SoTired

Low spade. If a spade lead is right and you don't lead it, you look like a fool. Both club and heart may be reasonable alternatives.

If hearts were better, it would be a textbook trump lead. Still a trump lead in MHO, but it looks so obvious, that it is probably wrong on this deal.

Pass originally. Dbl now but risky. Preempts work.

The best psyches are one shot deals: Either it works immediately or it does not. If nobody looks at your hand, they may not know you psyched. psyches risk 2 things: The obvious risk is the current hand. The less obvious risk is all future hands where partner may hesitate believing you when sometimes it seems you are playing with a pinocle deck. No question psyches are fun when they work. B/I consider psyches cheating. IMO, an expert psyching against a B/I is unethical. This was not the stupidest psyche I have ever seen. Opening weak 2 in 3rd seat on Jxxx and out and then blaming partner when partner bid aggressively on 10 HCP and Kxxx support.

Ordinary psyche. Good expectations. Probable bad strategy. Turned out well. Not my choice. Opps are poor losers and spoilsports. Seems poster was also, but not sure as I may have misread post.

obvious pass... 1N is sick... Dbl is one of those fancy 2-way bids: "Normally dbl is takeout, but i want it penalty for this hand because dealer bid my best suit."

I beg your pardon... But I thot 6-4 or better, 2+ of top 3, and was going to bid 4-splinter but bid this instead was fairly standard. My partner and I were only ones to find 6S with KQxx x Ax AQJxxx opposite Axxx xxx xxx Kxx. And without RKC. I was responder and after BW I gambled that opener's spades were good and that opener had x/Ax in reds rather than xx/A.

You must know a different set of "virtually everybody" than I do. When I compare or watch others compare, a player announces the pair's score and another player says "win x" or "lose x," with so little time in between the score announcement and the IMP announcement that I have to think fast to add the IMPs to my mental total for the set before the score for the next board is being announced. I'm not very good at either subtracting or IMP'ing and I never get a chance to improve because by the time I've started to subtract someone else has announced the IMP result. Exactly. Happens to me, too. And I am good at mental math. Or at least I thot I was. Many team game players have the IMPS difference memorized by contract and result. We bid 4H Vul making 5 and opps were in 3H making 4 ... BOOM ... teammates know the IMPS for that without doing any mental math. It seems like I am the only one who has to subtract and look up IMPS. I was watching a Spingold team compare scores, and the guy I watched did not even look at his own score sheet. He remembered all 12 or 16 results (or whatever) and just scanned his teammates sheet and knew the final IMPS almost immediately while his teammates were still comparing. True, I know players that have played 20 years and still can't keep score. But even they don't worry. Let someone else keep score. Online, they don't even have to do that. Look at bowling: A physical sport. Bowling scoring is at least as difficult arithmetic as bridge and until automatic scoring came along, I never heard anyone complain or suggest simplifying that scoring. So I will repeat that the only radical scoring that is ever likely to happen in our lifetimes is to drop the superfluous final zero. However, having said that... Get some wine/beer, invite 7 bridge playing friends over, and try out your new scoring with them several times for $x per IMP. Then report back on how they liked/disliked it.

5C - Give partner another chance. What's the worse hand partner could have? Something like: xxxx xxx xx KQxx and 6S still has chances with a defensive error or 2. Give partner just a little more like xxxxx Kxx xx Kxx and 6S has good chances and partner would still bid 4S. You have a 3-loser hand. You would make that same 4C bid with an ace less. If you had opened 2C, few would argue with you. I think you are so strong that you cannot settle for 4S once partner bids 1S.

not neg X. Anything but Neg X with a 6-5. 3H is fine. Alternatively, you could have bid 3S followed by 4H showing a 5-5 to get to the best major fit does not seem unreasonable. You have 2 9-card fits. Getting to one of them when the other makes because of unfortunate distribution and then telling your partner that they bid wrong when they bid reasonably is terrible "resulting." I don't think it wise to take bidding advice from this person.

I don't think it matters whether 2H "promises" spade tolerance. A 2S correction will almost certainly improve the final contract.

I remember a top expert told me that squeezes are rare, but endplays come up quite frequently. So if you want to improve, watch out for more endplays then squeezes.

