CarlRitner

So, the bidding database is awful because there's not much in it. BUT, if we took every red bell, analyzed it as a group, made decisions, documented any changes to our system, recompile, that's one less of these you'll see. Tons of work? Yep. However, your are solving the most frequent situations, and each one of these foundational bids will help the database (a little now, a lot later), and the database rules ALOT right now, and ALOT later too.

I would like to keep the input / output very simple. KISS, and it is good to be back!

Read Audrey Grant/Eric Rodwell 2/1 Bidding system book. Stick with this system. Learn to play the cards and why, this will help the bidding make sense

The material was over my head yet I could follow it and enjoy the lesson. I think it was well done, A+

Bridge Baron 23 has 10,000+ actual tournament hands so you can compare how you played against the field.

What is the BIL?

I think Mike Lawrence's Conventions and Two Over One System CDs by BridgeBase are fabulous products and I would like to see more like them. This movie reminded me of Lawrence's style, which is highly informative. Definitely would like to see more.

My favorite newer one- DSI - Do Something Intelligent double.

Check with Richard Pavlicek. His dealer program spits out all sorts of analyses, maybe it can be tweaked to read from PBN.

1♦-1♠-3♣ not a splinter best to play as gameforce aka a strong jump-shift; 19+ and GF in Std. Am. Correct?

I take it from this thread that there are no established data on whether men or woman are better at bidding or the play of the cards in bridge? I know of at least two books: Why Women Win at Bridge: Daniel Roth Why Women Lose at Bridge: Joyce Nicholson

I think the idea here (USA) is that a lower level WJS (1x - 2y) denies the values for a simple 1-level response (2 or 3 to 5), but 1y - 3x is more like 5 or 6 to 9. That's just one treatment of many I am sure.

May a 1NT opening ever be artificial, assuming agreements that include unbalanced shapes?

The only player other than south (the owner) to see the Q is now dummy. So it can (and in this case would have) worked out OK. Queens are over-rated anyway.... :rolleyes:

I asked if another option (let them play it out and adjust the score later if knowledge of the card made a difference) might not be better in this case That was the very first thought I had, and seemed to me to be the least disruptive.

That hand doesn't have 0 diamonds, it has -0 diamonds. Ergo, the extra spade.

Someone somewhere else started a topic asking about ELC, this is the perfect shape for such a double using ELC, although light on values.

Very good question. Lots of strange things going on...

switch the minors and play elc, then double is a winner. else pass.

not sure quite what double shows but it feels safer than 4S.

Why is "natural? really?" in parentheses? Did you ask if it was natural? I am asking you because you never detailed the exchange and the "really?" sounds like your unspoken tongue-in-cheek thoughts as opposed to what was a verbal exchange. I can't imagine this 4N bid being natural, but I also cannot fathom the north pass, UI or not. I simply don't have enough information and the two bids taken together suggest N-S both got confused earlier.

It would be interesting though, to see how GIB would fare with the best database version BBO has to date. I seem to recall the play engine wasn't all that bad. CPU speeds are way up, RAM is cheap. If BBO could legally enter GIB, it would be good news for bridge, very interesting to follow.

I still can't see the "extra bidding space" advantage in accepting an IB, if no agreements can be made as to what to do with that space. Am I thinking ACBL-correctly here??

Got it. I've seen that 2C artificial method but never tried it.

True. Disciplined (paraphrasing Ron Andersen here) used to mean the traditional 3 of the top 5 honors, no 4-card major, no void, etc -- in other words, strict, adhering to sound methods. Now, it means (to me, anyway) strictly adhering to partnership agreements. What those agreements are (sound, aggressive, nuts) is a matter of opinion, but certainly to be fully disclosed. If you do not stay disciplined, confidence goes away, quickly.