karlson

I played more or less this with a few people who really liked it. For some reason it was called "Iowa drury". It was fine, but I've come to prefer devoting only one bid to my drury.

I think 3♦ should be forcing (inv should just bid 3♦ over 2♠) but I guess I don't know what it should show. Perhaps a big hand with non-solid diamonds is reasonable. Anyway, whatever it shows, north seems to have a normal 3n. If it goes -1, well, "nice lead".

Don't see why I wouldn't bid 4♣, I have a fantastic hand. I don't really think anything interesting will happen, but who knows.

1. Vulnerability would be nice, but I would bid 2♣ in any case. I think this is safer than lying about the diamond fit and risking partner overcompeting. 1N, aside from wronsiding, seems to me to be taking underbidding at MP too far. 2. I pass. I disagree that partner could have done more (neither of 4♣ or 4♠ shows hearts) but my hand isn't all that great.

I think it shows a very good heart holding since without one you know the opps will run to 2♥ anyway, and is somewhat ambiguous about spades though usually not with a stiff. So I guess more or less what Fluffy said, except I think ♠xx is not a problem.

1. Yes, and the same for 1N-(3x). After 1N-(2x) you can play lebensohl or your other favorite convention but you should have some way to force with a major. 2. After a takeout double the situation is very different. Firstly you're guaranteed a fit in your 5-card suit, since partner should not have a doubleton (so you can jump to game more freely), and secondly, 3N is unlikely to be right unless you have a very strong holding in their suit since partner will rarely have a stopper. Finally, partner has shown less strength so game hands will become less frequent relative to partscore hands. All in all, I would definitely play 3M NF after (1x)-x-(3x) or the like.

I have to admit Cascade's numbers are interesting and counterintuitive to me at least -- I would expect a 5-3 spade fit to play better reasonably often. What hand types are you considering? However, if the alternative to a forcing 3♠ is simply 3N then we have to count 5-4 (and hell, even 5-5) fits as well, though those frequencies are probably small.

I play on my Dell Mini 10v somewhat often. It's annoying that the chat box is so small, but otherwise it's perfectly usable. I have XP, but I can't really imagine problems running BBO on any windows version.

That's what I do. If they make noise, I just tell them to show their hand. In other news, when I hear someone say "Are you suggesting play be curtailed?" with a completely straight face, I will know I have finally met mrdct.

I think the saddest thing on so many levels would be if this increase was caused by a failure of the ACBL to remove the deceased from its membership list.

In the midst of the confusion about sandwiches, jdonn did answer your question. Moreover though, if there are a few different bids you could reasonably make now and one would make it more obvious to partner that there has been a misunderstanding (or otherwise work better given that partner misunderstood), you are not allowed to choose that one.

I'm with Han on this one.

I would bid for sure.

1. I meant it was unusual in the sense that we have a 12 or 13 card fit. I bid 5♠ at the table, and also thought maybe it was too much afterwards. Partner had something like AKJTxx Ax Kxx Ax, though I don't remember his exact hand. He bid 6 and drifted down 2. 2. I was partner. I was hoping double would be read as lightner (I think this is pretty normal meaning for double by preemptor, and it's unclear what else partner can double on here), but it sounds like I don't have much support. The opponents had 10 spades and the first club was ruffed, so we were -850.

This was a hesitation UI hand. I broke tempo before passing 3♣ and partner bid 3♥. I thought his decision was close and that the hesitation clearly suggested bidding, but he thought it was clear to bid. The director let 3♥ stand. I was surprised but obviously didn't complain.

♠JTxx ♥KJxx ♦AJxx ♣x w/w mp. partner deals p-1♣-x-1♠ x-2♣-p-p 2♥-p-p-3♣ p-p- I think I would have bid 2♠ over 2♣, but this was partner's problem.

1. ♠Q9xxxx ♥Qxx ♦x ♣Qxx r/r mp, you deal. p-2♦*-3♠-4♥-? 2♦ was multi, weak in one major or some strong options. Your discussion of your multi defense consisted of about 30 seconds of explanation from partner: "2h takeout of spades, 2s takeout of hearts, double 13-15 bal or some strong hand". 2. ♠Qxx ♥Qxx ♦Qxx ♣AKxx w/r mp, you deal. 1♣-p-2♦-2♥ 3♦-p-5♦-5♥ p-p-x-p 1♣ was 2+, unbalanced diamond style with 15-17NT. 2♦ was a weak jump shift. Perhaps you don't bid 3♦, but it seems to have worked quite well. If you sit for the double, what do you lead?

Ok, thank you both, see you soon.

awm-style methods where new suit is GF will also work fine. 1d-1s-2s-3h-4h-4s. Doesn't distinguish min from max but at least the shape is known. Not sure how han distinguishes all the hands in his structure. Presumably a second relay of some sort after 2n-response. edit: I see Ken posted something close to what I was imagining -- seems ok to me.

Right -- sorry about ignoring your actual point. I think though given the almost unanimous consensus on this hand that slam is likely to be no bargain even when partner has hit our suit (and people seem to think we have a 9 card fit in fact) getting to slam on these types of hands is not likely to be a good result.

Anyone available? I won't be around this weekend, so this might be our last chance to bid. Thanks.

Who said anything about a 4-3 fit? I think that the double should almost always have two places to play (yes, maybe you can have 3352 or something, but we can still get to diamonds often then) So we're mostly talking about getting to the 4-4 instead of the 5-4 sometimes. To me that's a pretty minor loss compared to the complete disaster of getting to an iffy 5-2 fit.

I would pass, don't see why we can't be off a couple of top tricks, while 3n looks pretty likely to make to me (I think partner should have quite decent spades).

Surely partner could have asked something about our hand? This is an odd decision to have to make without knowing the methods.

Is wednesday night, 11pm pacific (8am thursday in central europe) possible for anyone? Thanks much.