HeavyDluxe

Add me to the pass/pass-ers.

2♦ should be game force. So, I'm bidding 3♠. 3♦, mentioned above, sounds fancy... But to my novice ears, a little too fancy.

The 'standard' signal is attitude, so you'd play low. However, I'm learning more and more to "try to tell partner what they need to know" when signaling. As Ken notes, that makes context critical. If partner has the ♦K, it pretty obvious to all of us that we're not setting the contract by playing on in ♦s. Therefore, depending on my holding and dummy, I may play a particular spot in the hopes partner will read it as preference for a different suit.

I don't know that I got that implication from the article. But I have no sense for the subtle. At any rate, we homeschool... So, no fight with the school district there. The NEA? Well, that's a different matter.

I'm hardly advanced or expert, but I've always wanted to take a crack at some of these. Pardon me for swimming in the deep end of the pool with a floatie... I'm bidding 3S. I know about partners diamonds, I want him to know about my spades. This shows my hand and maybe helps defense if they bid on. As far as what to do over 4H, I probably wouldn't double. Mainly because I stink and would chicken out.

Noted an interesting glitch today... - WinXP (SP3) w/ plenty of hardware horsepower - Firefox 3.0 - Client v18 BBOFlash crashes whenever I try to view the profile of someone who has commented to the kibitzers. So, for example: stokk1 -> Kibitzers: etc etc etc Right-click that person's name, select view profile, and the whole browser session crashes. This does *not* appear to happen in IE (6.0), though I've been able to replicate it in FF on two computers. One other thing, I don't recall this glitch being present when the v17 of the client was posted. Anyway, may just be me... if so, sorry!

I think the Wilson team's Zach Brescoli is on BBO quite a bit (zman1).

For my $$-worth, this is dead on.

Sorry if this turns rant-ish... It's only been about 2 years since I played my first live duplicate at a club. I walked in alone to a local club where everyone is 25+ yrs my senior and knows one another. So, I understand the feelings a newbie has approaching a club game. Even so, you need to teach people the game and that game has rules. It is the attitude of the (experienced) people at the table and the director that intimidates new folks - not the director call in and of itself. If the players are polite to the new person, things are explained pleasantly, and encouragement is offered new folks *will* come back. Similarly on BBO... It burns me up to no end when someone, who plainly has BEGINNER or NOVICE in the profile, sits down only to be browbeaten with a thousand '????????'s or 'faster pls!!!!!!'s ... If someone claims to know something and sucks, taunt them mercilessly. But if someone is trying to learn the game, try to be humane in dealing with them.

I voted for double.... which I wouldn't have mentioned until Helene lent it some validity. :)

Never mind...

FWIW, Kantar states a preference for 1430 in the last edition of the RKC book. I think it is, as some have noted here, simply a recognition that there are slightly more circumstances in which the 1430 series responses will afford some extra space.

1♠ = yep. 2NT = right call

Happy Birthday, Fred. Thanks for letting all of us play in your sandbox!

matmat beat me to it.

Agree.

Sooooo classic. Thanks for the official citation!

I assume everyone has heard the joke about the bridge expert and the client. Expert (who opened 1NT) slaps down the 7S card and adds "Should be good on a finesse." Client mulls it over an then calmly places the 7NT on the table. "Good, then you find it."

Just as an aside, I think I remember Justin saying that Hamman uses 'pete' (which is his wife's account) because he never remembers his other password. I think this was during on the BB prep matches, IIRC. I'm not sure how I feel about Phil's overarching 'privacy' point. That said, I do understand why people would want to have some peace and quiet when they log in. The conduct of kibs at some tables is just unreal. So, with respect to Phil's concern, is there a way to (productively) recast Trumpace's question? There are certainly people who are not trying to hide who they are on BBO. Either they have stars or have their names clearly displayed. Of folks like that (thinking of Ira Chorush, etc), who do you all respect enough to want to watch/study? *Note - I'm not sure this completely skirts the issue Phil is raising, so I'm content not to get any further answers... Still, I want to keep learning and having some tips on who to learn from via people with more discernment is helpful.

Just a quick comment here... I get frustrated at these conversations because we fail to see the indoctrination that lies on *both* sides. For example, I choose to indoctrinate my kids into a rigorously religious mindset/worldview. I teach them, both in lesson and modeling, a particular way of viewing the world and processing problems. They are, at least as much as we can enforce, made to approach the world through a particular set of presuppositions. However, if I were a non-religious, free-thinking type I'd be no less ideological. Think about it, I still am indoctrinating my kids into a particular worldview. The presuppositions are obviously vastly different, but the bottom line is the same: "We Who-ze-faces view/approach the world this way." So, it's worth noting that the A/B distinction here is a bit of a straw man. Sincerely, The resident fundie, homeschool brainwasher and family :)

What hrothgar said... Other trick taking card games are always helpful. And I honestly think MiniBridge is a helpful and oft overlooked tool. Simplified auctions, but all the rest of the mechanics of the game are there. There's also a free computer game of it for her to mess with...

*The* man. Truly sad to hear.

Admittedly, I'm a total n00b (at least as far as actually skill goes), but this seems pretty plain. After Dbl, opps silent: 3H 4NT* 5C 5D** 5NT 7H *1430 **Queen ask As has been noted above, 3NT with East's hand is lame... Perhaps he was 'serious'?

I am removing this post. I was 'off topic'. Sorry.

Short question: Would there be interest in creating a (moderated) blog that serves as a clearing house for bridge news, tourney results, and other 'bridge in the media' style content? The why I ask: As I've mentioned on here before, I've been a hobby chess player for a long time and started teaching my son the game a year ago. As he's developed a real interest in the game, I find myself tooling on the internet for chess-related content. One of the sites I visit is a blog by Susan Polgar (link here), a former women's champion who is now also serving on the USCF board. Her blog includes links to articles on chess in newspapers, articles from other chess sites, puzzles, and the obligatory tournament results/discussion. The site seems to receive a fair amount of traffic. I just wondered if there wasn't room for something like this for bridge... While it's possible there's not enough critical mass to move content along, I'd figure that such a site might be helpful to promote our game. Between links to some of the BBO-bloggers, to posts on here, and to notable tournament news it might work. Anyway, thoughts?