Let me think: Kobe Bryant puts on a dress, joins a women's semi-pro BB league, and wins a championship with the ladies. The team receives trophies. Then Kobe's secret gets out. They quietly take away Kobe's trophy, but let his teammates keep theirs along with the championship. Later, the women on the championship team sign lucrative contracts with some WNBA teams ignorant of the Kobe Bryant thing, but impressed by the semi-pro championship. How's that? Or more realistically: An Olympic relay team wins the Gold. Later, one of the relay team members tests positive for steroids. The IOC forces that member to return the gold medal, but allows the rest of the team to keep theirs.

You forgot Maximal dbls, which might apply to this auction (1H) 1S (3H) X = maximal dbl with a LR hand. Used only when overcall is major and opps suit is M-1.

NCAA: when an ineligible player is found. Forfeit all victories and further punishment may be meted out if found that school knowingly used player. ACBL rules are simple: If you have ever represented your country, you must automatically be at the highest or unlimited category. Everyone knows this.

If you change the scoring, you will fundamentally change the game completely. All the bidding rules have to be completely redone. Even play of the hand might be affected. we have spent 80+ years evolving bidding based on the current scoring. So everybody's current bridge bidding knowledge will become worthless. This will work great for brilliant young minds who will come up with new stuff fast before anybody. For older less talented, you will destroy a game they have spent years learning and enjoying. So ... My vote is "silly", even if you correct for some of the obvious errors.

usually asker needs a specific king for grand. here is the reply structure (same for when replier gives specific king to Q-ask), using same example as above: 4S 4N 5H 5N 6D 6H ? 6D shows ♦K. 6H asks for ♥K. Replies are: 6S = no second round control in hearts 6N = ♥K 7H = ♥KQ 7S = singleton heart (if sure this is ok)

although i would bid 3S, i have sympathy for east's pass. after all it is a 4333, 6hcp hand. ♣Q fits West perfectly. i think if east's hand was displayed without west's, there might be more votes for pass. West should dbl 3H and hope partner does not bid 4D. I play weak-strong michaels also. 15hcp is the bottom of my strong range. don't see how west does not qualify.

pass. partner has a crazy hand, lots of spades and a void, because every B/I knows blackwood. Other table may not even bid 6. Assume not vul Opps only bid 4S: 6S opps in 4S = +11 7S opps in 4S = +14 We gain 3 IMPS for bidding 7... Wheeeeee 7S-1 opps in 4S = -11 Opps find 6S: 6S opps in 6S = push 7S opps in 6S = +11 7S-1 opps in 6S = -14 So your gain is way less than your risk. Plus, you may give the B/I opps their only chance to beat you in this short match. No question - Pass.

After the dbl, too bad you did not think about 6C, which probably makes on anything but a heart lead.

Bad taste, removed.

I have become disenchanted with 2H=super neg. It interferes with Kokish and wrong sides hearts. Here is one way to play it: 2C 2D ...2S = nat, then 3S = responder can pass with bust ...2N = 22-24 ...3C/3D = nat ...3H/3S = sets trump, GF, demands Q ...3N = 8.5 to 9.0 trick, gambling 3N ...2H -> 2S ......2N = 25+ ......3m = H+m ......3H = responder can pass with bust ......3N = 9.5 - 10 trick, gambling 3N, with 2.5-3 stoppers

I don't care what Experts say, the idea of rebidding a 3-card suit with a very common hand and possibly ending up in a 3-3 fit seems silly to me. Either rebid your 5-card diam suit or rebid 1N. If not playing RFR and responder is weak, responder can bid 2H over 1N with a 5-4. If responder has only 5s, responder can pass or bid 2S and risk playing in a 5-1 fit. I think responder should usually pass. 1N is reasonable. A 3-3 club fit is not reasonable.

ah ha... clubs will run because we have 2nd entry with ♦K. However, odds don't look good that opener has dbl spade stopper. So 3N is out. If partner has something like xxx KQxx AJx AJx, chances for 5C look good. But if opener has QJx Qxxx AJx AJx, chances don't look good at all. Wouldn't it be nice if we could bid 3S and if partner bids 3N, we sign-off in 4C, but if partner bids 4C, we raise to 5C? Unfortunately, I don't think partner will agree to our interpretation of 3S followed by 4C. Still .... red at IMPS and the dbl... Drat, if I had my IPhone, I could run a fast simulation in my pocket with vibrate set for 40% success......... 5C

AK10xxx A KQJxx x - If I only open really strong 2-suiters with 2C, this is the one. 2C for me. There are problems with 1S then 3D (partner may not trust the diam suit initially and will not understand how incredibly strong we are). So 2C ... 2S ... 3D seems the same to me. Switch the diam and spades and I think 1D is best