SoTired

Yes - If the opps routinely open 1N with a singleton, then almost all hands in their 1N range may be opened with 1N. The opps will use unknown methods for determining which are eligible and which are not. This affects not only the 1N hands, but also the negative implications from the non-1N hands. This affects competitive bidding. It also affects the defense when attempting to reconstruct declarer's hand.

These numbers are my estimates. 95% of players want to play an enjoyable game with competitive challenge. It is not competitively fair to those players to have to understand a complex system that is completely unknown to them when they sit at a table for 2 hands of bridge for 15 minutes. These players want severe restrictions on the bidding systems that they encounter during those 15 minutes. 4.5% of players want to experiment with strange systems. They will get some competitive advantage just from opps unfamilarity with their system. 0.5% of players need to experiment in order to compete successfully in international events. Not counting the Pros that need to win with clients. I have no idea what rules suit them best. Remember that the first group pays the bills.

Huh. I encourage beginners to not even think about slam...yet. AH - HA... So You're the one

Running to NT on a misfit Bidding 3N based on stoppers when combined strength is lacking Reversing to show strength with equal length suits Bypassing 4-card majors at 1-level to respond 1N "to show strength" Rebidding a 5-card suit instead of bidding a 2nd 4-card suit High-low with small doubleton (encourage) in NT when should play small (discourage) Leading honor from Hxx of partner's suit because "Always lead highest card of partner's suit" Not bidding NT unless all 5 suits stopped "Overusing BW"... That's not what I see. I would welcome that. They NEVER BID SLAM. When confused, they pass "But I wanted you to bid NT" When playing a contract, they rarely look ahead even 1 trick. You see this when they play a card.... think think think.... play another card... think think think, etc. Counting suits to 13

I read this story once about a track and field club at an elementary school. A teacher formed it for the elementary students as an after school activity. The teacher got some funding from the school system for equipment and such. To encourage students to perform their best, he gave out prizes and cash to the top performers every week. Because of overcrowding at a nearby high school, there was a special afternoon class of high school students in the elementary school. The high school students heard about the track club and the cash prizes and joined. Of course, they won all the prizes. The teacher tried to get the HS students kicked out of the club, but the school board had rules that specified that all after school activities could not be restricted by age or grade, only by school. The rules were intended to prevent children from narrowly restricting their clubs to only their own age group. But rules are rules. Soon, all the young students dropped out. The parents did not want their children injured by the larger and older high schoolers. The teacher who started the program also dropped out in disgust. That was the end of that. A nice program run by volunteers destroyed by rules designed to encourage open competition, but in this case, created ridiculous and unfair competition.

Oh, well if he didnt even hesitate then a diamond is clearly out. Tougher problem had partner hesitated, a diamond is stand out but can we get away with it? If the opps are inexperienced then yes, if they are experienced then the key is for us to hesitate for like 10 times longer than partner did. So if partner tanked for 20 seconds and passed, we need to think for about 3 and a half minutes before leading the DJ. The opps will then be remembering only our tank AND partners tank won't seem like one since ours was 10x longer. And it will really look like we were constructing something. Nice problem. Good advice. Seems poster is incorporating that strategy in his/her technique.

I think the "1%" rule was an estimate. I think "1%" is a euphanism for "not very often." I don't think anybody actually sat down and computed how often reasonable 1N hands with a signleton actually came up. I think that people that would always open certain singleton honor hands with 1NT when that is the best description are within the rules even if those hands would comprise 2 or 3 % of the 1N bids. Finally, I think that if you consider x AQJxx Kxx AQxx a 1N opener, then you will get in trouble with the TD.

In the USA against NT without discussion: A,Q asks for unblock or count K asks for attitude (of course, you unblock with Hx) Apparently, many play that K asks for unblock and AQ ask attitude. I, too, do not know the advantage of that.

1: 4C, not 3S. Move one of the diam honors to clubs and 3S looks more attractive, but not with 3 small clubs. 2: 2N. 8 with 5-card suit = invite. ♦J IS WORKING in this auction. Every card is working and I have a 2nd suit with 2 honors that might come in.

The trouble with X and then bid clubs, is what do you do when partner bids 3/4S over the dbl? Still want to X? After all, partner could easily have 7330 with 7 spades to the K and out and being vul vs not, not want to open 2/3S. But over the dbl, will make a preemptive jump in spades. A dbl promises 3 cards in unbid majors. It is outdated to "dbl and bid your own suit" with a strong hand and shortness in the other major. Esp with a suit that is not self-sufficient.

anything but double. 2C looks right. Pass works best if +200 is a good result. If RHO is psyching both suit and hand, we could get +300 and miss a heart slam. If RHO is not psyching, then partner is likely to reopen with a double and we will get a juicy result. I have opened a monster 2-suiter 1-of-a-suit and got passed out before, so bidding 2C and getting passed out is no different. 50/50 between pass and 2C.

