trolley813

After reading Bridge for Dummies, you should study Bridge for Declarers and then Bridge for Defenders.

Even in bridge, playing in No Trump is not always the best choice.

Another story translated from Russian: A bridge player dies from heart attack (no pun intended) when his redoubled contract went down 4. His partners are visiting his funeral, and there's total silence there. But after some time, one of his opponent finally breaks the silence saying: - Mike, if you led a diamond that time, it could be much worse for him...

Well, this is not only the strongest hand I've ever played, but even the strongest one I've ever seen, with whopping 29 (twenty-nine) HCPs. [hv=pc=n&s=saqhak963dakq6cak&w=sj852hqjtdj54ct75&n=st943h42d9872cj82&e=sk76h875dt3cq9643&d=e&v=0&b=14&a=p2dp2hp3hp3np5np6dppp]399|300[/hv] So, I really don't know how to bid that properly. This is what I tried: S: 2♦ (strong, artificial, showing 20+ HCP) N: 2♥ (0 aces) S: 3♥ (strong hearts) N: 3NT (no heart support) S: 5NT (this will probably make even if North has 0 HCPs, "pick a slam"-like) N: 6♦ S: Pass (fit in diamonds, but I was afraid to bid 7) So, it ended up in 6♦+1, 940 points with a good MP result of 87% (however, some people managed to get 6NT for 990). Interestingly that many Souths (they too were beginner players, just like me) bid 1♥ and this was passed out, ending up in something awkward like 1♥+5 (or +4).

Well, that's not so funny, but still: - What's the difference between bridge and Minecraft? - In the latter, one can always make 1 spade* holding only a single diamond and 2 sticks. In bridge, that's often not enough**. *Actually, it's called a "shovel" in-game, but it's a near-synonym of "spade". **Here, "2 sticks" is intended to be interpreted as "11 HCP".

Well, not all of them. I'm actually a programmer and I'm at least trying to play bridge.

As well as I can see, 6♣ is makable even with a 4-3 trump fit (in this particular E-W layout). All you need is to win the first trick, then draw all trumps (crashing the ♣J and ♣Q in one trick) and you're home (7 diamond tricks, 3 clubs, 1 spade and 1 heart - even on spade lead, if E-W continue spades after winning the trump trick, you can ruff due to your ♠A being singleton).

That's probably because this hand is quite old and is initially a whist hand (where all suits were equal). Actually, I'm wrong, South always has the ability to save in 7NT (there was no notrump option in whist).

Another story from here: [hv=pc=n&s=sj3h432d8765432ca&w=skqt8hjt97dqtckj8&n=sa9hakq65dakcqt54&e=s76542h8dj9c97632&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1cp2hp2sp3cp3hp4np7ddppp]399|300[/hv] Explanations for bidding by South (this was a kibitzer which knew nothing about the game, except "Just bid what you have and follow suit"):

With the Duke of Cumberland hand, it is actually better to sacrifice with 7♥ or 7♠. As far as I can count, it's down 3 at most (so minus 800 when doubled and vulnerable), opposed to minus 2660 for 7♣ made and vulnerable.

Since the 3NT bid promised 21 HCP, and you have 10, why not launch Gerber with 4♣? Despite 31 HCP is in theory somewhat low for a slam, but you still able to sign-off at 5NT if something goes wrong. P.S. However, playing at notrump is a bit risky due to weak spades.

Not quite a joke, but still (from the ACBL Encyclopedia of Bridge, 7th edition (2011), page 393): [hv=pc=n&s=st3hk76dc&w=shq952djc&n=s98hat8dc&e=shj43d96c]399|300[/hv] This rare case, when a tenace really consists of a ten and an ace.

Coincidentally, I've lost a hand today (by allowing my robot partner to overbid) just because my heart was not good enough: I even created a topic about it since I don't quite understand the bidding. (Not a joke.)

I had the following hand when playing SAYC-like with a robot: ♠4 ♥108743 ♦KQJ7 ♣AQ10 Partner had ♠AQ982 ♥QJ6 ♦A ♣K875 The bidding went as follows (I opened): 1♥ (12+ HCP with 5+ hearts) - 1♠ - 2♦ (good diamond suit, no spade fit) - and then North suddenly blasted to 6♥. Of course, for the obvious reasons (missing AK of trumps), it went down 1. So, why did North bid a slam without further investigating (Blackwood etc), since I didn't promise the strength of my heart suit (opposed to length)? Or maybe I shouldn't open with my long major being not good enough?

... and the bartender says "Sorry, we don't serve minors."