SoTired

splintering on stiff A/K I think the main problem is that normally it screws up the "splinter math". That is, partner's ability to judge 3-suits of 26HCP = slam. I think it is acceptable if the splinterer has extra strength so that the math works right. My judgement is If the stiff-A/K was a small card, would you still splinter? If so, I think it is OK with the stiff-A/K.

Instead of 5N, couldn't North bid 6C asking for 3rd round control in clubs? That would give him a more useful answer than 5N would.

The player stated that it was a mechanical error. Although it seems more likely that the offender did not see the 1S call, it is possible it was a mechanical error. We cannot be sure. It is also common practice to accept as truthful player statements unless you have evidence otherwise. Therefore, I think the director made the correct ruling. And, anyway, there was no damage here so WTP? Be nice and smilingly accept the 2H bid. Personally, I don't like to take advantage from silly mistakes at a club game. At a regional or national, I will use every advantage I can, but at a club game I don't need to win that badly. I remember once a defender ruffed one of my tricks and promptly led the suit he just ruffed. I started laughing and said, "That's not fair." I made him take back the trump and we made the trump card a penalty card. He lost nothing even though according to the rules it was an established revoke. He called me a "gentleman." Nicest complement I have ever had at the bridge table.

I think Bridge is like Chess in that first move has an advantage. So I open all balanced 12s and a few balanced 11s. This one qualifies because of the 3 connected 10s. The hand just looks "meaty" to me. Although some expert players that I am fortunate enough to partner occassionally have complained about the quality of my preempts, none have ever mentioned my opening bids.

I don't use "Standard" except for those things that Goren advocated and still in wide practice today. I think a less charged word is "Common" for those things that most people play.

I would open North hand 1H. Not 3 nor 4. you likely get a diam lead and i think it wise to take the finesse. If it wins you don't need spades breaking right for 6 and even have a chance to make 7 if spa behave. If the diam finesse fails, then you win probable club return in hand. Cash HK ensuring 2-1 break. ♠A, ♦A pitching a spade, then ruff a spade high. ♥A, ruff another spade, ♥T, ruff 4th spade, ♣K, cash 5th spade for club discard. If diam finesse succeeds, play same way for 7. I don't think this hand requires expert play ability. Just entry management and set up dummy's long suit.

should make 6

"Impossible 2S" I think the common definitions are: When done over a 2H rebid, asks for best 3-card+ minor, probably for sign-off When done over a 2m rebid shows a strong minor raise.

I vote for simple. I hate exceptions because sometimes you forget that last year we made such-and-such auction an exception. So..... I think the easiest way to play is that in a Non-GF auction, the 4th suit is artificial and GF. No exceptions. Otherwise 4th suit is natural. But sometimes you fudge the naturalness of many bids just to bide your time. So 1C-1D;1H-1S is 4th suit forcing. If responder is weak with a major 4-4, then responder will just have to pick one of opener's suits or rebid 1N and hope opener does not have 4-4 in majors. If responder has a natural spade suit with at least invitational strength, then responder can bid 2S, which is also forcing, but only invitational. This makes more sense as you don't want to crowd the auction with a non-descriptive bid. Crowd the auction with a descriptive bid makes more sense. Also, 1D-1S;2C-2H is 4SF. Why? Main reason is no exceptions. But 2nd reason is: Odds are opener does not have 0454. Also, if responder has invitational hand with 5-5 in majors, responder can bid 3H to show this. So if responder has invitational hand with major 5-4, responder will just have to live with always rebidding 2N in that situation. If responder is weak, responder will just have to choose one of opener's suits.

i vote for 4H. both 3N and 4H will make if partner has a sound 3H bid. but if partner took liberties with the heart suit, hearts will play better. Also, if partner took huge liberty with heart suit, 3N gets killed whereas 4H is down only 1 or 2.

Cool - If I ever get to visit the UK, I want to play some bridge. I think the reason 2/1 has all those attached conventions, is that most are taught Std American (4or 5-card majors) and then players advance after several years to the more modern 2/1 system, so they bring their advanced conventions with them. Very few novices are taught 2/1 out of the gate.

So what you are saying is: If you are in a good contract and you know you are in a good contract, take a safety play to make sure you make. But if you are in a bad contract and you know you are in a bad contract, try to find a way to make your contract. Sage advice

1) If you are not a top expert, you cannot accurately determine the field action, so this topic is worthless for you. 2) If you are a top expert, this topic is worthless because you already know the answer to this question and do not need our advice nor would you think it is better than your own. 3) Most fields are variable strength so there is no field action. 4) If you are not a top expert, but somehow are real adept at predicting field action, and you happen upon the rare hand which you can accurately predict, since you are not a top expert, you will likely not know what to do with the information, anyway. 5) If you are not a top expert, but somehow are real adept at predicting field action, and you happen upon the rare hand which you can accurately predict, and you know precisely what to do with that information, you will be so busy watching all the pigs flying all over the place, you won't have time for bridge.