You mean as opening? No, this is a rule-of-20 hands with a decent suit and no rebid problem. If you insist on not opening this hand with 1♣, you should open 3♣. No... I meant not opening it. It is just barely 11 hcp (counting Jx full value). The majors are weak. It has a nice suit, but it has no singleton. My style is 11 hcp needs a singleton. This is a marginal opener for me. I might or might not open it. I was just wondering if anybody else has looked at this hand enough and decided to pass it on second thought.

Another way that luck is in chess. Your opponent makes a bonehead play against you allowing you to win a game against a stronger opponent. Happens all the time. If you get lucky enough, you could win (or do very well in) a tournament without being near the top strongest players. Happened to me once. BTW - ANOTHER FORM OF BRIDGE: Negative Bridge: Force your opponents to make your contract. For example, if you bid 4H, you must force your opps to take 10+ tricks with hearts as trump. I overheard one top expert say that he thought Negative Bridge requires more skill than regular bridge.

And nobody passes xx Kxx Jx AKxxxx ?

1: 1D 4S = Very long, very weak hand/spade suit. Opener with bal 18-19 is expected to pass. Something like: 8 spades to the jack and out. Anything stronger is a 1S response. 2: Sign-off with 6[+]sp and no slam interest 3/5: Self suffient spade suit and out. 4 of top 5 spades with 6-card suit or 3 of top 5 with 7-card suit. Opener may bid on with extra values 4: Same hand as 3/5, but since opener limited hand with 2D, opener is expected to pass.

I would not bid Unusual with a 2-card difference in length between the two suits. You could easily end in a 4-3 club fit rather than a 6-2 diam fit. Three possible bids with this hand: 1) Takeout dbl. This gets spades involved in case partner has 5♠ 2) Overcall 2D 3) 3H Western Q

2H, any scoring. WTP? We have no strength agreement and I have no strength. :blink: What danger am I in? If you pass now, do you expect to come in later at a higher level? Are you going let the opps with their likely combined 28 HCP find their difficult to bid slam?

100% penalty. We have both bid and found a (semi) fit. We want to warn partner not to compete further. Sometimes when the opps compete at the wrong time in a dbl misfit hand, we have to nail them.

SJS were very well defined by Soloway. Most experts who use SJS actually use Soloway SJS. A Soloway SJS is one of three hand types: 1) Primary support for opener's suit (4-card if major, 5-card if minor) and a good 5+ card suit with about 15+ hcp 2) Self-sufficient suit with about 15+ HCP 3) Balanced 19+ HCP Opener normally rebids the cheaper of opener's suit or NT. Responder then raises opener's suit or bids shortness for hand #1, rebids own suit for hand #2, or bids NT for hand #3. If responder's 2nd bid is 4N RKC, then hand type is #2 and trump is responder's suit. Hands that are strong enough, but do not fall into one of the 3 categories, do not make a SJS. Edit: Soloway SJS go along well with a natural 2N response showing about 13-15 HCP and 3N showing 16-18 HCP

sry? I assume he finessed the heart, and with ♥Kx onside, he has about 15 tricks. If my partner makes a jump rebid and I have 21 HCP, Blackwood is a formality. Unless I play RKC and know specifically that we are missing the ♥K, I think I have to bid 7. I would rebid 4H rather than 3H with opener's hand, but except for that, I see little wrong with anybody's bidding. Except maybe the dbler.

all your logic seemed ok to me. congrats on making 7nxx

I agree... and it is dying... I am switching to poker

4S? You'll also pay off to opps big when partner has a red 5-5 and you run out of trump to set up your clubs. ANY gambling bid will work if partner has the right hand, but 4S is unilateral/masterminding. Partner will raise to 6S (happened yesterday) on x Axxxx AKQx Ax 1C/1S/pass are my sane choices and either one could work. Although I usually hate to "back-in" to auctions, I vote for pass now and come in like gangbusters with a 2-suited bid later. Partner will have a good picture of this hand then. 1S is my second choice.

Here I disagree. I think the original hand has adequate defense for a 1-level opener. Compare with, say KQJxx x xxx KQJx This hand, despite 12 hcp, is far worse for defense than the original one. In fact, I would open this one 2♠! Now HERE you really lost me. I play 7-10 or 5-10 muiderberg, so I CAN'T open the subject hand with 2S because it is a discipline violation. I don't pass 11 HCP with a singleton, so I open 1S. If I played 2S=6-11, then I WOULD open this hand 2S, knowing that our 1S/2S bids overlap a little. But opening 2S on KQJxx x xxx KQJx, playing 6-11 is a SERIOUS violation of discipline. Not only is it 12 HCP, but it is a GREAT 12 HCP. It makes 4S if partner has a sub-minimum opener.

In a normal auction, the bid of 5-trump asks for one of 2 things: Control in the unbid or opps suit, or trump quality if an unbid suit does not exist Since 3 suits have been bid, this bid asks for control in the diam. Replies are: pass = no control 6D = ace or void 5N = Kx 5S/6C = ace + king of suit bid 6M = singleton