ♦Q in dummy and ♥98 ♣A in hand. When I run ♣A a LHO with ♥Kx ♦K will have to discard a small ♥ and the ♥K will drop. What if RHO has ♥Kx ♦K and drops a small ♥? I dont think I can read that. Since I plan to finesse anyway I gain nothing by running all clubs. There is slightly better chance that ♦'s will be 4-2 with the Kx than the ♥'s 5-2 so PlanB it is.

Thx HeartA. Read pclaytons hidden too. Guess decl can have a hand without the ♦K. Can it be: AKJxxxx xxx Qxx - After the 3rd heart partner cant lead without giving a trick away. So I must ruff the 3rd ♥ and lead a ♦. I still dont see why it is important what I discard on the 2nd ♥. Kenberg, im not frustated with hands like these in the beg/int. Its a good hand to discuss.

Here is my try. I feel so humble when stuff like this gets posted in Beg/int and its so difficult - lol. Would appreciate comments or hints! I have troble finding a decl hand without the ♦K that jumps to 4♠. Decl must have at least 2 ♦'s, else E would have 6 ♦'s and he does not have that for his bidding. Anyway, even if decl does not have the ♦K, his ♦ loser will not go away (unless I let him ruff raise his clubs) If partner is void in clubs decl has 3, and then he has a ♣ loser that wont go away. So I do not want to get in and lead a club. Decl is marked with AKxxx xxx Kx and 3 cards missing If he is 2-2 in minors he will never go down. If he has single ♣ then he may need to ruff two red loosers. Hmm, dont think I can prevent that. What if decl is void in ♣? He still only needs two ruffs as he can discard one on ♣A. So im stuck with AKxxx xxx Kx Jxx and it does not matter what I discard. All I need to do is not get in and lead a ♣.

Thx for all the answers. I found this a difficult hand to bid.

[hv=d=n&s=skqj109h8xxxdjxxxc]133|100|1NT - pass - ?[/hv] Partner opens 1NT (15-17). How much is this hand worth? How would you bid with SAYC stayman and transfers available? How would you bid with these agreements: Stayman and transfers. Every hand with a 5 card major and at least invitational strength must start with transfer. Super accept possible. 1NT - 2♥ - 2♠ - 2NT invit with 5 card suit 1NT - 2♥ - 2♠ - 3♠ invit with 6 card suit 1NT - 2♥ - 2♠ - 3♥ GF

Helene, this is a bit Off topic but I just love this article by Bob Holmes: http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?showtopic=12429 Scroll down to the post "Feb 23 2006, 02:57 PM MY FAULT" To me it shows the importance of teaching beginners some very simple concepts, rather than going into bidding system details. Keep it simple, keep it natural. If they are bright they will soon discover that many hands dont fit into the system and that they will have to add to the bidding system to cater for these 20% hands. But that is for later, much later I belive.

Open 2♥'s everyday at MP's, vul vs not, 1st pos. Pass 2nd pos, vul vs not. Ponder 3♥ not vul vs. vul, 1st pos :-) Transfer and pass after 1NT.

[hv=d=w&v=n&s=sq1082hk8653dca865]133|100|Scoring: MP p - 1♥ - p - 1NT p - p - 2♠ all pass[/hv] 1♥ and 1NT was acol. Opps BI as us. We play quite agressive weak 2's and 2♦ from partner would have been a weak 2. I bid 2♠, bought partner with 4 spades and made 34 of 34 matchpoints. -100 would still have been a great score. Good bid or mad luck ?

Do you have any agreement what the Dbl shows? I play it as 'points', penalty. I would not assume it was negative unless agreed beforehand. So I double 2♥ and I double 2♠, but I would certainly be nervous about giving them a vul game!

I would bid 2♥. I dont like to support with three when i have no ruffing values, but 2♥ might often be the right contract and I bid where I have my values. If partner has a game going hand with 4 hearts, she will know that I might support with three and she could suggest NT with a solid spade stop, also rightsiding a NT contract.

This is the BI forum and the OP said SAYC. With Texas you have three ways to show your 6-suiter . Thats a nice improvement over basic SAYC. 1) 1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 4♥ mild slaminvite 2) 1NT - 3♥ slam interest 3) 1NT - 4♦ - 4♥ - (pass or blackwood) and if you play cuebids a fourth 4) 1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - jump new suit as cuebid Thats all plenty for me and my partner! The real problem is evaluating which hands should use a,b,c or d: :)

Playing Texas, you have made a mild slaminvite. Is the hand worth more than that? I think not.

I think there might have been some confusion about the rules. Fred Gitelman wrote http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?showtopic=14780 Juli 8 "I am pretty sure strong club is not allowed, because I usually play a version of Precision with my partner in this tournament (Geoff Hampson) and we have been told we will not be allowed to do this." Anyway great bridge. Too bad its all happning when Im at work. Hmm, should call in sick and watch vugraph all day :-)

I only saw the last match. I think I saw opening bids alerted different from the european card and the vugraph operator said something about Auken - von Arnim's opps asking about allowed defense against a strong club system? So I just wondered if pairs were allowed to play their own system?

Hi, Did they change the rules for allowed bidding systems? I thougt every team had to play their bidding card http://www.buffettcup.com/Default.aspx?tabid=70 Peter

Good argument that I didnt think of. I lead ♥8 and partner wasnt happy. Our spadeshift came to late and we never got the fourth spade. I didnt like any lead and lead 'partners suit'. I've grown an aversion against leading from 4-card suits against NT. Declarer has at least 4 clubs and often more, so I didnt like leading a club.

[hv=d=w&v=n&s=sk1094h8dj85ca9872]133|100|Scoring: MP 1♦ - p - 1NT all pass[/hv] Local MP's, 18 tables 1♦ promises 4+ ♦'s. 1NT is 6-9 HCP, denies 4 card major and ♦ support, so at least 4 ♣'s What suit do you lead and why?

I dont understand the 3♠ / 4♣ discussion. If a hand is strong enough for 3♠ is does not mean it is also strong enough for 4♣ when single club. I Denmark beginners are taught that 3♠ is 16-18 dummypoints (or 5 loosers) in support of spades (dummypoints = hcp + distribution). This is not enough to force to game. 4♠ is more like a 18-19 HCP balanced hand and 4♣ is short club and strength to force to game. Where does the 17-19 HCP to bid 3♠ come from? Is that US standard?

3NT Partner can be 4-2-2-5. 2♦ GF 4sf followed by 3NT shows extra values, slam invite. Partner can go on if she has extras.

[hv=s=sqjxxhkj8xxxdcajx]133|100|[/hv] 1 NT(15-17) - ? (opener will not have 5 spades unless very poor suit) Is this hand worth a slaminvite? 1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 4♥ for a slam invite or 1NT - 4♦ - 4♥ - 4NT RKCB or pass

[hv=s=sa9xxxhaxdq10xxcxx]133|100|[/hv] 1 NT (15-17) - 2♥ 2 ♠ - ? Is this hand worth 2NT or 3NT and why?