Assuming you don't play non-leaping Michaels I think that partner would take that as a slam force with 5+ spades and 6+ clubs. Yup - that's is what I think. 4H followed by 6C shows a minor oriented hand with better clubs. It is asking about 7. Don't know what it is asking, tho. We must be void somewhere since we did not bid blackwood. So I think if partner held the ♠A, partner might bid 7C/7D.

I think DBL is a terrible bid with a spade void. You are just asking for trouble. You know partner is going to bid some number of spades. X is for those people who want to make a penalty dbl, but foolishly make a t/o dbl instead. 4N is also poor. You have a 6-4 and your 6 is almost solid. That means you have a 1-suited hand not a 2-suited hand. Would you like partner with 2c & 3d to bid 5D? 3N is so ridiculous, I shudder even thinking about it. And 4C is non-forcing. So every single one of the suggested bids are terrible. 4H makes more sense than dbl because it alerts partner to the minors and it shows a monster. 6C makes the most sense. It likely makes. I can't bid 7C and end up negative on this deal. I could pass and end up positive, so I would really, really hate to end up negative.

I have found these rules useful: 1) My diam suit is particularly strong and great opening lead, and 2) My club suit is particularly weak and a lousy opening lead, and 3) I am too weak for a reverse (about 17 hcp) Something like: Kxx x AKxx Jxxxx, I will open 1D

Old goren standard was any bid over 2N was forcing, which makes sense. Seems strange to try to save opener from 2N with 18-19 when responder did not pass at the expense of all 3-level actions seems ridiculous. So weak hands just have to pass and hope. So any 3-level action should be forcing. Whether 3H shows 5 or 6 is debatable, but 5 makes more sense as 6 can bid 4H or 3H then 4H to show a stronger hand with mild slam interest. If responder bids 3H, opener with 3+ support should q-bid a minor in case responder has slam interest.

Personally, I don't see what's wrong with an unusual 2N followed by 3S? Have I missed something.

I salute anybody with the quick wit required to come up with that explanation when the opp asked it. So it appears to win at bridge, you not only need fast, heat-of-battle bridge skills, but also fast, heat-of-battle explanation skills. Seems the lawyers are really taking over the world.

A pair was once caught cheating. Their method of passing information was how they sorted their hand (I guess this is the ultimate form of slotting). As the method progressed, they passed more and more information. They were finally caught because, apparently, they raised suspicions because they spent so much time sorting their hands.

to make 6S, opener needs running clubs, a diam control and the ♠AKx(x) (there are many other combinations, but that is a simple one). Something like AKx xx KQ AKQxxx? Is that too much to ask for? And if I bid 5H, wouldn't partner know to bid 6S? Next: The 5-level is probably safe. Hard to picture a hand that isn't. So that settles it: Chance for 6, partner will know what to do, and 5-level is safe 5H

I think the lack of usefulness of Pearson Points for 4th hand opening is not so much attributed to the unimportance of a lack of spades, but an overimportance to the advantage of the opening bid. Especially in hands where the HCP are closely divided.

I strongly disagree with this. THERE IS NO WAY to say that nicely. 75% of players and especially LOL, will take your comment as a direct accusation of cheating, and YOU may be charged with a zero tolerance violation. Either call the director after the dummy comes down and you think you were damaged or shut up.

i am not quite sure this one will work on this particular hand, but i think it is called the Devil's Coup. You need trump honors split, suits to behave and u have to determine who has 3 trump and who has 2. You cash all your side suit winners and trump to shorten yourself and come down to this:[hv=n=shk10xdc&w=shjxxdc&e=sqhqxdc&s=s10ha9dc]399|300|When you lead the ♠10, if West trumps low, you overruff with the ♥10 and win the last two tricks with ♥AK. If West trumps with the ♥J, you overruff with the ♥K and finesse East for the other trump honor.[/hv]

Look, if you define (2♠) p (p) 3♣ as a potentially heavy hand, say 17-18 as max, then what you say might make sense. But if you put a limit of, say 14-15, to the 3♣ bid (with more, dbl + bid clubs), then things might not be so clear. assuming you don't bid 3C on complete garbage, what kind of hand would want to pull 3N to 4C? 3C is roughly 10-17 or so (I don't understand why you limit it to 14-15) 3N'er is roughly, what? 10-15 or so (with more and spade stopper, would surely bid over 2S) So if 3C is based on 10HCP and a broken suit, how do you know that 3N is not based on 15 HCP and filling honors? So it makes no sense to pull. If 3N is based on 15 HCP with no club honors, 4C is not going to do much better. Might as well go for the game bonus and level lower. This is not like after a 1N opener, responder is sitting with C-Q10xxxx and out and should pull 1N to 3C. Overcaller has some values for the 3C bid. Therefore, 4C has to be forcing with slam interest.