Wainfleet

When I first started reading about cue bidding for slams, the authors (Klinger etc.) did not distinguish between ace and void for first round control, or between king and singleton for second round control. I have recently come across several articles by England internationals (Robson, Bakshishi) where the articles are titled Ace Showing Cue Bids for Slam, rather than Control Showing Cue Bids with no examples involving voids or singletons, and apparently this is deliberate - one commented that if you include voids then partner 'may miscalculate'. Can anyone shed a little light on this please?

Why is it that (according to Andrew Robson and others), natural discarding (High encourage, Low No -lead something else) is what most top tournament partnerships use, yet at duplicate pairs at club level (in the UK at least) most play McKenney, Revolving, Dodds, Odds-Evens etc.?

Is this facility still working? I have never used it but have just tried it on a teaching table without success. It may be just me but thought I would check whether the very recent discontinuation of Flash player might have something to do with it.

I am a novice/improver so this forum is above my pay grade, but its very interesting. Andrew Robson is not a MUD fan. He does not teach it as such. From what I can gather, with most of his partners he won't ever play it vs a No Trump contract, and vs a suit contract he will take a nuanced view on which card to play from three spots depending on auction and the cards. Vs No Trumps he will usually lead the highest spot. From 863 he will lead the 8. If he leads the 6, partner might assume its 4th highest to an honour (and maybe apply the Rule of 11). Vs a suit contract with 873, 874, 875 in an unbid suit he will lead the 7 (which happens to be MUD), but with 852, 842 or 843 he will lead the 8, so as not to suggest he is leading low from an honour. His priority is to get across his dislike for the suit. I hope I have not misrepresented him - but that's the gist of what I think he replied when I asked him.

[hv=pc=n&s=sj5hk53dakj92cq93&w=shdc&n=shdc&e=shdc]399|300[/hv] My partner and I would treat this hand differently and we would like the view of the experts. Playing a weak 1NT (12-14), would you: a) Open 1NT b) open 1♦ and rebid 1NT after a 1♠ response c) open 1♦ and rebid 2NT after a 2♣ response Many thanks

Could you give an example of a convention that might help here. I can't imagine one.

[hv=pc=n&n=skq85hkt85dcqj853&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1n2c]133|200[/hv] My partner and I play Landy as showing 5-4. I had this hand and bid 2C and alerted it as Landy because I could not think of a better bid. I knew it was off beam but got picked up on it "funny Landy?" I was deceiving my partner as much as anyone else. Was my opponent justified in expressing mild disapproval? And regardless of that, would it have been better bridge to pass?

I have come across the term "courtesy raise' several times recently. What is the difference between this and a straightforward simple raise?

When exploring how to set up a teaching table, sometimes a large rectangular grey window appears , taking up one third of the screen on the left, and I can't find a way of getting rid of it without logging out of BBO and setting up everything again from scratch. Any ideas what I am doing wrong and how to correct it? Thanks

My understanding was that in Acol a reverse promised a rebid. Is that not so?

When exploring how to set up a teaching table, sometimes a large rectangular grey window appears , taking up one third of the screen on the left, and I can't find a way of getting rid of it without logging out of BBO and setting up everything again from scratch. Any ideas what I am doing wrong and how to correct it? Thanks

Thanks. Got it now.

First time I have tried to import a .lin file and I get the message: QDUMP: Could not connect to database: Error: Is this a system problem or am I doing something wrong. Thanks in anticipation.

Is my understanding of these terms correct? 1. Forcing - partner must not pass, but it does not promise a rebid 2. Forcing for one round - F1 for short. I used to think that this promised a rebid (as per 3) but have read recently (I think somewhere on these forums), that this is the same as 1. That seems really odd. To me a round is like a circle, and the round is complete when the auction returns to the forcer. One out of 1,2,3 (most likely 3) seems redundant to me. 3. A bid that promises a rebid. Self explanatory. This is what I used to think was meant by Forcing for One Round If it's not the same as 2, is there a short way of describing it? 4. Game forcing. GF for short. 3NT, 4H/S or 5C/D. Not the same as 5. 5. Forcing to 3NT. the auction can stop at 4C/4D. Not the same as 4. Thanks

Many thanks Paul, I 'bumped' my first post in the hope that it might catch your eye. I have moved my teaching group to BBO and my website has links to all your BBO videos, which my students have found invaluable.

Can anyone help?

I am having lots of trouble here, tried so many times and failing (my fault I am sure). I want to set up a prepared hand where I will demonstrate how to bid and play it, and then video it as a lesson. I can set up a hand in hand editor, but have difficulty with setting it with various dealer positions an with declarer as South. I'd like the demo to be able to toggle between showing all four hands or just North South. And I then go wrong trying to load it onto the teaching table. I give it a name in hand editor export it with a file name to 'saved hands' in a named folder, but when I try to load it into the teaching table the saved board is not there. Your help will be much appreciated.

Is it a good or bad idea to use an attitude discard (e.g. revolving) when declarer has lead a suit in which I am void? We play at a low level and our opponents never ask what discard system we use, but if we were playing at a higher level it might give information to declarer.

Thanks both. Very helpful.

Just checking: My group play only in the casual area, Relaxed or Private (Aacol) Club. From what I am gathering from experimenting, it seems that if I tick 'invisible' at login then I am visible as logged in to all my BBO friends, but only if I am in the same area (Casual) as they are, and invisible (not logged in) to everyone else. And if I set up a table as 'invisible', then it is visible to all my friends provided we are all in the same 'Casual' area, but the table invisible to anyone else. In other words, 'invisible' only applies to those who are not my BBO friends. Does that cover it, or are there any other implications. Thanks

Many thanks. I think that's it!!

Thanks both. Just checked and the host thinks she may have set up in the Casual area without opting for the usual 'Relaxed Club' - just clicked 'Start a table'. Could this be the problem?

One of my students has a problem where on some days her match records don't appear at all, and I can't find them either when I check for her. On other days they do appear. Could this be a settings problem or is it a general BBO problem. As an example, she played a match yesterday, 18th August 2020 UK time (user name xdc502). https://www.bridgebase.com/myhands/hands.php?username=xdc502&start_time=1597618800&end_time=1597878000 Thanks

Is there a system problem with hand records today. My wife has just played 12 boards and nothing shows.

Yes, I should have asked a different question. What I really wanted to know was whether, given that you would rarely lead an unsupported ace, would you lead the ace here rather than a diamond?